1/26/2009 JVNA Online Newsletter

Shalom everyone,

This update/Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) Online Newsletter has the following items:

1. Converting Tu B'Shvat to a Jewish Earth Day

2. Israeli Jewish Vegetarian Society Getting Active Again/Scheduling Activities

3. Israel's Severe Drought Worsens

4. JVNA Press Release About Israel's Severe Drought and Dietary Connections

5. Strategy Ideas Re Getting Vegetarianism Onto Israel's Agenda

6. Article by JVNA Advisor and Author Lewis Regenstein re Jewish Teachings on Animals

7. Reducing the Slaughter of Wild Life

8. Can We Persuade President Obama to Switch Toward Vegetarianism

9. My Letter to President Obama re Vegetarianism Published in the Staten Island Advance

10. Getting Our Messages to Science Educators

11. More on Global Warming Threats

Some material has been deferred to a later update/newsletter to keep this one from being even longer.

[Materials in brackets like this [ ] within an article or forwarded message are my editorial notes/comments.]

Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the JVNA, unless otherwise indicated, but may be presented to increase awareness and/or to encourage respectful dialogue. Also, material re conferences, retreats, forums, trips, and other events does not necessarily imply endorsement by JVNA or endorsement of the kashrut, Shabbat observances, or any other Jewish observances, but may be presented for informational purposes. Please use e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, and web sites to get further information about any event that you are interested in. Also, JVNA does not necessarily agree with all positions of groups whose views are included or whose events are announced in this newsletter.

As always, your comments and suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks,

Richard

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1. Converting Tu B'Shvat to a Jewish Earth Day

Please use the press release below as a means to try to get environmental activities scheduled in your community related to Tu B'Shvat, which occurs on February 8 and 9 this year. In view of the many threats to Israel, the US and, indeed the entire world from global warming and other environmental problems, it is essential that we use Tu B'Shvat and other opportunities to get such issues onto the Jewish and other agendas. Many thanks.

JEWISH GROUP URGES THAT TU B'SHVAT BE CONSIDERED A JEWISH EARTH DAY

For Immediate Release:
January 11, 2009
Contact:
Richard H. Schwartz, President of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA)
President@JewishVeg.com Phone: (718) 761-5876

Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) issued the following statement today:

In view of the major threats to Israel and, indeed, the entire world from global warming and other environmental problems, it is essential that the Jewish community join with others in responding, and an excellent time to start is Tu B'Shvat, which starts this year at sundown on Sunday evening, February 8. This increasingly popular “New Year for the trees” should be considered a “Jewish Earth Day.”

With Israel facing the worst drought in its history, and with the Israeli Union for Environmental Defense projecting that, if present trends continue, global warming will result in Israel soon facing major heat waves, a reduction of rainfall of up to 30 percent, severe storms causing major flooding, and a rising Mediterranean Sea which would inundate the coastal plain where most Israelis live, rabbis and other Jewish leaders should support and join major efforts to combat global warming.

“It is urgent that tikkun olam-the healing and repair of the world -- be a central issue in synagogues, Jewish schools and other Jewish institutions,” stated Richard Schwartz, president of JVNA. “Judaism has splendid teachings on environmental conservation and sustainability, and it is essential that they be applied to respond to the many current environmental threats, in order to move our imperiled planet to a sustainable path.”

Consistent with the fact that all the foods at the traditional Tu B'Shvat seder are from plants, JVNA also urges rabbis and other Jewish leaders to make Jews aware of how plant-based diets are most consistent with basic Jewish mandates to preserve human health, treat animals compassionately, protect the environment, conserve natural resources and help hungry people.

According to a UN Food and Agricultural Organization 2006 report, animal-based agriculture emits more greenhouse gases (in CO2 equivalents) than all the cars, planes, ships and other means of transportation worldwide combined. The report projects that the number of farmed animals worldwide, currently about 56 billion, will double in 50 years. If that happened, the increased greenhouse gas emissions would negate the effects of many positive changes that environmentalists support. Hence a major societal shift to vegetarianism is imperative.

Further information about these issues can be found at the JVNA web site JewishVeg.com. JVNA will provide complimentary copies of its new documentary A SACRED DUTY: APPLYING JEWISH VALUES TO HELP HEAL THE WORLD and related materials to rabbis and other Jewish leaders who will contact them (mail@jewishVeg.com) and indicate that they will consider using them to involve their congregations on the issues.

We plan to contact rabbis and other Jewish leaders and urge them to make Tu B'Shvat a Jewish Earth Day.

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Supporting material includes the following:

The threats are really worldwide. There are daily reports of severe droughts, storms, flooding and wildfires and about meltings of polar icecaps and glaciers. All this due to an average temperature increase of about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 100 years, and global climate scientists are projecting an increase of from 3 to 11 degrees Farhrenheit in the next 100 years, and this would result in an unprecedented catastrophe for humanity.

Some climate scientists are warning that global warming could reach a tipping point and spin out of control in a few years, with disastrous consequences, unless major changes soon occur

Al Gore pointed out that the United States must free itself from fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy sources by 2018. He stressed the urgency of the change by stating: 'the survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk,' and that 'The future of human civilization is at stake.'

When we read daily reports of the effects of global climate change, such as record heat waves, severe flooding, widespread droughts, unprecedented numbers of wild fires, and the melting of glaciers and polar icecaps; when some climate scientists are warning that global climate change may spin out of control with disastrous consequences unless major changes are soon made; when a recent report indicated that our oceans may be virtually free of fish by 2050; when species of plants and animals are disappearing at the fastest rate in history; when it is projected that half of the world's people will live in areas chronically short of water by 2050; it is essential that the Jewish community fulfill our mandate to be a “light unto the nations” and lead efforts to address these critical issues.

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2. Israeli Jewish Vegetarian Society Getting Active Again/Scheduling Activities

Below is an message sent out about recent events scheduled at the Israeli Jewish Vegetarian Society (JVS):

January 22, 2008,

Shalom JVS members and supporters:

Here are some announcements about upcoming events at the Jewish Vegetarian Society (JVS) Center at 8 Balfour Street in the Rehavia section of Jerusalem:

1) On the last Tuesday of every month, at 7pm, we are going to have a vegan pot-luck in the center in 8 Balfour St. in Jerusalem. The first will be on the coming Tuesday, January 27th, at 7pm. People are invited to come and bring their friends for an evening of eating, talking and socializing. Bring and share a vegan dish (no meat, no fish, no eggs, no milk, no honey, please) - it can be well-known or innovative, cooked or raw, simple or complicated, small or large… or just come with no dish and participate.

To get updates and invitations to events from the Jewish Vegetarian Society in Jerusalem, people can subscribe to our google-group mailing list or join our facebook groups:

subscription to our mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/ijvs/subscribe?hl=en
Our facebook group in English: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=46402857803
Our facebook group in Hebrew: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45125543380

2) Please reserve Sunday evening, February 8 for a Tu B'Shvat seder at the JVS Center. More details to follow soon.

3) On Thursday evening, February 12, at 8 PM, Rabbi Noach Valley, a long time vegetarian activist and former president of Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA), will be speaking on "My 40 Years Out Of The Wilderness."

For further information, please contact JVS Board Chairperson Yossi Wolfson at reyo@Netvision.net.il.

If you have suggestions re future JVS activities, please bring them up at the various JVS events or email Yossi.

The news item below [about the severe drought in Israel] indicates why it is essential to have an active Jewish Vegetarian Society. Israel is now facing the most severe drought in its history. Meanwhile, animal-based diets and agriculture use water, energy, land and other resources very wastefully and also contribute very substantially to global warming, which is major factor behind droughts, and is projected to increase heat waves, severe storms and a rising Mediterranean, which could flood the coastal plain where most Israelis live.

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3. Israel's Severe Drought Worsens

Israel halts Sea of Galilee water pumping


January 22, 2009

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/01/22/1002430/israel-halts-sea-of-galilee-water-pumping

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel has halted pumping water from the Sea of Galilee.

Pumping from Israel's main water source stopped Monday when the water level reached about 16 inches from the "black line," beyond which pumping is strictly prohibited.

Water instead is being pumped from Israel's underground aquifers, which are also at dangerously low levels.

Rainfall in Israel this year has been at about half of its annual average. This month is on track to be the driest in the history of such records, according to Ha'aretz.

Water sources that flow into the Sea of Galilee, also called Lake Kinneret , are also at their lowest level ever.

Israel is in the midst of its fifth consecutive year of drought.

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4. JVNA Press Release About Israel's Severe Drought and Dietary Connections

[Please use this press release and other information to send letters to editors, rabbis, other Jewish leaders and others. Thanks.]

CHANGING DIET CAN PROTECT ISRAEL FROM CLIMATE CATASTROPHE

For Immediate Release:
January 25, 2009
Contact:
Richard H. Schwartz, President of the Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA)
President@JewishVeg.com
Phone: (718) 761-5876 [Cell 917-576-0344)

Jewish Vegetarians of North America (JVNA) issued the following statement today:

Last Monday, the most severe drought in Israel's history -- caused or exacerbated by global warming -- prompted an emergency halt to the pumping of water from the depleted Kinneret (also known as the Sea of Galilee), with water instead being pumped from Israel's underground aquifers, which are also at dangerously low levels. (JTA report follows is at he end of this release.) If present trends continue, the Israeli Union for Environmental Defense (IUED) projects that global warming will soon result in Israel facing major heat waves, a reduction of rainfall of up to 30 percent, severe storms causing major flooding, and a rising Mediterranean Sea which would inundate the coastal plain where most Israelis live.

"These deeply worrying events should be a wake-up call to the Jewish community that global warming poses an existential threat to the state of Israel that rivals any other," stated Richard Schwartz, president of JVNA.

“Tikkun olam -- the healing and repair of the world, which includes the prevention of global warming -must become a central issue of discussion and action in Jewish institutions, from schools and synagogues to newspapers and websites," added Schwartz. “Our Jewish tradition abounds with splendid teachings on environmental conservation and sustainability. These must be applied to the environmental crisis we face today.”

DIET IS KEY

Though not well publicized, there is a scientific consensus that one of the most powerful ways humanity can fight global warming is to shift to a more climate-friendly diet.

A landmark 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization estimated that globally livestock production is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs, in CO2 equivalents) than the world's entire transportation sector. The report, “Livestock's Long Shadow,” projects that the world's current population of about 56 billion farmed animals will double in 50 years if human population growth and dietary trends continue. The resulting increase in greenhouse gas emissions would largely negate reduction goals for GHG emissions from transportation, electricity and other, higher-profile sectors.

Expert recognition of the importance of diet in preventing global warming is growing. This fall, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared a Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore in 2008, called on people in the developed world to "give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it from there." More recently, NASA climatologist James Hansen -- the world's most prominent scientific advocate of aggressive action against global warming -- told an interviewer:

"... if you eat further down on the food chain rather than animals, which have produced many greenhouse gases, and used much energy in the process of growing that meat, you can actually make a bigger contribution in that way than just about anything. So, that, in terms of individual action, is perhaps the best thing you can do."

Since 1979, JVNA has raised awareness of the environmental, health, humanitarian and other benefits of a global shift to vegetarian, vegan or plant-based, diets, most recently in its feature-length documentary film: A SACRED DUTY: APPLYING JEWISH VALUES TO HELP HEAL THE WORLD. It can be viewed at www.ASacredDuty.com.

"JVNA is eager to make its expertise and resources available to all educators, rabbis, journalists, policymakers and other conscientious and influential Jews so they may heighten awareness within the Jewish community not only of the seriousness of global warming but of the power of ethical dietary choices to prevent it," said Schwartz.

The issues are so critical that JVNA is spearheading a campaign to turn Tu B'Shvat into a Jewish Earth Day and urging synagogues, Jewish schools and other institutions to arrange environmental activities on and around that day which occurs on February 8-9 this year.


FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT JEWISHVEG.COM

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Supplementary Material on Global Warming Threats

The threats from global warming are really worldwide. There are daily reports of severe droughts, storms, flooding and wildfires and about meltings of polar icecaps and glaciers. All this due to an average temperature increase of about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 100 years, and global climate scientists are projecting an increase of from 3 to 11 degrees Fahrenheit in the next 100 years, and this would result in an unprecedented catastrophe for humanity.

Some climate scientists are warning that global warming could reach a tipping point and spin out of control in a few years, with disastrous consequences, unless major changes soon occur

Al Gore pointed out that the United States must free itself from fossil fuels and switch to renewable energy sources by 2018. He stressed the urgency of the change by stating: 'the survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk,' and that 'The future of human civilization is at stake.'

When we read daily reports of the effects of global climate change, such as record heat waves, severe flooding, widespread droughts, unprecedented numbers of wild fires, and the melting of glaciers and polar icecaps; when some climate scientists are warning that global climate change may spin out of control with disastrous consequences unless major changes are soon made; when a recent report indicated that our oceans may be virtually free of fish by 2050; when species of plants and animals are disappearing at the fastest rate in history; when it is projected that half of the world's people will live in areas chronically short of water by 2050; it is essential that the Jewish community fulfill our mandate to be a “light unto the nations” and lead efforts to address these critical issues.

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JTA article:

Please see item #3 above.

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5. Strategy Ideas Re Getting Vegetarianism Onto Israel's Agenda

Shalom everyone,

I thought you might be interested in my press release below [actually in an item above, about Israel's severe drought].

Perhaps it might be the basis of a letter-writing campaign. Perhaps at Tuesday's pot luck get together, ten or 15 minutes might be devoted to writing letters to editors, MKs (Knesset members), rabbis, etc. Perhaps stationery and pens can be provided along with suggested key points to bring up.

As you know Israel is a relatively small country with national newspapers, and with relatively easy access to media, MKs, rabbis, Yeshiva heads, etc. So, it is a great place to be active and we have a very important message in this time of an epidemic of diseases and major threats from global warming and other environmental problems.

Perhaps JVS can consider how to reach out with our vegetarian message, especially at a time when there is an epidemic of diseases in Israel and elsewhere and when Israel and the entire world are threatened with global warming/scorching and other environmental threats.

Suggestions very welcome.

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6. Article by JVNA Advisor and Author Lewis Regenstein re Jewish Teachings on Animals

jtonline.us/main.asp?SectionID4&subsectionID&articleIDa18

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7. Reducing the Slaughter of Wild Life

Forwarded message:

Dear Friends and Activists,

This effort is huge and we can make a difference by learning about it and helping. The extermination of wild animals, (WHERE ALL SO CALLED FARMED ANIMALS WERE DERIVED FROM) is another result of the meat and dairy industry, a tragic consequence of the human diet. It's even more tragic that these natural canivores are being slaughtered with our tax dollars, when the industries doing it are also promoting preventable disease in children and adults.

www.plantbasednutrition.org

Please forward this to everyone who cares about nature and our sacred earth....and how OUR taxes are spent.

Laura Beth Slitt

Bartlett,NH

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Forwarded message from: Brian Vincent
Subject: Please sign letter to abolish Wildlife Services funding

PLEASE FORWARD TO OTHER WILDLIFE ADVOCATES

PLEASE SIGN ONTO LETTER TO ABOLISH WILDLIFE SERVICES FUNDING

Below is a letter prepared by Wild Earth Guardians (WEG) to the Obama Administration urging the White House to end funding of the Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services. As you may be aware, every year, Wildlife Services kills millions of animals, including thousands of native carnivores. The agency employs a host of cruel - and expensive and unnecessary - methods to kill coyotes, bears, cougars, wolves, and other wildlife. Animals are shot, poisoned, gassed in their dens, trapped, snared, clubbed, pursued by hounds, targeted from helicopters and planes, or lured to bait stations where they are shot. Other animals, even family dogs and cats, are unintentionally injured or killed by agency actions. In 2007, alone, Wildlife Services killed 2.4 million animals, including 121,565 carnivores. The agency reported it spent over $100 million in 2007 to kill wildlife, most of which was funded by taxpayers. Among those animals killed in 2007: 90,262 coyotes, 2,277 gray foxes, 2,412 red foxes, 2,090 bobcats, 1,133 cats, 552 dogs, 577 badgers, and 340 gray wolves.

Big Wildlife is also working to halt Wildlife Services' cruel and unnecessary wildlife extermination methods. With that in mind, we enthusiastically support WEG's efforts and encourage you to add your organization's name to their letter. We believe it is critical that we collectively make our concerns known to the Obama Administration. We are already seeing encouraging signs that this White House is willing to listen and to act on behalf of animals. (For example, one of President Obama's first official actions was putting the brakes on last minute regulations by the previous Administration, including a move by former President Bush to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list. On his first day, President Obama issued a freeze on publications of federal regulations planned under the Bush Administration but not yet published in the Federal Register. That action will give the Obama Administration time to review the wolf delisting and, quite possibly, prevent the premature removal of gray wolves from the list in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes regions.)

So, please make your voices heard by signing onto the letter below. See instructions under "what you can do."

And, thanks for caring so much for the animals and the Earth!

WHAT YOU CAN DO
To sign on, simply send the following information to Brian Vincent. He will then forward that information to WEG.

YOUR NAME:
TITLE:
AFFILIATION:
ADDRESS:
PHONE:
EMAIL:
WEBSITE URL:

DEADLINE TO SIGN ON: January 29, 2009

SIGN ON LETTER URGING END TO WILDLIFE SERVICES FUNDING
DATE

January 26, 2009

Nancy Killefer, Chief Performance Officer
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500

Re: Get the Federal Government Out of the Wildlife Extermination Business

Dear Ms. Killefer:

President Barack Obama has called for budget reform and line-by-line review to root out government programs that do not work. In his inaugural address of January 20th, Mr. Obama called upon government to “restore science,” make government “work” and when it does not to “end” programs.

One obvious candidate for the axe is Wildlife Services, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which spends over $100 million annually to kill more than one million animals-including black and grizzly bears, beavers, mountain lions, coyotes, and wolves. Most of this killing is done to protect private industry and public lands ranchers, yet all Americans foot the bill for this ineffective, wasteful, ecologically unsound, and ethically indefensible agency.

Between 2004 and 2007, Wildlife Services killed more than 8.3 million animals, largely at taxpayer expense. We contend this agency is:

o Biologically and Fiscally Unsound: Both biologists and economists criticize Wildlife Services for using a “sledgehammer approach” to wildlife management, which relies largely on non-selective killing methods such as poison, primitive neck snares and traps, and aerial gunning, but fails to look at look at long-term, ecologically sound, and humane solutions to human-wildlife conflicts;

o Unnecessary. A handful of livestock producers actually experience predator problems while the vast majority of unintended cattle and sheep deaths come from birthing problems, disease, or weather, not predation. In essence, Wildlife Services' livestock protection program is an unneeded, costly subsidy to one private business that unfairly competes with private animal control businesses for contracts;

o Sloppy and Dangerous. Wildlife Services litters the American landscape with deadly poisons and traps that are inherently indiscriminate and often kill curious pets, threatened and endangered species, and other animals that are unintentionally killed. The USDA's Office of Inspector General has sanctioned Wildlife Services as a security threat on several occasions for its negligent handling of toxicants. Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency charged the agency for improper placement of sodium cyanide booby trap on public lands that harmed a Fish and Wildlife Service biologist and killed his dog. In addition, the Wildlife Services aerial gunning program caused at least ten human fatalities and 28 injuries to federal employees and contractors; and

o Anachronistic, Unethical, and Environmentally Abusive. Because of this agency's history of misuse and abuse of wildlife and public lands, it has been called to task by Congress several times over its 100-year history. A 1995 GAO report found that Wildlife Services fails to use non-lethal methods to protect livestock and a 2001 GAO report said the agency could not justify its costs relative to its benefits. Moreover, the American Society of Mammologists - one of the oldest and most respected professional associations of scientists in North America - have issued two resolutions, first in 1934, and then in 1999, that called on the agency to “cease indiscriminate, preemptive, lethal control programs on federal, state, and private lands….and to focus on the implementation of non-lethal control strategies, compensatory measures, and sound animal husbandry techniques.”

Astonishingly, even though practical and time-tested non-lethal alternatives are available, Wildlife Services continues to rely on lethal, indiscriminate methods that wastes millions of dollars in worthless, “research” projects that provide little to no practical applicability. In the meantime, new, more effective non-lethal techniques that have been developed are seldom actually employed in the field. The few useful functions of this agency could be easily transferred to state, local and private agencies without ill effect. The Portland International Airport, for example, handles its own bird-strike mitigation program.

As the Obama Administration takes its scalpel to root out costly and wasteful programs, we urge the administration to see this agency for what it is by getting rid of this costly, ineffective, and unjustifiable boondoggle.

Sincerely yours,

--

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT BIG WILDLIFE'S WEBSITE AT: www.bigwildlife.org

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8. Can We Persuade President Obama to Switch Toward Vegetarianism

Forwarded message from author and JVNA advisor Arthur Poletti:

Thank you Google Alerts for helping to spread the word about the benefits of vegetarianism.

Only a few things need to happen that together would definitely persuade President Barack Obama to become a vegetarian.

The first step would be for President Obama to communicate with the Commissioner of the Chicago Public Health Department Dr. Terry Mason and ask him to explain why he has become a vegetarian and has recommended that everyone else do the same.

'The next dramatic step would be to persuade President Obama to consider what it would be like for him to personally kill a factory farm animal himself.

To look the animal in the eyes and then cut its throat. Listen to it scream. Watch it writhe in agony. There is a hell of a lot of bad energy going on there, no? If he visited any slaughterhouse or factory farm President Obama would go veggie that night and so would his wife and children.

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9. My Letter to President Obama re Vegetarianism Published in the Staten Island Advance

[I was limited to 200 words for this letter.]

Congratulations on your historic election and best wishes for your continued success.

As you know, climate scientists are warning that global warming may soon spiral out of control with disastrous consequences, unless major changes soon occur. So, I urge you to make responding to this threat a priority. A 2006 UN report indicated that animal-based agriculture emits more greenhouse gases than all forms of transportation worldwide combined. Hence, you could dramatically respond and show that you are truly a transformative president by switching, perhaps with your wonderful family, toward a vegetarian diet, and also urging the American people to sharply reduce or eliminate their consumption of animal products.

Such a step would be consistent with the appeal of the Health Commissioner of your home city Chicago for Chicagoans to be vegetarians, at least through January, and would help reduce diseases and curb present soaring medical expenditures.

Also, your charming daughters could enjoy their new dog more, knowing that your switching to nutritious, delicious plant-based foods would reduce the current mistreatment and slaughter of 10 billion farmed animals in the U.S. annually.

Very respectfully,
RICHARD H. SCHWARTZ, Ph.D.
(The writer is a professor emeritus at the College of Staten Island and the president of Jewish Vegetarians of North America.)

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10. Getting Our Messages to Science Educators

Forwarded message from JoAnn Farb:

Below is an email I am passing on with info about the upcoming National Science Teachers Conference in New Orleans. I once went to an NSTA event and was Absolutely SHOCKED to discover how cozy NSTA was with many special interest groups, and how biased much of the free information distributed to science teachers was. For example, I think Exxon provided free materials and curriculum to teach about climate change, and some Forestry Products Company presented materials on forest management, a power company provided lesson plans on how wonderful nuclear energy was and so forth.

If any of you know anyone in any organization that might be able to attend this event in New Orleans to provide balancing information on issues about environment or animals or health -- this would be wonderful -- this will be a gathering of the best science teachers from all over the country -- and they are teaching the next generation!

JoAnn Farb

From: mcclurg@atmos.colostate.edu

To: massmail-us@globe.gov; us-partners@globe.gov

CC: united-states@globe.gov

Subject: Funding opportunities and 2009 NSTA presentations

Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:33:43 -0700

Dear U.S. GLOBE Educators,

Please mark you calendars and DON'T MISS THESE DATES:



1. The National Science Teachers Association annual conference is going to be held March 18th through 22nd in New Orleans, Louisiana http://www.nsta.org/ and in keeping with our tradition of hosting a GLOBE Community Reception, we will be hosting this event on the evening of Thursday March 19th. We will send you more details as soon as they become available. Please plan on attending this reception and invite other educators who may be interested in learning more about GLOBE and meeting GLOBE Partners from there area.


SNIP

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nandini (Nan) McClurg
Regional Desk Officer, The United States & Canada
Help Desk Manager
The GLOBE Program
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1371 USA
Telephone (970) 491-8580, (800) 858-9947
Fax: (970) 491-8768
www.globe.gov
mcclurg@globe.gov

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11. More on Global Warming Threats

Many Glaciers Will Disappear by Middle of Century and Add to Rising Sea Levels, Expert Warns

Monday 19 January 2009

by: Juliette Jowit, The Guardian UK

Glacial melt will continue to accelerate along with global warming. (Photo: James Balog / National Geographic)

Melt rates for 2007 fall, but still third worst on record.

Threat to livelihoods of 2bn dependent on rivers.

Most of the planet's glaciers are melting so fast that many will disappear by the middle of the century, a leading expert has warned. Figures from the World Glacier Monitoring Service show that although melt rates for 2007 fell substantially from record levels the previous year, the loss of ice was still the third worst on record.

The total mass left in the glaciers is now thought to be at the lowest level for "thousands of years."

Even under moderate predictions of global warming, the small glaciers, which make up the majority by number, will not recover, said Prof Wilfried Haeberli, the organisation's director.

The warning will raise concern among those who say that glacier melting is one of the greatest threats of climate change because it raises the risk of sudden avalanches of rocks and soil released from the ice, threatening the livelihoods of more than 2 billion people who depend on melt-water to feed rivers in summer. Glacier melting will also add to rising global sea levels.

"If the climate is not really cooling dramatically, they'll retreat and disintegrate," said Haeberli. "This means many will simply be lost in the next decades - 10, 20, 30, 40 years.

"If you have a realistic, mid-warming scenario, then there's no hope for the small glaciers - in the Pyrenees, in Africa, in the Andes or Rocky mountains. The large glaciers in Alaska and the Himalayas will take longer, but even those very large glaciers will change completely; they will be much, much smaller, and many of them will disintegrate, forming lakes in many cases."

The WGMS, whose backers include UN agencies and scientific bodies, collects annual data for up to 100 glaciers around the world, including 30 "reference" glaciers in nine different mountain ranges on four continents, for which data goes back nearly three decades.

Figures for 2005-06 showed the biggest loss of ice in a single year since those records began, and based on historic reconstructions, it was thought to be the worst year for 5,000 years.

The latest data for 2006-07 shows that 22 of the 27 reference glaciers for which data has been supplied lost mass, as did 55 of a longer list of 74 glaciers. The total losses were half that of the previous year, but still the third largest on record. In Europe it is thought glaciers have lost one quarter of their mass in the last eight years alone, said Haeberli.

Although the mass balance of glaciers would fluctuate with natural changes in temperatures and snowfall, climate scientists believe the sustained losses of recent decades are partly due to man-made global warming, with the 10 hottest years on record coming in the last 11 years.

"The general trend to increased loss rates is continuing," Haeberli said. "The year was a little bit less terrible than [the previous] year ... but still a very heavy loss. It's still two times the average loss rate of the 20th century."

Although the data only covers some of the world's glaciers, its figures are mirrored by reports from experts from around the globe.

Two years ago the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecast that if current trends continue, 80% of Himalayan glaciers will be gone in 30 years, although more recent estimates have suggested the 2060s or later.

Last year the UN environment programme and the WGMS jointly published data for 1,800 glaciers on all seven continents, which warned losses had been accelerating globally since the mid-1980s, so that the annual average decline for 1996-2005 was double that of the previous decade, and four times that of the decade before. Last week China Dialogue, a London-based organisation dedicated to debate on China's environment issues, launched a campaign to highlight the same trends in melting in the Himalayas and on the Tibetan plateau.

Those glaciers feed all the main river systems in Asia, depended on by the estimated 40% of the world's population that lives in northern India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, said Isabel Hilton, China Dialogue's editor.

"In a region that is already fractured and unstable, the melting of the 'third pole' glaciers is one of the most important challenges facing humanity in the 21st century," she said.

In December the US Geological Survey also warned that sea-level rise could be even worse than feared, as much as 1.5 metres by the end of this century, partly due to increased melting of the volume of water stored in glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland.

Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for UNEP, said the latest findings should encourage more governments to follow moves by some politicians to invest billions of dollars in clean energy and efficiency as a way of curbing greenhouse gases.

He urged world leaders to agree a treaty to cut emissions. Water experts have also called for more investment in better water management.

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