25 Cities Account For The Majority Of Global Urban Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The Hill: Study: Just 25 cities account for majority of global urban greenhouse gas emissions 

Just 25 cities comprise more than half of greenhouse gas emissions from a sample of 167 urban centers, according to research published Monday in the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Cities. 

Researchers analyzed a sample of 167 cities and metropolitan areas in 53 countries, including more cities from countries that are major emitters, such as China, the U.S. and India. They then compared the cities’ respective levels of progress in carbon reduction based on 2012 and 2016 emissions inventories, in combination with their short and long-term reduction targets. 

The researchers found that 25 cities accounted for 52 percent of the sample’s emissions. All but three of the 25 — Moscow, Istanbul and Tokyo — were located in China, including major cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.  

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WNU Editor: The study is here .... Keeping Track of Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Progress and Targets in 167 Cities Worldwide (Frontiers).

This Oil Spill Is Like No Other

The Sanchi engulfed in flame on January 13. China Daily via Reuters

The Atlantic: The World Has Never Seen an Oil Spill Like This

A tanker that sank off the Chinese coast was carrying “condensate,” a mix of molecules with radically different properties than crude.

Over the last two weeks, the maritime world has watched with horror as a tragedy has unfolded in the East China Sea. A massive Iranian tanker, the Sanchi, collided with a Chinese freighter carrying grain. Damaged and adrift, the tanker caught on fire, burned for more than a week, and sank. All 32 crew members are presumed dead.

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities and environmental groups have been trying to understand the environmental threat posed by the million barrels of hydrocarbons that the tanker was carrying. Because the Sanchi was not carrying crude oil, but rather condensate, a liquid by-product of natural gas and some kinds of oil production. According to Alex Hunt, a technical manager at the London-based International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation, which assists with oil spills across the world, there has never been a condensate spill like this.

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CSN Editor: This is as bad as it gets.

WHO Report: One In Eight People Around The World Die From Air Pollution

People wearing masks are seen on a hazy day at Tiananmen Square in Beijing February 13, 2014. Kim Kyung Hoon—REUTERS

Millions Die Every Year From Air Pollution -- Voice of America

GENEVA — The World Health Organization reports air pollution is now the world’s largest single environmental health risk. A new report finds seven million people died from exposure to air pollution in 2012, more than double the number previously estimated in 2008.

Air pollution is a global problem; the World Health Organization reports one in eight people around the world die from air pollution.

It says new data show people exposed to indoor and outdoor air pollution die prematurely from cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and ischaemic heart disease, as well as chronic pulmonary diseases and cancer.

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More News On The WHO Report That Claims That Seven Million People Die Globally Each Year From Pollution

WHO: Pollution kills 7 million people every year -- Washington Post/AP
Polluted air linked to 7 million deaths in 2012 - WHO -- Reuters
Tainted Air Kills More Than AIDS, Diabetes, WHO Report Shows -- Bloomberg
Air pollution killed seven million people in 2012: WHO -- The Telegraph
WHO Report: Air Pollution Killed 7 Million People in 2012 -- Time
Air Pollution Kills 7 Million a Year, WHO Says -- NBC

Beijing Pollution Hits An All Time High

Residents In Beijing Warned To Stay Indoors As Air Quality Hits 'Worst On Record' After City Is Engulfed By Thick Smog -- Daily Mail

* Pollution in the city rises to 30 to 45 times above recommended safety levels
* Experts warn the conditions could last another two days
* Residents warned to stay indoors as pollution is trapped by low pressure

Air quality in Beijing was the 'worst on record' over the weekend, according to environmentalists, as pollution in the city rose to 30 to 45 times above recommended safety levels.

The Chinese capital, home to around 20 million people, has been wrapped in thick smog since Friday, reducing visibility and disrupting traffic.

The city's pollution monitoring centre has warned residents to stay indoors as pollution levels rose to the worst on record, according to Greenpeace.  

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Update #1: Beijing cancels outdoor activities, warns of hazardous air due to off-the-charts pollution -- Washington Post/AP  
Update #2: Beijing Pollution Hits Highs -- Wall Street Journal  
Update #3: On Scale of 0 to 500, Beijing’s Air Quality Tops ‘Crazy Bad’ at 755 -- New York Times  

My Comment: I first visited China in the mid 1980s .... and while I saw massive deforestation in many areas, the air quality was still OK. One of the best moments in my life was visiting a plantation in Fujian province that is responsible for growing Oolong tea. I was walking on the side of the hill and got caught in a warm monsoon rainfall. The warm rainwater, the air filled with the smell of tea, the freshness of the air .... it is an experience that describing it will not do it justice .... you have to experience it to appreciate it. But today .... if I go there ... and I get in a warm monsoon rainfall .... my primary worry will be acid rain and the need to quickly change my clothes.

Exxon Valdez Remains Controversial Near Its End

Exxon Valdez Remains Controversial Near Its End In India -- L.A. Times

Indian environmentalists have filed a petition to block the Exxon Valdez from entering Alang, India, a graveyard for once-mighty ships.

ALANG, India — For the ship formerly known as the Exxon Valdez, even sailing quietly into the sunset is proving difficult.

Now called the Oriental Nicety, it's floating off India in a kind of high-seas limbo as a court decides whether the vessel that dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's unspoiled Prince William Sound in 1989 can be hacked apart in this forlorn graveyard for once-mighty ships.

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My Comment: Good riddance I say.

Deformities in Gulf Seafood Found After BP Oil Spill

Gulf Seafood Deformities Alarm Scientists -- Al Jazeera

Eyeless shrimp and fish with lesions are becoming common, with BP oil pollution believed to be the likely cause.

New Orleans, LA - "The fishermen have never seen anything like this," Dr Jim Cowan told Al Jazeera. "And in my 20 years working on red snapper, looking at somewhere between 20 and 30,000 fish, I've never seen anything like this either."

Dr Cowan, with Louisiana State University's Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences started hearing about fish with sores and lesions from fishermen in November 2010.

Cowan's findings replicate those of others living along vast areas of the Gulf Coast that have been impacted by BP's oil and dispersants.

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My Comment: To say that this is disturbing is an understatement.

Most Polluted Cities In The World

Iranian cities have some of the worst pollution in the world, with fine particle presence 20 times higher than the recommended upper limit. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP

Iran, India, Pakistan And Mongolia Have Most Polluted Cities In The World -- The Guardian

World Health Organisation's first global survey of fine particle pollutants says US and Canadian towns are among cleanest

Cities in Iran, India, Pakistan and Mongolia are among the worst on the planet for air pollution, while those in the US and Canada are among the best, according to the first global survey.

The Iranian city of Ahvaz had the distinction of the highest measured level of airborne particles smaller than 10 micrometres, according to the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO) survey.

Outdoor air pollution causes an estimated 1.34 million premature deaths a year, said WHO. Investments to lower pollution levels quickly pay off owing to lower disease rates and, therefore, lower healthcare costs, it said.

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Nigeria's Oil Pollution Will Take Decades To Clean-Up

Nigeria Ogoniland Oil Clean-Up 'Could Take 30 Years -- BBC

Nigeria's Ogoniland region could take 30 years to recover fully from the damage caused by years of oil spills, a long-awaited UN report says.

The study says complete restoration could entail the world's "most wide-ranging and long-term oil clean-up".

Communities faced a severe health risk, with some families drinking water with high levels of carcinogens, it said.

Oil giant Shell has accepted liability for two spills and said all oil spills were bad for Nigeria and the company.

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Air Pollution In Ancient Egypt

This mummy was discovered in Dakhleh Oasis, a remote outpost in southwest Egypt and lived around 1,800 years ago, at a time when the Romans occupied Egypt. Although much of the mummy remains are lost, the area around the lungs, where particulates were found, is well preserved. CREDIT: Photo courtesy Dakhleh Oasis Project.

Egyptian Mummies Hold Clues of Ancient Air Pollution -- Live Science

Ancient Egyptians may have been exposed to air pollution way back when, according to new evidence of particulates in the lungs of 15 mummies, including noblemen and priests.

Particulates, tiny microscopic particles that irritate the lungs, have been linked to a wide array of modern-day illnesses, including heart disease, lung ailments and cancer. The particulates are typically linked to post-industrial activities, such as fossil-fuel burning.

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Herb Quells Cows' Methane-Laden Belches

From Live Science:

For scientists concerned about greenhouse gas emissions, cow farts are nowhere near as problematic as their methane-laden belches. Now a new oregano supplement could stem the burps and reduce the potent methane emissions.

Worldwide, cows are responsible for 37 percent of the human-produced methane, according to study researcher Alexander Hristov, an associate professor of dairy nutrition at Penn State University. Most of that methane comes not from the backsides of cows, but from the gas they belch after digesting their food, according to Hristov and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

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My Comment: Belching creates more methane gas than farting .... that is news to me.

Warming Solution: Just Stop Cold?

From National Geographic:

The greatest climate threat is from future cars and building, study says.

This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.

Imagine that tomorrow, the whole world will stop building things that burn fossil fuels—cars and planes, power plants, and housing tracts.

How much more global warming would the planet endure?

(See Related, from National Geographic Channel: "Aftermath: Population Zero" )

This might sound like an environmentalist's dream—or a CEO's nightmare—but it's a serious question addressed by a new study published in the September 10 issue of Science.

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Oil Slick From Rig Collapse Seen From Space

The oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico that resulted from the explosion and collapse of an oil rig can be seen in this image from NASA's Aqua satellite. Credit: MODIS Rapid Response Team

From Live Science:

The oil slick that is expanding from the site of an oil rig collapse last week has been spotted from space by a NASA satellite.

An estimated 42,000 gallons of oil per day are leaking from an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico after an oil rig caught fire and then sank into the ocean waters last week.

The only oil evident in the water at first was that which had been on the rig itself at the time it exploded on April 20. Over the weekend, officials working on the oil spill discovered that water was also leaking from the pipe that led up to the rig from the well some 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) below on the seafloor.

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'Uranium-Eating' Bacteria To Clean-Up Radioactive Sites

Ranger Mine - a uranium mine in Kakadu National Park, Australia.

From Cosmos:

SYDNEY: Some bacteria have the capacity to stabilise uranium contaminated sites, and if they are used they could reducing the chances of these sites contaminating major waterways and ecosystems, U.S. scientists have said.

Of the millions of tonnes of bacteria living within the Earth's subsurface, some are able to transform the oxidative state of uranium, which defines how the element with interact with oxygen to form various molecules. They change it from the radioactive, toxic and water soluble uranium (VI) to the less soluble, stationary and therefore less harmful uranium (IV) as part of their normal growth.

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UK Beaches Swamped By Plastic Litter, Say Campaigners

From The BBC:

UK beaches are being ruined by an ever-accumulating tide of plastic litter, the Marine Conservation Society says.

Volunteers at 400 beaches collected 1,849 items of litter per kilometre in the weekend of the MCS's 2009 survey and 63% of it was plastic, it said.

It said the amount of rubbish was 77% higher than in 1994 - its first annual survey - and the proportion of plastic volunteers found had never been higher.

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Pollution From Asia Circles Globe At Stratospheric Heights

Factories line the shores of the lower Yangtze River in China. Heavy pollution tied to China's rapid industrial growth has produced poor visibility and health effects. (Credit: Copyright UCAR, Photo by William Bradford)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Mar. 26, 2010) — The economic growth across much of Asia comes with a troubling side effect: pollutants from the region are being wafted up to the stratosphere during monsoon season. The new finding, in a study led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, provides additional evidence of the global nature of air pollution and its effects far above Earth's surface.

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US Still Responsible For Most CO2 Emissions

From New Scientist:

Europeans import nearly twice as much carbon dioxide per head as US citizens – but the US still holds the dubious distinction of being the world's largest emitter.

The Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford, California, reports that in 2004 23 per cent of global CO2 emissions – some 6.2 gigatonnes – went in making products that were traded internationally. Most of these products were exported from China and other relatively poor countries to consumers in richer countries. Some countries, such as Switzerland, "outsourced" over half of their carbon dioxide emissions in this way because they have a high import-to-export ratio of such energy-intensive goods as consumer electronics, motor vehicles and machinery.

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Plastic Rubbish Blights Atlantic Ocean

From The BBC:

Scientists have discovered an area of the North Atlantic Ocean where plastic debris accumulates.

The region is said to compare with the well-documented "great Pacific garbage patch".

Karen Lavender Law of the Sea Education Association told the BBC that the issue of plastics had been "largely ignored" in the Atlantic.

She announced the findings of a two-decade-long study at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Portland, US.

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Black Carbon Deposits On Himalayan Ice Threaten Earth's 'Third Pole'

To better understand the role that black soot has on glaciers, researchers trekked high into the Himalayas to collect ice cores that contain a record of soot deposition that spans back to the 1950s. (Credit: Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Dec. 15, 2009) — Black soot deposited on Tibetan glaciers has contributed significantly to the retreat of the world's largest non-polar ice masses, according to new research by scientists from NASA and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Soot absorbs incoming solar radiation and can speed glacial melting when deposited on snow in sufficient quantities.

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Untold Levels Of Oil Sands Pollution On Athabasca River Confirmed

From Science Daily:

ScienceDaily (Dec. 8, 2009) — After an exhaustive study of air and water pollution along the Athabasca River and its tributaries from Fort McMurray to Lake Athabasca, researchers say pollution levels have increased as a direct result of nearby oil sands operations.

University of Alberta biological sciences professor David Schindler was part of the team that conducted a long term air and water study and found high levels of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds. PACs are a group of organic contaminants containing several known carcinogens, mutagens, and teratogens. The highest levels of PAC's were found within 50 kilometres of two major oil sands up graders.

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Using Rust To Capture CO2 From Coal Plants

Photo: Carbon trap: This laboratory device extracts energy from fossil fuels and produces an easy-to-capture stream of carbon dioxide. A larger version will be tested in a new 250-kilowatt power plant. Credit: Fanxing Li

From Technology Review:

Process could capture carbon more cheaply.

Researchers at Ohio State University are developing a novel process for generating electricity from coal that also promises to make capturing carbon-dioxide emissions cheaper. The work is being done with the help of a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. The technology has been proven in laboratories; researchers will use the new funds to demonstrate it in a 250-kilowatt, pilot-scale power plant.

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