global warming • News October 2020

Global Warming Has Dire Effects on US Health, Report

April 5, 2016 By Barbara Mast Leave a Comment

A new federal government report predicts a horrible fate for America, which is about to get sicker because of man-made global warming.

The Obama administration issued on Monday a 332-page report that said global warming will have several harmful effects, such as dirtying the air, contaminating the water, and tainting the food.

At the same time, the population has been warned about thousands of heat wave deaths, longer allergy seasons, and diseases, such as those spread by mosquitoes and ticks.

As if that wasn’t enough, Gina McCarthy, chief of the Environmental Protection Agency, said that climate change will also affect people’s mental health. We are used to thinking of global warming only in terms of endangered polar bears and melting ice caps.

But our future and the future of our families is also at play, according to McCarthy speech at a White House event presenting the report.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy also explains that climate change has more effects on people than anything doctors have dealt with in the past. Air pollution coming from traffic and power plants is one of the most dangerous pathways that make people sick.

Murthy painted a horrible picture in which we won’t be able to breathe. This is “one of the most frightening experiences for people,” said the surgeon.

Since asthma is already a leading cause of children going to the emergency room, the new report adds to that by talking about “scary moments for parents and children.”

Lynn Goldman, the dean of the George Washington University’s public health school, said that the air pollution, heat, and an increased number of allergens will add to asthma cases and cause a significant worsening overall.

On the other hand, John Holdren, a science adviser at the White House, highlighted the fact that heat waves cause “thousands to tens of thousands of heat-related deaths in the United States each summer.”

According to Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), computer simulations of 209 cities suggested that extraordinary summer heat deaths will surpass fewer winter cold deaths from climate change.

The report has tapped into data from more than 1,800 published scientific studies, combined it with new federal research, and was then reviewed and approved by the National Academies of Sciences.

While the report establishes without a shadow of a doubt that climate change has become a major threat to public health in the United States, it also states the government isn’t doing enough.
Image Source: Medical Daily

Poll Shows Americans Finally Believe in Threat of Global Warming

March 20, 2016 By David Kellen Leave a Comment

According to a new poll, Americans might finally start believing that people are one of the major factors that contribute to climate change. The new U.S. Gallup poll revealed a remarkable record of Americans who are worried about global warming, many more than before.

For the latest survey, researchers asked a random sample of 1,019 adults (aged 18 and older) some questions via telephone. All of the respondents live in the U.S. and, more specifically, in the District of Columbia.

As revealed by the new poll, American people are finally taking climate change more seriously; in fact, a total of 64 percent of Americans have reported being worried a “fair amount” or a “great deal” for the effects of global warming – the highest percentage recorded over the past eight years.

One of the factors that might have contributed to the new poll results is the winter of 2015, which had the warmest temperatures on record in the U.S. According to the Gallup poll, there was also a slight increase in the percentage of Americans who think we are already experiencing the effects of global warming.

But researchers found something else. A country’s position on global warming is mainly measured by whether the population living in it thinks that in the end, climate change will start becoming a serious threat to its way of life.

In the latest Gallup poll, researchers found that 41 percent of Americans agree with the statement; that number has gone up from 37 percent in the 2015 poll.

Moreover, as many as 65 percent of Americans now believe that human activities are more to blame for the increase in Earth’s temperature, rather than natural causes. This is a four-point leap from the previous record of 61 percent in 2007.

But is it really surprising that Americans have had a change of heart, in light of the past winter? The U.S. has experienced unusually warm temperatures this February, especially in the western part of the country. Eight states have just had the warmest February on record.

Overall, the increase in the winter contiguous U.S. temperature was some 2.1 degrees higher than the 20th-century average.

Such findings are relevant in terms of tackling climate change in the future. It may be easier to establish some policies that would mitigate this issue if more Americans believe that they – and other humans – are contributing to the cause of global warming.
Image Source: National Geographic

How Will the World End, According to Stephen Hawking

January 22, 2016 By Grant Hamersma Leave a Comment

Stephen Hawking addressed his fears on how will the world end.

At the beginning of January news on how will the world end, according to Stephen Hawking was shared. Some of the assumptions of the professor at the Cambridge University include global warming, genetically created viruses and a nuclear war.

The theoretical physicist also fears that the artificial intelligence could endanger the entire humanity. He claims that these apocalyptic scenarios can be avoided only if the planet is left behind. He said that for now the chances of such major disasters are low for now, as the years will pass they will only increase. He approximated that in the next thousand years, the human annihilation by means of one of his apocalyptic scenarios is very likely to happen.

Hawking believes that in the next hundred years, self-sustaining colonies will exist in the space and he warns that until then people must be careful at the dangers that surround them. One of his biggest fears is the development of the artificial intelligence. Hawking believes that technology could both save and destroy the human kind. In an interview given to BBC in 2014, he talked about the threat that the full artificial intelligence could pose to the humans. He advises the researchers to stop the development of the artificial intelligence here, where it is still safe and useful. Hawking believes that further development of artificial intelligence could surpass the humans, who have a biological evolution that is slow. Some experts have proposed slowing down the innovation pace, but Hawking believes that is an unrealistic goal. He said that the best thing the experts could do in this situation is to assess the dangers and make sure that they can be controlled or even stopped.

Hawking also talked about other dangers, of which the experts should be more aware of. He said that many clinical trials that involve the genetic modifying of viruses, crops and other organisms are unsafe. Hawking claimed that some of them are done only for profit and some of them don’t follow the guidelines that ensure they pose no threat to humans.

Stephen Hawking also mentions the threat the global warming could have on the humanity. He believes that the day will come when the temperatures will be so high on Earth that human life will no longer be possible. He mentions that the carbon dioxide levels that have been rising from the burning of the fossil fuels is one of the main reasons of the global warming.

How will the world end, according to Stephen Hawking includes a lot of doomsday scenarios, which we hope will never occur.

Image Source: www.upload.wikimedia.org

The Warming of World’s Lakes Puts Fresh Water Supplies in Danger

December 19, 2015 By Martha Goodwin Leave a Comment

The warming of world’s lakes puts fresh water supplies in danger, ecosystems at risk and threatens livelihoods around the globe.

The warming of world’s lakes puts fresh water supplies in danger, ecosystems at risk and threatens livelihoods around the globe. A recent large-scale study sampled over 200 lakes from all continents to help bring the point home: world’s lakes are warming faster than the oceans or surface temperature due to climate change.

Several studies have focused throughout the years on one particular lake or another. This recent study, presented at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, California, aimed at creating a global picture of what’s happening to the world’s lakes. With the help of 64 scientists around the world, the study is comprehensively showing the risks of the accelerated warming of lakes.

For starters, the warming of world’s lakes puts fresh water supplies in danger. As the water heats at an unprecedented pace, there is plenty of room for a lake to dry out. In addition, before this happens, the scene is set for blooming cultures of toxic algae or bacteria and viruses, rendering the water unusable.

With global communities dependent on lakes for fresh drinking water, this may prove to be a serious issue. Second, the warming of world’s lakes negatively affects the lush ecosystems dependent on the lakes’ water. A number of fish species could perish or be pushed to new habitats. In turn, this affects not only the ecosystem, but local communities’ livelihoods as well.

In a similar scenario to that of warming oceans, global warming is posing a threat to the world’s lakes as well. Even more so due to the fact that lakes were found to warm faster than the oceans or surface temperature. From an ecological perspective, the rapid warming of lakes at a global level prepares the set for millions of tons of carbon released back into the atmosphere. Carbon and other gases contribute to the greenhouse effect driving climate change.

Thus, a vicious circle is created, posing a real difficulty in tackling global warming. According to the study, in just 25 years, the temperature increase at the global level was one third of a degree per decade. If we are to tackle climate change in a meaningful manner, the temperature increase should be kept at a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. Or even 1.5 degrees Celsius according to the latest climate agreement reached in Paris.

As for the lakes analyzed in the study, the temperature increase already translates into significant changes. The average temperature increase per decade was 0.34 degrees Celsius. In the same period, oceans warmed by only 0.12 degrees Celsius. Surface temperature warmed by 0.25 degrees Celsius.

If the pace continues untackled, livelihoods, ecosystems and fresh drinking water will all have to suffer.

Photo Credits: Pixabay

2015 Christmas Bird Counting

December 7, 2015 By Janice Bower Leave a Comment

Anyone can participate in the Christmas Bird Counting

The 2015 Christmas Bird Counting is about to start the fallowing week, on December 14, ending on January 5. Many nature enthusiasts will take part in this year’s counting, but also scientists and random citizens. Anybody is welcome as long as they can spot a bird.

The Christmas Bird Counting is a nation-wide citizen science project which helps ornithologists identify and keep track of native bird populations at winter time.

Every year more than 72,000 volunteers participate in the Christmas Bird Count, in more than 2,400 locations across the globe. It is a large scale project that accomplishes in a short period of time something that scientists would never be able to accomplish by themselves.

Until now, more than 200 peer-reviewed studies have been based on analysis done with data from the Christmas Bird Count. One of the biggest finding until now was the way in which native birds respond to climate change that helped scientists realize that 314 North American bird species are threatened by global warming.

The Christmas Bird Count is a tradition which began in 1900. At that time, Dr Frank Chapman, founder of Bird-Lore magazine, which was then renamed to Audubon magazine, proposed an alternative to a horrible holiday event, called the ‘side hunt’, a bird-shooting competition.

The Christmas Bird Count has continued since then, for 115 years and it’s still expected to continue a long time from now since there are so many enthusiast citizens participating every year. It is the longest-running citizen-based science study in the world.

As the technology evolves, the tradition mixed with modern technology makes mapping easier and enables discoveries that weren’t possible years ago.

Volunteers can participate in the counting by themselves or by joining a local organized group. Joining an organized group might mean waking up before sunrise and walking for many miles for an entire day. Groups sometimes offer trainings to volunteers and almost always have at least one specialist conducting the counting efforts.

If you are interested in joining a group, just search the internet for the website of local branches of the Audubon Society. If not, you can just count the birds coming to your birdfeeder. You don’t have to be an expert and identify all the species, – taking pictures or describing them, fallowing the counting is just enough.

The Christmas Bird Count is funded entirely by private donations which help supporting the organized groups, managing the database and purchase the needed technology.

Image source: pixabay.com

Could Climate Talks in Paris Make a Difference?

November 30, 2015 By Adam Lynch 1 Comment

Monday marks the debut of Paris climate change conference, which the U.N. hopes to turn into a global agreement on some of the most pressing issues of the day – global warming and greenhouse gas emissions.

But critics are not certain whether climate talks in Paris could make a real difference since past similar gatherings led to no positive results.

The last major UN gathering on climate change was held in Copenhagen six years ago. Back then, the entire world had high hopes that the issue may be finally tackled, but to anyone’s disappointment negotiations broke down.

In 2009, world leaders couldn’t reach an agreement on how, when, and by how much carbon emissions should be reduced. Analysts believe that Copenhagen negotiations utterly failed because there was no real pressure on participants to reach a consensus. Six years ago, it was more convenient to world leaders to disappoint a weak climate change movement, than to fall from fossil fuel industry’s graces.

Nevertheless, in the meantime context has changed. And the U.N. bets everything on this shift that this year’s climate talks would be a success. So, what has changed? In six years, the climate movement grew in size and is no longer a whim of a select few.

For instance, in 2014 New York saw 300,000 people gathered on the streets to ask from authorities action on climate change not just words. The movement was one of the largest in the last decade and prompted Obama to get in touch with the U.N. and pledge that the White House would ‘answer the call.’

A few weeks later, the U.S. reached a deal with China to curb carbon emissions to a certain limit. The agreement was the first of its kind for China and a promise for a stronger commitment for the U.S. The U.S. and China are currently the planet’s largest producers of greenhouse gas emissions.

But since 2009, climate movement is not the only thing that altered the context of climate talks. Clean energy technology is now more affordable and efficient. For example, price of solar panels plunged 80 percent in the last six years. Wind power has also saw some major advances that now allow entire countries such as Denmark to fulfill their energy needs from the breeze.

Additionally, clean energy can now be accessed by emerging markets, as well. China would rely less on coal in the coming years and is working on its clean energy infrastructure in a speedy manner.
Image Source: Flickr

Taking Actions For Climate Change

November 21, 2015 By Janice Bower 5 Comments

We might soon use geoengineering to alter the climate of our planet.

It seems we will soon be taking actions for climate change through geoengineering. As the Climate Change Conference of the United Nations approaches (it will take place in December in Paris), methods for preserving our environment are brought into light.

Recently, the White House hosted the Climate Change Summit as a preparation for the Paris conference. President Obama and Joe Biden, Vice-President of the U.S., both emphasized the importance of big businesses to understand the impact they have on climate. Many scientific institutes and 81 big businesses were present at the event.

Dr. Ernest Moniz, Secretary of Energy, Todd Stern, Climate Change Special Envoy and Dr. John Holdren, Assistant to the President for the Office of Science and Technology were among the ones who offered panels and speeches. Shailesh Jejurikar, Home Care President, reported that Proctor and Gamble is leading with the measures it took on the matter.

One the measures that came into question recently is geoengineering. This type of engineering uses several technologies in order to alter the global climate. It can slow down the process of global warming, to give us some time to cut greenhouse gases, since this proves to be difficult and will heavily affect the economy.

There are two general techniques for postponing global warming. The first one implies carbon dioxide removal, and stocking it into geological formations or abandoned mines. It also includes reforestation and algae growing in the oceans.

The second technique refers to the management of sunlight. Basically we have to block or reflect sunlight in order to limit the amount that reaches our planet. In this way the temperatures can be kept at a lower level.

Unfortunately, these technologies have not been tested and at the moment it is impossible to test them. Both aforementioned techniques pose risks regarding their effectiveness, feasibility and most of all, cost. Geoengineering does have a lot of problems but also a lot of potential.

However, we must keep in mind that taking actions for climate change is of utmost importance. Emission issues must be solved, because the longer we wait the harder it will get in the future.

Image Source: www.pixabay.com

Shrinking Snowpack Will Affect Agriculture and 2 Billion People

November 17, 2015 By Adam Lynch Leave a Comment

Shrinking snowpack will affect agriculture and 2 billion people by 2060 if water management strategies aren’t adapted to the reality of global warming.

A new study featuring in the Environmental Research Letters journal draws attention on the critical matter of a declining snowpack and its effect on communities worldwide. The snowpack in addition to rainfall are critical factors for replenishing water basins around the world. These are the source of clean drinking water and water used for agriculture and other industries worldwide. While for some communities and the water basins they depend on rainfall is sufficient to meet their demands, others are not so lucky.

Global warming is affecting both rainfall and the accumulation of snowpack. Snow-dependent water basins are most in danger to suffer from the declining snowpack. The new study conducted by a team of international researchers and based on complex climate models pinpoints how shrinking snowpack will affect agriculture and 2 billion people by 2060. In the U.S., California, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas are the states most prone to suffer the consequences.

With the shortening of the timeframe favorable to snowfall throughout the year, snow falls later and starts melting sooner. The water cycle is thus affected, with the snowpack melting at higher elevations as well as washing away due to rainfall.

By 2060, this pattern is likely to affect regions spanning from California to the Middle East to Europe. The new study aims at providing authorities with a useful tool for water management policies to counter the negative effects on communities, agriculture and other industries. The research team conducted the analysis on 421 water basins of the northern hemisphere.

Climate models have shown that over 90 of them are in serious danger due to a declining snowpack. Overall, 2 billion people are dependent on the water coming from these sources. With little water left conflict is bound to arise. Some of the water basins mentioned in the study are those in central and northern California, the Ebro-Duero water basin, the Shatt al-Arab basin on which Middle East populations are highly dependent, including Iraqi and Syrian populations.

In support of the study David Garen with the United States Department of Agriculture stated that irrigation for agriculture is indeed a crucial factor to be taken into account. Farmland may suffer serious consequences in the future if water supplies are cut due to a diminishing snowpack. In the West, agriculture depends mostly on water from snowmelt. It is not only the reduction in the amount of water that is worrying, but also the timing of the snowmelt due to global warming.

With this in mind, authorities should prepare adequate water management policies and plans to minimize the effects of a diminishing snowpack and reduced rainfall altogether.

Photo Credits: Pixabay

Global Warming Pushes King Crabs to Antarctic Waters

September 30, 2015 By Martha Goodwin Leave a Comment

Marine worms or sea stars and urchins that have found a home in the Antarctic waters could soon become the prey of the invading shell-crushing king crabs.

In the freezing waters of the Antarctic there lies a complex and rich ecosystem that has around for millions of years.

Due to recent changes in climate and rising global temperatures, as well as rising seawater temperatures, this might soon change. Not in an abstract, difficult to observe manner, but in the most brutal. The soft-bodied organisms living off the shore of Antarctica are threatened by…king crabs.

Marine worms or sea stars and urchins that have found a home in the Antarctic waters could soon become the prey of the invading shell-crushing king crabs. A new study authored by Professor Richard Aronson of the Florida Institute of Technology explains what this could mean in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.

As water temperatures are constantly rising on the continental shelf off the coast of western Antarctica, conditions become ever more welcoming to a variety of king crab species that have until recently been kept at bay by the prohibitively low temperatures.

King crabs are typically found in the deep waters of the ocean all over the world. They have been spotted in the shallow water of the subpolar regions, but nothing could have predicted the rapid expansion to the deeper waters until recently.

In the Antarctic, water very close to the shore is simply too cold for the king crabs to survive. They can only thrive at temperatures above 1 degree Celsius or 34 degrees Fahrenheit. As we travel the distance from the shallow waters, the temperatures start varying. Just over the continental slope, the temperatures slightly rise just to drop again as the water gets deeper.

It was over the continental shelf that the king crabs have been spotted for the first time. The temperature is sufficiently high for them to form a colony, reproduce and establish themselves in the region for good. Could it have been just a fleeting moment or a random occurrence?

In 2010 Aronson and his research team decided to find out. Through a photographic survey close to the area of the Marguerite Bay, they found out that it wasn’t the case. The colony was already established and counted thousands of individuals of the Paralomis birsteini king crab species.

At the time, they were restricted to the area. So the research team continued to look into the possible factors that could keep the king crabs there or could make them more over in the deeper water of the continental shelf.

It seems that conditions are ripe for the king crabs to make their next move. When this happens, the millions of years old established ecosystem will be severely disrupted.

According to Aronson:

“These prey haven’t experienced this kind of predation in tens of million of years”.

That is to say the soft-bodied organisms here are not equipped and prepared to protect themselves from the invasion of the king crabs. They have no hard shells to keep them from the strong crushing claws, nor any other defense mechanism.

If global warming continues at the current rate, warming the ocean water as well, the king crabs could reach the fragile ecosystem in the Antarctic waters in as much as five years, imprinting a forever lasting change.

Photo Credits: Wikimedia

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