Earth’s ”vital signs” in bad shape: report

DALLAS (Reuters) – More wood was removed from forests in 2005 than ever before, one of many troubling environmental signs highlighted on Thursday in the Worldwatch Institute’s annual check of the planet’s health.

The Washington-based think tank’s “Vital Signs 2007-2008″ report points to global patterns ranging from rising meat consumption to Asian economic growth it says are linked to the broader problem of climate change.
“I think climate change is the most urgent challenge we have ever faced,” said Erik Assadourian, director of the Vital Signs project.

“You see many trends in climate change, whether we are talking about grain production which is affected by droughts and flooding. Or meat production as livestock production makes up about 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview before the report’s release.

Assadourian said the key message of the report was that unsustainable consumption patterns were responsible for climate change linked to carbon emissions and other ecological woes.

He said of the 44 trends tracked by the report, 28 were “pronouncedly bad” and only six were positive.

The trends range from the spread of avian flu to the rise of carbon emissions to the number of violent conflicts. The growing use of wind power is among the few trends seen as positive.

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