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  ADVANTAGES:
  1. Once a dam is constructed,   electricity can be produced at a constant rate.   2. If electricity is not needed, the   sluice gates can be shut, stopping electricity generation. The water can   be saved for use another time when electricity demand is high.   3. Dams are designed to last many   decades and so can contribute to the generation of electricity for many   years / decades.   4. The lake that forms behind the   dam can be used for water sports and leisure / pleasure activities.   Often large dams become tourist attractions in their own right.   5. The lake's water can be used for   irrigation purposes.   6. The build up of water in the lake means   that energy can be stored until needed, when the water is released to   produce electricity.   7. When in use, electricity produced   by dam systems do not produce green house gases. They do not pollute the   atmosphere.
• DISADVANATGES:                 

    1. Dams are extremely expensive to   build and must be built to a very high standard.
    2. The high cost of dam construction   means that they must operate for many decades to become profitable.
    3. The flooding of large areas of   land means that the natural environment is destroyed.
    4. People living in villages and   towns that are in the valley to be flooded, must move out. This means   that they lose their farms and businesses. In some countries, people are   forcibly removed so that hydro-power schemes can go ahead.
    5. The building of large dams can   cause serious geological damage. For example, the building of the Hoover   Dam in the USA triggered a number of earth quakes and has depressed the   earth’s surface at its location.
    6. Although modern planning and   design of dams is good, in the past old dams have been known to be   breached (the dam gives under the weight of water in the lake). This has   led to deaths and flooding.
    7. Dams built blocking the progress   of a river in one country usually means that the water supply from the   same river in the following country is out of their control. This can   lead to serious problems between neighbouring countries.

   

    8. Building a large dam alters the   natural water table level. For example, the building of the Aswan Dam in   Egypt has altered the level of the water table. This is slowly leading   to damage of many of its ancient monuments as salts and destructive   minerals are deposited in the stone work from ‘rising damp’ caused by   the changing water table level.

• The greatest benefit from the Corps hydropower program is the abundant low-cost energy the projects contribute to electric power grids. Because hydroelectric powerplants burn no fuel, operating costs are low and are immune to rising fossil fuel prices. In addition, most of these projects were built years ago, when construction costs were low. As a result, these plants are playing     a significant role in keeping electricity costs affordable for consumers,     creating a positive impact on the economy.
• Revenue from power sales is also repaid to the U.S. Treasury. In 2010, repayments were estimated at $800 million.

• The 75 hydropower plants installed at Corps dams and reservoirs produce nearly one-third of the nation's hydroelectric power and help the economy by creating additional revenue, jobs and tax dollars.

    

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• What is a Watershed?

   

   

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  A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place. John Wesley Powell, scientist geographer, put it best when he said that a watershed is:

    

  "that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community."

• Protect, Preserve and Plant

   

  Deforestation and excess Carbon dioxide (CO₂) are problems which are impacting the world around us and the world we are giving to our children and their children. CO₂ is a naturally occurring gas.  However, increased human use of fossil fuels has dramatically raised the level of CO₂ in our atmosphere and carbon pollution is negatively affecting present and future generations. Damages from climate change are expected to exceed one trillion dollars if not adequately addressed, and Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists estimate  that one-third of all species are at risk.  Without intervention, weather is predicted to become more extreme, oceans may become more acidic and crop growth may be negatively impacted.  That means we should ACT NOW to ensure a safer future.

   

  What can we do to reduce this problem? Protect, Preserve and Plant more trees. Forests serve as a buffer between the atmosphere and us. Carbon pollution is released into the atmosphere from our use of  fossil fuels and other activities, while trees absorb CO₂.  By expanding our forests and increasing the quantity and quality of trees in our forests,  we can increase the amount of CO₂ absorbed from our atmosphere, reducing carbon pollution and climate change.
• Forests store carbon, provide shelter for animals, reduce soil erosion and provide a location for outdoor activities.  Signing up for one of our innovative programs provides a lasting way to make a difference and help protect, preserve and plant trees and forests.

• Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere by the burning of solid waste, wood and wood products, and fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal).
• Nitrous oxide emissions occur during various agricultural and industrial processes, and when solid waste or fossil fuels are burned.
• Methane is emitted when organic waste decomposes, whether in landfills or in connection with livestock farming. Methane emissions also occur during the production and transport of fossil fuels.
• • Note additional websites from this one

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• Excessive Carbon Dioxide Emissions
   Carbon dioxide emissions from personal vehicles in the United States equaled 314 million metric tons in 2004. That much carbon could fill a coal train 55,000 miles long—long enough to circle the Earth twice.
• Gasoline in the United States contains 5.3 pounds of carbon per gallon. All of that carbon ends up in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide in automobile exhaust when the fuel is burned. So the average car in the U.S. puts more than 1.5 tons of carbon into the air every year.

• Carbon emissions trading really took off when the EU restricted, or capped, the amount of carbon dioxide that heavy industries and utilities could emit. Each company (emitter) receives its allowed amount of carbon emissions in the form of an allowance. The EU issues about two billion of these European Allowances (EUA's) each year
• To comply with the EU mandate, companies may either 1) reduce their emissions and sell the surplus EUA's or 2) buy EUA's in the marketpla

• The Angel of History, the Storm of Progress, And the Order of the Soul

   

  Keith Helmuth
• Those who formulate policy should recognize   that if humans pit themselves against the fundamental dynamics   of cosmic nature , they are certain to lose. . . . It might be   argued that war and civil disorder are presently the greatest   threats to the human future. One need not minimize their   dangers to also recognize that attrition of the Earth’s   biosphere and life support systems could continue   unobtrusively under conditions of peace until a point is   reached at which environmental disintegration led to societal   disintegration.(2)
• Over the Amazon with the Storm of Progress

•  

   

  – Lynton Keith Caldwell
• These settlements rose up in my mind’s eye: A fishing village   here, rubber tappers there, hunters, loggers, mineral   prospectors, plant researchers, and diesel generators pushing   like demons ever deeper into the biotic integrity of the land.   Indigenous peoples, nomadic resource raiders, and bio-pirates   all mixed up on the leading edge of the great storm of   progress.
• With clear cutting, the storm of   progress has truly mounted to hurricane force.
• Another feature of the storm. Fire storms,   preparing the way for further progress. The beef industry, the   soybean business, all for export, moving in.
• At a certain point in our lives it is   important to understand more and more that there is something   which cannot be understood. We can call this knowledge the   wisdom of the soul. Coming to this knowledge is not a matter   of chronological age. It is a matter of a certain kind of   experience of the world. And the earlier in life we come to   this experience, the greater our chances of living within the   order of the soul.
• • Very insightful

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• • Definition of Cortege
    what kind of currency grows in these new deserts
    thinning ozone

  • What is a Green Brain?
• Climate control centre for the world
    Ancient cord of coexistence
    Hacked by parasitic greedhead scam -
• Cortege rhythm of falling timber.
• What kind of currency grows in these new deserts,
    These brand new flood plains?
• Take out wildlife at a rate of species every single day
• Grain eaters - methane dispensers.
• Through thinning ozone,
• Gravity, light, ancient refuse of stars,
    Speak of a drowning
• Busy monster eats dark holes in the spirit world
• 
    Where wild things have to go
    To disappear
• "Actually, it wasn't a trip to Brazil. My exposure to rain forest, with the except on one brief day in Australia, has been in the Northwest, the western coast of North America, which is as much rain forest as anything else. It's just not tropical. So a lot of the time when people talk about the rain forest, they don't realize that they are also talking about the large groves that grow on the west coast of Canada and North America. But I was aware first hand of the destruction of these forests and aware through many sources of the destruction of the tropical rain forests."
• -- from a Kink FM 102 Interview with Jeff Clarke, January 1997. Anonymous submission

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• With an old   guitar given to him by an aunt, he was soon playing along to their records and   in time exploring music styles beyond the rock of the day, such as jazz and   blues. He was also getting into the beat writings of Jack Kerouac and Allen   Ginsberg, which would also have a big influence on him. Upon leaving high school,   he travelled around Europe, busking on the streets of Paris (and spending a   night in jail there for performing without a license) and getting a taste of   the bohemian life.
• Realizing he wasn't willing to put the   commitment in that was required, he returned to Ottawa after 2 years (receiving   an honorary degree 31 years later, in 1997) where he soon hooked up with local   poet and musician Bill Hawkins and his band The Children. Hawkins encouraged   the budding artist to write his own songs, leading to Cockburn playing in a   variety of other area bands ranging from blues to psychedelic rock through the   next few years, honing his skills.
• A   trip to Central America as a representative of international aid organization   OXFAM in 1983 opened his eyes to the injustices and oppression of third world   life.
• The 1980's would be a time of intense travel for Cockburn,   and images and influences from places as diverse as Tokyo, Europe, Central America,   Chile, Jamaica, and Nepal found their way into his songs.
• Ending a long and grueling   concert tour schedule in early 2001, he took a year off to recharge his batteries.   In March of that year, he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame   by Gordon Lightfoot and environmentalist David Suzuki. 2002 promises to be a   Cockburn-filled year as a collection of tracks from the later two thirds of   his career (plus two new songs) was released in January, and a series of remastered-with-bonus-tracks   reissues of his back catalogue by True North is scheduled as well as an album   of new material.

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• Deforestation started because people began living in wooded areas. People cut down forests for houses, farms, and even for wood needed for big cities. Thousands of forests covered the earth many years ago. But, because of these reasons, only a few of the original forests remain to this day.

  The earth’s population is increasing every second. Therefore, there is a need for more wood for houses, businesses and also for firewood. People clear the land to make room for new buildings. Deforestation mostly occurred in the 20th century. Today, only 30 % of the Rain Forests remain. Believe it or not, 10,000 years ago half of the world's land mass was covered with Rainforest.

• Forests add humidity to the air, so when trees are removed, the air gets hotter, and leads to climate change....which causes a decline in precipitation.....which causes drought....which disrupts cropping programs and kills livestock....so this puts a bad effect on the economy

• •   Forests has more than just a Range of values
    
     Benefits of the Ecosystem services provided by food, fuel wood and regulating carbon in the atmosphere stabilizing the global climate.  South cocases.  habitat for wildlife and protection of top soil for agriculture.  
    Armenia
    Provide clean water,recreational use, protection from flooding
    Protect our watershed
    unsustainable logging
    what is a forest worth slide
    exploitation
    goods and services we use are not bought and sold
    reliable sources of clean water
    hydro power
    Watershed in the Catskills for NYC
    redefine economic systems
    relationship with nature
    National wealth
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

• • Threat from slash and burn
    farms and ranches
    abandoned
    wildlife
    hydro power/floods
    human tribes
    creates poor soil and decreases production
    rich businesses profits
    Extinction
    plants that cure diseases disappear
    

• Between 1956-2005, the average earth's temperature rose .13°C per decade. This might not seem like much, but it was double the rate for the 100 years from 1906 to 2005. Temperatures in colder areas, like the Arctic, rose twice as fast as the average.
• The land temperatures increase doesn't describe the full impact because the ocean absorbed 80% of the heat, which caused ice caps to melt at a rate of 2.7% per decade since 1978. This caused sea levels to rise at an average rate of 3.1mm per year between 1993-2003, nearly double the rate between 1961-2003
• (Source: IPCC Climate
• Change 2007)
• A large number of scientific and government organizations have agreed that global warming is caused by a man-made increase in greenhouse gases, which include carbon dioxide, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs). These gases sit in the earth's atmosphere, absorbing the sun's radiation. Current levels are at 370 parts per million volume (ppmv), up from 280 ppmv 100 years ago. These gases are released by deforestation, factory farming, and the burning of oil in all its forms.  (Source: About.com, Global Warming FAQ)
• In the colder areas of the U.S. farmbelt, global warming allowed a longer growing season. Polar caps melts along the the Northwest Passage allowed for cheaper shipping costs.
• Longer summers have led to an increase in the allergy season and increased health care costs for asthma and allergy sufferers
• In addition, increased air pollution kills 1,000 U.S. residents for every 1°C increase in temperatures.
• Increased Hurricanes Cost U.S. Billions:
• Many experts believe that global warming increases the size and frequency of hurricanes. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina created $125 billion in damage, with $66 billion in insured losses.It caused GDP to decline from 3.8% in Q3 to 1.3% in Q4 2005.
• ast year, over 100 biofuel factories produced 6.4 billion gallons of ethanol using 18 million acres of corn. This was 20% of total U.S. corn production, which drove corn prices to a record $4 per bushel. Since most of corn production is used to feed livestock, this food prices increased four percent. (Source: Department of Energy, Biomass 2008: Fueling Our Future, April 2008; MIT Technology Review, The Price of Biofuels, January/February 2008)
• • Other natural disasters that have economic impacts; fire, flooding (Mississippi), tornados
    

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• By destroying the tropical forests, we risk our own quality of life, gamble with the stability of climate and local weather, threaten the existence of other species, and undermine the valuable services provided by biological diversity.
• uch habitats afford humans valuable services such as erosion prevention, flood control, water treatment, fisheries protection, and pollination—functions that are particularly important to the world's poorest people, who rely on natural resources
• for their everyday survival. Forest loss also reduces the availability of renewable resources like timber, medicinal plants, nuts and fruit, and game

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• In recent years economic globalization has brought about profound changes in countries around the world. Generally there has been a trend of decentralizing government and reducing the role that government plays in the everyday life of its citizens. In developing countries, this shift has put a greater strain on forest resources which have customarily been treated as state property. Whether determined by a market economy or dictated by a command economy, management of forest land has been the responsibility of public forest services. Forest exploitation firms have dealt through these bureaucracies, which generally ensure some sort of control over the allocation of forest lands.
•   Today the governments of many developing countries have decentralized their control over the forestry sector and privatized many of the state-owned forest industries
• . The lack of government supervision means that private firms have more free rein and can work to maximize efficiency,
• The localization of decision making and law enforcement also make it easier for corporations to bribe local officials
• the means by which decentralization progresses can be adapted to compromise for the needs of the ecological system, private firms, local peoples, indigenous peoples, and the government.

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