10 myths abt global warming

10 MYTHS about Global Warming Don't believe these commonly heard statements: * It isn't really happening (documented science overwhelmingly shows temperatures rising rapidly) * It's natural (temperature increases, especially since the 1970's, are far above natural variations) * Any effects well be very gradual (not only are severe storms getting stronger, but climate history shows sharp climate changes can occur abruptly, in only a few years) * It does not affect the U.S. (the U.S. is experiencing rising sea levels, more severe storms and droughts, die-off of forests, altered animal migrations, and loss of glaciers such as those in Glacier National Park) * It will be good for us (some areas may become more pleasantly warm, but the cost of negative effects will far outweigh any benefits; disease and heat deaths are increasing) * Agriculture will benefit (CO2 may make some crops grow faster, but also will accelerate weeds, pests and droughts; crops may not grow well where they once did as climate zones shift.) * It's being handled by our government (The current U.S. Administration advocates studying, not dealing with, global warming; its energy policy completely based on burning more coal & oil. Most state and local governments are unprepared for major changes) * It's not a big deal compared to national security (Global warming is actually the most serious threat to the widest range of human concerns. Our national and world security is directly threatened by negative climate effects on weather, water supply, disease, agriculture, marine resources, and health) * Technology will solve the problem for us (Massive "fixes" like burying greenhouse gases are very unlikely, but many smaller changes can make a difference AND are available now) * There's nothing to be done anyway (Everyone can make a difference today -- SEE BELOW...)
15 Very Important Things to Do about Global Warming...from the individual to the national 1. Learn about it -- start with this Web site and see the References. 2. Sell the SUV and choose cleaner, more efficient vehicles. Reduce your driving: one gallon of gas burned creates 20 pounds of CO2. Fuel up on ethanol and biodiesel. 3. Use efficient appliances, replace light bulbs with low-voltage compact fluorescents, check your home insulation. Buy renewable energy, like wind and solar, from your power company. 5. Companies -- the one you work for and the ones you buy from -- can save lots of money and reduce global warming by taking similar steps toward energy efficiency. 6. Shop smart: Look for products made from recycled materials, created with renewable energy, and which help you save money and reduce pollution. 7. Use your vote and influence as a citizen to elect responsive leaders; help them organize the neighborhood and town for energy efficiency. 8. Suburban sprawl makes for lots of global warming pollution; plan for walkable communities, lots of trees, open spaces, and public transportation in and between cities. 10. Build new homes and buildings for efficiency and solar power. 11. Support sustainable farming and forestry, including new crops to make into ethanol and other biofuels. 12. Let the corporations who make our cars, fuels, goods and power know you want their products to be as ecological as possible. 13. At all government levels, develop an efficient energy policy, moving away from fossil fuels. 14. Export new energy technology that uses renewable energy sources to the rest of the world. 15. ....and start doing these things today.
What can we do? Each of can play a role in dealing with and slowing climate change. Each of us must. Right now, the best source for practical actions that can be adopted by individuals, groups, cities, businesses, and governments is the book Stormy Weather by Guy Dauncy and Patrick Mazza, published last year by New Society Publishers. The authors have a Web site which lists their recommendations, plus a great amount of climate information, at http://www.earthfuture.com/stormyweather/ References
Technologies to Combat Global Warming (first of a series) Increasingly nations and governments have been adopting technologies to deal with global warming. Some large installations are strictly defensive, like the Thames River Barrier protecting London, built beginning in 1982. At first it was used rarely, less than once a year, but British Science Advisor Sir David King says it is now closed against high tides 6 or 7 times a year. Wind turbines are being installed worldwide at an increasing rate. Wind is the fastest growing energy technology in the world today. In recent years, wind capacity worldwide has more than doubled. The towers must be located to protect migrating birds and bats, and scenic landscapes -- which unfortunately early wind farms like Altamont California did not consider. This technology can increase the use and value of open farm and grazing land (see above in Illinois), and is also compatible with solar installations. Solar is also growing and offers the flexibility of scale, from small panels for individual appliances in homes to huge acreages supplying cities and industries. The two forms of solar illustrated here are the photovoltaic panel used in the array on the roof of the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. This is the largest civic owned solar installation in the US. Its 60,000 square feet generates 675 kilowatts of electricity, and saves $210,000 a year over conventional electric sources. Another older solar electric generation system is the solar- thermal Kramer Junction array of five fields of 33 megawatts each in the Mojave desert. It has been on line since 1985 to produce electricity for the Southern California Edison power grid supplying the greater Los Angeles area. This technology uses parabolic mirrors to heat an oil which makes steam to run turbines. It must be mentioned that the largest sources of non-fossil fuel energy are ancient -- water power and wood. These supply most of the so-called renewable energy in the world despite the obvious negative (and not always renewable or reversible) effects on rivers and forests. Stay tuned to World View of Global Warming for increasing details on clean energy solutions and success stories.
Photographs from the World View of Global Warming are available for license to publications needing science photography, environmental groups and agencies, and other uses. Stock photography and assignments available. Please contact info@worldviewofglobalwarming.org or Gary Braasch Photography (503) 699-6666. Use of photographs in any manner, in part or whole, without permission is prohibited by US copyright law. These photographs are registered with the US Copyright Office and are not in the Public Domain.
Gary Braasch, Photographer PO Box 1465 Portland, OR 97207 USA USA Phone: 503.699.6666 Cell: 503.860.1228

Jagooo.............

BARE TRUTH: These two pictures — one taken in 1968 (top) and the other in 2007 — show the retreating Rongbuk Glacier of Mount Everest on the Tibetan plateau. The rugged Tibet plateau, seen as a sensitive barometer of the impact of global warming, is experiencing accelerating glacial melt and other ecological changes. The mountainous region's glaciers have been melting at an annual average rate of 131.4 square km over the last 30 years

Big Melt in Antartica

Big melt in Antarctica

May 18, 2007

taken from :- http://www.alaskareport.com/do77811_antarctica.htm

Courtesy of Far North Science
By Doug O'Harra

Here's more heating news, this time from the cryosphere of the Far South, a region thought to be much cooler than the Far North and not as responsive to greenhouse gas influences.

NASA's QuikScat satellite detected extensive areas of snowmelt, shown in yellow and red, in west Antarctica in January 2005. NASA/JPL

A team of rocket scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and university researchers detected a massive snow meltdown on the ice covering West Antarctica, ultimately sloshing up an area larger than the state of California.

It was caused by warm temperatures in January 2005 - the peak of the austral summer.

JPL primer

"This was the first widespread Antarctic melting ever detected with NASA's QuikScat satellite and the most significant melt observed using satellites during the past three decades," NASA reported in a news release about the finding.

The team was led by JPL's Son Nghiem and Konrad Steffen, director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder, led the team. Their study, "Snow Accumulation and Snowmelt Monitoring in Greenland and Antarctica," appears in the recently published book Dynamic Planet.

QuikScat / NASA-JPL

QuikScat satellite data helps scientists measure whether ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland accumulate snow and gain mass - or melt enough during summer that they actually lose mass. In this study, the team tracked snowfall and melt in Antarctica and Greenland from July 1999 through July 2005.

What they found about that brief warm spell in January 2005 was stunning - air temperatures that reached 41 °F, above-freezing air that lasted more than a week at a time.

"The observed melting occurred in multiple distinct regions, including far inland, at high latitudes and at high elevations, where melt had been considered unlikely," they reported in a news release. "Evidence of melting was found up to 900 kilometers (560 miles) inland from the open ocean, farther than 85 degrees south (about 500 kilometers, or 310 miles, from the South Pole) and higher than 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) above sea level."

"Antarctica has shown little to no warming in the recent past with the exception of the Antarctic Peninsula, but now large regions are showing the first signs of the impacts of warming as interpreted by this satellite analysis," Steffen said.

"Increases in snowmelt, such as this in 2005, definitely could have an impact on larger-scale melting of Antarctica's ice sheets if they were severe or sustained over time."

A different JPL study found in 2006 that overall Antarctica ice sheets had lost mass for the first time.

Here's how the QuikScat process worked:

The satellite's scatterometer instrument sends radar pulses to the ice sheet surface, measuring the echoed pulses that bounce back. When snow melts and then refreezes, it changes to ice, just as ice cream crystallizes when it is left out too long and is then refrozen. QuikScat can differentiate this icy fingerprint in the snow cover and can map on a continental scale the extent of strong snowmelt and the subsequently formed ice layer. Available ground station measurements validate the satellite results.

The 2005 melt was intense enough to create an extensive ice layer when water refroze after the melt. However, the melt was not prolonged enough for the melt water to flow into the sea.

"Water from melted snow can penetrate into ice sheets through cracks and narrow, tubular glacial shafts called moulins," Steffen said. "If sufficient melt water is available, it may reach the bottom of the ice sheet. This water can lubricate the underside of the ice sheet at the bedrock, causing the ice mass to move toward the ocean faster, increasing sea level."

Antarctica JPL / Ben Holt, Sr.

Antarctica holds most of the Earth's freshwater locked in ice and snow. If that water were to melt and be released to the ocean, global sea level could rise by scores of meters. Ocean currents, climate, storm patterns and seawater salinity would be altered on a vast scale.

The NASA-Colorado team has detected no additional melting through March 2007, according to Nghiem. But they need to keep watching.

"Satellite scatterometry is like an X-ray that sees through snow and finds ice layers beneath as early as possible," he said. "It is vital we continue monitoring this region to determine if a long-term trend may be developing."

An Inconvenient Truth - Google Video