Climate Change

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is directly influenced by human activity. When we use fossil fuels (coal, oil, gasoline, and diesel fuels) we increase the level of carbon dioxide in the air.

Approximately 87% of the world’s energy comes from fossil fuels.

Ice from below the surface of Antarctica showed fluctuating but stable amounts of carbon dioxide until the start of the Industrial Revolution (1800).

Then the amount of carbon dioxide began to rise sharply.

Deforestation releases the carbon stored in trees and results in less carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere.

Worldwide, an average area of more than 45,000 football fields of forest is lost each day.

In 146 years of measures of global temperature (land, air and sea) 20 of the 21 highest temperatures have been recorded in the last 25 years.

The average global temperature is now rising at the rate of 2.5 to 10 degrees F over the next 100 years.

Temperatures in Alaska are rising ten times faster than in the rest of the world.

The permafrost (permanently frozen ground) is thawing for the first time in thousands of years. Roads are buckling and houses have sunk into the ground as a result of thawing permafrost.

Top NASA climate scientist Dr. James Hansen has been studying climate change for more than 15 years.

He has stated that there are clear dangers if we continue to delay measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Lima, the capital of Peru, depends on melting glaciers for its water supply. When the glacier melts away there will be no more water for this city of more than 8 million people.

The Himalayan Glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau provide more than half of the drinking water for 40% of the world’s population.

With warmer weather, storms can hold more moisture and greater rainfall or snowfalls can result. The number of large flood events has increased each decade worldwide since 1950.

In July 2005 in Mumbai, India there was a downpour of 37 inches of rain in 24 hours. At least 1000 people died as a result of the floods and mudslides.

The 2003 European heat wave caused approximately 35,000 extra deaths, mainly among the elderly, the very young and the chronically ill.

However, warmer winters also mean fewer deaths from cold weather.

Increased nighttime temperatures caused by global warming could cause significant reductions in yields of rice – the staple food for over half of the world’s population.

Coral reefs have the highest biodiversity of any marine ecosystem.

Global warming is expected to contribute to coral reef degradation in the decades ahead and the pace of warming exceeds the ability of the reefs and marine organisms to adapt.

Dr. Terry Root analyzed numerous research papers on effects of global warming on plants and animals. She found that of 1500 species, 1200 already exhibited changes consistent with a global warming effect.

Two species, the red squirrel and the fruit fly, have shown genetic changes from global warming.

Polar Bears hunt for seals near the edge of the ice shelf in the Arctic. As the ice shelf has diminished and portions have broken off, polar bears have become stranded hundreds of miles from the main ice shelf.

The average weight of polar bears has declined by 25% in the last two decades and many have died from starvation.

Alaska's Bering Sea pollock fishery is the world's largest. But fishermen there are struggling as climate change moves Alaska’s -valuable fishing resource into cooler waters in Russian fishing grounds.

As the Southern Bering sea warms by as much as 4 degrees F., fishermen have seen the effect of the Northward migration of marine life.

Although Africa has the lowest per person use of fossil fuels it may be the most affected by greenhouse gas warming.

Reduced rainfall, dwindling water supplies and loss of agricultural land will contribute to famine, disease and an economic downward spiral.

Aviation is responsible for an estimated 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions. Some airlines offset carbon emissions by investing in projects that save energy, such as investing in technology which allows industry to be more efficient and increasing the generation of renewable energy.

Individuals can substantially reduce their carbon output by their own choices. Adjusting their home thermostat to reduce energy used for heating and air conditioning as well as passive solar heating and cooling can have a large effect on your household’s carbon output.

Each time you replace an incandescent standard light bulb with an energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulb, you start saving energy and reducing carbon output.

Fluorescent bulbs cut greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs by 75% while producing the same amount of light as an incandescent bulb.

Power plants that use coal to generate electricity are the single largest source of CO2, contributing 1/3 of the total US output of CO2.

After taking action to reduce a business or household’s carbon output, the remaining carbon output can be mitigated by investments or actions that absorb or reduce carbon.

Some examples of these “carbon offsets” are planting trees, paying for wind energy, and contributing to organizations providing alternative or renewable energy sources.

Some of the human activities and resources affected by climate include: agriculture, water supplies, energy resources, timber management, fisheries, transportation, insurance, tourism, disaster relief and public health (for vector borne diseases).

If the Earth were shrunk to the size of an apple, its atmosphere would be the thickness of the apple skin.

The Earth's atmosphere is so thin that we can change its chemical composition by human activity that has increased the output of carbon dioxide.

"Global warming is a destabilizing factor that will make abrupt climate change more probable." Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
The ocean circulation system that carries heat through out the planet could be disrupted causing some regions to become more frigid as other regions experience warmer temperatures.

In the "Little Ice Age" of 1550 to 1850, residents of London skated on the Thames and snow fell in Sydney, Australia.
The era of the Little Ice Age was marked by crop failures, famine, disease, and mass migration of populations. With the world's present population, any similar abrupt change in temperature would have disastrous effects.