Environmtnt Commission 2013

By: TaylerEdlinArt

Environmental Paintings by Brin Levinson

Surrealist painter Brin Levinson devoted his creation to ecological issues and environmental destruction by human activities as well as to the fate of the animals on dying planet.

EPA To Propose 30% Cut In Carbon Dioxide Emissions From Existing U.S. Power Plants

WASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) - The U.S Environmental Protection Agency taking a historic step to fight climate change plans on Monday to propose a 30% cut in carbon dioxide emissions from existing U.S power plants by 2030, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

The proposed reduction would be based on 2005 emission levels, the newspaper said, citing two people briefed on the plan.

States would have flexibility under the plans to decide on how to achieve the reduction, including through cap- and trade programs, the journal said, adding they must enact the rules and submit compliance plans by June 2016.
The White house and the EPA declined to confirm or comment on the rules before they are released.

President Barack Obama said in his weekly radio address on Saturday that the United States had to do more to reduce carbon emissions so that children suffering from asthma and other related ailments did not face further problems as a result of polluted air.

The rules are intended to help Washington meet international obligations to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming, but the White House's focus on human health benefits is part of a sale pitch to drum up support from public.

Fighting climate change could become one of the top domestic policy achievements of the president's second term and getting public support is critical as the White House prepares for an onslaught of criticism from industry and Republicans.

(Reporting by Peter Cooney; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Mark Felsenthal and Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Jim Loney)

Mahatma Gandhi

''What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.''

Mahatma Gandhi

''Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed''

Some Facts About Ozone Layer

• The discovery of the ozone hole was first announced in a paper by British Antarctic Survey's Joe Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shaklin, which appeared in the journal ''Nature'' in May 1985.
• Ozone in the atmosphere is measured using Dobson Spectrophotometer - equipment designed in the 1920s, but still the world standard. 
• Ozone is measured in Dobson Units, DU and a typical measurement is about 300 DU.
• If ozone layer was brought down to the earths surface in a vertical column, air pressure and temperature conditions would compress the ozone and it would form a layer just 2 to 5 mm thick.
• Major volcanic eruptions, such as the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines may put material which enhances ozone depletion into the stratosphere.
• Scientists working in Antarctica wear high factor sunscreen to avoid sunburn when working outside, especially as sunlight is also reflected from snow surface. you can get burnt as little as five minutes without it.

The Arctic And The Ozone Layer

Its Over 30 years since the discovery of the Ozone Hole drew world attention to the impact of human activity on the global environment.

Discovery

Scientists from British Antarctic Survey began monitoring ozone during the International Geophysical Year of  1957-58. In 1958 scientists discovered that since the mid 1970's ozone values over Halley and Faraday research stations had steadily dropping when the sun appeared each spring. Something in the stratosphere (about 20 km above Earth) was destroying ozone.

Montreal Protocol: Is it Successful ?

The Protocol is having clear effect and the amount of zone destroying substances in the atmosphere is beginning to go down. Nevertheless, the original compounds are so stable and long-lived that an ozone hole will exist each Antarctic Spring for at least another 50 years.

The Arctic

The Arctic region, around the North Pole, is an important indicator of the impacts of industrial and human activities, both at the surface level and in the atmosphere. The rapid warming of the regions has attracted considerable scientific attention.

Besides well known phenomenon of global warming occurring in our lower atmosphere another atmospheric phenomenon had been taking place over the Arctic. Recent record low ozone values in the stratosphere have led scientists to take a closer look at the links between the changing climate and ozone distribution; changes that may undermine the recovery of the Ozone layer predicted to occur in a few decades.

This 17 min documentary was produced by the United Nations Environmental Program:

The Arctic And The Ozone Layer