Who Will Answer Our Children?

The Next Generation Asks World Leaders at UN Climate Summit 2014: Why Not Act on Climate Change?

© 2014

5TH INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE ON UNDERWATER MUNITIONS

5TH INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE ON UNDERWATER MUNITIONS 28-29 MAY HONORABLE PETER GORDON MACKAY, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, MP, Central Nova WELCOMING REMARKS (TBC) RITA KAZRAGIENĖ Minister Counselor and Deputy Chief of Lithuanian Mission to the United Nations SPEAKER TERRANCE P. LONG CPSM. SSM. CD., Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of IDUM SPEAKER/MODERATOR DR. ANDRZEJ JAGUSIEWICZ Chief Inspector of Environmental Protection in Poland, Co-Chairman IDUM OPENING REMARKS The International Dialogue on Underwater Munitions (IDUM) will be at St. Mary's University in Halifax, 28 -29 May 2014. There is still time to register as a delegate or your company to participate in our Technology Demonstrations at Canadian Forces Fleet Diving Unit Atlantic (FDU). Underwater Technology Demonstrations are scheduled by FDU Atlantic, Private Sector companies (unmanned vehicles) and United States Mammal (Dolphins) Team from San Diego California that detects underwater munitions. Oil and gas exploration and development, regulatory committees, environmental, technology and science companies and organizations are welcome to attend with delegates from more than 20 countries. Help develop international policy and science and technology responses for sea dumped munitions programs. There is still time to sponsor, get a booth or showcase your technologies and services to international policy makers, buyers and end users. OTHER EVENTS AT ST MARY'S: NATO Science for Peace and Security 26-27 May 2014, Investigations and Monitoring of Sea Dumped Chemical Weapons Sites in the Baltic Sea. Delegates attending 5th IDUM may also attend the NATO Conference's open-house 27 May 2014 but must register whereas space is limited in the Secunda Marine Boardroom. Economic Summit on 30 May 2014 is an opportunity for international delegates from NATO Science for Peace and Security Program and 5th International Dialogues on Underwater Munitions to network with local organizations to create regional and global business opportunities in the marine sector including science and technology. A Canadian Forces Ammunition Technical Officer, Major (retired) John McCallum, a former Commanding Officer of Canadian Forces Ammunition Depot (CFAD) Bedford and amateur historian, will provide a guided tour of the former Naval Magazine, now CFAD Bedford. At the end of WWII Canada had the third largest Navy in the world. As the Navy de-mobilized at the end of WW II, haste, pressure to off-load ammunition from hundreds of ships, and lack of storage capacity led to the Bedford Magazine Explosion of July 1945. It scattered hundreds of tons of naval munitions into the Bedford Basin and surrounding area. The tour and talk will commence on ground zero of the original fire and explosion, speak to recovery and site clean-up and wrap up with a discussion of the impact on present day ammunition depot operations on the same site. John McCallum is a retired Canadian Forces Logistic Officer and UK-trained Ammunition Technical Officer (ATO) with 25 years of service, approximately 18 years of which were directly involved in the military munitions business. Two field deployments, ammo depot operations, staff officer, EOD operations, technical/engineering/life cycle management roles, two foreign deployments in munitions’ roles and a three year term as the Commanding Officer of Canadian Forces Ammunition Depot Bedford in NS have provided a broad range of ammunition experience. He completed a M.Sc.(Explosive Ordnance Engineering) in the UK in 1992. A mid-career, 4 year “civilian break” was spent with the major Canadian ammunition manufacturing concern, then known as SNC Industrial Technologies, now owned and operating as part of the General Dynamics-Ordnance and Tactical Systems family near Montreal, Quebec. Employment involved extensive munitions contract administration, marketing technical support and assisting with developing proposals for and working at range clearance contracts. Since retirement in October 2011, he has been employed as a lecturer teaching ammunition-related subjects to Canadian Ammunition Technical Officer students in the recently established (2012) Ammunition Program at Royal Military College of Canada. This program has so far graduated 4 serials of MEng(Ammunition Engineering) students and 24 junior CF officers taking up careers as ATOs. He expects to continue to teach in this program for at least the next 2 years. He has recently enrolled in a doctoral program at RMCC in Environmental Science and Engineering where he will be focusing his efforts on the issues surrounding underwater munitions sites of which Canada has at least 3000 known to date. John and his wife Denyse live in Kingston, Ontario with a married daughter (and young grandson) in New Zealand, and a son who is a Canadian Army infantry officer working out of Ottawa. For all events you must register here:http://underwatermunitions.org. Additional information contact: chair@idum.org (+001-902-574-7420). © 2014 International Dialogue on Underwater Munitions 104 Marine Dr Sydney, NA B2A 4S6 Canada

© 2014

Terry Long underwater munitions expert subject of European documentary

Terry Long known around the world for his expertise on sea-dumped munitions is now the focus of a documentary destined for a European audience.

Terry Long, second from left, works with a film crew

Terry Long of Leitches Creek, a retired military engineer trained in munitions disposal, is being filmed by the Deadly Depths production company regarding his drive to clean up underwater munitions around the world.

Long says the problem of sea-dumped munitions has been known to occur in every ocean, including sites on East Coast and West Coast of Canada. There are also unexploded munitions in waters off Cape Breton, such as the area commonly known as the Sydney Bight, located between Gabarus and Wreck Cove.

In the Sydney Bight fishing area 4VN, there are more than 80,000 tonnes of unexploded chemical munitions, said Long.

Most of these munitions started after the First World War and carried throughout the Second World War and the Cold War.

This practice continued up to the 1970s, when world governments began to understand the impact the dumps created on environment and marine ecosystems.

“The first major impact is being felt in the Baltic Sea from these munitions, and from the mustard gas we have a dead zone now from one end of the Baltic to the other,” said Long. “And in our fish studies we’ve been finding cancerous tumours, and these are the actually fish that people consume.”

As part of his work to remove munitions from world oceans, Long formed the International Dialogue on Underwater Munitions, a non-governmental organization that provides a platform for industry, politicians and stakeholders to explore the issue.

Film director Eric Nadler said filming wrapped in Cape Breton on Thursday.

“It’s an important topic and Terry is an extremely active guy — if not the most active guy on the planet on this issue — and thus he’s a great subject for a documentary.”

Nadler said the topic has become quite timely as studies have shown there are hazardous effects of allowing leaking munitions to seep into marine environments.

Long said the documentary, set to be released in early 2014, will be broadcast to 23 European States.

It is one of three documentaries Long has recently been asked to be a part of.

 

Pathways into the Future - Triggers of Change

The 2013 Earth Dialogues will attract leading figures of international politics, science, business and civil society in the search for solutions to resolve the most pressing and interconnected challenges of insecurity, poverty and environmental degradation.

The event is open to members of the public, who register with Green Cross following the guidelines found here.

The 7th edition of the Earth Dialogues will be held at the United Nations Office at Geneva, Switzerland, on 3 September, 2013. The day-long event, titled Pathways into the Future - Triggers of Change, comes at a time of deep crisis in multilateralism, hallmarked by a lack of consensus, and coordinated international action, to respond to rampant ecological breakdown, globalization and disparities between rich and poor.

The UN says clean energy funding too low to address climate change. http://buswk.co/12KfhH0 Clean energy is the future solution to our energy needs, and will be a key topic at the upcoming Earth Dialogues conference in Geneva on 3 September: http://bit.ly/15G7H2W

How can gains in human development be sustained, climate change controlled and sustainability ensured in the absence of a strong multilateral system that all decision-makers are party to?

The conference's objective will be to demonstrate how multilateralism can – and must – be recalibrated to meet these challenges. The event will provide a launching pad for initiatives to bolster effective multilateral action, and Geneva, the cradle for international modern consensus and cooperation, offers a perfect platform.

Five panels will be held during the Earth Dialogues conference on:

• Lessons learned (from Rio 1992 to Rio+20)
• Inclusive and Circular economy based Growth (In Search of a New Development Model)
• Reinventing Multilateralism (Climate, Water/Energy/Food, Security) - two panels
• Preparedness for the Future – Global and Local Resilience – Ability to Overcome and Reconsolidate Societal Functions after Major Shocks

The event will enable rich, valuable discourse and exchanges on critical issues and agendas facing the world today.

Discussions and decisions will go towards developing the “Geneva Appeal”, which will outline a road map of specific acitons and “tipping points” needed to launch the Future We Want movement, as outlined in the outcoome documentof the United Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20).

For more information: Please email earthdialogues@gci.ch or click here for registration details

Atmospheric Warming Altering Ocean Salinity And The Water Cycle

A clear change in salinity has been detected in the world’s oceans, signaling shifts and acceleration in the global rainfall and evaporation cycle tied directly to climate change.

In a paper published … in the journal Science, Australian scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory reported changing patterns of salinity in the global ocean during the past 50 years, marking a clear symptom of climate change.

Lead author Paul Durack said that by looking at observed ocean salinity changes and the relationship between salinity, rainfall and evaporation in climate models, they determined the water cycle has become 4 percent stronger from 1950-2000. This is twice the response projected by current generation global climate models.

“These changes suggest that arid regions have become drier and high rainfall regions have become wetter in response to observed global warming,” said Durack, a post-doctoral fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Scientists monitor salinity changes in the world’s oceans to determine where rainfall has increased or decreased. “It provides us with a gauge — a method of monitoring how large-scale patterns of rainfall and evaporation (the climate variables we care most about) are changing,” Durack said.

With a projected temperature rise of 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, the researchers estimate a 24 percent acceleration of the water cycle is possible.

[JR: Actually the projected warming by century's end is closer to 5°C -- see review of literature here -- which would yield a stunning 40% acceleration of the water cycle.]

Scientists have struggled to determine coherent estimates of water cycle changes from land-based data because surface observations of rainfall and evaporation are sparse. According to the team, global oceans provide a much clearer picture.

“The ocean matters to climate — it stores 97 percent of the world’s water; receives 80 percent of all surface rainfall, and it has absorbed 90 percent of the Earth’s energy increase associated with past atmospheric warming,” said co-author, Richard Matear of CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans Flagship.

“Warming of the Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere is expected to strengthen the water cycle largely driven by the ability of warmer air to hold and redistribute more moisture.”

He said the intensification is an enhancement in the patterns of exchange between evaporation and rainfall, and with oceans accounting for 71 percent of the global surface area, the change is clearly represented in ocean surface salinity patterns.

In the study, the scientists combined 50-year observed global surface salinity changes with changes from global climate models and found “robust evidence of an intensified global water cycle at a rate of about 8 percent per degree of surface warming,” Durack said.

Durack said the patterns are not uniform, with regional variations agreeing with the ‘rich get richer’ mechanism, where wet regions get wetter and dry regions drier.

He said a change in freshwater availability in response to climate change poses a more significant risk to human societies and ecosystems than warming alone.

“Changes to the global water cycle and the corresponding redistribution of rainfall will affect food availability, stability, access and utilization,” Durack said.

Susan Wijffels, co-chair of the global Argo project and a co-author on the study, said maintenance of the present fleet of around 3,500 profilers is critical to observing continuing changes to salinity in the upper oceans. More

This piece of research was originally published at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.