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and Our Responsibility To Sustain God’s Earth

CLIMATE CHANGE. and Our Responsibility To Sustain God’s Earth. How this presentation came about … In November 2005 I was given the opportunity to attend a conference in Canberra Climate Change – our responsibility to protect God’s Earth.

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and Our Responsibility To Sustain God’s Earth

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  1. CLIMATE CHANGE and Our Responsibility To Sustain God’s Earth

  2. How this presentation came about … In November 2005 I was given the opportunity to attend a conference in Canberra Climate Change – our responsibility to protect God’s Earth. The conference was organised by Catholic Earthcare Australia,the national ecological agency of the Australian Catholic Bishops mandated to promote the ‘ecological conversion’ called for by Pope John Paul II. It is not possible to recall/record everything that one hears at a conference! The following presentation is my attempt to share with others what I found compelling. It includes updates as I continue to read in this area of Climate Change. Annette Shears pbvm

  3. REFLECTIONonGod’s Earth PSALM 104 adapted

  4. Praise the Lord, my soul My God, how great you are You are clothed with majesty and light

  5. You have spread out the heavens like a tent

  6. You use the clouds as your chariot and ride on the wings of the wind

  7. You placed the ocean over the earth like a robe

  8. You make springs flow in the valleys

  9. And rivers run between the hills

  10. They provide water for the wild animals

  11. In the trees nearby the birds make their nests and sing

  12. From the skyyou send rainon the hills and the earth is filled with your blessings

  13. You make grass grow for the cattle and plants for us to use

  14. So that we can grow our crops and produce wine to make us happy and olive oil to make us cheerful and bread to give us strength

  15. You created the moonto mark the months You made the nightand the darkness The sun knows the timeto set

  16. There is the ocean, large and wide, where countless creatures live, large and small alike

  17. All of them depend on you to give them food when they need it.

  18. Lord, may your glory last forever I will sing to the Lord all my life. As long as I live I will sing praises to my God May God be pleased with my song.

  19. Global Warming

  20. What are some of the changes/effects that we can see as a result of Global Warming?

  21. A report commissioned by the Australian Government points out that some regions are highly vulnerable to climate change: • Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef • The Murray Darling Basin • SW Western Australia Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis

  22. Some effects • DUE TO RISING TEMPERATURES: • Land ice sheets are meltinge.g. Greenland, Polar Ice Caps • Glaciers are shrinking

  23. Greenland ice sheets are breaking off faster than previously believed – in the last 10 years,twice as fast.

  24. Krill, whale food,is in short supply. Krill, whale food, is not as plentiful As the ice sheets in the Arctic recede, polar bearshave difficulty finding food.

  25. Because of the melting of the polar ice caps, the Inuit people, whose whole livelihood depends on the environment and the cycle of change in the Arctic region, are losing their habitat, food source, way of life, culture.

  26. Sea levels are rising Loss of land, crops, freshwater supplies in Pacific Island Statese.g. Tuvalu, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, the Carterets in PNG, Bangladesh People have had to relocate, leaving whole islands empty and, in the process of relocating, losing their culture. (Bangladesh marked above) A 1 metre rise in sea level would flood rice fields in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, India and China, and force many millions from their homes.

  27. NZ has agreed to accept climate change refugees from Tuvalu. Canada is funding relocation of parts of Vanuatu. Australia has so far refused to accept any residents from Tuvalu who appealed for relocation.

  28. Other effects of global warming: Increase in water temperature in areas where hurricanes form is already resulting in more intense and more devastating hurricanes e.g. Hurricane Katerina that devastatedNew Orleans in 2005.

  29. Areas affected by the Tsunami experienced greater damage and loss in places where mangroves had been removed. Monsoons failing – some areas in Thailand can no longer grow rice.

  30. The Australian Scene

  31. SPECIES EXTINCTION

  32. We could be facing 20 to 50% of species becoming extinctover this century.

  33. Shearwaters on Heron Island have to fly too far to find food for their young. When the temperaturerises, the amount of food the birds bring back goes down. As the heat affects the plankton, the schools of small fish thin out. The tipping point of water temperature is 29o and the margins of survival are only 1 or 2 degrees.

  34. At 1200m, the forest is shrouded in mist. It is moist enough for the frogs to lay eggs on leaves. As the forest warms, the mist goes further up the mountain, so the frog’s habitat gets higher up. Eventually, there will be no part high enough for the frogs to go as the mist will be above the mountain, not over it. Mountain Nursery FrogMt Lewis, North Queensland (Picture is from clipart – it is not the actual Mountain Nursery Frog)

  35. Mountain Pygmy PossumSnowy Mountains When the snow falls on the boulders, it creates a blanket like a doona that keeps the hibernating possums warm underneath. (Picture is from clipart,it is not the actual possom)

  36. If the snow melts too frequently during the winter,or melts early in the spring, the possums lose their insulating environment. They wake up and use up their own body fat –and then there is no food to find. With 1o rise in annual average temperature, the snowline will creep almost to the top of the mountain. If the Mountain Pygmy Possumloses its environment, it will become extinct.

  37. The Earth’s Rainforests The loss of the rainforests has a great effect on Global Warming AND encapsulates many other ecological issues.

  38. Effects of Loss of Rainforests • Land degradation • Increase in CO² and methane (greenhouse gases) • Contributes to the breakdown of the ozone shield • Changes rainfall patterns • Aids the extinction of species • Aids the destruction of human beings

  39. Loss of biodiversity will mean a radical impoverishment of biological life and a drastic loss of the Earth’s capacity for biological adaptivity.

  40. Effects on Health Increased incidence of infectious diseases and their movement into ‘new’ regions e.g. malaria in some parts of world, tick-born encephalitis in Sweden. Older persons are susceptible to thermal stress. One effect is increase in deaths due to heat e.g. in Paris in recent years. Prof Tony McMichael

  41. What causes Global Warming? What causes global warming?

  42. Effects of Solar Radiation

  43. Composition of Earth’s Atmosphere The earth’s atmosphereis made up of: 78% Nitrogen 21% Oxygen 1% other gases Dividing the 1% on the left into 100 parts gives: 76% Carbon Dioxide 13% Methane 6% Nitrous Oxide 5% Fluorocarbons and small amounts of ‘rare’ gases

  44. Which gases contribute most to Global Warming? Carbon Dioxide Methane Nitrous Oxide Fluorocarbons

  45. Major contributors to high levels of Carbon Dioxidein the atmosphere: • Power plants • Cars and trucks • Major Transportation • Factories • Home Heating Systems • Deforestation

  46. Methane Emissions during production and transport of coal, natural gas and oil decomposition of organic waste rice cultivation raising livestock (in 1 day, a cow can emit 250gm methane – 1.3 billion cattle burp several times/minute)

  47. Emitted during Industrial activitiese.g. nitrogen fertilizers Automobile exhaust Disposing of human and animal waste in sewage treatment plants Nitrous Oxide

  48. Greenhouse gasesare not naturally occurringand contribute to Global Warming Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)(used in air conditioners and refrigerators - don’t harm ozone layer BUT trap heat) Perfluorcarbons (PFCs) Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)(generated in a variety of industrial processes)

  49. Australians are the highest emitters of greenhouse gasesin the world. We are one of the big causes of the problemyet we have been unwilling to accept the consequences of our lifestyle. Climate Change refugees who are suffering as a result of our lifestyle have been refused entry to Australia by our Government.

  50. One way our lifestyle worsens the situation: FOOD The average food item travels over 2,000 kmto arrive at our table. If we eat 10 or so items a day, in a year’s timeour food will have conquered 8 million kmby land, sea and air. Adapted from Small Wonder, Barbara Kingsolver

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