True facts about global warming are important and interesting. Global climate change isn't new. It has happened about once every 100,000 years over the past million years or so. Importantly, global warming has caused better living conditions, and life shortening events: depending on where you live. The world is warming now. See the video here.
Global Warming facts from the Past
- Global warming in recent geologic time started 18,000 years ago after the end of the last ice age. It was very cold in the last ice age. Summers were short and cold, so warming was welcome.
- Since the end of the ice age, Earth's temperature has warmed up some 16 degrees F - 8.9 degrees C.
- After the last ice age, sea levels went up 300 feet - 91 meters! By 8,000 years ago the Bearing Strait land bridge (ice bridge) had melted.
- Earth warming and cooling occurs in cycles. Short 40 year cycles exist in longer 400 year cycles, which exist in longer 20,000 year cycles.
- There was a "medieval Warming Trend" from about AD 1000 to AD 1400, and a "little Ice Age" from around 1400 to 1800. Temperatures in the little ice age declined around 1/2 degree C and likely caused the great potato famine.
- We are now in a warming cycle. Worldwide atmospheric temperatures have been on the rise over the past 150 years or so.
- The recent rise of temperatures just happens to coincide with the beginning of the industrial revolution, which pumped and dumped a lot of junk into the air.
- Sea levels are on the rise worldwide. If warming continues at the present rate, it appears very likely that Greenland will melt faster and faster. Bottom line: global climate change does happen naturally. It is happening now. Military outfits the world over are well aware.
Chocolate and Coffee Hammered by Climate
Two serious side effects of warming induced climate change are the loss of Chocolate and Coffee! That is correct: Lost Chocolate and Coffee!
As it happens, the Cacao plant is very sensitive to climate changes. The plant is grown in a region Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), that is experiencing temperature rises. If the are a gets a 2.3C rise in the next few decades, bye bye cheap chocolate. That is a drag!
In a similar situation, Coffee giant Starbucks announces concern for the world coffee crop.
The mega brewer views "a potentially significant risk to our supply chain, which is the Arabica coffee bean." Ouch.
The Water Cycle Changes
It appears that the global water cycle is changing in response to increasing temperatures. A team at Lawrence Livermore National Labs finds that the water cycle has already intensified by 4 percent and continues on. This means that saltier places will get saltier, and less salty places will evaporate more, becoming less salty. The changes closely match computer model predictions.
CO2 Levels are constantly rising
Global Warming can be good for big business. Problems for the masses means opportunity for the properly positioned.
Former BP Boss Steve Percy says "the train has left the station" regarding businesses global warming preparations.
Despite the political rhetoric, there are many major corporations that do accept global warming as real and are now integrating the science into their business plans.
The Bottom Line - Profit
Today: Sea levels are on the rise due to global warming and melting ice. About 0.8C degrees more warming and those living in low lying areas might want to start thinking about investing in boats.
World respected Senior Scientist Peter Raven says:
“It’s not a matter of conjecture anymore, Climate change is the most serious challenge probably that the human race has ever confronted.”
The scope of climate change is huge
Natural Causes of Global Warming
Solar Variations:
Variations in heat output by the sun impact our climate directly.
Satellite measurements over the past 30 years show 11 year variations in solar sunspot activity. Reconstructions show a solar energy change of around 0.12 Watts per square meter. Straight up sunshine contains about 1000-1500 Watts per square meter on the earth's surface.
The Earth's position and orientation relative to the sun (our orbit) varies over time. This brings the earth closer to and farther away from the sun - Milankovitch cycles.
Variations in these cycles have a lot to do with the regulation of ice sheet growth in the Northern Hemisphere.
These cycles however are long term and do not have much impact on shorter 100 year increments such as those considered by current global warming scenarios.
By the way, recent information shows that a massive solar output is possible and would of course be very destructive to life here on Earth.
New research shows that natural large releases of CO2 from deep oceans could have raised Earth's temperature between 3.6 and 5.4 degrees Farenheit in the past. This is similar to that predicted by recent human induced warming.
These hyperthermal events lasted around 40,000 years before temperatures returned to normal. Hyperthermal events happened about every 400,000 years, but they stopped taking place around 40 million years ago.
The Greenhouse Effect:
Gasses and water vapor in the earth's atmosphere trap heat from the sun like a greenhouse.
Various atmospheric gasses plus mostly gaseous water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane trap heat that would otherwise escape back to space.
Without a natural greenhouse effect, the temperature of the Earth would be about zero degrees F (-18°C) instead of its present 57°F.
Solar reflectivity: White clouds, volcanic dust, and polar ice caps reflect incoming solar radiation back into the atmosphere.
Tectonics:
Large scale movement of earth's tectonic places can release CO2 from related volcanoes near subduction zones.
For instance, The 1991 Mt. Pinatubo eruption lowered surface and tropospheric temperatures in 1992 and 1993. Similarly, the lower stratosphere warmed.
Human Causes of Global Warming and Levels
So, if we accept that the earth is in a warming trend and that there are many natural causes, what are the facts with respect to humans causing warming? This is called anthropogenic warming by some. People have the advantage of measuring their CO2 contributions.
People are most surely increasing the amount of greenhouse gas in the air we breathe. CO2 from burning fossil fuels is one of the most widely spread, measured, and reported.
Pre-industrial levels of carbon dioxide (prior to the start of the Industrial Revolution) were about 280 parts per million by volume (ppm),
Current CO2 levels are over 380 ppm. CO2 levels have been increasing at a rate of about 2 ppm per year since 2000.
Historic CO2 levels in recent geologic time (the past million years or so) have been 180 to 300 ppm.
At our current rate of emissions growth, by the end of the century, the earth could see CO2 levels rise to between 490 and 1260 ppm.
Surface temperatures in certain areas around the globe have increased about 3/4 degree C - 1.4 degree F since the late 1800s. The most warming has happened between 40 and 70 degrees North Latitude.
Some areas of the earth have actually cooled. This leads some to use the term "climate change" rather than global warming.
Seven out of the eight warmest years recorded happened since 2001 and the 10 warmest years have all been since 1995.
In recent decades, Northern Hemisphere temperatures appear to be the warmest since at least 1000 AD. Closer to current times, the warming trend since the late 19th century is the greatest over the last 1000 years.
Impacts of Global Warming
Melting Glaciers: Glaciers the world over are retreating at a rapid pace. From the Alps to the Andes ice is melting.
The latest alpine ice to turn to liquid is up on Mount Everest! The Imja glacier is morphing into the Imja Lake. The new body of water at 23,000 feet elevation is some 1.5 miles long by 100 feet deep! The famous Athabaska Glacier in the Canadian Rockies recedes at 1.5 meters per year and has lost half of its pre-industrial volume. In Europe and New Zealand, up to 70% of the glaciers have evaporated! Twenty percent losses elsewhere are common.
Satellite measurements make direct observations of glaciers and sea ice possible. These measurements show large scale and consistent melting of sea ice since 1979.
The Arctic Sea ice area has decreased from 1973-2007 at around minus 10% per decade, or 1% per year. Arctic sea lanes may open up in coming years. It is ironic that people are rushing to the area to set up claims for oil and gas rights.
Antarctic ice flows, on the other hand, have not been shrinking more than normal since the late 1970s. However, temperatures in the Antarctic have recently risen by an estimated 5-6 degrees centigrade. Continental ice there is beginning to recede.
Rising sea levels: Sea levels have been rising globally about 1.7 mm (around 1/16 inch) per year over the last 100 years. This is the greatest rise in the past few thousand years. A recent report published by researchers at the University of Arizona suggests that rising sea levels will inundate large low lying areas along the US eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast.
Amphibious species: Amphibians are among the most affected species. Global warming impacts habitat, introducing diseases that the creatures cannot adapt to in time. Many are disappearing.
Trees: In the USA, pine beetle attacks have seriously damaged millions of acres of forest. Climate change has allowed the spread of the pine beetle, which in the past has been killed off by very low winter temperatures. As temperatures slowly rise, these low temperatures are not reached, the trees weaken, and pine beetles invade. Large tracts
are affected. As evidence of beetle attacks, the US fish and Wildlife has classified Whitebark Pine as an endangered species. The Whitebark could actually become extinct. This is a big deal!
New research published in the Jan. 21, 2011, edition of Science shows that many mountainous areas in the California Sierra actually have become wetter in the last half century, not drier as perhaps assumed. The increased moisture actually promoted plant growth down slope to lower elevations, as opposed to higher climes, as assumed. Importantly, these results could be the same in other areas. This complicates the warming issue.
Joshua Trees Moving Out: Most of the cool looking Joshua Trees in the south west USA will be essentially evicted from the area in the next 60 to 90 years. The trees are now commonly seen in the Mojave desert regions of Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.
According to climate data and model results, the tree will not be able to spread fast enough to keep up with changing climate. This will be a real loss for the desert southwest.
According to recent conclusions of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, wolverines are now fighting climate change, among other things. They conclude that warming melting springtime snow cover could reduce chances of survival of the wolverines.
These are a few examples of the effects of global warming on Earth's plants and animals.
The rules require that the best available scientific data be used in making plans for land and water resources. It is a broad statement, but so is climate change.
Tornadoes: Severe weather has been linked to climate change. New computer models place warming temperatures at the scene of destruction.
The Bottom Line
New information published in Science shows that global crop yields have been cut by around 3% in the past few decades. The bottom line is an increase in food prices up 20%.
Money: The investment services firm Mercer has determined that there is a huge financial risk from the effects of climate change. The firm estimates as much as $8 Trillion USD
worth of assets at risk by the year 2030, assuming current trends continue.
Live in the USA? Wonder just how your state will change from climate change? The NRDC has published an interactive map showing the effects of climate change on each state in the union.
According to a study commissioned by the California Department of Boating
and Waterways, there is much money to be lost to global warming. Rising
sea levels will result in highly eroded, smaller beaches in along famous
Southern California. The monetary loss to tourism is estimated at around
one billion USD.
Today: Global warming is happening wether you like it or not. Check with the world's Naval powers. They are currently conducting military exercises in arctic areas of clearing ice. The objective? To secure the estimated 15% of petroleum and 30% of world natural gas reserves.
