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Climate Change Explained
Mike Treder |
Predictions of melting ice caps, receding glaciers, thawing permafrost, rising sea levels, longer and more frequent droughts, hyper-powerful storm systems, species depletion, refugee migration, disease outbreaks, economic disruption, and other catastrophic results are becoming more plausible with each passing year. Unless something changes very fast, the future does not look very bright.
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Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/12 at 08:52 PM
Well, forgive me for mentioning that I understand tempertures have fallen over the last decade. Hav'nt they? AND,
Again, if I remember correctly, NASA has predicted that the Atlantic currents may turn off in 2010. It would be caused, they said, by too much fresh water pushing the current down. AND, if this happened, it is said, then a new ice age completely blanketing North America and Europe would occur.
Is anything being done about these outcomes because they sound more onerous than what you have written above. What I mean is all the opposites occuring that you have predicted. Falling sea levels, no sustainable life in the northern reaches of earth due to ice... yes, a completely different picture with one major difference, 2010 not 2100.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/13 at 04:16 AM
its great effort of yours putting all the facts together about climate change, global warming and possible solutions. I would like to address one important issue concerning USA. We all are aware that from 90s UN has shown the concern over climate change and subsequently it launched kyoto protocol which states compulsory GHG emission reduction for many developed countries.
In this context, what is the forthcoming steps which USA would take to support this comprehansive movement to combat climate change. Would Obama govt ratify and accept the mandate to reduce GHG emission from USA.?
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/13 at 07:29 AM
@Robin: Temperatures have not fallen during the last decade; on the contrary, they have continued a steady trend upwards. But note the phrase "steady trend" -- in any trend, there will be outlying data points. It's when those points are averaged together that a trend can be observed. In the case of global warming, the year 1998 was an unusually warm one. But a single year anomaly does not overturn a trend. Please consult this page for a thorough explanation -
http://www.ossfoundation.us/projects/environment/global-warming/myths/global-warming-stopped
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/13 at 07:43 AM
@Robin: You're right that disruption from global warming to the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) -- also known as the "Great Ocean Conveyor Belt" -- is a serious concern because that event could drastically affect weather patterns around the world.
It's true that Europe and North America would then experience far colder and more severe winters, but at the same time average temperatures in many areas of the Southern Hemisphere would warm as much as 4° F very quickly. Although the overall effect would not be a "new ice age" (at least not everywhere), the impacts could be dramatic and devastating for hundreds of millions of people.
Melting of the Greenland ice sheet is the most likely trigger for MOC disruption, and while that melting is occurring faster than expected, it probably will not affect the currents in the way you're describing until later in this century.
For more, see - http://www.wunderground.com/education/abruptclimate.asp
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/13 at 07:56 AM
@pranav: It's not yet certain exactly how much President Obama is willing to do in this area, nor how much support his efforts will receive from Congress. However, we can say a couple of things for sure. First, the Obama administration is actually taking the science of global warming seriously, unlike the Bush administration, and second, progress is being made toward passing the most far-reaching and comprehensive climate legislation ever considered in America.
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a landmark bill, known as ACES (also called "Waxman-Markey" for its key supporters), and now it's up to the Senate to see if they will also vote in favor of it. The bill itself is not perfect, and ultimately the U.S. will have to go much farther, but it's an excellent beginning, in my opinion. This is one of those cases where doing something is about a million times better than doing nothing.
Posted by Phil Zulli on 07/14 at 04:09 PM
This is the most concise, accurate and informed explanation of Climate Change I've seen.
I will use it wisely. 
Thanks.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/17 at 02:08 AM
In the July issue of the International Journal of Global Warming, Bo Nordell and Bruno Gervet of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Lulea University of Technology in Sweden have come up with a remarkable finding that completely changes the way we understand global warming.
The scientist's calculations show that three fourths of accumulated heat is from heat emissions. In other words, most of the global warming is from heat humans have generated, not from increased levels of greenhouse gas in the air.
Among the startling implications of this change of paradigm is nuclear power, although it has a small carbon footprint, will not slow down global warming because it produces heat emissions equivalent to three times the energy of the electricity it generates.
By the way, the above article cited is peer reviewed, not an unsubstantiated opinion (like virtually all global warming denier articles). There is already problems with current climate models, for instance the IPCC underestimated current ocean level rise by 1.6 times, and predicted Arctic ocean ice would remain well past mid-century. Furthermore, current climate models don't fully explain the PETM. Once the heat emissions from volcanic activity are included, our understanding of the last Great Extinction should be more complete.
Today, the heat our power plants, motors, and furnaces put into the environment are at least as significant as the greenhouse gas they emit into the air. Now we know, and knowing is half the battle.
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