Our Environment

Here at Our-Environment.com we are passionate about the Earth and helping to create a better, sustainable environment for ourselves and our descendants.

Environment Vinyl Banner

We are not “tree huggers” we do not want to move back to the stone age, we believe that there are solutions available and available now. Sure there are costs to consider, though the price of ignoring the impact we as a species we have on the environment is even more costly.

Helping us achieve our goals are our sponsors. Our-Environment.com’s major sponsor since the beginning has been Steve Scott (the vinyl banner guy) from B2bJv.com, Steve has helped us in many ways, financially by helping keep our website alive and also by designing and supplying some great vinyl banners for us that we have used to promote the cause.

Here in this article is an example of one of our banners Steve’s created for us. Thanks Mate we all appreciate all your support.

Jamie & The Team at Our-Environment.com

I think it’s important to keep a positive mental attitude in our lives as much as we can. It’s good for us, good for people around us, it makes the world a better place.

That said there are some things that leave me…. peeved. Not angry, not upset, not hostile just peeved.

Greenhouse Effect - To Be or Not to Be - No Question

The thing that triggers this response in me most readily is comments and belief that Climate Change is a natural phenomenon. That Global Warming is just part of the cycle the Earth goes through, and that no human activity could possibly cause any impact on the larger environment.

Are the people who believe this BS from another planet? Are they consultants for the oil companies and the coal mining lobby? Or does this fall into the basket of someone else’s problem, and let’s just pretend that Climate Change through human activity does not exist. The Ostrich Syndrome…

Last time I checked, the levels of Carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere every day was a staggering 70 million tonnes – each day. Now I don’t care what cultural background you have, or what level of schooling you have enjoyed. But in my humble opinion 70 million tonnes is a lot of anything, let alone a known greenhouse causing gas that we are pumping into the air we breathe every 24 hours.

One favourite pastime of mine is astronomy, I am an amateur astronomer (very amateur) and enjoyed looking into the heavens and dreaming of what’s out there since I was a small boy. So as such I have a fundamental understanding of the nature and composition on the planets in our solar system. Of course where this fits in to this particular comment is the planet Venus, a classic case on runaway greenhouse effect.

The surface temperature of Venus is about 400 °C (or around 800 °F), so what is my point? I am no scientist so let’s have a quote from Bill Arnett (University of Arizona), and I quote.

“The dense atmosphere of Venus (primarily CO2) produces a run-away greenhouse effect that raises Venus’ surface temperature by about 400 degrees to over 740 K (hot enough to melt lead). Venus’ surface is actually hotter than Mercury’s despite being nearly twice as far from the Sun.”

Venus’ surface is actually hotter than Mercury’s despite being nearly twice as far from the Sun, interesting don’t you think. Why… the CO2.

Thousands of millennia ago the Earth had a carbon loaded atmosphere akin to that of Venus, the temperature unbearable by today’s standards and the atmospheric pressure over 100 times what we enjoy today (equivalent of being about a mile under water).

Over an age through natural processes (including photosynthesis), this carbon was pulled from the atmosphere sequestered into the Earth largely in the form of fossil fuels, oil and coal.

This occurred about almost 3 billion years ago when a microbe called Cyanobacteria (one of the first form of life on Earth) came into being. Cyanobacteria were the first oxygen-producing phototropic organisms, and they slowly sucked in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release the oxygen you and I need to breathe.

This process took a long time, about 500 million years. It happened during the early Paleoproterozoic age. These microbes converted the Earth’s atmosphere from an anoxic (or oxygen-poor) atmosphere into an oxic (oxygen rich) condition.

The problem now is that we are undoing all the good work that the microbe Cyanobacteria did for us. By burning coal and oil and releasing the CO2 back into our atmosphere we are turning back the clock in a way that will eventually lead to an obvious result – the Greenhouse effect.

You and I may not be here to see the Greenhouse effect here on Earth at its worst, though if thing keep going the way they are – out of control – No One Will Be Here To See It….

Food for thought, what are you doing about it today?

Recommended Resource

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-history-of-the-earths-atmosphere.htm

Peeved

Jamie

Where has all the water gone?

Today my comments come from Paros. Almost all the islands in the Cyclades we have visited do not have their own supply of fresh water. How do they manage?

In my wandering around the main town here on Paros I cam across these dry canals and many other examples of well built water supply areas – when and why were they built?

Paros, with its dramatic landscape and fertile plains, embodies all that is associated with the Greek islands. Composed mainly of marble, the island rises out of the central Aegean to its peak at 771 meters above sea level.

Paros has been inhabited since at least 4000BC and is famous for its almost translucent marble. Some of the famous statues from Parian marble are the Venus de Milo, the Victory of Samothrace and the Hermes of Praxiteles.

So water must have been around millenia ago – where has it gone? When did the climate change here?

I’d be interested to hear your views……

Water shortgae on Paros?

World Environment Day at Vathy

Today, around the world, there is an increased focus on the environment. Its World Environment Day. What does this really mean to you and me?

For me, it’s a time to reflect on how I have contributed to improving climate change educational opportunities available online since last year. It’s my aim to have freely available project material for all ages of students in a variety of formats. By the end of this month the first packages will be ready for download so I’m very excited about the progress being made whilst I am continuing my research here in the Cyclades.

One of my colleagues is involved in the management of national parks and wildlife reserves in Australia. For her it is a reminder that our climate is changing and there is a limited time to carry out research into native habitats before we need to be preparing plans of management for the changes that are already occuring.

Take some time out today to think about what World Environment Day means to you…..

World-Environment-Day-2009

View from the yacht before leaving dry dock

In the last few northern hemisphere spring and summer seasons I have found myself on board a yacht travelling as much as we can via wind power (i.e. sailing) through international waters from Croatia to Greece. Along the way I am keeping an eye on changes in the climate from year to year as well as listening to locals about their observations on climate change, wind generated power, solar power and global warming.

For the next couple of months I am going to be travelling thanks to wind generated power. So, every couple of days I’ll be updating this blog with my exploits and discoveries.

This year I am setting sail from Leros, Greece. This island is part of the Dodecanese Islands. It is located in the north western part of the archipelago, between the islands of Patmos and Kalymnos – closer to Turkey than Athens!

Its surface is about 54 square kilometers with a length of 15 kilometers. The coastline is about 46 kilometers, littered with small bays that are ideal for sightseeing, swimming, diving or fishing.

This is an island that does not have any smog with secluded coves as well as a gentle countryside and impressive bays for larger yachts.

Climate change is not a media phrase to these people. On this island they live off agriculture, particularly bee keeping, so what is happening with the climate directly affects them each and every day. In summer, tourism is another source of income – one which can also be adversely affected by changes in the climate.

My conversations with the locals have confirmed that this past winter was the wettest anyone can remember and this has been followed by rain in spring (the first time I have encountered this in my travels). There also appears to be many more biting insects this year – especially mosquitoes, again something I have not experienced here before.

Let the adventure and research begin – I’ll keep you posted.

View of a bay near Lakki