You plan to move to the Philippines? Wollen Sie auf den Philippinen leben?

There are REALLY TONS of websites telling us how, why, maybe why not and when you'll be able to move to the Philippines. I only love to tell and explain some things "between the lines". Enjoy reading, be informed, have fun and be entertained too!

Ja, es gibt tonnenweise Webseiten, die Ihnen sagen wie, warum, vielleicht warum nicht und wann Sie am besten auf die Philippinen auswandern könnten. Ich möchte Ihnen in Zukunft "zwischen den Zeilen" einige zusätzlichen Dinge berichten und erzählen. Viel Spass beim Lesen und Gute Unterhaltung!


Visitors of germanexpatinthephilippines/Besucher dieser Webseite.Ich liebe meine Flaggensammlung!

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Showing posts with label Global Warming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Global Warming. Show all posts

Monday, October 25, 2021

What causes typhoons in the Philippines? Is it because of global warming and climate change?

 

Profile photo for Holly Benedicto
Holly Benedicto

Bisaya. Has travelled all over the Philippines, some Asian countries and the United States. Scientific background. Has worked extensively with Americans.

The Philippines is next to the Pacific Ocean where the typhoons are formed.

Typhoons have always been a problem in the Philippines and other countries like Japan that are near the vast Pacific.

Every year, without fail, during the months of June to December, we are plagued with monsoons, typhoons and rain, while we get super hot temperatures and little rain from January to May.

The flooding you see could be from climate change but many areas ALWAYS get flooded, especially those that are low-lying.

This is to be expected on a yearly basis like clockwork…and yet, many are still caught unawares. I wish I knew of a study that explored disaster preparedness across the Philippines so I can give you stats but all I have is opinion: while government agencies like the Philippine Coast Guarda and the Philippine Red Cross are prepared to help in times of disasters, the average Filipino is NOT.

Definitely something we need to be thinking about.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Global Warming

GLOBAL WARMING

While most Asian countries keep on fighting with typhoons, heavy down pours, floods and landslides, Europe faces this: Snow comes later, melts earlier, and is not nearly as deep as it was 30 years ago. EU scientists are racing to help winter tourism regions adapt to climate change — but is man-made snow the answer?

Global warming has already shut down scores of European ski hills outside the high alpine zones.

"Last year, we had about 20 days, the year before, even fewer," German mechanic Karl Oberreiter says, working on the control panel of a chairlift. "I don't think we've had a full season since the 1980's. There's a point where you can't do it anymore. After that, I don't know."

Oberreiter's concerns echo across the across the heart of the Alps in Austria and Switzerland like a mournful yodel.

Winters are 10 to 30 days shorter than during the 1960's. By 2100, there will be almost no snow below 1,200 meters — an average elevation for ski towns. The overall snow cover in the Alps will decline 70 percent, according to recent climate studies.

Preserving winter tourism and sports in the Alps beyond 2100 requires not just keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, but the Paris Agreement's more ambitious — and many say, extremely unlikely — goal of 1.5 degrees.

Even if that were achieved, alpine winters are expected to grow ever-shorter, before potentially stabilizing toward the end of the century in a warmer and much less snowy state, says author Bob Berwyn.

With the future of the ski and winter tourism industry at stake, a team of international scientists, partly funded by the European Union, launched the new ProSnow research project in November.

Winter tourism and sports in the Alps are at risk! It aims to make resort towns in the Alps more resilient to climate change by accurately forecasting seasonal snowfall and temperatures. Combined with long-term climate projections, this information is hoped to help alpine communities plan for the future — even making up for nature's shortfall with snow-making and snow farming.

The sad truth for many towns and ski areas below 1,000 meters is, in the coming decades most of their white magic will come from the business end of industrial snowaking machines.

Ski resorts around the world have already installed miles of water pipes and built reservoirs and pumps so they can make their own snow. Water is vaporized by thousands of high-pressure nozzles and freezes into a crystalline form that's almost like the real thing.

Ski area operators have become snow farmers. Before the season starts, they use the snow guns to make big piles of snow in strategic spots on the mountain. Later, snow grooming machines distribute and smooth it out.

Conservation organizations like the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA), have fiercely criticized snowmaking because of its energy consumption and disruption of ecosystems like tundra and streams.

And some sustainably oriented mountain resort communities have rejected it in favor of a "soft tourism" path that's supported by both the German and Austrian alpine clubs.

But ProSnow project leader Samuel Morin says snowmaking is here to stay, because resorts know that natural snow will be even less reliable in the coming decades.

"Snow reacts immediately to climate change, and since the early 1990's, snow is no longer a certainty," Morin said in an interview lately.  "The project was initially triggered by long-term climate concerns. And there is more variability now. The question is, to what extent can snow-making and other technical measures counteract that?"

It’s a question that's also pertinent in California, which right now is suffering floods and slum-slides after weeks of wildfires. Close to Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, about 300 miles north of Los Angeles, skier Jamie Shectman is waiting for snow after a bone-dry fall. He says you can't take the ski industry in isolation. A summer of destructive hurricanes and wildfires shows that globally, climate change impacts are intensifying, threatening lives and food production. More snowmaking may not be the most appropriate response.

"There's a total disconnect between our sport and what's happening with climate change," Shectman told in an TV interview last night. "We know it's a high impact sport. From a karma perspective, the ski industry should be at the fore of the fight against global warming," he says.

People are thinking now about creative solutions for green winter slopes. Instead of energy-hogging sources of greenhouse gas pollution, ski resorts should become self-sufficient producers of wind, solar, biomass and hydropower, Shectman says, describing his involvement in developing a solar power project at Mt. Abrams Ski Area, in Maine.

Climate change is probably outpacing our technical capabilities to adapt, so slowing and stopping warming should be the priority. In just the past decade — the warmest in Earth's recorded history — the snow line rose between 1,200 and 1,500 feet in the northern Sierra Nevada.

Of course, there are regional nuances to global warming impacts, and for some communities in the Alps, with access to renewable energy and high-elevation ski slopes, snowmaking could be an interim option to keep skiing alive. That includes the five alpine towns in France, Italy, Switzerland Austria and Germany that are part of the ProSnow pilot project this winter. All are in the mid-elevation mountain belt most susceptible to global warming.

Austrian winters have shortened by 10 to 20 days since the 1950's, and maximum snow depth has declined at all elevations and nearly all regions of the mountainous country, with small localized exceptions.

The uncertainty, paradoxically, is also what why proponents say energy-intensive snow-making such an indispensable part of the winter ski and tourism industry — at least for the foreseeable future.

Fact is: global warming and climate change effects all of us. Worldwide. Sad to say: it's no more five minutes before twelve. It's already several minutes after twelve!

Monday, April 14, 2014

Good Bye World? Good Bye Philippines?

A UN panel believes the world could meet a maximum target for global warming if it significantly cuts annual emissions by 2050. According to a report, however, few nations are doing enough to meet the stated goal. 


Annual emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases must drop 40-70 percent by 2050 to keep the global temperature rise below the 2-degree Celsius (3.6-degree F), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) announced in a report released last Sunday. So far, the opposite has happened: On average global emissions rose by 1 billion tons a year between 2000 and 2010, outpacing growth in previous decades to reach "unprecedented levels" despite some efforts to contain them, the IPCC announced.

"There is a clear message from science," IPCC co-chair Ottmar Edenhofer said. "To avoid dangerous interference with the climate system, we need to move away from business as usual."

According to scientists, failure to meet the 2-degree target could lead to further droughts, rising seas and heat waves. The IPCC adopted its 33-page summary at a weeklong session in Berlin to help guide the nearly 200 governments negotiating a new climate agreement for next year.


Top three emitters

Counting all emissions since the 18th century, the United States remains the top carbon polluter. However, China's current emissions run much greater than those of the US.

Along with China and the US, the EU as a bloc is in the world's top-three emitters. About half of the world's combined emissions since 1750 have come in the past 40 years.

The IPCC will release a larger scientific report this week. A report last month warned that flooding, droughts and other climate impacts could have devastating effects on economies, agriculture and human health, particularly in developing countries.

Global temperatures have risen about 0.8 Celsius since record-keeping started in 1850. The IPCC found that keeping warming below 2 C by the year 2100 will require a shift from oil and coal. That would mean a near-quadrupling of energy from zero- or low-carbon sources such as solar and wind power.

Current pledges by governments to reduce emissions by 2020 have set the world on a path between 3 and 5 degrees C of warming by 2100, according to the IPCC - a potentially catastrophic level. UN climate chief Christiana Figueres, in charge of the talks, has urged countries to raise their collective ambition.

"The only safe path forward is to arrive at a carbon neutral world in the second half of this century," Figueres said.