We are tinkering with our planet’s basic life support systems
I fully understand that by posting this, I will again provoke all of those who are emotionally and politically invested in denying global warming to assume the position.
We all know what the position is: Eyes squeezed shut, forefingers inserted firmly into ears, loudly chanting the slogans they’ve been taught to chant so that no portion of actual scientific knowledge is allowed to penetrate.
But let’s take a look anyway, because it’s our planet, and it’s important, and I have children, and I’m not going to give up hope that we may yet summon the decency, courage and wisdom to at least try to mitigate the worst impacts of what we are doing to ourselves.
The above chart comes from “The State of the Climate: 2009,” a report compiled by more than 300 scientists worldwide under the auspices of our own National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As the report notes, it is the product not of computer models but of observed data.
As the chart demonstrates, global climate has been changing just as scientists have been predicting it would since back in the ’70s. As the report warns:
“Continued temperature increases will threaten many aspects of our society, including coastal cities and infrastructure, water supply and agriculture. People have spent thousands of years building society for one climate and now a new one is being created – one that’s warmer and more extreme.”
So far, “more than 90 percent of the warming that’s happened on earth during the past 50 years has gone into the oceans,” the report warns. The expected effects of such warming include rising sea levels, melting ice caps and stronger hurricanes.
But those may not be the most dire consequences, as another study published this week documents.
“A Dalhousie University-based study, published in the scientific journal Nature on Wednesday, suggested for the first time that microscopic marine algae known as “phytoplankton” have been declining globally – its population has decreased by roughly 40 percent since 1950 – because of rising sea surface temperatures and changing ocean conditions.
“This may well be one of the largest biological changes observed in recent times, simply because it affects most of the biosphere,” said study co-author Boris Worm.
Phytoplankton need both sunlight and nutrients to grow but warm oceans are limiting the amount of nutrients that are delivered from deeper waters to the ocean surface.
“Phytoplankton are a critical part of our planetary life-support system. They produce half of the oxygen we breathe . . . and ultimately support all of our fisheries,” he said.
He said the species is just as valuable to survival as “all plants on land combined.”
Isn’t that lovely? A single species of aquatic plant life — a fundamental building block of our ecosystem, as valuable to survival as all plants on land combined — has declined by more than 40 percent because of global warming.
As one more effort to break through the denial, I’ll leave you with this, also from “The State of the Climate in 2009.” Scientists identified 10 major metrics that would tell us how and whether the climate was changing. Every single one of those metrics is indicating significant and ongoing heating.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
335 comments Add your comment
JohnnyReb
July 30th, 2010
4:06 pm
BTW, as to government subsidies. The batteries for the Volt are made in Korea. That’s creating a lot of jobs in the US, isn’t it?
Don't forget
July 30th, 2010
4:12 pm
JohnnyReb
July 30th, 2010
3:52 pm
Don’t Foreget – cap and tax is a wealth redistribution sceme under the guise of a climate change program.
Johnny, ya gotta quit using automobile radiators for your still. A lot of those fittings are soldered with lead solder. It leaches into the hootch!
BADA BING
July 30th, 2010
4:13 pm
How much energy is used if Gore flies to Rhode Island in his private jet and gets a hot oil massage on John Kerry’s $7,000,000 yacht?
obama's fault
July 30th, 2010
4:23 pm
Don’t forget. Let’s see Wright brother made their flight in 1903. By 1919, somebody flew across the Atlantic Ocean. We have had electric cars since 1891. The one I referred to in 1911 traveled 244 miles on one charge. Now, we are supposed to be excited about going 40 miles on one charge??? If we are able to make so many advances since the Wright Brothers, how come the electric car has pretty gone backwards in its development. Face it, nobody is going to buy this thing, especially when it costs 42K, goes 40 miles on one 4 hour charge, likely will cost more to maintain than a regular car(if it is anything like the hybrids), and will not really have a great impact on the environment when you factor in that electricity has to be made somehow. The stupidity demonstrated by you guys is absolutely amazing. You sure you guys weren’t on the development team of this electric car that does worse than one created 100 years ago?
obama's fault
July 30th, 2010
4:26 pm
JohnnyReb, And the sad part…..the US government gave that Korean company stimulus funds. WTF???
BADA BING
July 30th, 2010
4:27 pm
Yacht A leaves RI on Wednesday at an average speed of 22 knots, heading SSE for the Bahamas. Private Jet B leaves NC Saturday heading SE at an average speed of 350 MPH on a line intersecting Yacht A in a marina located in Freeport, the Bahamas. At what time Sunday will martinis be served, and how many happy endings will Al have had?
Had enough yet?
July 30th, 2010
4:28 pm
BADA BING
July 30th, 2010
4:27 pm
I don’t know. Let’s ask Barney Frank.
godless heathen
July 30th, 2010
4:38 pm
“I’m certain that all the people opposing any federal healthcare reform will be happy to chip in to help you pay your premium.”
I thought health care reform passed (the greatest achievement of the Obama presidency) and our premiums weren’t going to go up!
Paulo977
July 30th, 2010
4:39 pm
SaulGood @3:31pm Cell phones? Another threat?
http://www.dailypioneer.com/203392/Honeybees-face-towering-threat-from-mobiles.html
Frank Chutriit
July 30th, 2010
4:49 pm
As a Canadian living on the eastern side of the country, I truly appreciate global warming. Our winters are much milder, but with more snow, and our summers are getting better all the time. Canada is one of the rare countries that won’t have too many negative impacts due to global warming. Most of our climate warming deniers are from Alberta (the oil patch) and are busy warming the earth with the process of oil extraction in the tar sands of that province. Our Conservative federal government is mostly from that province too. This will explain my country’s stance on green issues and efforts (non existent) to reduce our carbon footprint, for that I apologize.
JRyan
July 30th, 2010
4:51 pm
Your second paragraph used to describe “deniers” also describes the global warming evangelists.
There are valid points on both sides, but you can’t claim that no one is willing to accept your position when you refuse to consider another.
obama's fault
July 30th, 2010
4:54 pm
Oh Saul….I sure hope you aren’t using cell phones too. Throw that into the carbon that you use while blogging and you are really destroying the environment. Thanks. Jay’s kids appreciate it.
TGT
July 30th, 2010
5:10 pm
I see that AmVet is up to his, “All of these “organizations” say that AGW is true, so it must be” argument again. As I noted last month on CT’s blog:
Again, this does not mean that a SIGNIFICANT number of SIGNIFICANT scientists world-wide do not have SERIOUS problems with AGW.
Again, here are names:
Over 100 Prominent International Scientists Warn UN Against ‘Futile’ Climate Control Efforts in a December 13, 2007 open letter. “Attempts to prevent global climate change from occurring are ultimately futile, and constitute a tragic misallocation of resources that would be better spent on humanity’s real and pressing problems,” the letter signed by the scientists read. The scientists, many of whom are current and former UN IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) scientists, sent an open letter to the UN Secretary-General questioning the scientific basis for climate fears and the UN’s so-called “solutions.” “It is not possible to stop climate change, a natural phenomenon that has affected humanity through the ages. Geological, archaeological, oral and written histories all attest to the dramatic challenges posed to past societies from unanticipated changes in temperature, precipitation, winds and other climatic variables,” the scientists wrote. “In stark contrast to the often repeated assertion that the science of climate change is ‘settled,’ significant new peer-reviewed research has cast even more doubt on the hypothesis of dangerous human-caused global warming,” the open letter added.
Now for your names:
Dr. Antonio Zichichi, president of the World Federation of Scientists; Dr. Reid Bryson, dubbed one of the “Fathers of Meteorology”; Atmospheric pioneer Dr. Hendrik Tennekes, formerly of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute; Award winning physicist Dr. Syun-Ichi Akasofu of the International Arctic Research Center, who has twice named one of the “1000 Most Cited Scientists”; Award winning MIT atmospheric scientist Dr. Richard Lindzen; UN IPCC scientist Dr. Vincent Gray of New Zealand; French climatologist Dr. Marcel Leroux of the University Jean Moulin; World authority on sea level Dr. Nils-Axel Morner of Stockholm University; Physicist Dr. Freeman Dyson of Princeton University; Physicist Dr. Zbigniew Jaworowski, chairman of the Scientific Council of Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection in Poland; Paleoclimatologist Dr. Robert M. Carter of Australia; Former UN IPCC reviewer Geologist/Geochemist Dr. Tom V. Segalstad, head of the Geological Museum in Norway; and Dr. Edward J. Wegman, of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Other scientists (not already included in this report) who signed the letter include: Don Aitkin, PhD, Professor, social scientist, retired Vice-Chancellor and President, University of Canberra, Australia; Geoff L. Austin, PhD, FNZIP, FRSNZ, Professor, Dept. of Physics, University of Auckland, New Zealand; Chris C. Borel, PhD, remote sensing scientist, U.S.; Dan Carruthers, M.Sc., wildlife biology consultant specializing in animal ecology in Arctic and Subarctic regions, Alberta, Canada; Hans Erren, Doctorandus, geophysicist and climate specialist, Sittard, The Netherlands; William Evans, PhD, Editor, American Midland Naturalist; Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, U.S.; R. W. Gauldie, PhD, Research Professor, Hawai’i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, School of Ocean Earth Sciences and Technology, University of Hawai’i at Manoa; Albrecht Glatzle, PhD, sc.agr., Agro-Biologist and Gerente ejecutivo, INTTAS, Paraguay; Fred Goldberg, PhD, Adj Professor, Royal Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Stockholm, Sweden; Louis Hissink M.Sc. M.A.I.G., Editor AIG News and Consulting Geologist, Perth, Western Australia; Andrei Illarionov, PhD, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, U.S.; founder and director of the Institute of Economic Analysis, Russia; Jon Jenkins, PhD, MD, computer modelling – virology, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Olavi Kärner, Ph.D., Research Associate, Dept. of Atmospheric Physics, Institute of Astrophysics and Atmospheric Physics, Toravere, Estonia; Jan J.H. Kop, M.Sc. Ceng FICE (Civil Engineer Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers), Emeritus Professor of Public Health Engineering, Technical University Delft, The Netherlands; Professor R.W.J. Kouffeld, Emeritus Professor, Energy Conversion, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands; Salomon Kroonenberg, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Geotechnology, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands; The Rt. Hon. Lord Lawson of Blaby, economist; Chairman of the Central Europe Trust; former Chancellor of the Exchequer, U.K.; Douglas Leahey, PhD, meteorologist and air-quality consultant, Calgary, Canada; William Lindqvist, PhD, consulting geologist and company director, Tiburon, California, U.S.; A.J. Tom van Loon, PhD, Professor of Geology (Quaternary Geology), Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland; former President of the European Association of Science Editors; Horst Malberg, PhD, Professor for Meteorology and Climatology, Institut für Meteorologie, Berlin, Germany; Alister McFarquhar, PhD, international economist, Downing College, Cambridge, U.K.; Frank Milne, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Economics, Queen’s University, Canada; Asmunn Moene, PhD, former head of the Forecasting Centre, Meteorological Institute, Norway; Alan Moran, PhD, Energy Economist, Director of the IPA’s Deregulation Unit, Australia; John Nicol, PhD, physicist, James Cook University, Australia; Mr. David Nowell, M.Sc., Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, former chairman of the NATO Meteorological Group, Ottawa, Canada; Brian Pratt, PhD, Professor of Geology, Sedimentology, University of Saskatchewan, Canada; Harry N.A. Priem, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Planetary Geology and Isotope Geophysics, Utrecht University; former director of the Netherlands Institute for Isotope Geosciences; Colonel F.P.M. Rombouts, Branch Chief – Safety, Quality and Environment, Royal Netherlands Air Force; R.G. Roper, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, U.S.; Arthur Rorsch, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Molecular Genetics, Leiden University, The Netherlands; Rob Scagel, M.Sc., forest microclimate specialist, principal consultant, Pacific Phytometric Consultants, B.C., Canada; Gary D. Sharp, PhD, Center for Climate/Ocean Resources Study, Salinas, CA, U.S.; L. Graham Smith, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Geography, University of Western Ontario, Canada; Peter Stilbs, TeknD, Professor of Physical Chemistry, Research Leader, School of Chemical Science and Engineering, KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), Stockholm, Sweden; Len Walker, PhD, power engineering, Pict Energy, Melbourne, Australia; Stephan Wilksch, PhD, Professor for Innovation and Technology Management, Production Management and Logistics, University of Technology and Economics Berlin, Germany; and Raphael Wust, PhD, Lecturer, Marine Geology/Sedimentology, James Cook University, Australia. Also, “Other professional persons knowledgeable about climate change who expressed support for the open letter to the UN Secretary General” included meteorological researcher and spotter for the National Weather Service Allan Cortese; Water resources engineer Don Farley; Dr. David A. Gray of Messiah College, a former researcher in electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere; Barrie Jackson, associate professor of Chemical Engineering at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Raymond J. Jones, PhD, FATSE, OAM. retired, Agronomist, Townsville, Australia; J.A.L. Robertson, M.A. (Cantab.), F.R.S.C., nuclear-energy consultant, Deep River, ON, Canada; J.T.Rogers, PhD, FCAE, nuclear engineer; energy analyst, Ottawa, Canada; John K. Sutherland, PhD in Geology (Manchester University), New Brunswick, Canada; Noor van Andel, PhD Energy Physics, Burgemeester Stroinkstraat, The Netherlands; Arthur M. Patterson, P.Eng, Geological Engineer. Extensive experience in the Canadian Arctic; Agronomist Pat Palmer of New Zealand; and Alois Haas emeritus Prof. PhD, nuclear chemistry; Michael Limburg, Engineer, deputy press-speaker of Europäisches Institut für Klima & Energie ( EIKE – European Institute for Climate & Energy), Grob Glienicke, Germany; Dietrich von Saldern, PhD., Diplom Ingenieur, Assessor des Bergfachs, Mining Engineer, Germany; Tom Harris, B. Eng., M. Eng. (thermofluids), Executive Director, Natural Resources Stewardship Project, Ottawa, Canada.
Fred
July 30th, 2010
7:17 pm
So, it’s been proven that the Earth is warming. Now prove that the doings of man has caused it. I get the impression that some people think that without man the Earth’s climate would remain just as it is forever and ever, and that to prove we are causing the Earth to warm all that’s necessary is to prove that the Earth is warming.
Mr. Snarky
July 30th, 2010
7:19 pm
Samuel Clemmons said it best when he stated that there are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics. Jay did you make these graphs all by yourself without adult supervision?
SPQR(laissez Faire)
July 30th, 2010
7:57 pm
I don;t care if you all die, I’m not paying for a carbon tax.
JW
July 30th, 2010
8:36 pm
Everyone’s making it sound like living organisms are popsicles and they melt when it goes from 85 to 95. Thank god I didn’t have to adapt to the heat at the beach last weekend. Don’t know what I would have done. =)
C. Lindberg
July 30th, 2010
8:53 pm
Climate change advocate or climate change skeptic; if you’re trying to shout down the other side or out-witty them, please take a break and read on. One irrefutable fact remains; we have one planet to sustain us and if we screw it up, there is no restart button. C’mon, anything so magnificent that has provided humanity with everything it needs to grow and prosper deserves an incredible amount of care and attention. If you need reminding why, consider what’s at stake.
So first, those of you who simply think scrutinizing the health indicators of Earth is a waste of time, please remain in the shallow end of the gene pool. Natural selection will be along shortly to see you. The rest of us, please maintain a very healthy distance because it won’t be pretty.
Money-worshipers, yes, we know who you are and nobody is fooled why you back the do-nothing agenda. Look, misdirects like ‘we don’t have records going back far enough’ or just sticking your head in the sand, are not sound scientific fact or method. And we’ve got some bad news. Gordon Gecko was wrong. Greed is not good and you have to give back. Symbiotic is the name of the game, not parasitic. Your life philosophy of “me first, screw everybody else and the horse they rode in on” is incompatible with long-term existence on this spaceship Mother Earth. If this is “intolerable”, please step towards the exit over there next to Attila the Hun and Bernie Madoff, as Mr. B.L. Zebub will be along shortly to take you to your final destination.
Social engineers, your attention please. Don’t forget there has to be room at the table for everyone, even the devout capitalist. Yes, thanks for reminding us we have a soul and we are our brother’s keeper but it is wrong to make them or anyone else give up their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Wealth redistribution has it tolerance limits and you know the story about killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Don’t get carried away, calm down, then try running your own business; that will sober you up.
Environmental extremists…okay, we understand you’ve got good motives but somewhere the Constitution and international laws got pushed aside and, well, if you don’t watch it you’ll find yourself in the slammer making new friends. Then it will set in that you aren’t saving the rest of us working slobs with families, mortgages and modest dreams, from anything. And there is no reality show contract enroute either. So please practice some self-restraint and stay seated.
Everyone, we have to create a working forum and it’s not just about climate change; it’s about human extinction minimization. Truthfully, unless you think the Dinosaur and Caveman Museum in Kentucky is a really great piece of scientific display, you know man almost didn’t make it several times during his history and we don’t have a contract that says we are exempt in the future. And I think I speak for most of us when I say I’d like to chip into any effort that improves our odds and that it is indisputable that sitting on one’s hands doesn’t factor well into survival or contingency planning no matter how good your argument.
So some ground rules to play by; Leave at home the egos, religion, unbridaled passions, financial agendas, egalitarianism, sarcasm, and political agendas; bring open minds, real modesty, cross referenced scientific fact, patience, great listening skills and brotherly love with a desire that man earn a sustainable place in the future.
Take the plunge, get off the sidelines and pitch in. It’s your friggin’ planet. Give it at least the attention you do your car maintenance schedule and I think we’ll have a better than average chance our grandchildren will be around to enjoy this planet, not curse us, when we’re old.*****
Moderate Line
July 30th, 2010
9:19 pm
Here is an interesting article on global warming.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=climate-skeptic.htm&url=http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/794
Moderate Line
July 30th, 2010
9:20 pm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/climate-skeptic.htm
Meme Mine
July 30th, 2010
10:52 pm
System change, not Climate Change!
I blame the CO2 mistake on this open sewer of untreated information called the Internet, and the lazy corporate media who tag along like the bottom feeders that they are. Climate Change has done to media, what Bush did to the neocons. Now is the time to use the tools of information and think for yourself. Don’t be like the trailer park intellectuals who follow any trend like pawns in a chess game. “Crisis” is the whimpering cry of the climate coward, the obedient goosestepping Greenzi, the follower of the EL Gore-do herd, and the Arm Chair Disco Scientist. And Climate Change is a liberal wet dream and liberalism’s Iraq War of WMD’s and Gore is the Bernie Madoff of climate change. History is watching so let’s drop the CO2!
No carbon plan is better idea than having no credibility and leading responsible environmentalism to a war with a non existent enemy is a play out of the Neocon’s war room.
How many climate scientists to change a bulb?
None. BUT they DO have consensus that it WILL change
Scott G
July 31st, 2010
10:07 am
A 40 percent drop in phytoplankton (since the mid-20th century) is truly an ENORMOUS decline in the ocean’s most fundamental element of the food-chain. If this trend continues we will surely start seeing huge disruptions to our food-supply along with staggering losses of biomass throughout our oceanic ecosystems. I honestly think that THIS IS THE WAKE-UP CALL we have all been dreading and trying our best to avoid. I implore policy-makers world-wide to read this report (which I’m sure they will – since it’s published in nothing less than Nature) and take swift action. The world cannot afford to wait!
Rev. Daniel W. Blair
July 31st, 2010
12:10 pm
The oil spills, hurricanes, and the global heat wave have many searching for answers. The internet is buzzing with articles and excellent blogs. But could it be simply the biblical sequence of God’s wrath being poured out upon the earth which is relevant to current events in today’s world. What if we are dealing with the wrath of God? Please understand the wrath of God is letting man slip deeper and deeper into the consequences of his own sin. Please visit my website at http://www.revelation-truth.org . Rev. Daniel W. Blair author of the book Final Warning
Bluebear2
July 31st, 2010
12:33 pm
One unusual side effect is that here in northern California we are bucking the trend. Every month so far this year has averaged below normal temperatures with may records broken for both overnight lows and low daily high temperatures. Also the latest day in the year to reach 80 degrees, etc., etc.
How anyone can look at the pictures of shrinking glaciers and the arctic sea ice data and still deny global warming is beyond me.
The data and graphs in this article can’t be any clearer.
Jeremy
July 31st, 2010
4:23 pm
I am surprised the author deleted the hard evidence of our carbon exhaust that is being absorbed by the ocean waters; it’s changing their chemistry. The carbon makes ocean ph more ACIDIC! Studies point thet are 30% MORE ACIDIC than prior to industrial society.
So even if it snowed in February, the life support will collaspe if this continues. Not only hard shelled creatures will be unable to form shells, sea life is sensitive to ph in breeding.
Even if this was the ONLY evidence of carbon pollution, that should be enough to prompt action.
Matt
July 31st, 2010
9:29 pm
I’m sorry but your graphs show me that you have no credibility. Look at the scales used for your graphs. The ocean has risen two whole inches and the temperature has gone up about a degree in the last century. They are misleading and uninformed people who don’t look beyond the lines going up will believe there has been a drastic temperature change.
And even if we are causing global warming, from everything I have read, there is not much we can do about it. Do you think China and India are going to suddenly adopt more expensive green technologies now that their economies are starting to grow? From everything I have read, most of the “damage” has already be done.
I really don’t get what people who keep screaming “We’re causing global warming! We’re causing global warming!” are trying to accomplish.
Matthew
August 1st, 2010
4:34 pm
The media distorts the balance of scientific evidence and the public’s perception of global warming.
See: http://renegadeconservatoryguy.co.uk/global-warming-the-debate/
Brianna Munson
August 2nd, 2010
1:52 pm
Global warming isn’t the only thing that is causing this rapid decline in sea life. The sky high levels of plastic and garbage in the ocean, in particular, the North Pacific Gyre, are greatly endangering our marine wildlife. Ocean Voyage Institute (a nonprofit) will going to be going out to clean up all of this trash, however, they need your help! Please check out http://www.dreamsailraffle.com or post their website on your faccebook page.
co2hound
August 2nd, 2010
2:08 pm
And it just keeps getting worse!
Global Warming has caused the ocean surface waters to warm which makes them less dense. They don’t mix as well with the lower, cooler layers. So what? Well it just so happens that little plants grouped together with the name Phytoplankton are the base of the oceanic food chain. That is, everything: eats Phytoplankton, or eats something that eats Phytoplankton, or…. well you get the picture. If Phytoplankton are reduced in numbers then everything else in the food chain above them must be reduced in numbers by starvation.
We have lost 40% of our Phytoplankton since 1950 and currently the loss is 1% a year (source Nature). Seems the food they eat is located in the lower cool areas of the oceans but that food is not being delivered in great enough quantities to support a healthy biomass of Phytoplankton near the surface.
So what happens now? We have enough CO2 in the atmosphere to easily heat the planet another degree C even if we stop emitting CO2 completely right now. We are at about 0.7 degrees C over baseline and it is creating a loss of 1% a year in Phytoplankton. At 1.7 degrees C over baseline we will be killing Phytoplankton at 2 or even 3% or maybe more a year.
So why am I concerned about these little plants you need a microscope to see?
Without them the oceans will die … or more correctly the oceans will be inhabited with life we can’t use as a food source and which may even be toxic to us. And further, the oceans may give off gases that are toxic to us. Those ocean cruises in sealed vessels will be a real treat. “Please put on your life jacket and don’t forget your oxygen mask and hazmat suit!!”
In short, if they go …. we go.
For those interested take a look via Google at various mass deaths of sea creatures where, upon examination, it was determined that they died of starvation. Keep an eye on it for the next few years. These kinds of deaths will spike when the Phytoplankton reach critical levels in various parts of the world.
Google “penguins falklands death starvation” and you get some idea of the problem as it appears today off the south-east coast of South America.
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee…”
The bell is now tolling for Mankind’s death.
Absolutely incredible it has come to this …
JacobLocke
August 2nd, 2010
3:34 pm
Jay, the major problem with the climate change argument is the insistence of those involved that CO2 is the enemy. It is not. The absorption spectrum for CO2 suggests that CO2 is incapable of doing what everyone says it’s doing – namely, changing the climate (basic logarithms show that this is the case). The CO2 discussion has everyone focused on industrialized nations who emit high levels of CO2 (which is actually a necessary gas for plant life).
The real culprit is methane and other organic gasses, most of which are produced in the third world and non-industrialized nations. These gasses are 20x worse than anything CO2 could do. Nitrogen is another issue that, for whatever reason, the mainstream media on climate change is not discussing. CO2 is a red herring.
Peter
August 3rd, 2010
9:01 am
The climate long term is warming- this decade is likely to double the warmth of the 2000’s. Tipping points will be reached or passed. We will reach 400ppm CO2 by mid decade- and at least 410 by 2020.
The decade as it passes will see increasingly erratic weather- which will begin to play more havoc on the economy and human interaction & stability.
By late in this decade -perhaps the increasing odd and chaotic weather- will prompt the Media to do its job and inform the public of the significant risks we face. Government may soon follow suit.
We may in ten years have the frame work to reduce CO2 by decent amounts by 2025- but by then it will be difficult to see global temperatures rise just 2 degrees C this century.
Mark
August 4th, 2010
2:49 pm
I find it ironic that we are supposed to believe “The past is the key to the present”. Millions of years of gradualism in earth history. But then drop everything because the temperature of the earth raised less than 1 degree last century. Which is it? Millions of years of eveolution or rapid cataclysmic changes? The gov’t lies and the science behind global warming or climate change or whatever new label you want to give it is gov’t paid. I wouldn’t even care so much, except that the legislative solution to all of this involves world regulation and a 500 year regression in the progress of man. Silly me, I like to drive and read by light bulb. I like a warm house in the winter and a cool house in the summer. I like all these things as inexpensively as I can get them. I appologize to no one. I have a 12oo sq ft home and Mr Gore has several beach from mansions. If he’s so worried why does he live on the beaches he says are going to get wiped out?
Warming to the science of global warming – Energy Collective (blog) : doing-it-green.com
August 5th, 2010
3:28 pm
[...] US Government Report SaysNational GeographicThe Associated Press -The Guardian -Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)all 566 news [...]
» Warming to the science of global warming - Energy Collective (blog)
August 5th, 2010
4:00 pm
[...] US Government Report SaysNational GeographicThe Associated Press -The Guardian -Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)all 566 news [...]
Wyle E. Coyotes
August 13th, 2010
2:53 pm
How old is the earth? Lets just say billions of years. How many years do the graphs cover? Do the math – the US deficit look flat line if you only look back six months.