Concrete Evidence of Global Warming

The Earth's average temperature IS rising, as the average temperature has increased by about 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) around the world.

More evidence that the Earth's average temperature has increased recently can be seen in the spring ice thaw and fall ice freeze: The spring ice thaw in the Northern Hemisphere occurs 9 days earlier than it did 150 years ago, while the fall ice freeze begins 10 days later than it used to.

Since weather record-keeping began in the mid-1800s, the 1990s was the warmest decade recorded. The hottest years include 1998, 2002, 2003, 2001, and 1997.

The multinational Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) report has recently concluded that average temperatures in Alaska, western Canada, and eastern Russia have increased by 4-7 degrees Fahrenheit (3-4 degrees Celsius) in the last 50 years, which is nearly twice the global average.

In the U.S.'s northernmost city, Barrow, Alaska, the average temperature has increased by over 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2.5-3 degrees Celsius) in just the last 30 years.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is projecting that global temperatures will rise another 3-10 degrees Fahrenheit (1.6-5.5 degrees Celsius) by the end of the 21st century.

Rising temperatures have caused Arctic Sea ice to shrink by nearly 30% since 1978, and it has also thinned the remaining ice as well. ACIA predicts that at least half of the Arctic's summer sea ice will melt by 2100, and that the Arctic region will increase in temperature by 7-13 degrees Fahrenheit (4-7 degrees Celsius) during that same time span.

Greenland's massive ice sheet has enough melt water to raise the sea level by about 23 feet (about 7 meters.) ACIA projects that that sheet will experience significant melting throughout the 21st century.

Large amounts of the Earth's fresh water supply is tied up in the world's many melting glaciers.

Montana's Glacier National Park had 150 glaciers when it was created in 1910; in the early 21st century, it now has less than 30 greatly shrunken glaciers. Tropical glaciers have been reduced even more, as evidenced by Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro - its 19,340-foot (5,895-meter) peak has melted by around 80% since 1912 and could be totally gone by 2020.

According to the IPCC, the average global sea level has risen 4-8 inches (10-20 cm) over the past 100 years. Their 2001 report is projecting that sea levels could rise anywhere from 4 to 35 inches (10 to 89 cm) by 2100.

This could greatly affect coastal dwellers, as a 1.5 foot (50-centimeter) sea level rise in flat coastal areas would cause a typical coastline retreat of 150 feet (50 meters.) In addition, there are 100 million people worldwide that are living within 3 feet (1 meter) of mean sea level, which means that a rise of just 4 inches (10 centimeters) could promote flooding in many South Sea islands, as well as the U.S. states of Florida and Louisiana.

Global warming could have an effect on the ocean's circulation system, known as the ocean conveyor belt. The conveyor belt moderates global temperatures by moving tropical heat around the planet, but an influx of freshwater from melting ice caps, for example, could cause unforeseen and possibly fast-paced change to the circulation system.

Climate models suggest that global warming could cause more frequent and more extreme weather conditions, including more intense hurricanes and storm surges affecting coastal communities, while heat waves, fires, and drought become more common.

Increased industrialization and shrinking forests since the 1860s have helped raise the atmosphere's carbon dioxide (CO2) level by almost 100 parts per billion, which has led to an increase in Northern Hemisphere temperatures, especially since the 1950s.

In the Arctic, for instance, coastal indigenous communities report shorter periods of sea ice, which no longer temper ocean storms and their destructive coastal erosion. Increased snow and ice melt have raised river levels, while thawing permafrost has caused havoc with roads and other infrastructure. This has forced some communities to move away from historic coastline locations.

Studies show that many European plants are now flowering a week earlier and losing their leaves 5 days later than they did in the 1950s.

Biologists have determined that many birds and frogs are breeding earlier in the season. In addition, a study of 35 non-migratory butterfly species shows that two-thirds of them are now heading 2-150 miles farther north than they did 20 years ago.

There are several signs of global warming in the present day. It is likely that there will be more signs as time passes if we continue in our current ways, which could lead to major changes for all of us in the way we live on Earth.

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Global Warming Debate: How To Save Our Planet

As the human race evolves, technology is developing and rapidly coming to our aid in solving most of our modern dilemmas. Dilemmas which cover a wide range of issues, from simple challenges such as improving the composition of paper-based products to the big global-impact issues of providing a higher standard of living and the state of our planet.

One of the key international subjects which regularly tops political agendas is Global Warming. But inspite of all the rhetoric there is generally minimal headway made in moving to resolve the issue, to the huge disappointment of the world's population.

Electioneering monopolises the debate in most cases and the serious environmental issue gets pushed into the background.

Further secondary issues are created and the main problem worsened by intransigence.

On every occasion the topic is discussed, vehement discussions ensue from politicians who swan around in large expensive cars, which hoover through the gas, and release massive volumes of smog into the air.

No one wants to stand up and be counted and spearhead the solution.

And there is actually no stimulus for them to do so. Conservative politics amply compensates them.

Politics aside, the future, however, looks rosier with further discoveries being made in ways of detecting what causes ozone damage and pinpointing causes of global warming caused by humans.

Solutions range in scope from cleaner and gentler chemicals, to challenging the very foundations of "green" power.

A well-documented move is car-makers getting into the swing of helping save the planet by producing hybrid vehicles, which cause less damage to the environment, consume less fuel, oil and other toxic substances, and rate lower for emissions.

What we really need now is a major change in thinking by Western society, and widespread recognition of the problems we are facing in order to change this situation.

Manufacturers are being persuaded to change their approach by governments who are offering them incentives such as tax breaks to produce cleaner, "greener" items.

Finding ways to lower carbon emissions rates for cars is a must, and it is good to see that the tax incentives are gradually expanding to include other types of manufacturers, so that they too can experience similar benefits in return for changing to cleaner and more energy efficient methods of production.

But does all of this actually benefit all of us in the long run?

Are governments really looking after the interests of their citizens by offering these sweeteners to the big industrial conglomerates?

It is true that many people are all for encouraging programs that promote the use of cleaner power, and less environmentally hazardous chemicals, especially since less "green" methods and chemicals tend to be more costly.

But your average taxpayers are not managing to reap the benefits of trying to switch to a "greener" lifestyle when they examine their own budgets.

Electrical companies are starting to offer "green blocks" of power for sale to consumers, but these blocks are for purchase additional to the normal household power bill, and do not offer savings on the next months bill in exchange for buying the blocks.

Something is way out of balance here: major manufacturers are being co-erced with tax breaks and incentives to develop cleaner methods of operating, but millions of households are not getting that same encouragement.

A positive move to help global warming, would be to create a reward scheme to recognise the small but important things that every household could and often does, easily do such as save power at home.

A simple incentive scheme would lead to millions of watts of power being saved annually.

The amount of power needed world-wide would then be a fraction of current consumption rates, giving power companies the opportunity to participate in cleaning up large areas of industrial wasteland, instead of merely the handful of disused and derelict manufacturing areas they clean up currently.

It would be a fantastic idea to decontaminate smog-ridden towns, and reduce energy usage, so that resources from the earth are not burned relentlessly to supply energy we do not really need.

All the little things that we can do, when magnified globally, would help arrest the annual toll of destruction caused to the ozone layer, and would considerably slow the damage that we earthlings are causing to our very finest asset, our planet.

It is not solely the government or solely the people who should be landed with sorting out this environmental mess.

We all have the power to make individual changes; but it needs the concerted efforts of the whole human race to make the major transformations our planet so desperately craves.

Make a start today: Click the link below if you would like a tree planted in your name (free offer):

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