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In our final instalment of Know the Dangers, we’ll be taking a look at how global warming and climate change has an effect on the fragile ecosystems found right here in North America. A number of industries are focusing in on climate change as being their top obstacle to turning significant profit, like the ski industry that we looked at last time. Another industry that requires its fragile ecosystem to be pitch-perfect is the wine industry.

The quality and taste of the wine depend directly on the soil and on climate conditions in which the grapes are grown. This concept is known as terroir. With climate change altering conditions significantly, the wine industry is experiencing a myriad of issues with the grapes. By bringing higher temperatures, the effect had on the terroir is impossible to predict. As such, California’s $15-billion wine industry sits in the balance.

Pinot noir is a type of wine that requires a very particular temperature to grow the grapes. The grapes benefit from ocean breezes and other climate conditions. With climate change, many worry that the conditions required to grow the pinot grapes will no longer exist.

Another issue that impacts the wine is water. With potential for a water shortage and issues impacting the volatility of the water supply, it’s enough to make many wine producers nervous. There have been periods of drought in California that have impacted the grape crops significantly, such as the drought in the Grain Belt from a few years ago. If these drought conditions don’t improve, wine makers will need to rely on other measures to achieve a halfway decent crop.

By now, many readers are likely panicking. “Not the wine! Anything but the wine!”

If you’re wondering what you can do to save the wine and the wineries we all love so much, some changes are in order. Driver smarter and drive a more fuel-efficient car. Stop by your Scion dealer today, tell them you want to save the wineries in California, and get yourself a test drive!

Along with obvious environmental dangers to global warming, there are a number of tangible financial dangers as well. Ski hills, coastal regions, and the lobster industry are just a few of the industries that have felt an economic pinch as a direct result of climate change. Because of the changes in temperature, many of the economies that depend on industries with a reliance on the weather are starting to experience problems.

The ski industry is one of the obvious ones, naturally. To put it bluntly, without snow there is no ski season. In America, the ski industry is worth around $4.5 billion a year. States like Colorado are largely reliant on snow in certain parts of the year in order to fuel many of its local economies. Without that snow, the local economies die off.

Between 1950 and 1997, springtime mountain snow cover in the Rockies was down 16 percent, the Cascades lost an average of 29 percent, and many sites in Washington, Oregon and Northern California saw springtime snow down more than 50 percent. This type of snow loss is increasing each year, meaning that companies have to create their own snow. That is an expensive process, to say the least.

Man-made snow is prepared by replicating the same conditions needed for natural snow. While the immediate temperatures don’t have to be freezing, they do have to be close. The warmer it is, the more expensive it is to make snow.

With local ski hills suffering because of a lack of snow and more of an emphasis put on manmade snow, it can be tough to imagine how the economy can possibly get any worse for areas that depend on snow to make a living.

Despite claims to the contrary, changing our driving habits now actually CAN make a difference as to how the world operates and how much of an impact climate change has on our world. Stop by your local Scion dealer today and check out some of what they have to offer by way of fuel-efficient cars. You might save a ski bunny or two!

Along with health issues, there are of course a number of environmental issues that are directly related to global warming. We all know of the number of weather calamities that have occurred over recent months and years as the environment has changed drastically. The evidence linking global warming and these weather calamities is increasing, too, and the dangers of drastic weather conditions are a part of our daily news.

With hurricanes in particular, the warming of our ocean waters through the warming of our overall climate has impacted the frequency of hurricanes in recent years. Scientists have long predicted that warmer weather would increase the occurrence of weather incidents like hurricanes or tsunamis. There were still questions regarding where and when the stronger hurricanes would occur and how much stronger the hurricanes would be.

Recent storm events have produced some answers to those questions, as we have come to learn that the storm levels have already risen significantly. Recent research covered in the 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change indicates that, in the North Atlantic, fiercer hurricanes are “correlated with increases of tropical sea surface temperatures.”

A 2005 MIT study found that the harsh potential of tropical storms has doubled over the past 30 years. It correlates this increasing fierceness with warmer sea surface temperatures. Research at the Georgia Institute of Technology found that the number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has doubled since the 1970′s.

With all of these changes regarding hurricanes upon us and fiercer storms likely on the way, it is important to realize the dangers of global warming at a practical level. People are losing their homes and their lives as the result of these horrific storms.

It may seem that our world is on a path to destruction that none of us can avoid. In truth, however, even the smallest lifestyle changes can help make major impacts. Driving a smaller car that produces fewer pollutants is a good start, naturally. Drop by your local Scion dealer today and check out what they have to offer.

There are a number of health issues that can be related to global warming and climate change. Yesterday we discussed a case study in which Hantavirus resulted as the climate changed severely. Today we shall discuss how the sudden and intense warming of the air can lead to a host of respiratory problems.

With global warming expected to increase the number of very hot days over the United States and the world, people that suffer from respiratory issues will experience more symptoms than ever. Because warmer air is a haven for pollutants, smog levels are expected to reach all-time highs with hotter air. For the elderly and those with respiratory issues, this is a dangerous situation to endure. It also compounds the problem of air pollution.

Smog forms when sunlight, heat, and stagnant air meet up with nitrates and various volatile organic compounds in the air. The more heat and stagnant air, the more smog in the air. That’s why cities are hotbeds for smog.

Exposure to smog can do serious harm to lungs and respiratory systems, leading to problems like shortness of breath, throat irritation, chest pains, coughing, and a host of other symptoms. These symptoms lead to hospital visits for asthma attacks and other issues, which can present a serious problem to the most vulnerable among us. The worse the quality of the air gets, the harder it is for people with weaker systems to simply go outside and take a walk or get some fresh air.

“The number of people with asthma in this country has more than doubled over the past 25 years, led by soaring rates in children” says Dr. John Balbus, head of Environmental Defense’s health program. “With climate change worsening smog in some areas and altering pollen levels, future air quality may pose a greater threat to our health, especially those of us with asthma and other lung diseases.”

With these potential issues, it makes more sense than ever to drop by your local Scion dealer and look into a car with greater fuel efficiency. Don’t wait for pollution levels to reach all-time highs. Check out a fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly Scion today.

In discussing the dangers, I aim to spread information and not fear. The claims posted here are scientific in nature, however, they are open to dispute by anyone willing to discuss the issues. The reality behind global warming and the issues of environmental destruction plaguing our world needs to be approached with sound philosophy and conversation. This blog attempts to do just that, utilizing this small avenue as a starting point to a broader dialogue.

In 1994, an outbreak of Hantavirus began. It started with a man in New Mexico who was rushed to the hospital with trouble breathing. He died of acute respiratory failure a few hours later. The oddness of the situation was compounded by the fact that the man had been on the way to his fiancé’s funeral. She had died of similar symptoms a few days earlier. As medical experts looked into the problem, they discovered that the disease had spread in the Southwest.

By February 2006, 416 cases of Hantavirus had been found in a number of states as distant as Florida and New York. People contract the disease by breathing in the virus that has gotten into the air through rodent droppings and urine. Scientists researched the disease and now suspect a link between the spread of Hantavirus and climate change. The spread of this disease was possibly pushed along through the added changes to the environment.

The link between climate change and the Hantavirus outbreak came after six years of drought and a sudden season of heavy spring rains in 1993. The 1993 rains produced a burst of plant growth, as would be expected. This led to a tenfold production of deer mice, the spreaders of the virus. The deer mice were produced by an extreme change in the climate, which is a commonality of global warming. With such rapid temperature and climate changes, the opportunity for similar situations and similar outcroppings of sudden ecosystems becomes greater.

So what can be done about it and how does driving a Scion relate to preventing the spread of the Hantavirus? Let’s be honest here: it doesn’t. But driving a Scion and stopping by a Scion dealer to learn more about climate-friendly cars does impact the environment in changing the driver’s attitude about it. And changing the outlook is half the battle.

The very real problem of global warming has an affect on us all, whether we like to admit it or not. Imaginary scientists and charlatans love to tell the population that global warming is not only a myth but that it is a natural cycle of the earth, adding that we’ve encountered these cycles before and nothing has changed. These deceivers project their own special interests, claiming that global warming is part of a broad political conspiracy to gain control over large groups of the populous and apparently to force those large groups to…take better care of the world?

Oh, the horror!

Global warming is very real. There is not one reputable scientist on the face of the earth that denies basic global warming science. Some fringe scientists fight and quibble about the “human cause” of global warming and how responsible our species is, claiming that we don’t know just how responsible “we” are. How those scientists imagine we can pump noxious gases and pollutants into the ecosystem and not have an effect on the environment is beyond me, but I’m not a scientist.

Many pundits and so-called experts often decry global warming as “fear mongering,” but these are usually the individuals that also claimed that Saddam Hussein had WMDs and that large groups of Islamofacists are going to arrive on the shores of the good ol’ USA with nukes and are going to kill us all because they hate our freedoms. Fact is, nobody knows the fear game quite like the brethren from the Holy Church of the Right.

So what does all of this fear mongering and doublespeak have to do with your car and how you drive? A while back we did a series called “Drive Smart.” The series revealed basic tips and hints behind getting more out of your automobile and gave some ammunition to those tired of the “debunking” crowd working hard to keep drivers drowning in big oil and bigger subsidies.

With this series, we’re going to spend the next few days going over the dangers of global warming and reviewing how problematic it can be to simply ignore the conventional scientific knowledge.

As always, we will offer suggestions as to how to curb the dangers of global warming. The suggestions usually start and end with a visit to a car dealer, such as a local Scion dealer, to learn more about vehicles that are better on the pocketbook and the environment.

With China holding the United States’ future and currency in the palm of its hand, it shouldn’t be too surprising that a shift in what they do over there would cause major tremors over here in North America. So when China announced that they were raising gas prices, the tremors felt over here were instant, bold, and compelling.

For starters, the oil prices sank like a stone. This major shift came as China announced Thursday that it was going to lift subsidies that have been blamed by experts for driving oil prices higher. The move will likely curb demand from China’s rapidly growing economy.

Crude oil for July delivery fell $4.75 to settle at $131.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as a result. China’s National Development and Reform Commission said that prices of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel will increase by 8% beginning Friday. The reaction of United States markets to this shift will likely be sudden and sweeping.

The news came as a shock to many analysts, who had expected China to simply follow the lead of other oil consuming countries that have lifted subsidies in recent weeks. The idea that the shift comes in the weeks before the Olympics seems to have added insult to injury in the minds of many brokers. Nevertheless, the markets will be interesting to watch on Friday.

Strong demand from China’s economy regarding crude oil and gas has been a driving force in the markets. While much of the United States’ attention has been on the Middle East, it has been China that has been driving a lot of the prices. American investors would do well to have a broader global perspective in dealing with the markets.

As for the local consumers, changes are always in order when something like this happens. This news not only reinforces the idea that America’s fuel markets are being played by other puppets, but it also reinforces the idea that Americans need to take their own power back. That means driving smarter and using more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Start by dropping by a Scion dealer and looking at a more fuel efficient car. You’ll be glad you did and, you never know, you’ll probably even feel more American…

It was bound to happen and it is bound to continue to happen time and time again. Canada’s inflation rate took another leap in the wrong direction, jumping to 2.2% in May from 1.7% in the previous month according to reports recently released by Statistics Canada. May marked the second consecutive monthly jump in the inflation rate and a sharp rise in the consumer price index. It also marked the most significant increase since January 2007.

“The acceleration in consumer prices in May was mainly a reflection of the 12-month increase in gasoline prices,” the report said. “This acceleration in gasoline prices occurred as crude oil prices almost doubled between May 2007 and May 2008. Gasoline prices increased substantially across the country, rising the most in Quebec and Ontario.”

Naturally the impact felt by most Canadians has been in the gas prices.

Statistics Canada said gas prices rose 15% in May from a year earlier, up from a year-on-year pace of 11.6% in April. Excluding gasoline prices, the 12-month growth in the CPI in May was 1.6%. Ouch.

Down in the United States, of course, things aren’t too much better. Gas prices continue to climb, but Canadians continue to flock to the border in some places to catch the difference. The border lineups in our area are quite extensive, as my wife well knows, and are filled with people going down to the United States to save a few bucks on gas.

With no real end in sight, are there any easy answers? No.

The only answers require a significant change in consumer lifestyle. Consumers have the power and the responsibility to change. The problem is that most consumers often feel powerless and feel literally “consumed” by misinformation and propaganda coming from corporations with special interests and from governments with their hands in the public coffers. The only option is changing the course.

Part of changing the course means driving a car that makes more sense and changing some lifestyle habits. Luckily there are companies that are listening. Toyota is one of those companies and, together with the Yaris, the Toyota Scion is a car that can go a long way as to changing gas mileage and its harmful effects on the consumer pocketbook. Drop by a Scion dealer today and check it out. For Canadians, it may well be worth a trip down South, as the Scion isn’t yet available in Canada.

With huge wave in small cars and gas-sippers, some car companies are experiencing a new kind of problem. They’re running out of cars to sell.

The problem with many of the hybrid and fuel-economy cars that are hitting car lots as of late is that there aren’t enough of them in production. So while Ford is closing down SUV plants and GM is shutting out workers, other car companies are scrambling for more facilities to meet the growing consumer demand. The other side of the story in terms of the recession and the factory lockouts is a very real issue of not having enough vehicles or vehicle-making facilities.

A prime example of this is the top-selling Toyota Prius. This hybrid is selling like hotcakes, to put in mildly, and car dealers are running out of cars. Dealers like Mike Ross at Palmiero Toyota/Scion in Meadville are offering test drives of the Prius for consumers who simply come on their lot. The problem as of late has been that there haven’t been any models of the car to offer up for the test drive. There just aren’t enough to go around!

Mike says that most prospective drivers of the Prius wind up just putting their names on an increasing list and wait their turn. Many people are trading in larger clunkers and SUVs for the Prius or the popular Toyota Scion, which is creating another problem. The backlog of used trucks and SUVs will one day reach its boiling point, too. This is an issue that will need to be addressed, of course. Will anybody be buying these used SUVs soon? Doubtful.

At this point, dealers like Mike Ross are claiming that they could sell 20-25 Prius hybrids a month and who knows how many Scions. But due to the fact that the production of the cars isn’t coming fast enough or with enough volume, Mike’s sales are limited to what he has available.

Drop by your local Scion dealer today and find out if there are any left. If not, you’ll be waiting like the rest of us!

A lot of the technology today is pushing forward for hybrid cars and even further forward to electric cars. While these are all good moves, many companies complain that they are unable to pursue the latest technology because of budgetary issues. Ford, for instance, claims to need government assistance to work with its plug-in hybrid. Lamborghini refuses to meet EU emissions standards and claims that they don’t make enough cars to have to meet global pollution standards. Everyone, it seems, is making excuses.

One company not making excuses is Toyota. With lots of company interest toward producing affordable and environmentally sound vehicles, Toyota is pushing other car companies to produce better, more efficient cars.

Using advances in engine design and hybrid technology, Toyota has a wide selection of vehicles that are fast becoming known as “fuel sippers” in that they take a little amount of fuel to go a long way. Toyota boasts the best overall fuel economy of any other manufacturer of automobiles.

With gas prices blasting through the roof, it’s nice to know that there is a company with seven models that meet EPA-rated highway fuel economy standards of 30 mpg. The Toyota Camry, Camry Hybrid, Solara, Corolla, Matrix, Yaris, and Prius all meet these standards, with the Prius being the top-selling hybrid in the United States of America.

Toyota can now boast eight models that meet the EPA standards, as the Toyota Scion xD has just been added to the list. The model is proving immensely popular among younger drivers and is offering great gas mileage.

Toyota’s use of various key pieces of new technology has made driving a Scion xD a whole lot of fun. With improvements in fuel injection technology and transmission enhancements, the days of smaller cars being less enticing are certainly behind us. Companies like Toyota are in tune with the changing demands of the consumer, which is why they are also one of the most popular car companies in the world.

Drop by a Scion dealer today and see what you’re missing out on.