If you have not had a chance to comment yet this semester - here is one last opportunity - more evidence on a warming planet.
Please take a moment to read this and leave a thoughtful comment.
Jim
p.s. - we will have a review session today, Thursday, and again next Tuesday in preparation for the Exam next Thursday.
14 comments:
I feel like this is accurate. Look at our own weather, the past 2 or 3 years have brough exceptionally warm autumns. It's really scary how humans are able to mess things up so easy, but who is going to fix it? Even with all the media attention I still see very little being done on a daily basis. It's sad that our future generations will all have to suffer because currently we are more concerened with the almight dollar than fixing our planet
I don't think 30 years of data is enough to determine the next thirty years. The tropic zone could be increasing at a decreasing rate, therefore the damages could much less. The combustion of fossil fuels is a problem. How big of a problem is it? I believe this topic is sensationalized by the media as a whole.
I feel that water shorages are going to be the most pressing environmental issue of the future. Many developing and third world nations probably will not have enought viable clean water to support their populations in coming years. It is also disturbing to see the possible reduction in agriculture faced by African nations due to climate change. I feel there is a definate link between climate change and increases in severe weather. The warmer temperatures extend the hurricane season and will allow for storms to form much later into november and december.
What can we do? There are definite problems as a result of the great machine at work i.e. idustrialization. If the U.S. isn't willing to accept our role in this mess, why should developing contries like China change what thier doing. I think the problems associated with global warming are real and all we can do is prepare for the worst cause scenario.
Right now I almost hope we would get more severe thunderstorms. We need water....
And whats there to say about predicting hurricanes? It always makes me wonder that if we can't model hurricanes better then how can we accurately predict these other changes? I know that the scientists are probably accurate but it just places some doubt in my mind.
I think people are freaking out way to much. I do think there is no denying that we are exacerbating the situation. There is only so much we can do today. Just work on it.
Thirty years ago a Times cover said we were going into global cooling. So, chill out, relax, do your best to help the situation and stop freaking out so much.
Remember, 100 years from now all the people living on this planet
WILL BE DEAD.
Help while you can but stop freaking out.
Weather patterns are very complicated. I dont know who said this first, but it was well stated, "We are conducting the largest scientific experiment in history (by adding carbon to the atmosphere), and we don't know what the outcome will be". I guess we are the lab mice in this experiment.
It is all the same...global warming, population increase, agriculture depletion, water level rising; they are all going to change because they are all linked. We happen to have a role in that change and we are not being shy on our uses of resources. We have done this to ourselves and I think the only way that this will be fixed is after a huge catastrophe (like those in the past) have cleared up the mess and the fittest survivors will stick around and be in charge of building up again. Maybe then those who are left will have a different idea on the way to go in the new environment.
-Lindsay
I think that this data is correct, and the simple fact is that the past few years we have had warmer winters. I think this issue for us as a society is the water supply. Our state is in serious trouble and with serious growth in our population how are we going to have enough water in the future. The drought may be more persistent and could cause serious problems.
I thought it was interesting how the article first discussed the tropics expanding. This would lead to drought and decreased food supply in tropical areas. Then the article goes on to say that the United States will probably have more thunderstorms in the future. Thunderstorms can drop amazing amounts of rain in a small period of time. I would like the author to have better explained if these predicted future storms will be mostly lightning and little rain, or if they will drop amounts of rainfall that come to mind when thinking of a present day thunderstorm. The expansion of the tropics will have an effect on all areas of the globe.
-Patterson
We hear so much about what global warming is doing to the North Pole and the ice and it's melting, I found it interesting to read about it from the point of view of the tropics. The article makes things hit a little closer to home when it discusses hurricanes and thunderstorms. And I would have to agree that a storm with serious amounts of rain at this point might not be a bad thing.
Its good that the UN countries are meeting to talk about the climate, and greenhouse effects, and how it relates to poor tropical countries but eventually things will have to move beyond talking to actually doing something. And it seems like that the participation of the countries will be needed to actually make a difference, with no one "cheating" which we know rarely happens.
mjones
"Remember, 100 years from now all the people living on this planet
WILL BE DEAD."
- There is one optimistic way of looking at it.
While I don't believe we will all be dead in 100 years I do believe this is just one of many problems that will begin to occur at an increasing rate. I also believe as our technology continues to advance we will gain a better understanding of many issues and create better solutions to them along the way.
I'm split with the issue of global warming. I do think it's happening and it will have serious effects on the world in the future, so changes should be made. At the same time though, we've already done so much damage that won't surface until later down the road. I don't see the world getting better for the present generations, but maybe if changes are actually made and implemented, generations far into the future can have a better world to live in.
I find it fascinating that anyone can ignore the data on Global warming. While it is true that the impacts of global warming are all but impossible to accurately predict. I do not see how any interest group, senator, or any other political actor can not move towards further regulation. We talk in class a lot about education, and the dissemination of misinformation, and the more I read and learn about this climate crisis; the harder I find it to believe that these representatives are not just ignoring facts. I hope that with the continuing movement for increased enviromental regulation. We will begin to see real policy solutions to the problems we face.
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