A wildfire is any uncontrolled, non-structure fire that occurs in the wilderness, wildland, or bush.Synonyms such as wildland fire, forest fire, brush fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, peat fire, bushfire (in Australasia), and hill fire are commonly used. The name wildfire was once a synonym for Greek fire as well as a word for any furious or destructive conflagration. Wildfires are common in various parts of the world, occurring in cycles. They are often considered beneficial to the wilderness, as many plant species are dependent on the effects of fire for growth and reproduction. However, large wildfires often have detrimental atmospheric consequences. Nine out of ten wildfires are reportedly caused by some human interaction.
Prevention, detection, and suppression strategies have varied over the years, but now incorporate techniques that permit and even encourage fires in some regions. However, with extensive urbanization of wilderness, wildfires often involve the destruction of homes and other property located in the wildland-urban interface, a zone of transition between developed areas and undeveloped wilderness.

CLEAN AIR ACT

Clean Air Act


Smog over Shanghai(1993).
A Clean Air Act describes one of a number of pieces of legislation relating to the reduction of smog and air pollution in general. The use by governments to enforce clean air standards has contributed to an improvement in human health and longer life spans. Critics argue it has also sapped corporate profits and contributed to outsourcing, while defenders counter that improved environmental air quality has generated more jobs than it has eliminated.
Additionally, air quality legislation has led to widespread use of atmospheric dispersion models, including point source models, roadway air dispersion models and aircraft air pollution models in order to analyze air quality impacts of proposed major actions.

LIFE INSURANCE

Archive for May 16th, 2008
May 16 2008
admin
The Importance of Life Insurance, Its Principal
Filed under PRO! Insurance
I couldn’t stop to advice people in any occasion about the importance of the insurances, and it’s not because of I am try to sell something or be a part of insurances sales agent. No, i just a regular guy like you who’s actually had already feel how secure it is by being covered for any misfortune that could happen anytime in the future. It is really relief, when I find out that all the members of my lovely family and all my valuable things have been covered and protected.

WHAT IS CARBON TRADING?

"Carbon Trading" is still in its nascent phase, but the kind of growth this market is experiencing is tremendous and that is what makes it so exciting to talk about. This word was totally alien to me couple of years back, and as I'm coming to terms with it, our relationship has grown from strength to strength.Apart from the fact that "Carbon" will become the single most biggest commodity ever traded, another aspect of it which makes it important is the solution it offers to a common problem which we all have just started to realize and probably talk about more, "Global Warming" I've tried to cover in basic terminology, what carbon trading is, in this post. Problem: Carbon emissions into the earth's atmosphere have resulted in drastic climatic changes. Though, we have both, firm believers who blame Industries outright for polluting the atmosphere resulting in some of natures shocking disasters and some, who believe it's difficult to blame carbon emissions for these climatic changes as its hard to find a pattern over the past billion years or so, how climate has changed.Though, both have strong points to back their beliefs, whenever I see smoke coming out of chimney,
I believe its not good for the environment. Solution: NGOs or non-profit organizations for long have been screaming for everybody's attention towards this huge problem, but no one seems to care enough, not until there is a financial incentive attached to it. That's what the governments of various countries have been trying to come up with, a trading mechanism where companies gain a monetary benefit out of polluting the air less.Kyoto protocol's goal is exactly that. The idea is to divide the whole world into two, one who can afford making changes to their existing infrastructure and the ones who cannot. As everybody is polluting, be it a developed country or a developing country, the financial aspect has to be kept in mind. All developed countries will have to cut down their emissions by some percentage or else they pay heavy fines. Now, one way of measuring how much they are polluting the air less, is by assigning each tone reduction of CO2, a unit. They have various ways to aggregate these units called "CER" or "Carbon Emission Reduction" units: 1) Invest in CDM/JI Projects. 2) Buy these credits from the market.CDM/JI Projects: CDM or Clean Development Mechanism is a project which is executed in a developing country where they cannot, on their own, afford to bring that technology change in the existing infrastructure which can result in less carbon emissions. As an example, a company in a developed world can give money to a company in a developing world to buy the necessary technology and in turn own the carbon units generated by bringing that technology change and thus meet the targets set by their governments. This will help developing countries to get the much needed financial help and in turn help the developed countries to meet the emission cut targets or if they end up with excess of such units, sell them and earn some profit out of it. It really doesn't matter, from where on earth carbon emissions are reduced, 'cause it will be beneficial for the environment any ways.JI or Join Implementation is a similar approach, only difference being the both the parties involved in executing such a project are from the developed world. 2) Carbon Trading: the second option for companies in the developed world is that if they do fall short of the emission targets, they can buy those from the market, from someone who was successful in meeting those targets and has a surplus of carbon units with them. It's not important that someone is doing more to reduce carbon emissions and someone else is just buying the rights to pollute the air. What's important is, overall, we have those many carbon units in market, or in other words we have reduced the amount of carbon emissions what we did set out to achieve.

GREEN HOUSE EFFECT

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (August 2008)

A schematic representation of the exchanges of energy between outer space, the Earth's atmosphere, and the Earth's surface. The ability of the atmosphere to capture and recycle energy emitted by the Earth surface is the defining characteristic of the greenhouse effect.
The greenhouse effect refers to the change in the steady state temperature of a planet or moon by the presence of an atmosphere containing gas that absorbs and emits infrared radiation.[1] Greenhouse gases, which include water vapor, carbon dioxide and methane, warm the atmosphere by efficiently absorbing thermal infrared radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface, by the atmosphere itself, and by clouds. As a result of its warmth, the atmosphere also radiates thermal infrared in all directions, including downward to the Earth’s surface. Thus, greenhouse gases trap heat within the surface-troposphere system.[2][3][4][5] This mechanism is fundamentally different from the mechanism of an actual greenhouse, which instead isolates air inside the structure so that the heat is not lost by convection and conduction, as discussed below. The greenhouse effect was discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824, first reliably experimented on by John Tyndall in the year 1858 and first reported quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in his 1896 paper.[6]
In the absence of the greenhouse effect and an atmosphere, the Earth's average surface temperature[7] of 14 °C (57 °F) could be as low as −18 °C (−0.4 °F), the black body temperature of the Earth.[8][9][10]
Anthropogenic global warming (AGW), a recent warming of the Earth's lower atmosphere as evidenced by the global mean temperature anomaly trend,[11] is believed to be the result of an "enhanced greenhouse effect" mainly due to human-produced increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere[12] and changes in the use of land.[13]
The greenhouse effect is one of several factors that affect the temperature of the Earth. Other positive and negative feedbacks dampen or amplify the greenhouse effect.
In our solar system, Mars, Venus, and the moon Titan also exhibit greenhouse effects according to their respective environments. In addition, Titan has an anti-greenhouse effect and Pluto exhibits behavior similar to the anti-greenhouse effect.[14][15][16]

Air Pollution

When people think about air pollution, they usually think about smog, acid rain, CFC's, and other forms of outdoor air pollution. But did you know that air pollution also can exist inside homes and other buildings? It can, and every year, the health of many people is affected by chemical substances present in the air within buildings.

Air is the ocean we breathe. Air supplies us with oxygen which is essential for our bodies to live. Air is 99.9% nitrogen, oxygen, water vapor and inert gases. Human activities can release substances into the air, some of which can cause problems for humans, plants, and animals. There are several main types of pollution and well-known effects of pollution which are commonly discussed. These include smog, acid rain, the greenhouse effect, and "holes" in the ozone layer. Each of these problems has serious implications for our health and well-being as well as for the whole environment.

One type of air pollution is the release of particles into the air from burning fuel for energy. Diesel smoke is a good example of this particulate matter . The particles are very small pieces of matter measuring about 2.5 microns or about .0001 inches. This type of pollution is sometimes referred to as "black carbon" pollution. The exhaust from burning fuels in automobiles, homes, and industries is a major source of pollution in the air. Some authorities believe that even the burning of wood and charcoal in fireplaces and barbeques can release significant quanitites of soot into the air.
Another type of pollution is the release of noxious gases, such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and chemical vapors. These can take part in further chemical reactions once they are in the atmosphere, forming smog and acid rain.
Pollution also needs to be considered inside our homes, offices, and schools. Some of these pollutants can be created by indoor activities such as smoking and cooking. In the United States, we spend about 80-90% of our time inside buildings, and so our exposure to harmful indoor pollutants can be serious. It is therefore important to consider both indoor and outdoor air pollution.

Phenomena in the Polar Atmosphere
There are some unique phenomena that happen in the atmosphere that is above the Earth's polar regions. Read on to discover more about some of the unique parts of the polar atmosphere.
Aurora:High in the thermosphere layer of Earth's atmosphere, energized particles that come from the Sun follow Earth's magnetic field lines toward the Poles. The gases of the upper atmosphere light up with the added energy. The display is called the aurora. It can only be seen at high latitudes and is called the Northern Lights in the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Lights in the Southern Hemisphere.
Noctilucent Clouds: In the mesosphere layer of Earth’s atmosphere, below the thermosphere and above the stratosphere, noctilucent clouds form in the polar regions. This is much higher in the atmosphere than typical clouds, but noctilucent clouds are not typical clouds. The word noctilucent means to glow, and these clouds do glow blue in color when they are lit from below by the setting Sun.
Less Ozone: The ozone layer, located in the stratosphere layer of the atmosphere, shields our planet from harmful UV radiation. However, during the 20th Century pollutants that were used in aerosol cans and refrigeration destroyed a large amount of ozone. Most of the ozone destruction happened in the part of the stratosphere that is over Earth’s polar regions. There are now a number of ozone holes, areas where the amount of ozone is only about a third of what it used to be, including a very large hole over Antarctica.
Cold Weather: Less solar energy gets to the poles making for lots of cold weather. However, even though both poles get the same amount of sunlight, the North Pole is less cold and has different weather than the South Pole. This is because the North Pole is over the Arctic Ocean, which is less cold than Antarctica and its thick layer of ice. Antarctica is the coldest continent on Earth. It has some of the harshest weather on the planet with high winds and low precipitation. Weather events happen in the troposphere layer of Earth’s atmosphere, which is about half as thick at the poles as it is at the equator.

Temperature and layers

Layers of the atmosphere (not to scale)
The temperature of the Earth's atmosphere varies with altitude; the mathematical relationship between temperature and altitude varies among five different atmospheric layers (ordered highest to lowest, the ionosphere is part of the thermosphere):
Exosphere
From 500–1,000 km (310–620 mi; 1,600,000–3,300,000 ft) up to 10,000 km (6,200 mi; 33,000,000 ft), contain free-moving particles that may migrate into and out of the magnetosphere or the solar wind.
Exobase
Also known as the 'critical level', it is the lower boundary of the exosphere.
Ionosphere
The part of the atmosphere that is ionized by solar radiation stretches from 50 to 1,000 km (31 to 620 mi; 160,000 to 3,300,000 ft) and typically overlaps both the exosphere and the thermosphere. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere. Because of its charged particles, it has practical importance because it influences, for example, radio propagation on the Earth. It is responsible for auroras.
Thermopause
The boundary above the thermosphere, it varies in height from 500–1,000 km (310–620 mi; 1,600,000–3,300,000 ft).
Thermosphere
From 80–85 km (50–53 mi; 260,000–280,000 ft) to over 640 km (400 mi; 2,100,000 ft), temperature increasing with height. Although the temperature can rise to 1,500 °C (2,730 °F), a person would not feel warm because of the extremely low pressure. The International Space Station orbits in this layer, between 320 and 380 km (200 and 240 mi).
Mesopause
The temperature minimum at the boundary between the thermosphere and the mesosphere. It is the coldest place on Earth, with a temperature of −100 °C (−148.0 °F; 173.1 K).
Mesosphere
From the Greek word "μέσος" meaning middle. The mesosphere extends from about 50 km (31 mi; 160,000 ft) to the range of 80–85 km (50–53 mi; 260,000–280,000 ft). Temperature decreases with height, reaching −100 °C (−148.0 °F; 173.1 K) in the upper mesosphere. This is also where most meteors burn up when entering the atmosphere.
Stratopause
The boundary between the mesosphere and the stratosphere, typically 50 to 55 km (31 to 34 mi; 160,000 to 180,000 ft). The pressure here is 1/1000th sea level.
Stratosphere
From the Latin word "stratus" meaning spreading out. The stratosphere extends from the troposphere's 7–17 km (4.3–11 mi; 23,000–56,000 ft) range to about 51 km (32 mi; 170,000 ft). Temperature increases with height. The stratosphere contains the ozone layer, the part of the Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone. "Relatively high" means a few parts per million—much higher than the concentrations in the lower atmosphere but still small compared to the main components of the atmosphere. It is mainly located in the lower portion of the stratosphere from approximately 15–35 km (9.3–22 mi; 49,000–110,000 ft) above Earth's surface, though the thickness varies seasonally and geographically.
Ozone Layer
Though part of the Stratosphere, the ozone layer is considered as a layer of the Earth's atmosphere in itself because its physical and chemical composition is far different from the Stratosphere. Ozone (O3) in the Earth's stratosphere is created by ultraviolet light striking oxygen molecules containing two oxygen atoms (O2), splitting them into individual oxygen atoms (atomic oxygen); the atomic oxygen then combines with unbroken O2 to create O3. O3 is unstable (although, in the stratosphere, long-lived) and when ultraviolet light hits ozone it splits into a molecule of O2 and an atom of atomic oxygen, a continuing process called the ozone-oxygen cycle. This occurs in the ozone layer, the region from about 10 to 50 km (33,000 to 160,000 ft) above Earth's surface. About 90% of the ozone in our atmosphere is contained in the stratosphere. Ozone concentrations are greatest between about 20 and 40 km (66,000 and 130,000 ft), where they range from about 2 to 8 parts per million.

Earth's atmosphere

"Air" redirects here. For other uses, see Air (disambiguation).

Atmospheric gases scatter blue light more than other wavelengths, giving the Earth a blue halo when seen from space
The Earth's atmosphere (or air) is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by the Earth's gravity. Dry air contains roughly (by volume) 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases. Air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1%. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention (greenhouse effect), and reducing temperature extremes between day and night.
There is no definite boundary between the atmosphere and outer space. It slowly becomes thinner and fades into space. An altitude of 120 km (75 mi) marks the boundary where atmospheric effects become noticeable during reentry. The Kármán line, at 100 km (62 mi), is also frequently regarded as the boundary between atmosphere and outer space. Three quarters of the atmosphere's mass is within 11 km (6.8 mi; 36,000 ft) of the surface.