Jean-Michel Cousteau

"Is it too late to prevent us from self-destructing? No, for we have the
capacity to design our own future, to take a lesson from living things
around us and bring our values and actions in line with ecological
necessity.
But we must first realize that ecological and social and economic issues
are all deeply intertwined. There can be no solution to one without a
solution to the others."

The Fresh Water bank account of Asia...

a compelling video by David Breashears:
http://www.asiasociety.org/onthinnerice
The nearly 60,000 square kilometers (14.8 million acres) of glaciers on the greater Tibetan Plateau, mostly in China, are the largest ice mass outside the polar regions. The ice has shrunk by 7% over the past four decades and two thirds could disappear by 2100, according to conservative estimates by Chinese scientists.
by Chinese Academy of Sciences

BBC/Science: Greenland ice loss 'accelerating'

The Greenland ice sheet is losing its mass faster than in previous years and making an increasing contribution to sea level rise, a study has confirmed.

Published in the journal Science, it has also given scientists a clearer view of why the sheet is shrinking.

The team used weather data, satellite readings and models of ice sheet behaviour to analyse the annual loss of 273 thousand million tonnes of ice.

Melting of the entire sheet would raise sea levels globally by about 7m (20ft).

For the period 2000-2008, melting Greenland ice raised sea levels by an average of about 0.46mm per year.

If you multiply these numbers up it puts us well beyond the IPCC estimates for 2100 Professor Roger Barry

Since 2006, that has increased to 0.75mm per year.

"Since 2000, there's clearly been an accelerating loss of mass [from the ice sheet]," said lead researcher Michiel van den Broeke from Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

"But we've had three very warm summers, and that's enhanced the melt considerably

In total, sea levels are rising by about 3mm per year, principally because seawater is expanding as it warms.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8357537.stm

Tear down the wall and save the planet!

Tear down the wall and save the planet!

Gorbachev said today, “There is the wall between those who cause climate change and those who suffer the consequences. There is the wall between those who heed the scientific evidence and those who pander to vested interests. And there is the wall between the citizens who are changing their own behavior and want strong global action, and the leaders who are so far letting them down".

Matthieu Ricard in Paris

I did get a chance to speak with Matthieu Ricard (http://www.matthieuricard.org/) this afternoon as he was doing a book signing at the Paris showrom of Yellow Korner (http://www.yellowkorner.com/)
Interestingly, his next possible photographic destinations: The Arctic, Iceland...
"Que l'amour altruiste règne en ton coeur"

Fr Left to Right: Yves Moutran, Christophe Laurent, Matthieu Ricard, Luc Hardy at the Yellow Korner gallery rue des Francs Bourgeois in Paris

Literary Lights 2009

Local news: Literary Lights 2009
Greenwich Arts Council and Barrett Bookstore
We are delighted to confirm the participation of Luc Hardy, author of Arctic Transitions and Greenland Impressions, at Literary Lights 2009: A Book Festival on Thursday, November 12, 2009. The event will be held from 6:00 to 8:30 PM at the Greenwich Arts Council, 299 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830 (in the heart of Greenwich’s downtown shopping area).

All friends welcome! There will be wine and food and lots of great books and interesting authors (including me ;)). http://www.greenwicharts.org/literarylink.asp

GCI Teams up with Pureology Serious Colour Care

Pureology Serious Colour Care, a leading professional hair care brand of L’Oréal USA, has formed a global partnership with Green Cross International (GCI) in a pioneering venture to help encourage salon professionals to support sustainable practices and projects. Founded in 1993 by President Mikhail Gorbachev, Green Cross International’s mission is to help face some of the world’s most critical environmental challenges.
http://www.gci.ch/en/communication/news-of-green-cross-international/33-news/509-gci-teams-up-with-pureology-serious-colour-carer-

UFG hosts dinner for Jean-Michel Cousteau

Sept. 14, 2009 –Paris: PaxArctica's Himalaya Expedition 2009 - main sponsor UFG hosts a dinner honoring Jean-Michel Cousteau, President of Green Cross France.
From left to right: Yves Moutran (GCF Board member)-Xavier Lepine (CEO Groupe UFG) - Jean-Michel Cousteau (http://www.oceanfutures.org/jmc/jmc_index.php) - Bertrand Fournier (Chairman of the Management Board of Sarasin Asset Management http://www.groupe-ufg.com/nos-expertises/isr/(France) - Luc Hardy (GCF Secretary General) - Adam Koniuszewski (COO, Green Cross International)

350

TODAY, the 24 October, people in 181 countries came together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet's history. At over 5200 events around the world, people gathered to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis. http://www.350.org/

More Americans Doubt Global Warming

COUNTERINTUITIVE... but maybe at the end of a (relatively) 'cool' year, people look at a one-year data point instead of the centuries-long chart??
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/22/climate-change-us-pew-survey
Michael Crichton's legacy lives on. A new survey by the Pew Research
Center shows a precipitous decline in the number of Americans who
believe in global warming. In 2007, 77 percent of Americans thought that
global warming was backed by scientific evidence. Today, it's only 57
percent, with the sharpest drop occurring in independent voters and
Republicans. The numbers were released just a week before the Senate
begins debating climate-change legislation. In anticipation of that, a
handful of scientific organizations have written Congress to confirm
that, indeed, global warning is a real phenomenon. How did this happen?
An associate director at Pew posits that bigger issues, such as the
economy and health-care reform, have taken the spotlight off climate
change as of late.

U.N.'s Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon PHOTOS!

As the climate summit in Copenhagen approaches, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon shares his take on stunning photos that document how warming temperatures are changing the planet: http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-13/shocking-climate-change-photos/#gallery=819;page=1

Conference - Thursday, October 22 @ 7 P.M.

Luc Hardy
Vanishing Arctic Ice Shelves
Thursday, October 22

The conference will take place @ The Arts Center, Meeting Room, 2nd floor, 299 Greenwich Ave.
Thursday, October 22 @ 7 P.M.

Lecture in English

In the summer of 2008, Luc Hardy led a 16 person expedition composed of scientists and “young ambassadors”, ages 9 to 17, to the Canadian Arctic to report on the rapid changes in the area. Slides of the voyage to this beautiful, but largely inaccessible region will accompany Mr. Hardy’s lecture on the eyewitness accounts as well as the scientific findings. Luc Hardy, President of Sagax in Greenwich, is also a keen environmental advocate and the founder of the Pax Arctica Initiative, created to increase knowledge of the threats facing the Arctic, to spread global peace, and to promote new ecological regulations in the region. Mr. Hardy will have on hand copies of his book, “Arctic Transitions: Witness to Change - Young Ambassadors in Nunavut”.

http://www.afusa.org/af/greenwich/conferences.htm

Gorbatchev - "On a évité une troisième guerre mondiale"

"Le dernier président de l'URSS donne sa version personnelle des événements qui ont conduit à la chute du mur de Berlin, et dit ce qu'il pense d'Obama, de Medvedev et de Poutine." (source: Le Figaro)
Gorbatchev.pdf

Thawing Tibetan Plateau

After surveying the Himalayas for many years, the respected Chinese glaciologist Yao Tandong recently warned that, given present trends, almost two-thirds of the plateau’s glaciers could well disappear within the next 40 years.
For more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/opinion/26Schell.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=yao%20tandong&st=cse

Paul Krugman on climate change

From Nobel Prize winner economist Paul Krugman:

... The prognosis for the planet has gotten much, much worse in just the last few years.
... In a rational world, then, the looming climate disaster would be our dominant political and policy concern. But it manifestly isn’t. Why not?
... Responding to climate change with the vigor that the threat deserves would not, contrary to legend, be devastating for the economy as a whole.
... Even as climate modelers have been reaching consensus on the view that the threat is worse than we realized, economic modelers have been reaching consensus on the view that the costs of emission control are lower than many feared.
... So the time for action is now. O.K., strictly speaking it’s long past. But better late than never.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/opinion/28krugman.html