20,000 Islands of The World ie. Hawaii Islander

[Hilander]

I don't know if this is true but definitely something to think about.



John KerryU.S. Senator from Massachusetts
Posted: August 31, 2009 12:21 PM

JOHN KERRY: We Can't Ignore the Security Threat from Climate Change
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-kerry/we-cant-ignore-the-securi_b_272815.html

On August 6, 2001, President George W. Bush famously received an intelligence briefing entitled, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." Thirty-six days later, al Qaeda terrorists did just that.

Scientists tell us we have a 10-year window -- if even that -- before catastrophic climate change becomes inevitable and irreversible. The threat is real, and time is not on our side.

Facts, as John Adams said, are stubborn things. Here are a few you need to know: Atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels have risen 38% in the industrial era, from 280 to 385 parts per million (ppm). Scientists have warned that anything above 450 ppm -- a warming of 2 degrees Celsius -- will result in an unacceptable risk of catastrophic climate change.

The truth is that the threat we face is not an abstract concern for the future. It is already upon us and its effects are being felt worldwide, right now. Scientists project that the Arctic will be ice-free in the summer of 2013. Not in 2050, but four years from now.

Make no mistake: catastrophic climate change represents a threat to human security, global stability, and -- yes -- even to American national security.

Climate change injects a major new source of chaos, tension, and human insecurity into an already volatile world. It threatens to bring more famine and drought, worse pandemics, more natural disasters, more resource scarcity, and human displacement on a staggering scale. We risk fanning the flames of failed-statism, and offering glaring opportunities to the worst actors in our international system. In an interconnected world, that endangers all of us.

The individual data points may sometimes be murky. But the pattern they create is irrefutably clear: We don't know if Hurricane Katrina was caused by climate change, but we do know that we are rapidly heading for a world where climate change causes worse Katrinas. We don't know with certainty whether climate change pushed Darfur over the edge, but we do know that it will cause more tension just like we've seen in Darfur.

Once you accept the science, it's clear that such massive environmental change will create dislocation, destruction, chaos, and conflict. And history teaches us that we are deluding ourselves if we think that we are insulated from world events.

The people of the tiny coastal village of Newtok, Alaska offer a harbinger of the challenges ahead. Citizens there recently voted to move their village nine miles inland because melting ice shelves made their old home too dangerous.

But don't take my word for it. Anyone who doubts the reality of climate change should go to Alaska and see the melting permafrost for themselves, or listen to the state's two U.S. senators tell worrisome stories about climate change's current -- not future -- impact on their state.

Anyone who doubts the threat should talk to the 11 retired American admirals and generals who warned in 2007 that "Climate change can act as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world, and it presents significant national-security challenges for the United States."

You can even ask the security planners in the Bush Administration, whose final national-defense strategy document recognized climate change among key trends that will shape U.S. defense policy in the coming years.

Or ask the National Intelligence Council -- the U.S. intelligence community's think-tank -- which has concluded that "global climate change will have wide-ranging implications for U.S. national-security interests over the next 20 years."

Former CENTCOM Commander Anthony Zinni, no radical tree-hugger, put it simply: "We will pay for this one way or another. We will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions today, and we'll have to take an economic hit of some kind. Or, we will pay the price later in military terms. And that will involve human lives. There will be a human toll."

Nowhere is the connection between climate and security more direct than in South Asia -- home to al Qaeda. Scientists now warn that the Himalayan glaciers which supply fresh water to a billion people in the region could disappear completely by 2035. Think about what this means: Water from the Himalayans flows through India and Pakistan. India's rivers are not only vital to its agriculture but are also critical to its religious practice. Pakistan, for its part, is heavily dependent on irrigated farming to avoid famine.

At a moment when the U.S. government is scrambling to ratchet down tensions and preparing to invest billions of dollars to strengthen Pakistan's capacity to deliver for its people -- climate change could work so powerfully in the opposite direction.

Worldwide, climate change risks making the most volatile places even more combustible.
The bottom line is that failure to tackle climate change risks much more than a ravaged environment: It risks a much more dangerous world, and a gravely threatened America.

Unfortunately, not everyone in Washington appreciates the stakes. It's tragic that we live at a time when if one were to dismiss the threat of terrorism, you'd be sent home in the next election. But there are no similar political consequences if you dismiss the science or the threat of climate change.

This winter, delegates from 192 nations will gather in Copenhagen to create a new global climate treaty. Between now and then, the United States Congress is expected to act on climate legislation.

The decisions we make in coming months will determine whether we meet this challenge head-on and prevail or if we are to suffer the worst consequences of a warming planet.

This time we have to connect the dots before we face catastrophe.

[Hilander]

UN challenges states on warming

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has challenged governments to act on the findings of a major new report on climate change.

Launching the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, he said real and affordable ways to deal with the problem existed.

The IPCC states that climate change is "unequivocal" and may bring "abrupt and irreversible" impacts.

Mr Ban urged politicians to respond at a UN climate change conference in Bali.

"Today the world's scientists have spoken clearly and with one voice," he said. "In Bali I expect the world's policymakers to do the same."

Mr Ban arrived at the IPCC meeting in Valencia from a fact-finding trip to Antarctica and South America.

"I come to you humbled after seeing some of the most precious treasures of our planet threatened by humanity's own hand," he said.

"All humanity must assume responsibility for these treasures."

Unavoidable effects

The IPCC report synthesises the three aspects of climate change that it has already pronounced on earlier in the year, on the science, the likely impacts, and options for dealing with the problem.

Among the top-line conclusions are that climate change is "unequivocal", that humankind's emissions of greenhouse gases are more than 90% likely to be the main cause, and that impacts can be reduced at reasonable cost.

One declaration that reportedly caused heated discussion during the week-long talks here states that climate change may bring "abrupt and irreversible" impacts.

Full Story:
UN challenges states on warming
Last Updated: Saturday, 17 November 2007, 14:51 GMT
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website, Valencia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7098902.stm

[Hilander]

Warming 'opens Northwest Passage'
The most direct shipping route from Europe to Asia is fully clear of ice for the first time since records began, the European Space Agency (Esa) says.
Historically, the Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans has been ice-bound through the year.

But the agency says ice cover has been steadily shrinking, and this summer's reduction has made the route navigable.

The findings, based on satellite images, raised concerns about the speed of global warming.

'Extreme'

The Northwest Passage is one of the most fabled sea routes in the world - a short cut from Europe to Asia through the Canadian Arctic.

Recent years have seen a marked shrinkage in its ice cover, but this year it was extreme, Esa says.

It says this made the passage "fully navigable" for the first time since monitoring began in 1978.

"We have seen the ice-covered area drop to just around 3m sq km (1.2m sq miles)," Leif Toudal Pedersen of the Danish National Space Centre said.

He said it was "about 1m sq km (386,000 sq miles) less than the previous minima of 2005 and 2006".

"There has been a reduction of the ice cover over the last 10 years of about 100, 000 sq km (38,600 sq miles) per year on average, so a drop of 1m sq km (386,000 sq miles) in just one year is extreme," Mr Pedersen said.

The Northeast Passage through the Russian Arctic has also seen its ice cover shrink and it currently "remains only partially blocked," Esa says.

'Battle for Arctic'

Scientists have linked the changes to global warming which may be progressing faster than expected.

The opening of the sea routes is already leading to international disputes.

Canada says it has full rights over those parts of the Northwest Passage that pass through its territory and that it can bar transit there.

But this has been disputed by the US and the European Union.

They argue that the new route should be an international strait that any vessel can use.

Full Story:
Last Updated: Friday, 14 September 2007, 21:19 GMT 22:19 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6995999.stm

[Hilander]

Iamthewalrus,
That's a good one, got any more photographs on the topic?

[iamthewalrus]

And don't forget...when the poles shift

Santa Barbara - Downtown - After Global Warming
http://www.lightblueline.org/node/194



Goleta Seven Meter Map - After Global Warming
http://www.lightblueline.org/node/192



Inundation Maps - After Global Warming
The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets has published a set of coastal inundation maps for several regions of the planet.
http://www.lightblueline.org/node/175
http://www.lightblueline.org/taxonomy/term/44

[Hilander]

Latitude, Longitude, Distance & Degrees

LATITUDE & LONGITUDE:
Latitude (shown as a horizontal line) is the angular distance, in degrees, minutes, and seconds of a point north or south of the Equator. Lines of latitude are often referred to as parallels.

Longitude (shown as a vertical line) is the angular distance, in degrees, minutes, and seconds, of a point east or west of the Prime (Greenwich) Meridian. Lines of longitude are often referred to as meridians.

Distance between Lines If you divide the circumference of the earth (approximately 25,000 miles) by 360 degrees, the distance on the earth's surface for each one degree of latitude or longitude is just over 69 miles, or 111 km. Note: As you move north or south of the equator, the distance between the lines of longitude gets shorter until they actually meet at the poles. At 45 degrees N or S of the equator, one degree of longitude is about 49 miles.

Minutes and Seconds For precision purposes, degrees of longitude and latitude have been divided into minutes (') and seconds ("). There are 60 minutes in each degree. Each minute is divided into 60 seconds. Seconds can be further divided into tenths, hundredths, or even thousandths.

For example, our office on Galveston Island, Texas, USA, is located at 29 degrees, 16 minutes, and 22 seconds north of the equator, and 94 degrees, 49 minutes and 46 seconds west of the Prime Meridian.

Find the latitude and longitude for your home address HERE - Website:
http://worldatlas.com/aatlas/imageg.htm

[Hilander]

World Altas of Flags
Website:
http://worldatlas.com/webimage/flags/flagcnty.htm


Flags of all Nations
Website:
http://www.expressflags.com/international.htm?source=google&kw=country&gclid=CIPPhIvWo44CFQLSYAodrB1ZRA

[Hilander]

World Atlas of Islands


Website:
http://islands.unep.ch/isldir.htm





Website:
http://worldatlas.com/aatlas/world.htm






Website:
http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/io.htm

[Hilander]

A To Z - ISLAND DIRECTORY
Basic environmental and geographic information
on the significant islands of the world.
INDEX of ISLANDS
http://islands.unep.ch/Iindex.htm

ISLANDS by SIZE & LAND MASS
http://islands.unep.ch/Titypec.htm



Introduction and explanation
- General Description and Criteria for Inclusion
- Kinds of information in the directory
- Notes on using the directory
- Cautionary note on data quality
- Origin and Acknowledgements
Island Directory (listings accessing data sheets on 2,000 islands)
- Country list
- Alphabetical index of islands

Comparative tables
GEOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
- Islands by land area
- Islands by altitude (for islands over 400 m)
- Islands by ocean
- More isolated islands
ISLANDS BY GEOLOGICAL TYPE
- Atolls
- Low islands
- Raised coral islands
- Volcanic islands
- Continental islands
ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
- Islands by conservation importance
- Islands by total endemic species
- Islands by number of endemic land birds
- Islands with protected areas
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, HUMAN IMPACT
- Islands by population density
- Islands by human impact
- Important islands at risk

Tools and sources
- Explanation of Island Indicators
- Model country and island entries
- Island Directory Field List (complete description of each field in the directory)
- References and sources

Full Story:
http://islands.unep.ch/isldir.htm







Buy Poster's Here!
Website:
http://www.allposters.com/-st/Travel-Posters_c621_.htm

[Hilander]

Fine & Rare Books Maps & Prints
www.garwood-voigt.com/ catalogues/world.htm




Found @ Maps of the World:
Page 16 - Bottom row, center
Large double hemisphere world map ...
532 x 453 - 101k - jpg
http://images.google.com/images?q=maps+of+the+world&ndsp=21&svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&start=315&sa=N




Brief History of Maps and Cartography   
The oldest known maps are preserved on Babylonian clay tablets from about 2300 B.C. Cartography was considerably advanced in ancient Greece. The concept of a spherical Earth was well known among Greek philosophers by the time of Aristotle (ca. 350 B.C.) and has been accepted by all geographers since.

From: Page 22, bottom left
http://images.google.com/images?q=maps+of+the+world&ndsp=21&svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&start=441&sa=N
.. Waldseemüller's world map, 1507.
719 x 420 - 132k - jpg
academic.emporia.edu

[Hilander]

Cool Maps         

http://images.google.com/images?q=maps+of+the+world&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&um=1&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title




Map of the World - 2002 - enlarged
Page 11:
1572 x 864 - 159k - jpg
www.edinphoto.org.uk
http://images.google.com/images?q=maps+of+the+world&ndsp=21&svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&start=210&sa=N




Fault Zones of the World         
Map, Plate Tectonics World Map
859 x 540 - 26k - gif
vulcan.wr.usgs.gov
Active Volcanoes and Plate Tectonics - "Hot Spots" and the "Ring of Fire"
Page 16: http://images.google.com/images?q=maps+of+the+world&ndsp=21&svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&start=315&sa=N



Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics
Found:
Page 15
http://images.google.com/images?q=maps+of+the+world&ndsp=21&svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&start=294&sa=N


Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Landslides





Found:
Page 30
World Maps
720 x 436 - 106k - jpg
http://images.google.com/images?q=maps+of+the+world&ndsp=21&svnum=10&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&start=609&sa=N

[Hilander]

CONTINENTS - INTERACTIVE PROFILES - click read & learn
Learn all you ever wanted to know (and more) about the continents.
Click on the LINK, then Click on the continent to find out more about it.
http://library.thinkquest.org/J002719/home.html



Describing the World - 7 Continents
http://www.funsocialstudies.learninghaven.com/articles/continents.htm


A THRU Z - COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD
http://www.infoplease.com/countries.html




The Expandable & Collapsable
        World Map   
Click Here:      
http://www.go.hrw.com/atlas/norm_htm/world.htm




The Moon at Perigee and Apogee
HOW DOES THE WORLD RELATE TO THE MOON?



http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/moon_ap_per.html

The mean distance to the moon, 384401 km, is the semimajor axis of its elliptical orbit. The closest perigee in the years 1750 through 2125 was 356375 km on 4th January 1912; the most distant apogee in the same period will be 406720 km on 3rd February 2125 (have your camera ready!). These extrema are marked on the chart, although in reality extreme perigees and apogees always occur close to a new or full Moon, not at a quarter phase as illustrated here. The mean distance is not equidistant between the minimum and maximum because the Sun's gravity perturbs the orbit away from a true ellipse. Although the absolute extremes are separated by many years, almost every year has a perigee and apogee close enough to the absolute limits to be indistinguishable at this scale.


Perigee: 1987 August 10


http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/moon_ap_per.html


Apogee: 1988 February 2

Full Article:
Inconstant Moon
http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/moon_ap_per.html

[Hilander]

The World's Most Remote Island         
Located about midway between Cape Town, South Africa and Buenos Aires, Argentina lies what is often referred to as the world's most remote inhabited island - Tristan da Cunha. Tristan da Cunha is the primary island of the Tristan da Cunha island group, consisting of six islands at approximately 37°15' South, 12°30' West. That's about 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) west of South Africa in the South Atlantic Ocean.
The other five islands in the Tristan da Cunha group are uninhabited, save for a manned meteorological station on the southernmost island of Gough. In addition to Gough, located 230 miles SSE of Tristan da Cunha, the chain includes Inaccessible at 20 miles (32 km) WSW, Nightingale 12 miles (19 km) SE, and Middle and Stoltenhoff islands - both just off the coast of Nightingale ...

... Species not found anywhere else in the world inhabit the island chain. Queen Mary's Peak is shrouded by clouds most of the year and snow covers its peak in the winter. The island receives an average of 66 inches (1.67 meters) of rain each year.

Full Article:
http://geography.about.com/od/specificplacesofinterest/a/tristandacunha.htm

[Hilander]

Global Warming May Uproot Millions
In the coming decades, the effects of global warming are likely to turn millions into refugees.
By: Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Snippet:
GLOBAL WARMING IS likely to uproot millions of people, forcing them to leave their homes and in the process create large-scale political, economic, and military challenges.

In fact, say a growing number of experts, it's already beginning to happen.

"Human-induced climate and hydrologic change is likely to make many parts of the world uninhabitable, or at least uneconomic," writes Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York, in the current online issue of Scientific American. As a result, he says, "Over the course of a few decades, if not sooner, hundreds of millions of people may be compelled to relocate because of environmental pressures."

Rising sea levels, stronger cyclones, the loss of soil moisture, more intense precipitation and flooding, droughts, melting glaciers, and changing snow-melt patterns are among the problems humanity will face, says Dr. Sachs. He warns:

"Combined with the human-induced depletion of groundwater sources by pumping, and the extensive pollution of rivers and lakes, mass migrations may be unavoidable."

The Christian Aid agency predicts that by 2050 global warming could displace as many as 1 billion people...

Full Story:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0621/p10s01-wogi.html


Global Warming & CO2 Rising

1. WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Vast areas of snow in Antarctica melted in 2005
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/05/16/antarctica.melting.reut/index.html


NASA's QuikScat satellite detected extensive areas of snowmelt, shown in yellow and red, in west Antarctica in January 2005.

Story Highlights:
• Vast areas of snow in Antarctica melted in the summer of 2005
• Satellite data shows an area the size of California melted
• NASA: This is the most significant thawing in 30 years
• Evidence of melting in several areas, including high elevations and far inland


2. Study Shows Southern Ocean Saturated with Carbon Dioxide
WASHINGTON -- The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is so loaded with carbon dioxide that it can barely absorb any more, so more of the gas will stay in the atmosphere to warm up the planet, scientists reported Thursday...
http://www.enn.com/sci.html?id=921
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/05/17/climate.ocean.reut/index.html


The Southern Ocean around Antarctica is one of the world's biggest reservoirs of carbon.

Story Highlights:
• Southern Ocean around Antarctica loaded with carbon dioxide
• Human activity is the main culprit, according to researchers
• Southern Ocean is one of the world's biggest reservoirs of carbon
• Research indicates it has been saturated with CO2 since the 1980s


Global Warming - Sea Levels Rising - Islands Disappearing - Islands Shrinking
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1076/is_10_41/ai_58177825
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/368892.stm
http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1124-reuters.html
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2003/07/ma_444_01.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1527751.ece
http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2099971.ece
http://www.vuvuzelaonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=901&ItemId=51&PHPSESSID=f0a401224895756c09f3cd7f3980446c


Ice Caps Melting & CO2 Levels Rising

• Big area of Antarctica melted in 2005
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=272&objectid=10440020
• Study: Southern Ocean saturated with CO2
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/05/17/climate.ocean.reut/index.html
http://www.enn.com/sci.html?id=921

[Hilander]

An Inconvenient Truth
By: Al Gore

Video
http://www.climatecrisis.net/

Apple Video Trailer
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount_classics/aninconvenienttruth/trailer/



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Inconvenient_Truth




Transforming Energy         
http://www.throughlineproductions.com/trailers/trailer_te.html
http://www.throughlineproductions.com/films/film_te.html