Or better ... How much is the Earth? Imagine that the Earth is sold at a handful of real estate agents brothers ET, are based on what price to decide what is the Earth? Each Tecnocasa good employee knows that there are criteria on which to set the price for a property now, even if the Earth is at a standstill (as someone we wanted to believe), we think Constance and other scholars to answer this question. Costanza and others have studied the various ecosystems and biomes, then they have multiplied the value that came out for this to their full extent and have them combined. From this it turned out that the Earth moves "a production well U.S. $ 16-56 trillion (10 to the twelfth!) A year, with an average of U.S. $ 33 trillion per year . Everything in front of a world GDP of about U.S. $ 18 trillion annual . were based on " services" that the various terrestrial ecosystems play in the Earth and that the man advantage entering their economy. These services vary in size and there are also included raw materials produced, these are designed as a service to humanity. Some examples, of particular interest to the present day I can be: the ability to accumulate waste, the ability to absorb CO2; defense against devastating events ... There are so many categories, even 17, many of which are services that the self-reinforcing system. A special feature of this study is that weighs only renewable resources, non-renewable resources are not even considered. So even renewable resources are renewable little? Yes, if an ecosystem too stressed here that this not be repeated. Constance also wonders what the service is most important, and which of these if there is no longer harmful. It turns out that is by far the most important, with an order of magnitude above the others, " soil formation." And this is true, because there will be no soil any ecosystem, and without any other ecosystem service of man. Then the worst news we hear on the news should be the degradation of soils by human activities ... people meditate Meditate ...
The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital Robert Costanza, Ralph d'Arge, Rudolf de Groot, Stephen Farberk, Monica Grasso, Bruce Hannon, Karin Limburg, Shahid Naeem, Robert V. O'Neill, Jose Paruelo, Robert G. Raskin, Paul Sutton & Marjan van den Belt
On June 16, Mario Rigoni Stern has died aged 86, "left his bones" in the "mountains" in Asiago, encircled, and I would say rightly so, by his family. In this post I thought to do some miserable personal observation on the work of the most popular writer, but then I found it totally useless because they do not even know if, except perhaps in the schools of Vicenza, do you still read Sergeant in the snow. If my fears were justified, even before worrying about the contents of the book, one might ask: Who needs a "memory"? What sense does have all those dates as a reminder of the significant events, often tragic, as January 27, April 25 or February 10, though many boys, come out of high school, they know vaguely what happened in the first half of the twentieth century and known only through the second half of the spy novels (to be optimistic). Who are those occasions, for my grandfather? I hardly even remember what it's called, but can tell the days of captivity as if they were yesterday. For the dead? Which continue to be produced for the same reasons. For us? So that we make a feast day or more than one, if we have the ass to put a bridge.
Obviously I do not know an answer, I know is that the dates are of little use, are a facade and a half if there is a holiday to forget as soon as they heard. A book like the one written by Rigoni Stern (and how others end up in oblivion), however, serve much purpose: it serves to better understand what coldly tells us the history textbook and serves as a starting point for those who have often heard of the Second World War, but has studied in the last seven days of school because: "Damn, that account for the exam?" is used because it does not explain the causes and ideologies behind the events of the time, but it tells a 'unvarnished experience that perhaps can instill in readers the desire to know more about the circumstances.
Finally my usual rant I also remember the work play entitled "The Sergeant" by Marco Paolini, so well done and felt to be able to convince Mario Rigoni Stern to attend in person to the show, going down, perhaps for the last time, from his beloved mountains.
On June 5, was held in Wellington, New Zealand, World Environment Day. The main theme of the event revolved around climate change and special attention has been devoted to the possibility that countries, industries and communities to change their behavior to achieve economies and lifestyles, low CO2 . In waiting to find trusted material with the news and the conclusions of the meeting, I would just say a few words on the effects of global climate change and global warming in Agron told us.
was born in 1995, the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) that, using the global meteorological network, estimated a temperature increase of between 1.4 and 5.8 ° C by 2100 with a one meter rise in sea level . Are the most pessimistic estimates of the Hadley Centre for climate research in Britain for the same period of time provides an increase in temperature from 7 to 10 ° C. If we assume an average of these forecasts for the next hundred years (to be very very loose) will encounter the following problems.
The peripheral areas of polar glaciers will melt. The disintegration of permafrost in the north is already causing many problems in Canada and Alaska as the substrate, acquiring a slimy texture, is no longer capable of supporting infrastructure. While the South Pole is drastically reducing the number of some populations of animals.
Alpine glaciers, which have remained stable from 1450 to 1850, will be reduced more than 40%.
Coastal areas will be flooded. For concrete examples, with a 3 meter rise in sea, Manhattan would eventually flooded in many places, Wall Street and the World Trade Center. With a rise of 1 meter, 1 billion people face serious difficulties not only in terms of planning, but also because the virus local health, scattering at sea, they moved from one area of \u200b\u200bthe Earth. The issue of "environmental refugees" is already so worrisome that the High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations, created in 1950 to manage the exodus took place after World War II, declined any responsibility in this crisis. Currently, this problem affects about 25 million people around the world, but it could be of biblical proportions if the predictions of the IPCC, which are among the least pessimistic, prove to be accurate (according to the University of Oxford climate change will create approximately 150 million refugees by 2050).
heat waves will increase. The summers are much warmer, but most occur sudden spikes in temperature that led to the death of the weakest and which involve an increase in the frequency and intensity of fires.
The Mediterranean tend to become a subtropical extension of periods buckets and a thickening of the monsoon type rainfall that will become. These effects will be much stronger in areas with mountain ranges near the sea (Liguria, Apuan Alps, Sorrento, Calabria, etc.) and are an example of the floods in these areas: Genoa, Valle del Frigid-Serravezza, Sarno and so on.
will change the salinity of the sea and with it the sea currents. This will lead to change the climate of Europe with a drop in temperatures and increased rainfall.
subdesertiche In areas of Africa the rain will tend to become more uncertain. This situation will make the indigenous people unable to develop climate forecasts are essential to program storage systems.
The production of some species of high interest in food will decrease. For example, it was learned that the fertility of rice, on which most power in Southeast Asia, a decrease of 10% increase of a degree above 30 ° C.
plants and animals migrate. Two thirds of European butterflies live north of 50-300 km in a few decades ago.
It transform ecosystems. Large semi-arid grassland in Arizona, Texas, Mexico, etc., with the increase in precipitation, can already see the emergence of shrubs.
The boundaries of large parks will have to adapt to climate change to encompass ecosystems that have changed their boundaries.
The colors of the landscape will vary. For example, the famous colors of the maples areas of southern Canada no longer found in that area they will be replaced by those of poplars will switch from red to orange to yellow.
I spoke estimates and for convenience I have used the future, but it is the wrong approach because mental problems caused by climate change are under way NOW and affect us. In witness whereof carry the words of the President of the Republic of Kiribati Anoto Tong: "It is becoming a problem, the simple survival. We continue to move towards the interior of the islands, as the sea continues to cover part of the beaches and coastline, but until we do that? [...] The countries that declined to sign the Kyoto Protocol must now take moral responsibility for what is happening. "
