Amazon is stuffed

85% of the Amazon rainforest will be lost if greenhouse gas emissions are not controlled.

even under the most optimistic climate change scenarios destruction of much of the forest is irreversible.

a rise of 2% above pre-industrial levels (widely considered the best-case scenario and the target for ambitious international plans to curb emissions) would see 20-40% of the Amazon die within a 100 years

3% rise would see 75% destroyed by drought

4% rise would kill 85%.

"Ecologically it would be a catastrophe and it would be taking a huge chance with our own climate. The tropics are drivers of the world's weather systems." Peter Cox, professor of climate system dynamics at the University of Exeter

It would change a significant carbon sink into a source.

paper submitted to "Nature Geoscience" and quoted in the Age Friday 13 Marh 2009

fire and water

Three out of four of Melbourne's reservoirs have had fires in their catchments in the past ten days with two suffering significant damage. That means less water will flow into the dams as new young trees suck up more water than established trees.

water in town

Melbourne typically uses 1 billion litres of water a day. 

The Upper Yarra Reservoir is the second most important source of water for Melbourne after the Thomson Dam, and 2% has been burnt. 

Hybrid cars v conventional

A hybrid car may be worse for the environment than a conventional car because of the difficulty of recycling the batteries … but and if consumers don't invest in hybrids now the cars will never improve

Paper can be recycled 7 times and plastic more.

carbon footprint - electricity v gas

Every kilowatt hour used generates 1.3 kg of carbon dioxide. Using gas the same amount of energy produces a third of the amount of carbon dioxide.

ancient Tasmanian forests

In 1998 only 13% of the ancient forests remained
Less than half that 13% is protected in national parks
30% of Tasmania's forested wilderness is threatened by logging.
And that includes most of the ancient forests.
92% of the timber extracted from State forests become woodchips; 3.5% becomes sawn timber.

Source: Greenpeace