Despite a global decrease in the production of certain toxic chemicals, we may be in for an onslaught.
That’s because rising global temperatures are causing the release of persistent organic pollutants, such as DDT and PCBs, which have been locked in arctic ice for more than half a century.
The only way this could happen would be if the ice had been thickening for the last half century. Thinning ice wouldn’t have accumulated chemicals.
American cities will face severe problems in coming decades as the world’s warming climate hits the coasts with rising sea levels, causes huge floods and storms in the Midwest, and triggers water shortages in the Southwest, according to a national environment organization.
The Natural Resources Defense Council, noted both for its science and its advocacy, released a 128-page report Tuesday on what its experts see as the impact of global warming on water supplies in a dozen America cities, including San Francisco.
Are China’s factories keeping a lid on global temperatures?
Carbon News and Info > Climate & emissions news > Global warming science
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
The results of a new climate study released this month may hold significant implications for the battle to constrain global warming; they may answer the climate sceptics’ argument that “global warming stopped in 1998”, raise a horrible dilemma over actions to tackle climate change and control acid-rain pollution, and add weight to calls for geo-engineering of the earth’s atmosphere to stop global warming.
The study, by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), suggests that rapid industrial growth in Asia, particularly China, where air pollution controls are not as strict as North America or Europe, has seen large emissions of global-cooling sulphur pollution into the atmosphere since 2000. This may explain why it is that, when global warming emissions of carbon dioxide rose sharply along with this industrial expansion, global temperatures over the decade did not rise any higher than the record year of 1998.
This planet has an atmosphere made of 95% CO2.
Temperatures there vary between -113C and 0C.
This planet has an atmosphere made up of 0% CO2.
Temperatures there vary between -280° F and 800° F.
Even a simple-minded climate scientist might be able to understand this.
Since 1970, the Washakie Ranger District of the Shoshone National Forest has averaged 26 wildfires each year. Around 51 percent of those fires have started from natural causes, forest officials said.
“Over the years, fire managers have learned that attempting to suppress all fire on the landscape has undesirable consequences,” Hottle said. “If we were to do so, we might limit the size of some fires for a period of time.”
Hottle said prolonged fire suppression allows forests to overgrow, leading to large stands of diseased trees. It creates greater fuel loads capable of supporting catastrophic fires, like those experienced in 1988.
“At some point this unnaturally created forest would experience an intense fire which would be difficult to suppress,” Hottle said. “It could burn over a very large area and create significant ecological and aesthetic impacts.”
Yellowstone Fire Cycle Undergoing Dramatic Change
In the past, the entire 20 million acre ecosystem would be completely burnt every 100 to 300 years. This time span over which an entire landscape burns, called fire rotation, is forecasted to be shortened to less than 30 years.
The trees require about 120 years to mature, so each tree will burn to the ground four times during its life.
The Louisiana Coast has the highest rate of “sea level rise” in the world. Because the land is rapidly sinking into the swamp. NRDC thinks that reducing carbon emissions will somehow stop New Orleans from sinking.
New Orleans is one of a dozen U.S. cities most at risk from the effects of global warming, a threat that city officials here have recognized and are responding to in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, concludes a new report released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“The best cities have committed to reduce their carbon emissions, have identified their vulnerability to climate change and have adopted plans for future action,” he said.
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Monkeys may fly out of his @$$ by 2050.
Global warming will cause more wildfires at Yellowstone National Park. The combination of the wildfires and rising temperature will fundamentally change the ecosystem at Yellowstone, possibly by as soon as 2050, according to a new study led by Professor Anthony Westerling of the University of California, Merced.
The study claims that by 2050, wildfires will burn up 400 square miles of land per year. By 2075, it’s expected to burn up 1,200 square miles per year. The entire area of Yellowstone National Park is under 3,500 square miles. Furthermore, the study claims “”years with no large fires – very common in the recent past – become extremely rare by 2050 and are all but eliminated after 2050.””
Apparently the author willfully ignored Yellowstone’s long history of major fires, which I have been documenting here. His wording implies that he knows that the “recent past” had anomalously few fires – which means they are on a downwards trend.
Anyone with a scary story qualifies as a global warming expert. After all, Pikas may mate with Grizzly Bears if CO2 goes over 450 ppm.
Biathlon usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting
The sport has its origins in an exercise for Norwegian soldiers, as an alternative training for the military. The world’s first known ski club, the Trysil Rifle and Ski Club, was formed in Norway in 1861 to promote national defense at the local level.
Called military patrol, the combination of skiing and shooting was contested at the Olympic Winter Games in 1924, and then demonstrated in 1928, 1936, and 1948, but did not regain Olympic recognition then, as the small number of competing countries disagreed on the rules (see also Governing body, below). During the mid-1950s, however, biathlon was introduced into the Soviet and Swedish winter sport circuits and was widely enjoyed by the public. This newfound popularity aided the effort of having biathlon gain entry into the Winter Olympics.
In a mass murder situation, the police will never get there fast enough. (Consider the Luby’s shooting in Texas.)
The only way to stop a situation like that is with a gun. The question is, why weren’t there rifles at the camp?
When I was a kid, I used to go to a summer camp in South Park where I spent much of my time shooting. What an incredible shame that the kids on that island were not given what they needed to defend themselves. Not only did they have to watch their friends die, but their society stripped them of the ability to protect themselves and their friends.
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