Climate change: It's here

Global climate change deniers (& another link) and misdirect-ers/misinform-ers: Your stance is almost certainly wrong. 

More areas of the world are now experiencing likely effects -- i.e., more frequent extreme weather events (EPA link) --  already. Peruse the following link to a recent news article by CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent – Fri Aug 13, 3:09 am ET: 


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100813/ap_on_sc/us_sci_climate_breakdown

Update: An 8/14/10 article by Justin Gillis of The New York Times also discusses climate change and recent, extreme weather events around the world. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/science/earth/15climate.html


More: Some climate change facts. Not Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh distorted or manufactured "facts", but scientific ones (instead). Think of your kids as you read them:

Extreme Weather and Climate Change:
"Extreme weather is putting hundreds of thousands of lives and livelihoods at risk all around the world. In order to avoid the worst and most devastating impacts of the severe weather events that are consistent with climate change, we must begin to significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

Learn more about climate change and extreme weather and make sure your friends and family get the facts.

Get the Facts: Extreme Weather and Global Climate Change:

    * Pollution from human activities is warming our climate. The 10 warmest years on record all occurred since 1990, and the last decade was the hottest recorded since worldwide record keeping began more than 100 years ago.  The period between January and June of 2010 was the warmest six months on record.

    * A warming climate increases the chance that we will experience extreme weather events such as floods, droughts and intense storms, and ramps up the risk that severe weather events will cause catastrophic damage.

    * The floods, fires and droughts we're seeing in places like Pakistan and Russia are consistent with the
effects of global warming, including temperature increases, increased precipitation in some parts of the world,
and droughts in others.

    * In early August, a 97-square mile chunk of ice--the largest since 1962--broke away from the northwest coast of Greenland. Canadian officials fear the massive "ice island" could pose a risk to ships and oil platforms.

    * Unless we significantly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, we are likely to see even more extreme weather events and the consequences they bring.


References:
1. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Earth Observatory, "Ice Island Calves off Petermann Glacier," August 13, 2010.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=45112

2. Randy Boswell, "Giant iceberg drifting toward Canada could threaten ships, oil platforms," Montreal Gazette, August 10, 2010.http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Giant+iceberg+drifting+toward+Canada+could+threaten+ships+platforms/3382103/story.html"

Source link: http://acp.repoweramerica.org/page/invite/extremeweather?s

Now it's not "just" your kids and grandchildren who will be "paying the price".  It's (more and more of) us, also....

Old image from Google/LIFE archives. Photographer: Loomis Dean


 
P.S.: Meanwhile, what's "in the sights" of Tea-bagger (link) heroine Sarah (photo below), instead of the planet's/your children's future?? Do you actually want to know? ...Recall the tale of Nero and the Great Fire of Rome...??
 

This image is a work of a U.S. Army soldier or employee, taken or made during the course of the person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain. Author: Pfc. Christopher Grammer, 50th Public Affairs Detachment.

Your grand-children will want to know someday....

Who the cowards of our time are (were)....

Denying/filibustering/rationalizing away any meaningful action to address climate change.... (This time) during a record-setting U.S. east coast heat wave . (Plus the hottest first half of a year ever, worldwide.)

Oh, yeah: And a catastrophic oil well blowout in the Gulf.

Usual suspects: Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning columnist for the New York Times provides some guidance - re the "who" (above).  Link to 7/26/10 article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/opinion/26krugman.html?

(Some of the top comments to the article are worth reading as well:) http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/opinion/26krugman.html

From NASA, some likely future effects of climate change:

Global Climate Change: Future Trends

(Phenomena/Likelihood of trend)

-- Contraction of snow cover areas, increased thaw in permafrost regions, decrease in sea ice extent Virtually certain

-- Increased frequency of hot extremes, heat waves and heavy precipitation    Very likely to occur

-- Increase in tropical cyclone intensity      Likely to occur

-- Precipitation increases in high latitudes    Very likely to occur

-- Precipitation decreases in subtropical land regions     Very likely to occur

-- Decreased water resources in many semi-arid areas, including western U.S. and Mediterranean basin High confidence


(Definitions of likelihood ranges used to express the assessed probability of occurrence: virtually certain >99%, very likely >90%, likely >66%.


Source: Summary for Policymakers, IPCC Synthesis report, November 2007
http://www.ipcc.ch/)


Among other irresponsible acts, justify this (sample photo, below; just one example), as your grand-kids' world starts to look and feel more like Venus every year. (Not to mention other likely (mostly adverse) effects.)

Your kids and grand-kids will be looking back upon your legacy, and that of others...They will not be able to ignore global climate change.

Author : IFCAR ,"I  the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide." 
 

Oh yeah: Climate change is Al Gore's imagination...

More glaciers melt away in Glacier National Park (link to 4/7/10 AP news story)

I've been to Glacier myself a couple of times. The rangers we spoke to there believed "something was up" with climate change....

As Mr. Gore has said: It's going to soon need to be named "The Park Formerly Known as Glacier Nat'l Park"

Go see it.....QUICK.

Oh....BTW: Today is April 7th, and the current temperature is 90 degrees (F) where I live (New England)....(That's about 35 degrees above "normal" for the date. One year doesn't make a trend, but it's been well above normal for temps. here and everywhere (link) during the last several weeks... already.)

More bad climate news

Actually, scientists have been watching methane for awhile now, but the latest findings (linked below) are of concern.

It's human nature to deny or avoid facts that (likely) convey "bad news" (e.g., for planet dwellers), but please read and remember this one for your kids and grand-kids. And be aware that there are other heat-trapping gases - some man-made -  in the climate "mix", also. (I.e., beyond carbon dioxide and methane.)

Whether warming (or the amount of warming) is or isn't an absolute, locked-in certainty (yet), don't we all owe it to future inhabitants to do what is possible about ameliorating climate warming gasses and emissions...now? (Ethically?) It is also time to start seriously looking into man-made methods for removing heat-trapping gases from the earth's atmosphere - whether that sounds like science fiction or not.

Link to 3/4/10 AP story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100304/ap_on_sc/us_sci_climate_methane