great
By the mid-1990s, it was possible to investigate the causal mechanisms behind changes in Earth’s climate using relatively sophisticated mathematical models of Earth’s climate. These models solved the same complex equations of atmospheric physics that numerical weather prediction models did….
Rising carbon dioxide levels indicate rise in temperatures that could lead agriculture to fail on entire continentsClimate change is amplifying risks from drought, floods, storm and rising seas. Photograph: Simon Maina/AFPIt is increasingly likely that hundreds of millions of people will be displaced from their homelands in the near future as a result of global warming. That is the stark warning of economist and climate changeexpert Lord Stern following the news last week that concentrations of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere had reached a level of 400 parts per million (ppm).
Massive movements of people are likely to occur over the rest of the century because global temperatures are likely to rise to by up to 5C because carbon dioxide levels have risen unabated for 50 years, said Stern, who is head of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change.
“When temperatures rise to that level, we will have disrupted weather patterns and spreading deserts,” he said. “Hundreds of millions of people will be forced to leave their homelands because their crops and animals will have died. The trouble will come when they try to migrate into new lands, however. That will bring them into armed conflict with people already living there. Nor will it be an occasional occurrence. It could become a permanent feature of life on Earth.”
The news that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have reached 400ppm has been seized on by experts because that level brings the world close to the point where it becomes inevitable that it will experience a catastrophic rise in temperatures. Scientists have warned for decades of the danger of allowing industrial outputs of carbon dioxide to rise unchecked.
Instead, these outputs have accelerated. In the 1960s, carbon dioxide levels rose at a rate of 0.7ppm a year. Today, they rise at 2.1ppm, as more nations become industrialised and increase outputs from their factories and power plants. The last time the Earth’s atmosphere had 400ppm carbon dioxide, the Arctic was ice-free and sea levels were 40 metres higher.
The prospect of Earth returning to these climatic conditions is causing major alarm. As temperatures rise, deserts will spread and life-sustaining weather patterns such as the North Indian monsoon could be disrupted. Agriculture could fail on a continent-wide basis and hundreds of millions of people would be rendered homeless, triggering widespread conflict.
There are likely to be severe physical consequences for the planet. Rising temperatures will shrink polar ice caps – the Arctic’s is now at its lowest since records began – and so reduce the amount of solar heat they reflect back into space. Similarly, thawing of the permafrost lands of Alaska, Canada and Russia could release even more greenhouse gases, including methane, and further intensify global warming.
Why can’t we quit fossil fuels?
Duncan Clark, The Guardian
We have far more oil, coal and gas than we can safely burn. For all the millions of words written about climate change, the challenge really comes down to this: fuel is enormously useful, massively valuable and hugely…
fact
andthesunwasswallowedbythesea:
This hurts to read.
Not only because of our blatant destruction of the environment, but also the sentence ”Many creatures, including commercially valuable fish, could be affected”
To be quite honest I don’t care if they are commercially valuable, surely the fact that these organisms have as much right to live on this earth as us makes them invaluable.
Our attitude as a species needs to change. Fuck economy, safeguarding the Earth is of greater importance.
Surf’s up… and down. Wave heights to change as atmosphere warms
Climate scientists studying the impact of changing wave behaviour on the world’s coastlines are reporting a likely decrease in average wave heights across 25 per cent of the global ocean.
In some of the first climate simulations of modelled wave conditions they also found a likely increase in wave height across seven per cent of the global ocean, predominantly in the Southern Ocean.
Full Story: CSIRO
If 98 out of 100 doctors tell me I’ve got a problem, I should take their advice. And if those two other doctors get paid by Big Snack Food, like certain climate deniers get paid by Big Coal, I shouldn’t take their advice.
-Al Franken
Climate change throws traditional rice planting and harvesting calendars out of whack in Ifugao Province of the Philippines. The Rice Terraces of Ifugao are considered to be the 8th wonder of the world. Ever since the terraces were carved from the hillside by the Indigenous peoples of Ifugao about 2,000-3,000 years ago, they’ve been following traditional calendar of rice planting and harvesting. The local 5-month variety of rice would normally be planted in December-January and harvested in May-June. It’s the end of April now. The late-afternoon downpours are unusual for this traditionally dry season, but they are a welcome sign for many local people who can finally begin rice planting on the rain-fed terraces filling up with sufficient amount of water. Such unpredictable shifts in rainfall patterns make it hard for Indigenous peoples to produce enough traditional rice for family subsistence. Many local residents have to seek seasonal jobs away from home in order to earn extra cash to buy the rice and other foods they need to survive.
© Gleb Raygorodetsky 2013 for Land is Life
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Each year, four international science institutions compile temperature data from thousands of stations around the world and make independent judgments about whether the year was warmer or cooler than average. “The official records vary slightly because of subtle differences in the way we analyze the data,” said Reto Ruedy, climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. “But they also agree extraordinarily well.”
All four records show peaks and valleys in sync with each other. All show rapid warming in the past few decades. All show the last decade has been the warmest on record.
Note: An updated version of this graph was posted on 1/25.
its not g0od :/
Fact
