GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTIONS: Our First Year is Almost Over

I will harp on this theme fairly often: the most optimistic scientists tell us we have only ten years to act to mitigate global warming. And it was about a year ago they first started saying this. And note that no one is saying "prevent." It is too late for that. We ignored the warnings of thirty years ago and twenty years ago...so we have LOST our chance to prevent global warming. It is already upon us. So now we have ten (now almost nine) years to mitigate the effects.

Now of course this "ten years" is an approximation...but we aren't talking about much MORE than ten years and it may be less. If we don't act within that window, we may be hit with the full consequences of global warming and, in all honesty, we will be leaving a world for our children where conditions are much, much worse than what we have been used to.

I find that unacceptable. Just a reminder that some of the consequences will be more events like hurricane Katrina and the horrible floods in Bangladesh and more coastal flooding.

There are many things we all can do as individuals and as a society that can help mitigate the effects, as I have covered in the past. You can also find ways you as an individual can help by going here or here. I would add to the list quitting smoking and cutting back on meat consumption as ways to limit your carbon footprint. I am too much of a meat eater to cut it out completely, but I have cut back.

I have personally chosen this year (which only has about 4 months left in it) to focus on trees, which help absorb carbon out of the atmosphere. Trees sequester carbon AND have many environmental and economic benefits for the areas they are planted. I discuss this at length here.

I ask you to join me in protecting and planting trees. Over time this can be one of the best ways to offset your carbon footprint. Here are my recommendations:


TREE PLANTING:

Trees, Water, People: (NORTH and CENTRAL AMERICA) Trees, Water, People is composed of a group of dedicated environmentalists who feel strongly about making the world a better place for people through improving their environment. They believe that natural resources are best protected when local people play an active role in their care and management and that the preservation of local trees, wetlands, and watersheds is essential to establish the long-term social, economic, and environmental viability of communities. They work in several nations in North and Central America.

Greenbelt Movement: provides income and sustenance to millions of people in Kenya through the planting of trees. It also conducts educational campaigns to raise awareness about women's rights, civic empowerment, and the environment throughout Kenya and Africa.

Trees for the Future: Trees for the Future has helped communities around the world plant trees since 1989. Through our seed projects and country programs, rural groups have restored tree cover to the most degraded lands. Planting trees helps to preserve traditional livelihoods and cultures for generations. They have projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America.


PRESERVING FORESTS:

RWANDA: The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) began work in Rwanda in 1978, with support for the interdisciplinary research of Amy Vedder and Bill Weber. Their investigation of mountain gorilla ecology and the socio-economic context for conservation led Vedder and Weber to establish a program of mountain gorilla tourism in Rwanda as a means of generating revenue and employment to help protect gorillas and their habitat. The success of this effort reversed the gorillas' decline and helped restore their numbers to 380 in 2004. To protect the forest's extraordinary levels of species richness and endemism, the government of Rwanda created the Nyungwe National Park in 2004. The WCS continues to work on the conservation and management of this park.

Albertine Rift Program: covering the northern end of Lake Albert to the southern end of Lake Tanganyika and working in three African nations, this project takes a regional rather than local approach to conservation. Using satellite data and coordinating groups across borders, this program is helping to preserve parks that protect gorillas, chimps, 29 other endemic mammalian species and 42 endemic bird species. This is a critical region because the big lakes of Africa are drying up, which will cause massive drought and starvation throughout Eastern Africa as well as devastating the remaining forests of the area.

The Andes: The Wildlife Conservation Society also focuses on the Andes. I particularly want to highlight their Northern Andes and Central Andes programs. WCS does a great job of combining human needs and environmental needs, a critical factor for any environmental program to be successful.

Helping the above tree planting and forest preservation efforts will help a great deal in mitigating global warming. For a somewhat more controversial diary (where I highlight the needs of Lebanon, Israel and Palestine) please see this diary.