Glen Luckman, Global Warming Issues

Some Global Warming Statistics

Glen Luckman Global Warming Statistics By Harold Baldwin

While most people accept global warming as a fact, some still deny that humans play a significant role. Unfortunately politics are often involved, and while I don’t intent to try to change anyone’s mind, it’s worthwhile to look at some statistical facts. These come from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2007 working group assessment report, which is available for free online. The IPCC is a scientific panel under the United Nations.

The average surface temperature of the planet has increased 1.33 degrees Fahrenheit between 1905 and 2005.

Over the last fifty years, the warming trend is almost twice that of the previous fifty years, so the rate of temperature rise is increasing.

Eleven of the past twelve years are among the twelve warmest years since 1850. This is a shocking fact!

Also, the Environmental Protection Agency reports that the sea level along the Gulf and Mid Atlantic has risen five to six inches more than the average in the last century. Glaciers and snow cover are decreasing on both sides on the equator.

Clearly the earth is warming and with this warming, snow and ice are melting and the seas are rising. Yes, the earth has cooled and warmed many times before there were humans, and one may even argue that humans alone are not to blame, as though blame matters anyways. Humans and our activities are contributing to the rapid rise in temperature, and the only questions that remain is how serious is it and how should we react.

Comments Off

Why You Should Care About Global Warming

Glen Luckman About Global WarmingBy Benjamin Stratton

Earth is a blue green planet in which we live on. Scientists can tell this is the only planet where humans can survive easily. The atmosphere contains perfect mixture of air that we need to breath and survive. The earth is in the perfect distance from the sun allowing temperatures for optimal habitation of millions of special animals and plants and it keeps the planet vast ocean at a temperature where many species of fish can survive easily.

Earth supports every species in their food chain from top to bottom. If the planet is cool for few degrees or even assume permanently, there would be vast problems created.

In the Midwest, the production of grains decreases sharply, creating not only grain shortage but also it creates meals shortage due to coolness in that area. If the earth is permanently hot means, the ocean temperature would not support fishes, plankton, birds and their food chain also.

There would be a great change in temperature. If the atmosphere is heat then water in oceans and rivers will soon get evaporate. The levels of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere would increase and making the quality of air we breathe unsafe. Man has impacted future weather and has the power to reverse course and return us to what nature intended. Every day we are spoiling our environment by doing harmful things. Every degree the temperature changes are harmful to the life cycle of human kind. Think globally and we should avoid such things which affect the environment.

Comments Off

Economic and Social Consequences of Global Warming

Glen Luckman Consequences of Global WarmingBy Eshwarya Patel

Global warming is causing not only health hazards, but it has many adverse economic and social consequences also. Native people living in high-altitude regions are already facing the ill effects of global warming. The future climate changes will have diverse effects on human lives. Africa may be the most exposed continent. Similarly, developing countries are more in danger than developed countries, because the developed countries have sufficient means to fight any disaster. Some regions like Arctic nations and small islands will be adversely affected if the temperature raises 1-2 degree Celsius, while above 2-3 degree Celsius warming would affect the most of the world.

The net economic influences of global warming are extremely vague. Climate change can bring a change in gross world product; it may be plus or minus a few percent. But, even small changes in gross world product can bring about comparatively large changes in national economies. The most directly affected industry is the insurance industry. A 2004 report by the Association of British Insurers noted that changing weather increases risks for households and property by 2-4% per year and the claims for storm and flood compensations in the UK had increased twofold over the period 1998-2003, weighing against the past five years. As a result, the insurance premiums have become so high that in some areas it will be nearly impossible for some to afford flood and storm insurance.

Global warming has many adverse effects on transportation, agriculture, and food also. As a result, the overall development is slowed down. Great temperature variations damage our roads, airport runways, railway lines and pipelines, oil pipelines, sewers, water mains, etc. Therefore, extra money and efforts are required to maintain and renew the whole system. Areas of permafrost have been affected badly resulting in crumpled roads, caved in foundations, and badly damaged runways. Climate change has diverse impact on agriculture, as some areas, such as mid-and high-latitude areas, are benefitted from modest temperature increase, while others like low-latitude areas are adversely affected. Likewise, some crops are badly affected, while others are not.

The overall effects of global warming are very dangerous for people and countries without sufficient means to lessen those impacts. This may deter economic and social development, making it more difficult to meet the Millennium Development Goals. A report by the Working Group on Climate Change and Development in Oct. 2004, and the July 2005 report ‘Africa- Up in Smoke’ declared increased hunger and diseases caused by less rainfall and extreme weather conditions, especially in Africa. Thus, global warming has severe economic and social impacts on our lives.

Comments Off

Green Living - Preventing the Global Warming Ice Age

Glen Luckman Preventing the Global Warming Ice Age By Brian Steven

Politicians and other individuals find it all too easy to dismiss the “global warming myth,” citing that it is all just doomsday rubbish concocted by crazy loons. First of all, these ‘crazy loons’ are experts in climate change; who dedicate their entire lives to studying our planet and where it’s going in the near future.

Second, this ‘doomsday rubbish’ is not rubbish: it is happening today. More than 2,500 researchers who plan to attend 2009’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in Copenhagen will assess the situation. And they will be presented with the inevitability that water levels may rise as much as 100m in the near future, a 75% loss of tree cover, and millions (if not billions) will be displaced by the changes in climate. All this leads to one conclusion: we are in serious trouble.

If a convention of such size and with conclusions so resounding does not catch the attention of the world, then no amount of global warming proof will convince otherwise, unless we experience the results for ourselves. But the responsibility does not fall solely on governments and corporations. We have a role to play in keeping our environment safe and habitable. Here are two simple things we, as normal people living our normal, every-day lives, can do to help:

Waste Management - from merely reducing our needs to meet our needs to sorting trash and bringing empty cans to the recycling center, this is the first and easiest step we can take to help ease the burden on our environment.

Of course, proper disposal of garbage is something that takes top priority in the list of things that we can do to help our environment, as evidenced by the numerous categories of trash bins dotting street corners. But waste management involves not just properly handling the leftovers and garbage in our bins. It also follows the idea of minimalism, where we buy and use only what we need. Excess consumption results in excess waste and this waste will have to go somewhere in the system. Why create more headaches for our waste-disposal services when we can minimize what waste we produce in the first place?

Clean Energy - alternative energy sources like windmills and photovoltaic solar panels will not just help us prevent global warming, but it will actually help us save money in the long run. We can inspect what source of energy we can most easily tap: the wind, the sun and methane are particularly convenient and easy-to-access sources of energy. Once we find the alternative energy source most suited to our available resources, we can then place an investment into buying, installing and maintaining these alternative energy sources. Produce enough electricity and the power companies will be paying you for the energy you are sending back into the grid.

Comments Off

Causes of Global Warming

Glen Luckman Causes of Global Warming By Rolf Joho

In present times, the green house gases like methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide are playing havoc on our environment. These green house gases trap the heat of sun into earth’s atmosphere causing increase in the temperature. Power plants are the major sources of carbon dioxide. These power plants emit huge quantities of carbon dioxide, which is produced when fossil fuel is burnt for generation of electricity. Burning of gasoline in vehicles contributes to more than 20% of carbon dioxide emission in the atmosphere.

Major Contributors of Global Warming

Commercial and residential buildings need a lot of fuel to be burnt, emitting huge amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As compared to carbon dioxide, methane is twenty times more effectual at entrapping the heat in the atmosphere. Methane is obtained from several resources such as bovine flatulence, paddles, fossil fuel manufacture and bacteria in bogs. Flood in the fields decays the organic matter, and releases methane in the atmosphere. Nylon and nitric acid production, use of fertilizers in the agriculture, cars with catalytic converters and burning of organic matter are main sources of nitrous oxide. More than 33% of carbon dioxide emission comes from engines of light trucks and cars. Vehicles that have poor mileage contribute maximum to the global warming.

The way we use our land is one of the major cause of global warming. Modern agriculture practices that are used to grow cereals, breed animals, grow vegetables and fruits and other foods for human consumption, and all these agricultural practices lead to emission of greenhouse gases including nitrous oxide and methane.

There is no doubt that in last few decades, deforestation has become one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon dioxide is the main gas emitted, in addition to small amounts of nitrous oxide and methane. Tropical rainforests are very crucial for regulating the regional and global climate patterns. The environment can get tremendously affected if these forests are destroyed. Rainforests remove the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by the process of photosynthesis.

Another reason and cause of global warming is the fact that human population is growing, and in addition to increase in the fuel usage for transportation, energy and power, people need to be fed, which leads to increased deforestation for the purpose of agriculture.

There are some natural causes of global warming as well. Temperature of the planet is affected by changes in the shape of orbit of Earth around the Sun, and also by the tilt of its axis because both these factors affect the amount of solar energy received by the planet. As Sun is the only source of energy responsible for functioning of Earth’s climate system, change in output of solar energy can lead to change in the climate, especially, global warming.

One more natural cause of global warming is the aerosol emission of volcanic eruptions that blocks the sunlight, and causes short-term cooling on affected parts of the earth. The volcanic eruptions emit carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, however, most scientists believe that humans are far more responsible for the damage as compared to volcanic eruptions.

Change in ocean current is also a natural cause of global warming because rise and fall of current creates global change. Oceanic currents have considerable effect on the changes of heat pattern around the earth. This effect varies from region to region, and may also be related to rotation of sun.

Comments Off

Author: AUGUST Leo

At this moment, there are a lot of natural disaster or bad effect of global warming happen in our environment. There are several kinds of regions that have rainy day that much harder than usual. On the other hand, there are several kinds of regions that have sunny day much hotter than usual. More than that, there is also bad impact that caused from those kinds of unusual condition, such as: big flood, land slide in every where, and so on. Actually, you may think how all of those disasters happen in our life. There are several kinds of indicator that can give signal to us about the real threat of global warming.

First indicator of global warming is the melting of ice in the North and South Pole. Currently we can see that there is rapid change of condition in those poles where the ice is melting faster than before. This condition is also threatening the creatures who live at those poles. Second is the increasing of sea surface level. There is an amazing result of research done by environment experts which they said that if all of Greenland were melting down, it can increase the level of sea surface more than 7 meters.

Beside of that, there are also several kinds of motive that caused global warming exist in our life, such as: the extreme change of climate, hot waves that become wilder than before, and the glacier is running out periodically.

We now can see that storm is getting bigger and could trigger a disaster. So what are we waiting for?

Comments Off