The climate is changing. The earth is warming up, and there is now overwhelming scientific consensus that it is happening, and human-induced. With global warming on the increase and species and their habitats on the decrease, chances for ecosystems to adapt naturally are diminishing.
Many are agreed that climate change may be one of the greatest threats facing the planet. Recent years show increasing temperatures in various regions, and/or increasing extremities in weather patterns.
Read “the book on Climate change and global introduction” to learn more.
Global Dimming
Posted Saturday, January 15, 2005.Research has shown that air pollutants from fossil fuel use make clouds reflect more of the sun’s rays back into space. This leads to an effect known as global dimming whereby less heat and energy reaches the earth. At first, it sounds like an ironic savior to climate change problems. However, it is believed that global dimming caused the droughts in Ethiopia in the 1970s and 80s where millions died, because the northern hemisphere oceans were not warm enough to allow rain formation. Global dimming is also hiding the true power of global warming. By cleaning up global dimming-causing pollutants without tackling greenhouse gas emissions, rapid warming has been observed, and various human health and ecological disasters have resulted, as witnessed during the European heat wave in 2003, which saw thousands of people die.
You may read more on global warming in a recent published book by Canadian Author: James Hassen. Title “Storm of my grand children”.
Effects of Global Warming
Using us all Natural Resources faster and depleting it. How much we consume and how much we dump and waste materials that cause the environment polluted. Here comes the global warming issue. For instance; look at our habits; water is running all the time while we finish with our teeth brushing. The way we take showers and do several other activities like those mentioned above and as we waste water and energy and other resources.
Resource sector; from metals to rubber to plastic, oil, Cement and etc. all will be depleted (scarce). As we mentioned above, oil at its sky rocketing price and all other metals and resources are even higher relative to oil. From Copper to Nickel to platinum (used in batteries) are all high. Advanced batteries are in demand for Hybrid cars and Cell phones, Advanced Electronics etc. Platinum is even higher. If Chinese and/or other countries start using heavily and consuming more like we do, there will be no more resources available. A lot of efforts and researches are in process for alternative energy and to produce more resources as well as other related activities. To the extent of the demand for resources and energy which is so big and huge that all efforts are not coping with the demand and/or foreseeable demand. Future is very dark and the future generation is in risk of not having any of those. We are putting our coming generation in hazardous situation. We are not realizing our responsibility toward them. It’s really sad and cruel. Think of your future generation; your beloved ones. They need the same Resources; Water, Clean Air, Energy and like, to use and live upon. They have to live their lives ahead, for several years to come, and their future generations - your generation. They all will need resources to live upon.
Some scientists and think tank say mankind should migrate to moon or some other planet for Resources. Fidel Castro of Cuba is predicting third world war; nuclear one, over the issue of Global Warming and scarcity of Resources. He says that mankind should migrate to other planet in order to survive.
Think of the situation if only China and India starts consuming and dumping the materials and resources the way we do, what will happen. Thanks god, the majority are still riding their bikes. I saw on T.V. yesterday that a female riding a bike with her three children carrying and transporting over the same bike (one was in his teen age and the other two smaller than the first one). A full load of a sedan car as is used in North America and Western Countries. Now Chinese also want everything to posses and improve their lifestyle. They want a residential accommodation with all the facilities and cars to drive.
So guess if by the next year, only half of the population of china that now lives anywhere within China and want to live like that as we mentioned above and ride a car. What will happen? On top of that the global warming issue and the environmental issue. Again guess if every Chinese use drinking water bottle, as we do, and dump the empty bottle for recycle or otherwise. What will happen? Again, thank god in China and other under-developed countries, majority of people are still using alternative methods for drinking water and those who use bottles, their bottles are re-useable. Guess of other similar scenarios like those mentioned, and the way we consume, if they start using the same way as we do. What will happen?
Chinese government is under heavy pressure to accommodate its people that are migrating toward urban cities from rural areas. A mass population is doing so in order to improve their standard of lives. In Beijing construction is everywhere from residential apartments to commercial to roads and other infrastructures and everything (as we discussed above). Still it is difficult to cope with the flow of the population flowing in to the urban areas. There is serious shortage of water in Beijing. (Report, November 2010). Thousands of cars come forth on the roads of Beijing every day.
With the advance technology and know how, enough crop and eatables may be produced that can feed well all the population over this Globe including pets, birds and all other living objects as well as other kind of living and non-living objects that feed themselves in order to survive (natural survivor cycle) and reproduction. But here comes the problem of global warming that mankind is damaging continuously the environment and abusing Mother Nature by seriously interpreting the natural cycle and other natural phenomena over the Mother Earth.
As of today 06/30/2015 an article from the media about the issue is added for your ready reference:
No Global Warming "Pause"
Despite evidence to the contrary, there's been a persistent rumour floating around on the internet and on certain media outlets about a global warming "pause" or "hiatus." In response to this rumour, scientists have been quick to point out that, although surface air temperature records might show that the rate of warming has slowed somewhat over the past 15 years or so, this does not mean that the Earth is no longer accumulating heat from global warming.
It's been known for years that much of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases ends up being absorbed into the oceans, and other factors such as volcanic eruptions and El Nino/La Nina patterns in the Pacific Ocean have their influence on temperatures, sometimes masking the warming trend from greenhouse gases. Scientists have also been researching various phenomena that could also account for a slowdown in warming, and they have come up with many real and valid findings - factors in our atmosphere and ocean that are certainly capable of influencing global temperatures in this way.
Now, though, NOAA - the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - has released a new study that provides an updated set of global temperatures, carefully examined and adjusted to account for known issues in instruments and data collection that can introduce biases in the results. As the researchers report:
Much study has been devoted to the possible causes of an apparent decrease in the upward trend of global surface temperatures since 1998, a phenomenon that has been dubbed the global warming “hiatus.” Here we present an updated global surface temperature analysis that reveals that global trends are higher than reported by the IPCC, especially in recent decades, and that the central estimate for the rate of warming during the first 15 years of the 21st century is at least as great as the last half of the 20th century. These results do not support the notion of a “slowdown” in the increase of global surface temperature.
Credit: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Where does this updated analysis come from? According to the study:
Changes of particular importance include: (i) an increasing amount of ocean data from buoys, which are slightly different than data from ships; (ii) an increasing amount of ship data from engine intake thermometers, which are slightly different than data from bucket sea-water temperatures; and (iii) a large increase in land-station data that enables better analysis of key regions that may be warming faster or slower than the global average. We address all three of these, none of which were included in our previous analysis used in the IPCC report.
What of the other temperature records, from other agencies around the world, that support the "pause" - including the latest IPCC report?
"Before this update, we were the slowest rate of warming," Thomas Karl, director of the NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and lead author of the study, told the Washington Post. "And with the update now, we’re the leaders of the pack. So as other people make updates, they may end up adjusting upwards as well."
And what of the research that's been done over recent years, to account for how a "pause" could develop? Karl told the Washington Post that the phenomena discovered in the research are very real and they did cause cause a slowdown in warming - just not to the point where the rate of warming actually slowed. Instead, these factors kept the warming trend from spiking even higher.
"Those things won’t persist, and when they’re gone, that means the rate of temperature is free to increase even more than it would have," Karl said in the interview. "And you can make the case that had those factors not been operating, we might be talking now about why the temperatures have been warming more rapidly."
How are other researchers reacting to the study?
As Penn State climate scientist Michael E. Mann noted in an article on EcoWatch:
"As I have commented numerous times before, there never was any 'pause' or 'hiatus' in global warming. There is evidence, however, for a modest, temporary slowdown in surface warming through the early part of this decade.
"As my colleagues and I discussed in our own article in Science earlier this year, that slowdown appears to have been tied to an interdecadal period (through at least 2012) of more La Nina like conditions, stronger trade winds in the Pacific and greater burial of heat beneath the ocean surface.
"Does the new article contradict evidence for the slowdown? Upon closer inspection, the answer seems to be no."
In his analysis of the findings, Mann notes that the study makes comparisons to the warming trend over the entire second half of the 20th century. This is a slight problem because it includes the 1950-1970 period - a period of relatively little warming, which Mann says is due "primarily to the cooling effect of industry-generated sulphate aerosol pollutants."
According to Mann, comparison to the period after that, the late 1970s through the year 2000, gives a better comparison, since it follows the signing of the Clean Air Act. During this period, as sulfur dioxide emissions fell in accordance with the Act, the warming effect of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases dominated.
Also, including 2013 and 2014, which Mann says are "post-slowdown" years, naturally raise the rate of warming, since they reflect the developing El Nino conditions in the Pacific.
"That late 20th century interval is arguably the more relevant period for comparison, and relative to that period, there was indeed a subsequent short-term slowdown," Mann wrote. "The temporary slowdown is an interesting feature in its own right as it is relevant to the matter of decadal climate forecasting. But it never contradicted the unabated nature of human-caused warming."
"To the extent this latest study adds yet another nail to the "warming pause"/"warming hiatus" coffin," he added "I feel it is a useful contribution to the literature and to the larger discourse over human-caused climate change."
How Do Greenhouse Gases Work?
The ideas behind how greenhouses gases work isn't exactly rocket science, but it is very interesting science, and there's a lot more going on than one might think.
Here to explain just how these gases trap heat in Earth's atmosphere is Henry Reich, from MinuteEarth:
Unlike Henry's usual videos, which he very skillfully drawns in "stickfigure" form, the animation for this one was provided by the good people at Kurz Gesagt, who have produced some pretty amazing videos of their own. Check them out!
"Big Oil" Is Ready For Carbon Prices
One of the big criticisms leveled at "Big Oil" is that - as far as how they're providing energy now and their plans for the future - they are just as much of a "dinosaur" as the stuff they're pumping out of the ground. With the rise of clean energy like solar and wind, they're eventually going to "go extinct" unless they adapt.
Well, it now appears as though they're ready to adapt to the realities of our changing climate, and to the future changes in the energy market.
CEOs from the BG group, Shell, BP, Total, Statoil and Eni have signed their name to a letter addressed to Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Christiana Figueres, recognizing the challenges of climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and indicating their willingness to take part in reduction plans.
Paying for Carbon Letter
This is a very smart move on their part, to emphasize their role as "energy" companies rather than "oil" companies. With setting carbon prices now, these companies can better plan for their long-term future (and the long-term future of their investors), and rather than extinction, they can look forward to providing the world's energy from other, cleaner sources as the market shifts away from fossil fuels.
Sources: Science | Washington Post | EcoWatch | MinuteEarth | Climate Central
You May Also Like
El Niño 2015 considered rare, aims to rewrite heat records Global warming's 'false pause' linked to Pacific Ocean, may mask serious concerns Historic cold and global warming can co-exist: Here's how Global warming marches on as NASA & NOAA confirm 2014 as hottest year on record
Leave a Comment Sign in to submit a comment. 27 comments
What do you think? Join the conversation.
Dirty Harry - Oh Scotty you are justifying your beliefs again. You are pathetic. All this evil warming and it's all caused by us evil humans. If you believe so please feel free to take yourself out in order to save the planet. This is just an attempt to save your global warming panic jobs and keep the funds flowing. If we've gone up in temps please show us what the negative affects have been. I call bullpuckey on all this panic. I don't believe that CO2 is the big evil it's made out to be. Ups and downs happen and we adjust to them as us animals and plants are pretty adaptive to our environment as long as it isn't a sudden extreme. We won't cause that with our use of petrol. Get a life Scotty!
23 minutes ago Policy|Report abuse
Monroe Hunsicker - Scotty is a zealot. Mann is a" trickster". No one I read "Denies"climate change.It constantly changes. What most people can't stand is scientific "scrubbing". for political reasons.
No Global Warming "Pause"
Despite evidence to the contrary, there's been a persistent rumour floating around on the internet and on certain media outlets about a global warming "pause" or "hiatus." In response to this rumour, scientists have been quick to point out that, although surface air temperature records might show that the rate of warming has slowed somewhat over the past 15 years or so, this does not mean that the Earth is no longer accumulating heat from global warming.
It's been known for years that much of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases ends up being absorbed into the oceans, and other factors such as volcanic eruptions and El Nino/La Nina patterns in the Pacific Ocean have their influence on temperatures, sometimes masking the warming trend from greenhouse gases. Scientists have also been researching various phenomena that could also account for a slowdown in warming, and they have come up with many real and valid findings - factors in our atmosphere and ocean that are certainly capable of influencing global temperatures in this way.
Now, though, NOAA - the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - has released a new study that provides an updated set of global temperatures, carefully examined and adjusted to account for known issues in instruments and data collection that can introduce biases in the results. As the researchers report:
Much study has been devoted to the possible causes of an apparent decrease in the upward trend of global surface temperatures since 1998, a phenomenon that has been dubbed the global warming “hiatus.” Here we present an updated global surface temperature analysis that reveals that global trends are higher than reported by the IPCC, especially in recent decades, and that the central estimate for the rate of warming during the first 15 years of the 21st century is at least as great as the last half of the 20th century. These results do not support the notion of a “slowdown” in the increase of global surface temperature.
Credit: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Where does this updated analysis come from? According to the study:
Changes of particular importance include: (i) an increasing amount of ocean data from buoys, which are slightly different than data from ships; (ii) an increasing amount of ship data from engine intake thermometers, which are slightly different than data from bucket sea-water temperatures; and (iii) a large increase in land-station data that enables better analysis of key regions that may be warming faster or slower than the global average. We address all three of these, none of which were included in our previous analysis used in the IPCC report.
What of the other temperature records, from other agencies around the world, that support the "pause" - including the latest IPCC report?
"Before this update, we were the slowest rate of warming," Thomas Karl, director of the NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and lead author of the study, told the Washington Post. "And with the update now, we’re the leaders of the pack. So as other people make updates, they may end up adjusting upwards as well."
And what of the research that's been done over recent years, to account for how a "pause" could develop? Karl told the Washington Post that the phenomena discovered in the research are very real and they did cause cause a slowdown in warming - just not to the point where the rate of warming actually slowed. Instead, these factors kept the warming trend from spiking even higher.
"Those things won’t persist, and when they’re gone, that means the rate of temperature is free to increase even more than it would have," Karl said in the interview. "And you can make the case that had those factors not been operating, we might be talking now about why the temperatures have been warming more rapidly."
How are other researchers reacting to the study?
As Penn State climate scientist Michael E. Mann noted in an article on EcoWatch:
"As I have commented numerous times before, there never was any 'pause' or 'hiatus' in global warming. There is evidence, however, for a modest, temporary slowdown in surface warming through the early part of this decade.
"As my colleagues and I discussed in our own article in Science earlier this year, that slowdown appears to have been tied to an interdecadal period (through at least 2012) of more La Nina like conditions, stronger trade winds in the Pacific and greater burial of heat beneath the ocean surface.
"Does the new article contradict evidence for the slowdown? Upon closer inspection, the answer seems to be no."
In his analysis of the findings, Mann notes that the study makes comparisons to the warming trend over the entire second half of the 20th century. This is a slight problem because it includes the 1950-1970 period - a period of relatively little warming, which Mann says is due "primarily to the cooling effect of industry-generated sulphate aerosol pollutants."
According to Mann, comparison to the period after that, the late 1970s through the year 2000, gives a better comparison, since it follows the signing of the Clean Air Act. During this period, as sulfur dioxide emissions fell in accordance with the Act, the warming effect of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases dominated.
Also, including 2013 and 2014, which Mann says are "post-slowdown" years, naturally raise the rate of warming, since they reflect the developing El Nino conditions in the Pacific.
"That late 20th century interval is arguably the more relevant period for comparison, and relative to that period, there was indeed a subsequent short-term slowdown," Mann wrote. "The temporary slowdown is an interesting feature in its own right as it is relevant to the matter of decadal climate forecasting. But it never contradicted the unabated nature of human-caused warming."
"To the extent this latest study adds yet another nail to the "warming pause"/"warming hiatus" coffin," he added "I feel it is a useful contribution to the literature and to the larger discourse over human-caused climate change."
How Do Greenhouse Gases Work?
The ideas behind how greenhouses gases work isn't exactly rocket science, but it is very interesting science, and there's a lot more going on than one might think.
Here to explain just how these gases trap heat in Earth's atmosphere is Henry Reich, from MinuteEarth:
Unlike Henry's usual videos, which he very skillfully drawns in "stickfigure" form, the animation for this one was provided by the good people at Kurz Gesagt, who have produced some pretty amazing videos of their own. Check them out!
"Big Oil" Is Ready For Carbon Prices
One of the big criticisms leveled at "Big Oil" is that - as far as how they're providing energy now and their plans for the future - they are just as much of a "dinosaur" as the stuff they're pumping out of the ground. With the rise of clean energy like solar and wind, they're eventually going to "go extinct" unless they adapt.
Well, it now appears as though they're ready to adapt to the realities of our changing climate, and to the future changes in the energy market.
CEOs from the BG group, Shell, BP, Total, Statoil and Eni have signed their name to a letter addressed to Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC Christiana Figueres, recognizing the challenges of climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and indicating their willingness to take part in reduction plans.
Paying for Carbon Letter
This is a very smart move on their part, to emphasize their role as "energy" companies rather than "oil" companies. With setting carbon prices now, these companies can better plan for their long-term future (and the long-term future of their investors), and rather than extinction, they can look forward to providing the world's energy from other, cleaner sources as the market shifts away from fossil fuels.
Sources: Science | Washington Post | EcoWatch | MinuteEarth | Climate Central
You May Also Like
El Niño 2015 considered rare, aims to rewrite heat records Global warming's 'false pause' linked to Pacific Ocean, may mask serious concerns Historic cold and global warming can co-exist: Here's how Global warming marches on as NASA & NOAA confirm 2014 as hottest year on record
Leave a Comment Sign in to submit a comment. 27 comments
What do you think? Join the conversation.
Dirty Harry - Oh Scotty you are justifying your beliefs again. You are pathetic. All this evil warming and it's all caused by us evil humans. If you believe so please feel free to take yourself out in order to save the planet. This is just an attempt to save your global warming panic jobs and keep the funds flowing. If we've gone up in temps please show us what the negative affects have been. I call bullpuckey on all this panic. I don't believe that CO2 is the big evil it's made out to be. Ups and downs happen and we adjust to them as us animals and plants are pretty adaptive to our environment as long as it isn't a sudden extreme. We won't cause that with our use of petrol. Get a life Scotty!
23 minutes ago Policy|Report abuse
Monroe Hunsicker - Scotty is a zealot. Mann is a" trickster". No one I read "Denies"climate change.It constantly changes. What most people can't stand is scientific "scrubbing". for political reasons.
