Global warming might lead to tsunami hit Britain soon !

LONDON - Some of the world’s top geologists have warned that if global temperatures continue to rise, Britain might see deadly tsunamis like those that have hit Asia, head towards it in the future.

According to a report by Sky News, geologists have warned of tsunamis in Britain to huge avalanches in the Alps and volcanic eruptions in Germany, if global warming continues to rise.

They say that evidence from the past reveals that times of dramatic climatic change are characterized by heightened geological activity.

For example, 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, melting ice and rising sea levels triggered a significant rise in volcanic activity.

Professor Bill McGuire, Director of the Benfield Hazard Research Centre at UCL, warned earth’s future could be explosive.

“Climate change is very doom and gloom I’m afraid and it’s one of those problems that the closer we look at it the worst it seems to get,” he told Sky News Online.

“If you want some faint glint of good news from this I suppose that if we see a big volcanic response, the gases pumped into the atmosphere will cool things down at least temporarily, but that’s not recommended,” he said.

Other experts warn that disintegrating glaciers could cause earthquakes, triggering tsunamis off Chile, New Zealand and Canada, perhaps even sending one across the Atlantic capable of reaching British shores.

“If the temperatures warm and the oceans warm then the hydrates at the sea bed will melt,” said Professor David Tappin of the British Geological Survey.

“They will melt catastrophically and in doing so, they’ll be forced into the atmosphere but also, they will create submarine landslides which could trigger a tsunami,” he added.

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More Data Confirms Climate Change

“Climate change” is a phrase that’s increasingly being used along with the phrase “global warming” because the concept of climate includes a lot more than just temperature. Climate is also measured according to other meteorological factors such as moisture and wind, as well as the way that life adapts to deal with these factors. Biologists talk about climates according to the plants and animals that live in a particular place as much as they talk about the underlying factors in the weather and terrain that make those life forms suited to the location.

So, among the data that scientists are using to measure climate change is information about the changing ranges of plants and animals. This week, yet more data of this sort has been made available, and it supports the hypothesis that significant changes in climate are taking place.

One article published in by the National Academy of Sciences reports that 48 out of 53 surveyed bird species in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the Western United States have undergone marked shifts in range over the last century, indicating changes in the distribution of climatological conditions to which those birds are suited. The birds that did not undergo a shift in range were those with a generalist strategy for survival, better able than other species to adapt to change. The research was conducted in coordination with California Audubon.

Another new study, conducted by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, describes shifts of fish populations along the northeastern coast of the United States, away from ranges that have been typical since historical records began. The researchers conclude that these shifts have coincided with fundamental changes in marine ecosystems in the area.

Climate change is happening, and the animals have been adapting to it for some time now. Isn’t it time that human beings joined them?

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Global warming affects beer, eggs, corn, pork

Rafa has pointed out that Nude Socialist as well as lots of other media have reported that global warming makes beer suck: some Czech researchers think that the concentration of (bitter) alpha acids in hops was recently dropping by a whopping 0.06 percent per year (...) which they attribute to global warming (...).



That's a true catastrophe (...) which finally proves that we are all doomed. Click the sentence below to read more.

While the existence of such a paper sounds pretty impossible, the main author's name is actually Dr Martin Possible (Martin Možný) which seems to be a real although not excessively likable person in the Hydrometeorological Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences: publication record.

The Czech climatologists have finally joined the Western world! ;-) The Reference Frame is always ahead of the rest. So let me show you our research that shows the impact of global warming on eggs, corn, and pork. Can you see the difference? That should finally settle all the questions if the pirates and swimming suits failed to do so. ;-)

Shift/click the pictures below to zoom in.







Well, while the reports about the "research" of Dr Martin Possible appears in the media of all nations (including Poland and Hungary), it hasn't yet appeared in the Czech media. Thankfully, the Czech media stopped writing about the global warming idiocy in the early 1990s because they have understood that no one was interested in this crap.

Approximately 11% of the Czechs think that global warming is a man-made problem that the mankind should wrestle with but I think that most of these 11% wouldn't care about 0.06% of alpha acids in the Saaz hops. What seems to be much more important is that the new South African owner of Pilsner Urquell, SABMiller, has reduced the time given to Gambrinus brewing (I think that domestically, this brand named after a king of Flanders and a patron of beer is still the most successful Czech beer) by 85% almost overnight.

Some people think that Gambrinus is now worse than it used to be. But frankly speaking, I can't tell. However, I am not big enough a Pilsner patriot to prefer our beer over different brands. And in fact, whenever I am just slightly pushed, yeast beers and/or black beers are given a priority over the Pilsner lager.

source:
http://motls.blogspot.com/

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Australia No. 1 Polluter in the World

Captain kRudd excitedly took the accolades for agreeing to sign the Kyoto Protocol and while the lyrics of his song ‘its better die on your feet than live on your knees’ played in the background, the environmental stalwart Peter Garrett grinned like the fool he takes the Australian public for.

We were No 1 in Rugby Union, Rugby League and Cricket; however its unlikely most Australians want to be No 1 as the biggest polluters in the world, but thanks to corporate government, that’s where we are and all the bullshit spin the government puts of clean coal and geo-sequestration and throws billions of $ on insulation etc, this is but a drop in the bucket as to the hundreds of billions of $ successive governments have handed to coal, gas and oil companies; aka ‘the green mafia’.

America, once the pin-up boy of per capita worst carbon dioxide polluters in the world had China running a close second, but in a Steven Bradbury, we Australians have taken the world’s worst highest accolade.

As the Australian government is not refuting this report complied by a British company (Maplecroft) and based U.S. Energy Department data, it must be so.

The report calculated that Australia’s per capita output of carbon dioxide is about 18.66 metric tons a year which is four percent higher than the United States.

That means that yearly, we Australians pump 392,000,000 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses into our skies every year; while China remains the world’s biggest overall greenhouse gas polluter (with a population of some 1.2 billion people) followed closely by the United States (with just over 300 million people), being No 1 with a population of just over 21 million people, we have to ask ourselves, is this right ?

Of course global warming sceptics claim that burning all the coal, gas and oil has nothing to do with global warming, and Australian politicians claim ‘good management’ makes Australia strong, but why don’t we have energy efficient housing as mandatory, rather than retro-fitting houses; why do companies that manufacture highly polluting building materials continue to pollute and not have to upgrade ?

In Australia, we receive from the Sun over 100,000 times the energy we use daily, yet we hold the title as the worst per capita emitter of carbon dioxide, because rather than solar power, we have a heavy reliance on coal energy, which puts the money into a few corporations rather than spreading the load. The claim is about 80 % percent of the country’s electricity is generated by coal-fired power stations, but this doesn’t mean the rest is solar or wind power; much it comes from hydro electricity and even burning off native forests to generate energy and mockingly, these companies market that energy as ‘green’ and ‘renewable’ but if it were renewable, they would be burning forest plantations rather than old growth forests.

Canberra has committed to cutting greenhouse gas pollution by up to 25 percent by 2020 compared to 2000 levels, but has no real or workable plans to achieve this; political grandstanding and spin-doctoring are all any of the parties are good at.

I’m currently researching and writing a story about how poor planning by the federal government has resulted in the Insulation Industry Pulls Wool Over Our Eyes.

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The Maldives Will Disappear In 10 Years

The Maldives is a world famous tourist destination, but the country is beleaguered with corruption. The Maldives holds the record for being the lowest country in the world, with a maximum natural ground level of only 2.3 m (7½ ft) with the average being only 1.5 m above sea level.

As current global warming trends are not curbed, a group of scientists latest report shows that, the Maldives and other low-lying countries may disappear in this century, even the next 10 years.

In November 2008, President Mohamed Nasheed announced plans to look into purchasing new land in India, Sri Lanka, and Australia, due to his concerns about global warming and the possibility of much of the islands being inundated with water from rising sea levels. Current estimates place sea level rise at 59 cm by the year 2100. The purchase of land will be made from a fund generated by tourism. The President has explained his intentions, saying “We do not want to leave the Maldives, but we also do not want to be climate refugees living in tents for decades”.

Nasheed said, in the worst-case scenario, the Maldives may be the relocation of the whole country.

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1918 El Niño linked to flu pandemic

There is a connection between El Niño and drought in India

Research conducted at Texas A&M University casts doubts on the notion that El Niño has been getting stronger because of global warming and raises interesting questions about the relationship between El Niño and a severe flu pandemic 91 years ago. The findings are based on analysis of the 1918 El Niño, which the new research shows to be one of the strongest of the 20th century.

El Niño occurs when unusually warm surface waters form over vast stretches of the eastern Pacific Ocean and can affect weather systems worldwide. Using advanced computer models, Benjamin Giese, a professor of oceanography who specialises in ocean modeling, and his co-authors conducted a simulation of the global oceans for the first half of the 20th century and they find that, in contrast with prior descriptions, the 1918-19 El Niño was one of the strongest of the century.

Giese's work will be published in the current Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, and the research project was funded by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the National Science Foundation.

Giese says there were few measurements of the tropical Pacific Ocean in 1918, the last year of World War I, and the few observations that are available from 1918 are mostly along the coast of South America. "But the model results show that the El Niño of 1918 was stronger in the central Pacific, with a weaker signature near the coast," Giese explains. "Thus the limited measurements likely missed detecting the 1918 El Niño."

Giese adds, "The most commonly used indicator of El Niño is the ocean temperature anomaly in the central Pacific Ocean. By that standard, the 1918-19 El Niño is as strong as the events in 1982-83 and 1997-98, considered to be two of the strongest events on record, causing some researchers to conclude that El Niño has been getting stronger because of global warming. Since the 1918-19 El Niño occurred before significant warming from greenhouse gasses, it makes it difficult to argue that El Niño s have been getting stronger."

The El Niño of 1918 coincided with one of the worst droughts in India, he adds. "It is well known that there is a connection between El Niño and the failure of the Indian monsoon, just as there is a well-established connection between El Niño and Atlantic hurricane intensity," Giese says. In addition to drought in India and Australia, 1918 was also a year in which there were few Atlantic hurricanes.

The research also raises questions about El Niño and mortality from the influenza pandemic of 1918. By mid-1918, a flu outbreak, which we now know was the H1N1 strain that is of great concern today, was sweeping the world, and the resulting fatalities were catastrophic: At least 25 million people died worldwide, with some estimates as high as 100 million deaths. India was particularly hard hit by the influenza.
"We know that there is a connection between El Niño and drought in India," Giese notes.

"It seems probable that mortality from influenza was high in India because of famine associated with drought, so it is likely that El Niño contributed to the high mortality from influenza in India."

The flu epidemic of 1918, commonly called the "Spanish Flu," is believed to be the greatest medical holocaust in history. It lasted from March of 1918 to June of 1920, and about 500 million people worldwide became infected, with the disease killing between 25 million to 100 million, most of them young adults. An estimated 17 million died in India, between 500,000 to 675,000 died in the U.S. and another 400,000 died in Japan.

Could the events of 1918 be a harbinger of what might occur in 2009?

Giese says there are some interesting parallels. The winter and spring in 1918 were unusually cold throughout North America, just at the time influenza started to spread in the central US. That was followed by a strengthening El Niño and subsequent drought in India. As the El Niño matured in the fall of 1918, the influenza became a pandemic.

With a moderate to strong El Niño now forming in the Pacific and the H1N1 flu strain apparently making a vigorous comeback, the concerns today are obvious, Giese adds.

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World Celebrities Sing To Stop Global Warming

GENEVA — (AFP) — British rock group Duran Duran and heavy metal band Scorpions are among 55 world celebrities who have joined in recording a song to draw attention to the global warming crisis, organisers said on Monday.

The song is part of a mass media campaign on the threats of climate change organised by the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum, headed by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan. The song entitled “Beds’r Burning”, which was originally recorded by the Australian group Midnight Oil in the 1980s, can be downloaded from the Internet for free and will be presented to the public at a launch in Paris on October 1.

“If we do not stop the (greenhouse gas) emissions today, global warming will be still be with us in 40 to 50 years,” warned Walter Fust, director of the Forum, at a press conference in Geneva. The media campaign featuring the song is aimed at putting pressure on world leaders to reach an agreement on tackling climate change at a UN-sponsored conference in Copenhagen in December.

Some of the other popular artists who add their voices to the anti-global warming song include French ‘Piaf’ actress Marion Cotillard, Senegalese star Youssou N’dour, Irish singer/composer Bob Geldorf, Chinese singer Khalil Fong, and even a Nobel peace laureate, South African archbishop Desmond Tutu.

B.S. Report–I got no problem with them singing to stop global warming. Go ahead–sing your heads off. Unfortunately, they’re not content to merely sing about the perils of global warming–they actually want to do something about it. That’s where we have serious issues with these maniacs.

I believe that singing has the same likelihood of stopping global warming than any of the other remedies being proposed–particularly that “Cap and Tax” monstrosity that already passed in the U.S. House in late June. At what point will the present temperatures convince people that perhaps the global warming scenario is all wet? After all, many areas around the world are experiencing their coolest temperatures in many decades.

The global warming bus has left the station and unless Florida starts to develop an ice sheet it’s going to be difficult to stop this radical push to combat what may be a mythical problem. Global warming is as much a political movement as it is a scientific movement. I don’t doubt that there are many scientists that believe it’s occurring but an ever-growing amount of scientists are becoming quite skeptical of the data.

In any event it’s the amount of “man-made” warming that’s important because if very little of the warming is occurring because of our activities than what’s the benefit of completely altering our lifestyles? Are we really willing to further destroy our economy because we may someday be able to lower temperature by 1/2 a degree? It sure seems ridiculous, doesn’t it?

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Cause of Global Warming: From Mining Coal to Raising Cattle

There are many people that believe that humans are the single most cause of global warming. Scientists have been warning us for decades that we are recklessly destroying our world and not leaving much of a legacy for our descendants. When humans are the cause of global warming through different activities, these causes are said to be anthropogenic causes.The single most common cause of global warming perpetrated by human kind is the rise of greenhouse gas emissions. The three gases commonly cited as a cause of global warming are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.

The earth actually releases its own carbon dioxide emissions back into the atmosphere, the atmosphere is a layer of gases designed to keep in heat to warm the earth but over and above these natural greenhouse gases, of which carbon dioxide is one of them, anthropogenic levels of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere representing about 2 percent of the total emissions. Scientists are seeing even these small levels of carbon dioxide is disturbing the natural balance of the earth to regulate its own climate and temperatures.

Carbon Dioxide

The biggest anthropogenic carbon dioxide source comes from fossil fuel pollution. Fossil Fuel pollutions comes from stationary structures like coal burning plants, and mobile sources as well, such as pollution and exhaust from cars, buses and other forms of transportation. Electrical plants also release carbon dioxide and industrial processes, such as making cement do as well.

A second source of carbon dioxide emission comes from the process of deforestation. Deforestation is accountable for between 25 to 30 percent of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. This amount translates to 1.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide. Trees are comprised of 50 percent carbon dioxide, when trees are cut down or burned they expel this carbon dioxide within the atmosphere. Thirteen Million hectares (HA) in forests are destroyed each year primarily in the tropics, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Much of the carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere will also mix with the soil in a process of oxidation.

Humans require oxygen to breath while healthy trees breathe in carbon dioxide, and release oxygen, rotten or dead trees can no longer protect the atmosphere from too much carbon dioxide. Other decaying matter such as volcanoes, animal, plant life, and burned grass will emit carbon dioxide as well.

Methane

Methane gas is another greenhouse gas is a cause of global warming. Methane is naturally found in soil. Digging up the ground for coal, gas, biomass, and oil will release methane into the atmosphere. Landfills where garbage is burned are notorious for releasing methane gas but simply disturbing the ground for rice cultivation or farming livestock (manure) also facilitates the release of methane gas.

Nitrous Oxide is the fourth leading greenhouse gas known as a cause of global warming

Nitrous Oxide is found in soil and in the ocean naturally, but is released by the cultivation of soil for farming especially when nitrogenous fertilizers are added to the soil. Animals waste (from chickens, pigs, and cows) and left to ferment in the ground is responsible for bacteria in the soil and results in another source of nitrous oxide and green house gas emissions.

Hydrofluorocarbons, perflourocarbons, and chlorofluorocarbons

These artificially produced compounds found in industrial processes in factories or over the counter products such as products in aerosol cans are linked to the depletion of the ozone layer.

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Why It Is Important To Know The Main Cause Of Global Warming

When it comes to protecting our planet, there is no subject that is more important then that of the main cause of global warming. Although there is still a lot of work and research to be done in the science community it is important to know that a lot of people feel that the main cause of global warming is people. What we, the human race that depends on the planet, are doing to the planet is truly upsetting. Our actions and the chemicals that we use on a daily basis is said to be a big factor in everything warming up.Unlike a natural cause of global warming, we are able to control ourselves in enough of a way that could potentially protect our planet from being hurt any further. The main cause of global warming is certainly something that we should all be ashamed of and therefore doing as much as possible to make sure that this is not the case for the future generations. We have to educate ourselves and then educate our children so that the situation does not continue to get worse over time.

Teaching Our Young People

By taking a few extra moments out of your week you could truly impact the way your child understands the main cause of global warming. If you start asking questions you may be surprised to find that they may not even truly understand what global warming even means. As shocking as that may be it is time to start looking towards the future and make sure that our young people know as much as possible in order to make the right decisions as they age in order to protect our planet, to protect their futures and the futures of their children.

If your school is not activity talking about global warming then that may be something that you would want to discuss with the teacher or the principal. There is no reason why there could not be small lessons every once in a while in order to truly teach the children about the main cause of global warming. In the end, even if just a few children are really reached with the message about the major problems with global warming then it was all worth it. Take your time and dedicated yourself to making sure that our young people know what they need to know in order to help the situation.

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Methane in the Arctic

Why Cutting Carbon Emissions is not Enough

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General
and UN Environment Program Executive Director.

Twenty years ago, governments adopted the Montreal Protocol, a treaty to protect the Earth’s ozone layer from emissions of destructive chemicals. Few could have foreseen how far-reaching that decision would prove to be.

The Protocol explicitly aimed at phasing-out substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) – found in products such as refrigerators, foams, and hairsprays – in order to repair the thin gassy-shield that filters out the sun’s harmful, ultra-violet rays. By 2010, close to 100 ozone-depleting substances, including CFCs, will have been phased-out globally.

Without the decisions taken 20 years ago, atmospheric levels of ozone-depleting substances would have increased ten-fold by 2050. This could have led to up to 20 million additional cases of skin cancer and 130 million more cases of eye cataracts, not to speak of damage to human immune systems, wildlife, and agriculture.

But this is only part of the story that we celebrate on the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer (September 16). Over the past two years, it has been established that the Montreal Protocol has also spared humanity a significant level of climate change, because the gases that it prohibits also contribute to global warming.

Indeed, a study in 2007 calculated the climate mitigation benefits of the ozone treaty as totalling the equivalent of 135 billion tons of CO ₂ since 1990, or a delay in global warming of 7-12 years.

So the lessons learned from the Montreal Protocol may have wider significance. Scientists now estimate that somewhere close to 50% of climate change is being caused by gases and pollutants other than CO _2, including nitrogen compounds, low-level ozone formed by pollution, and black carbon. Of course, a degree of scientific uncertainty about some of these pollutants’ precise contribution to warming remains. But they certainly play a significant role.

Meanwhile, many of these gases need to be curbed because of their wider environmental impact on public health, agriculture, and the planet’s multi-trillion dollar ecosystems, including forests.

Consider black carbon, a component of the soot emissions from diesel engines and the inefficient burning of biomass cooking stoves that is linked to 1.6 million to 1.8 million premature deaths annually as a result of indoor exposure and 800,000 as a result of outdoor exposure. Black carbon, which absorbs heat from the sun, also accounts for anywhere from 10% to more than 45% of the contribution to global warming, and is also linked to accelerated losses of glaciers in Asia, because the soot deposits darken, ice making it more vulnerable to melting.

One study estimates that 26% of black carbon emissions are from stoves for heating and cooking, with more than 40% of this amount from wood burning, roughly 20% from coal, 19% from crop residues, and 10% from dung.

Some companies have developed stoves that use passive air flows, better insulation, and 60% less wood to reduce black carbon emissions by around 70%. Mass introduction of such stoves could deliver multiple green-economy benefits.

While CO ₂ can remain in the atmosphere for centuries, other pollutants, including black carbon and ozone, remain for relatively periods – days, weeks, months, or years – so that reducing or ending emissions promises almost immediate climate benefits.

The international community’s over-arching concern must be to seal a serious and significant deal at the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen in December to curtail C0 ₂ emissions and assist vulnerable countries to adapt. If the world also is to deploy all available means to combat climate change, emissions of all substances that contribute to it must be scientifically evaluated and urgently addressed.

Achim Steiner is UN Under-Secretary General and UN Environment Program Executive Director.

The above commentary was published as part of an exclusive series of commentaries called " From Kyoto to Copenhagen ", published by Project Syndicate, with cooperation from the Danish government.

The American Pika Is Losing The Battle With Global Warming

No, not Pikachu. The American Pika is a little animal with a big problem. These cute, hamster-sized mammals live in the Rockies where they rely on the snow and high altitude to stay cool.

And keeping cool is super important – just a few hours of exposure to 78 degree temps can kill a Pika!

But rising temperatures from global warming are forcing the Pika to seek refuge at higher and higher altitudes in order to stay cool in the summer months.

Soon, there will be nowhere left for them to climb...

Will you urge the Senate to move quickly on a crucial bill to fight global warming this week, as they return to Washington?

There's no time to delay! Send your letter demanding urgent action on global warming today.

The Pika is about to become the first mammal in the continental U.S. to be added to the Endangered Species list because of global warming.

As soon as this month, the Senate will consider a once-in-a-lifetime bill to fight global warming. But if they fail to pass it quickly, it could mean the end for the Pika and other threatened species like Polar Bears and Monarch Butterflies.

The Senate is back from recess and on Capitol Hill – now is the time to shape their priorities.

Write your senators now to make sure that passing a strong climate bill is their top priority right out of the starting gate.

Once you've sent your message, please spread the word to your friends and family and ask them to join you in protecting the Pika and the Polar Bear.

Global warming is here. If we don't act now, it won't be long before animals like the Pika are history.

Is global warming a cyclical event?

While most agree that global warming is occurring, they do not agree on the root cause. Some say global warming is caused by man, mainly by CO2 emissions, while others say it is part of a larger picture of cyclical global warming and cooling events that have occurred throughout history. Unfortunately, the debate is mostly one-sided, with man-made global warming proponents getting most of the media coverage, and the cyclical global warming proponents ostracized and denigrated as false scientists.

A new salvo was launched recently against the man-made global warming side, with the publication of an article by Danish professor Henrik Svensmark, entitled “While the Sun Sleeps”. As the title alludes, Mr. Svensmark believes the sun shows reduced magnetic activity and is about to go into a period of hibernation, which means a period of global cooling will likely begin soon. The full translation of the article from Danish to English is available on Anthony Watts’ blog, and I encourage you to read it. Here’s a quote:

“When the Sun is active, its magnetic field is better at shielding us against the cosmic rays coming from outer space, before they reach our planet. By regulating the Earth’s cloud cover, the Sun can turn the temperature up and down. High solar activity means fewer clouds and and a warmer world. Low solar activity and poorer shielding against cosmic rays result in increased cloud cover and hence a cooling. As the Sun’s magnetism doubled in strength during the 20th century, this natural mechanism may be responsible for a large part of global warming seen then.

That also explains why most climate scientists try to ignore this possibility. It does not favour their idea that the 20th century temperature rise was mainly due to human emissions of CO2. If the Sun provoked a significant part of warming in the 20th Century, then the contribution by CO2 must necessarily be smaller.”

As for me, I’m still on the fence about this, but I’m leaning toward what Svensmark says. It makes more sense to me. While there’s little doubt that the Earth has been warming for the past few decades, that weather patterns are screwed up, and that pollution and emissions are running rampant and must be reduced drastically or eliminated where possible, I’m still not sure we’re behind the global warming phenomenon.

What tilts the balance of my opinion further away from man-made global warming is the face being used for the campaign — that of Al Gore. Try as I might, I can’t stomach the guy. When I think about his claim to inventing the internets, and his electricity-chugging lifestyle (which goes in stark contrast to what he’s saying when he speaks publicly), and his face, which just isn’t the face of a man that should be trusted — I’m sorry, I just have to look for more proof before I believe what he’s got to say. I’m also still in shock that the man got a Nobel Prize for the stuff he talks about — after all, he’s little more than a pusher of carbon credits, which are dangerously close to a green, global Ponzi scheme in my book.

Who knows, I might be wrong about Al Gore — he may be genuine for all I know — and in that case, I hope the agenda he and his supporters are pushing goes through, but right now, I believe global warming is cyclical, and only time will tell for sure who’s right.

More importantly, I believe global pollution must be addressed regardless of who’s right and wrong on global warming. Our environment is on the verge of collapse due to all the crap we’ve been pouring into it since the 1800s. Pollution is a real threat to our survival, as countless studies have shown. Let’s do something about that, right away.

Mass migration likely to result from global warming

BNP leader Nick Griffin. Photo from Getty Images.

Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, is a "soft" fascist who does not rant in the 1930s style.

But he came pretty close to the old style two months ago when, newly elected to the European Parliament, he called for "very tough" measures to stop illegal African migrants from entering the European Union by crossing the Mediterranean in boats.

Interviewed afterwards by the BBC, he said: "Frankly, they need to sink several of those boats."

The interviewer interrupted him, protesting that the European Union does not murder people.

"I didn't say anybody should be murdered at sea," Mr Griffin replied.

"I say boats should be sunk; they can throw them a life raft, and they can go back to Libya. But Europe has sooner or later to close its borders or it's going to be swamped by the Third World."

It's standard neo-fascist rhetoric, and the people who use it are still shunned by the mainstream of European politics.

But if the Copenhagen climate summit in December does not make a serious start at getting climate change under control, that may be mainstream rhetoric in Europe in 20 years' time.

The poorer countries closer to the equator will be hit first and worst by global warming.

As their crops die from too much heat and too little water, huge numbers of climate refugees will head north - out of Mexico and Central America to the United States, out of Africa and the Middle East to the European Union.

Griffin-style talk will start to sound reasonable, and the southern borders of Europe and the US will become fortified zones.

So there is some comfort to be had from this week's offer by Japan's prime minister-elect, Yukio Hatoyama, to cut his country's emissions to 25% below the 1990 level by 2020.

That is a huge advance on the previous Japanese government's offer of an 8% cut by 2020.

It brings the country into the zone of 25%-40% cuts by 2020 that was set as a target for developed countries by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Since the European Union has already adopted a target of 20% emission cuts on 1990 levels by 2020, with a promise to go to 30% cuts at the Copenhagen talks if other industrialised countries do the same, there now seems to be a serious offer on the table.

Unfortunately, there is also a catch.

The catch is that Japan's 25% offer and the EU's 30% offer both depend on other developed countries - by which they mean the United States - adopting a similar target.

But President Barack Obama is not promising any cut at all on the 1990 level of US emissions.

He's just offering to get back to that level by 2020, using as an excuse the fact of the growth of US emissions during eight years of denial under the G. W. Bush administration.

It does not really work as an excuse.

Japan is also significantly over its 1990 level at the moment.

To get 25% below that level by 2020, it has to cut total emissions by almost a third in the next 10 years.

The real reason Mr Obama cannot offer a similar cut is political.

As IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri said last March: "He [Mr Obama] is not going to say by 2020, `I'm going to reduce emissions by 30%.' He'll have a revolution on his hands. He has to do it step by step."

Many Americans are just emerging from denial or have yet to do so, and Mr Obama cannot drive the process of change faster than the public will accept.

Both the Europeans and the Japanese know that the United States is not going to offer deep cuts at Copenhagen, so they will not have to deliver on their own offers.

And if the industrialised countries do not commit to really deep cuts, then rapidly developing countries such as China and India will not accept even the fuzziest constraints on their own emissions.

So what can be accomplished at Copenhagen?

Not much in terms of hard targets, probably, but the game does not end there.

This problem will not go away, and we will all be back around the negotiating table before long.

Meantime, there is one really valuable thing Mr Obama could achieve at Copenhagen.

The game of percentage cuts on past emissions is fundamentally stupid.

To avoid the risk of runaway heating, we must never exceed an average global temperature 2degC higher than it was in 1990.

That equates to 450 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and we are already at 390ppm.

So you can work out quite easily how much more CO2 we can afford to dump into the atmosphere in the rest of this century.

That's the right target, and making it official would transform the negotiating process.

We would then be dealing with real numbers, and the negotiations would be about dividing up the remaining permissible emissions between the various developed and developing countries.

It was Barack Obama who pushed all 20 high-emitting countries into accepting 2degC as the never-exceed limit on global warming at the G8/G20 summit in Italy, so we are already halfway there.

Maybe at Copenhagen, he'll drop the other shoe.

Global warming 'a useless theory describing a nonexistent phenomenon'

For decades, the supporters of CO₂ driven global warming have discounted changes in solar irradiance as far too small to cause significant climate change. Though the Sun's output varies by less than a tenth of a percent in magnitude during its 11-year sunspot cycle, that small variation produces changes in sea surface temperatures two or three times as large as it should. A new study in Science demonstrates how two previously known mechanisms acting together amplify the Sun's impact in an unsuspected way. Not surprisingly, the new discovery is getting a cool reception from the CO₂ climate change clique.

Scientists have long suspected that changes in solar output may have triggered the Little Ice Age that gripped Europe several centuries ago, as well as droughts that brought down Chinese dynasties. Now, in a report in the August 28 issue of the journal Science entitled “Amplifying the Pacific Climate System Response to a Small 11-Year Solar Cycle Forcing,” Gerald A. Meehl et al. have demonstrated a possible mechanism that could explain how seemingly small changes in solar output can have a big impact on Earth's climate. The researchers claim that two different parts of the atmosphere act in concert to amplify the effects of even minuscule solar fluctuations.

Solar irradiance variation during 11-year cycles.

Global sea surface temperature (SST) has been observed to vary by about 0.1°C over the course of the 11-year solar cycle. This should require a change in solar irradiance by more than 0.5 W m^–2, but the globally averaged amplitude change from solar maximum to solar minimum is only about 0.2 W m^–2. There has long been a question regarding how this small solar signal could be amplified to produce a measurable response. In fact, the lack of a plausible mechanism has been used to discount the Sun's effect on climate by those who support carbon dioxide as the primary driver of global warming.
read more..

Methane in the Arctic

Charles Hanley writes about current methane research in the Arctic for associated press in Climate trouble may be bubbling up in far north

Pure methane, gas bubbling up from underwater vents, escaping into northern skies, adds to the global-warming gases accumulating in the atmosphere. And pure methane escaping in the massive amounts known to be locked in the Arctic permafrost and seabed would spell a climate catastrophe.

Is such an unlocking under way?

Researchers say air temperatures here in northwest Canada, in Siberia and elsewhere in the Arctic have risen more than 2.5 C (4.5 F) since 1970 — much faster than the global average. The summer thaw is reaching deeper into frozen soil, at a rate of 4 centimeters (1.5 inches) a year, and a further 7 C (13 F) temperature rise is possible this century, says the authoritative, U.N.-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

In 2007, air monitors detected a rise in methane concentrations in the atmosphere, apparently from far northern sources. Russian researchers in Siberia expressed alarm, warning of a potential surge in the powerful greenhouse gas, additional warming of several degrees, and unpredictable consequences for Earth’s climate.

Others say massive seeps of methane might take centuries. But the Russian scenario is disturbing enough to have led six U.S. national laboratories last year to launch a joint investigation of rapid methane release. And IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri in July asked his scientific network to focus on “abrupt, irreversible climate change” from thawing permafrost.

Has the Solar Minimum Counteracted Man-Made Warming?

The sun

Decreasing solar irradiance between 2002 and 2008 has countered most of the anthropogenic (man-made) warming of the earth's surface, according to new research that was published in the Geophysical Research Letters.

Two researchers, Judith Lean (NRL) and David Rind (NASA/GISS) looked at four drivers of climate change and showed graphs of how much each has contributed to the changing temperature of the earth's surface since 1980.

The four drivers.........

1. Volcanic aerosols- cooling influence
2. El Nino- warming influence
3. Greenhouse gases- warming influence
4. Solar cycle- variable influence.

You can check out the graphs right here, courtesy of Spaceweather.com. The article is about halfway down the page.

Lean and Rind also offered a future prediction of temperatures in the abstract.......

From 2009 to 2014, projected rises in anthropogenic influences and solar irradiance will increase global surface temperature 0.15 +/- 0.03 C, at a rate 50% greater than predicted by IPCC. But as a result of declining solar activity in the subsequent five years, average temperature in 2019 is only 0.03 +/- 0.01 C warmer than in 2014. This lack of overall warming is analogous to the period from 2002 to 2008 when decreasing solar irradiance also countered much of the anthropogenic warming.

Polar bears 'face extinction in less than 70 years because of global warming'

A polar bear stands on the edge of the 'ice bridge'
Photo: NICK COBBING / GREENPEACE

Melting ice is causing their numbers to drop dramatically, they warn.

Others also at risk include ivory gulls, Pacific walruses, ringed and hooded seals and narwhals, small whales with long, spiral tusks.

One of the problems is that other animals are moving north, encroaching on their territory, spurred by increasing temperatures, pushing out native species.

The animals are also struggling with the loss of sea ice.

"The Arctic as we know it may soon be a thing of the past," said Eric Post, associate professor of biology at Penn State University, who led the latest study, publied in the journal Science.

"Recent projections suggest polar bears could be extinct within 70 years.

"But we think this could be a very conservative estimate. The outlook is very bleak for them and other creatures such as ringed seals.”

He added: "The rate at which sea ice is disappearing is accelerating and these creatures rely on it for shelter, hunting and breeding. If this goes, so do they.”

The international team analysed average temperature in the Arctic over the last 150 years and warn many animals that are dependent upon the stability and persistence of sea ice are faring especially badly.

Polar bears and ringed seals both give birth in lairs or caves under the snow and can lose many newborn pups when the lairs collapse in unusually early spring rains, triggered by climate change.

Among animals migrating further north are red foxes, which are driving out the smaller Arctic foxes.

Davao gets P20.5 M vs global warming

DAVAO CITY – Davao Region is set to receive some P20.5 million as funding for the protection of natural resources as the region’s contribution in the fight against global warming brought about by climate change.

It was learned that this funding will come from the Countryside Development Assistance Fund (CDAF) of Rep. Anton Lagdameo (Davao del Norte) and Rep. Mark Douglas Cagas (1st District, Davao del Sur).

Lagdameo allotted P5.5 million, while Cagas made a commitment of some P15 million.

Part of the fund will be used for the rehabilitation of forests, mangroves and watersheds in the 2nd District of Davao del Norte.

This amount will develop some 100 hectares of agro-forestry project of premium fruit trees as well as rubber and forest trees in Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte.

It will also cover the maintenance of another 100 hectares of forest, rubber and fruit tree plantations established in 2008 in the area and the maintenance of the 30-hectare Pilot Project on Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR).

Two hectares of mangrove plantation will likewise be established in the municipality of Carmen. Some upland and coastal families are expected to directly benefit from the projects.

On the other hand, the Cagas’ fund, though still have to be released, will bolster the development and rehabilitation activities of the Mt. Apo Natural Park.

Included in the rehabilitation effort is the reforestation of Mt. Apo to increase its forest cover and thereby increasing its ability to sequester carbon dioxide which is one of the greenhouse gas effects that causes global warming.

The rehabilitation and development efforts for Mt. Apo will ensure sustainable supply of domestic, industrial and potable water needs within Magpet, Kidapawan City, and Makilala in North Cotabato; Bansalan, Sta. Cruz, Digos City, in Davao del Sur; and Davao City.

Report on global warming predicts dire Illinois consequences

WASHINGTON -- If global warming continues unchecked, Chicago would see a repeat of the killer 1995 heat wave every summer by the middle of the century, an environmental group says in a study released Wednesday.

The report from the Union of Concerned Scientists also predicts that the city's air quality would deteriorate if humans do not scale back greenhouse gas emissions dramatically.

Illinois farmers would suffer from droughts, pests and flooding that would more than outweigh any potential benefits from a longer growing season caused by warmer temperatures. Heat stress in cattle could force the state's dairy industry to migrate north.

"Global warming represents an enormous challenge to Illinois' way of life and its residents' livelihoods," the authors write in conclusion.

More than 50 days a year would top 90 degrees in Chicago by mid-century, the report warns, up from a historical average of 15 per year. The city would average a heat wave per year on par with the city's 1995 scorcher, which authorities blamed for hundreds of deaths. Once every five years, the city would endure a heat wave similar to Europe's in 2003, which the authors project would kill more than 1,000 residents.

By century's end, the report projects, every Chicago summer would be hotter than 1983, the hottest summer on record for the city. Illinois' climate would resemble East Texas today, the report says.

The projections stem from an analysis of climate-modeling projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in a 2007 report.

The report includes two scenarios: one with heat-trapping gas emissions continuing to increase along current trend lines and one where countries take major steps to limit emissions.

Emissions limits would stave off many of the worst effects of warming in the middle and long term, the report concludes. But they would barely affect warming in the next three decades -- including a more than 50 percent increase in summer days topping 90 degrees -- because that warming has been essentially "locked in" by previous emissions.

"What we really have control over," said Melanie Fitzpatrick, a climate scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists, "is our temperatures in the middle and end of the century."

IPY Follow-Up Requires Year-Round Research On Arctic, Global Warming

Arctic and Antarctic research teams pulled back to warmer climates when the International Polar Year wrapped last March. But the call has gone out for a return to the poles for a more focused investigation into the effects of global warming. Leading the charge back to the Canadian Arctic is David Hik, a University of Alberta biology professor and a lead researcher with IPY.

"IPY gave us a great snapshot of the state of the planet's polar regions," said Hik. "But in the Arctic we made many observations that need a more thorough look, especially in the very early spring and the dead of winter."

Hik says university calendars dictate when most northern research can be done. The only time professors and graduate students have for distant fieldwork is spring and summer

"We have to be there as the snow begins to melt and we have to be there in the dark of winter to witness and document the effects of reduced snow cover," said Hik.

Hik says having researcher's boots on the ground throughout the year in the Arctic could focus intense research into areas touched upon during IPY. Those observations of the effects of a shorter winter and reduced snow cover on Arctic ecosystems include:

* Encroachment by the southern tree line and shrubs on Arctic tundra used by caribou.

* Arctic plants that are growing earlier in the spring and are past their energy yielding prime before calving caribou cows and other animals can use them.

* Reduced snow cover and its insulating qualities, which impacts hibernating species.

To follow through with observations made during IPY, Hik is helping organize a follow up conference of Arctic and Antarctic research teams for next June in Norway. Hik is co author of a paper summarizing recent IPY findings and the call for more focused research. It will be published in Science on Sept. 11.

Five elephants will trek 250 km in Thailand to urge US President Obama to take action against global warming

A caravan of five elephants has began a 250-km trek in a public-awareness campaign over global warming, which is expected to be discussed at a world summit in Copenhagen in December.

Executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia Von Hernandez said the Chang(e) Caravan has been organised especially to arouse US President Barack Obama to take concrete action to tackle global warming. He was speaking yesterday at the opening ceremony of an elephant-nursing centre in Nakhon Ratchasima to flag off the caravan.

Forests, animals in danger

The rain forests in Southeast Asia and its inhabitants the wild elephants are one of the areas and animals most at risk of global warming. They and around 20 per cent of other animals are endangered because of the phenomenon and man-made problems, he said.

The Chang(e) Caravan project is aimed particularly at urging Obama to bring up the issue of a worsening global-warming at the Copenhagen summit. "He is expected to take a leadership role over the issue and act on it seriously," Hernandez added.

Alongkot Chukaew, the manager of the caravan, said all five domesticated elephants were well trained - they can associate closely with humans and crowds.

14-day walk

The 250-km route, which will be covered in 14 days, will snake past Khao Yai National Park and along the Bang Pakong River basin through Saraburi, Nakhon Nayok, Prachin Buri and Chachoeng-sao. The finish line is in Samut Prakan province.

There are 15 rest points along the route. All elephants will walk no more than 10 km each day, and will be transported in specially designed trucks in crowded areas or communities, he said.

Water, food and medical care will be sufficiently provided at each rest point.

The elephants will participate in various "non-abusive" activites in selected communities along the route to raise awareness among local residents on global warming, he added.

Elephants are a crucial indicitor signifying the health - and wealth - of our ecological system. "Successful prevention to protect wild elephants means successfull prevenion of the entire ecological system, which humans are a part of," Alongkot pointed out.

There are now 2,000 wild and 3,000 domesticated elephants in Thailand.

Tips to save our environment

Guns embed electrical plugs, although, when the electronic device is turned off = 40-50% saving of electricity costs you must pay each month. And that also, reduce the heat arising from an electronic device that spread to global warming.

Did You Know??

1. Guns embed electrical plugs, although, when the electronic device is turned off = 40-50% saving of electricity costs you must pay each month. And that also, reduce the heat arising from an electronic device that spread to global warming.
So release all electrical plugs when you go or not used.

2. Plastic bags take 1000 years to decompose in the landfill (landfills). Around 300 million plastic bags were thrown away each year in Indonesia. Not to mention that dumped in the river behind the house and where they should not. 10kg paper prepared in the newspaper selling flea market, which requires 1 tree, takes 10 years to be big. Imagine what happens to illegal logging.

How many trees have been cut down for you? Imagine how they make the world hotter?
So bring own bags from home when you shop, try calculating how much you save when you plastic shopping once...?? ?

3. When you buy 1 liter of mineral water bought in supermarkets = 5 liters of water. Ask why?, Because at the factory, to cool the hot plastic bottles new printed, requires 5 liters of water.
Listing bottle what is safe to use as a bottle of water? See the sign below the bottle, look for 2.3 or 4 numbers. Number 2 than that, they're not safe, because you eat plastic!!

4. TISSUE who has used it on guns can recycle, as well as former hit carton oil, food, cakes, drinks; they’re only a waste (garbage). Estimates of people wearing TISSUE day = 6 seed 2200 seeds a year. It means that we reduce the waste of paper as much as 7 Billion seed a year. GREAT IS NOT IT?

Or use a handkerchief, towel cloth can be used over and over guns' such as tissue.

5. Be Green on ATM?
If at the bank no money

to take guns' uses receipt / proof of the transaction or be smart dong: Transfer via Internet banking mobile banking or 8 BILLION times in ATM transactions are issued a paper receipt of each epidemic is one of the largest sources of waste in the world.

If during the year the transaction guns' uses paper receipt, it will save a large roll of paper which could create around equator line until 15 times.

6. Have a minimum of 2 kinds of trash in the house, helping to reduce water pollution, air and soil.

Use Condoms to Fight Global Warming

An enlightening study out of the London School of Economics. Condoms are a much better investment than biofuel. The study shows that a $7 expenditure on basic family planning can save over a tonne of carbon emissions compared to a market cost of $32 to remove that tonne of emissions. Funded by a London based environmental group, the Optimum Population Trust, the study highlights the global warming impacts of overpopulation.

The bottom line? "From the cost-benefit analysis, it has been found that family planning (considered purely as a method of reducing future CO2 emissions) is more cost-effective than most low-carbon technologies."

While the report focuses mainly on carbon emissions, the same investment in contraception will have similar benefits in other areas including desertification, deforestation, species extinction not to mention air, sea and soil pollution.

Global Warming Causes Outbreak Of Rare Algae Associated With Corals

A rare opportunity has allowed a team of biologists to evaluate corals and the essential, photosynthetic algae that live inside their cells before, during, and after a period in 2005 when global warming caused sea-surface temperatures in the Caribbean Ocean to rise.

The team, led by Penn State Assistant Professor of Biology Todd LaJeunesse, found that a rare species of algae that is tolerant of stressful environmental conditions proliferated in corals as the more-sensitive algae were being expelled from corals. The results will be published in the online version of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B on 9 September 2009.

"Symbiodinium trenchi is normally a rare species of micro-alga in the Caribbean," said LaJeunesse. "Because the species is apparently tolerant of high or fluctuating temperatures, it was able to take advantage of the warming event and become more prolific. In this way, Symbiodinium trenchi appears to have saved certain colonies of coral from the damaging effects of unusually warm water. As ocean temperatures continue to rise as a result of global warming, we can expect this species to become more common and persistent. However, since it is not normally associated with corals in the Caribbean, we don't know if its increased presence will benefit or harm corals in the long term."

According to LaJeunesse, certain species of algae have evolved over millions of years to live in symbiotic relationships with certain species of corals. The photosynthetic algae provide the corals with nutrients and energy, while the corals provide the algae with nutrients and a place to live. "There is a fine balance between giving and taking in these symbiotic relationships," said LaJeunesse. "If Symbiodinium trenchi takes from the corals more than it gives back, then over time we will see the health of the corals diminish."

In 2005, sea surface temperatures in the Caribbean Ocean rose by up to two degrees Celsius above normal for a period of three to four months, high enough and long enough to severely stress the natural symbioses. This process of damaged or dying algae being expelled from the cells of corals is known as bleaching because it leaves behind bone-white coral skeletons that soon will die without their symbiotic partners.

During the summer of 2005, prior to the bleaching event, LaJeunesse and his colleagues collected samples of coral and algae from two locations near Barbados in the Caribbean. "We collected the samples as part of an effort to document the diversity of Symbiodinium species around the world and to study how relationships between certain species of corals and algae differ across geographic space," he said.

By late November, water temperatures had peaked and many corals were bleached. "Finding out about the bleaching event was bittersweet," said LaJeunesse. "It was upsetting to see how severe the impact was to the coral communities, but I also knew it would be a good opportunity to learn more about what happens to corals and their algal partners during times of acute stress. In fact, I knew that this would be one of the first times that anyone had had the opportunity to conduct a community-wide study of corals and algae before, during, and after a bleaching event."

The team collected samples of coral and algae during the bleaching event and again two years after ocean temperatures returned to normal. In the laboratory, they sequenced the organisms' DNA to identify the species.

"During the bleaching event, we found that Symbiodinium trenchi, which we rarely find in the Caribbean, had increased in frequency by 50 percent, or more, within coral species that are most sensitive to warm water. We also saw this species in corals where it had never been before. Two years later, we found that the abundance and occurrence of Symbiodinium trenchi had diminished significantly," said LaJeunesse. Today, the symbioses have mostly recovered to their normal state, and the corals have been repopulated by their typical algal symbionts," he said.

Although Symbiodinium trenchi appears to have saved some Barbadian corals from possibly dying in 2005, LaJeunesse is concerned that the species might not be good for the corals in the long term in the event that warming trends continue and Symbiodinium trenchi becomes more common. "Because Symbiodinium trenchi does not appear to have successfully co-evolved with Caribbean coral species, it may not provide the corals with adequate nutrition," he said.

In the future, LaJeunesse plans to further investigate the relationships among Symbiodinium trenchi and Caribbean coral species. "We're interested in looking at how Symbiodinium trenchi behaves in other regions of the world where it is naturally common. We also want to look more closely at the give-and-take relationship between Symbiodinium trenchi and corals in the Caribbean.

This research was supported by the U. S. National Science Foundation, Florida International University, Penn State University, and the University of the West Indies.

Climate Change Faster Than Expected

An increasingly large amount of peer-reviewed research, published since the IPCC 4th Assessment Report was released in 2007, shows that global warming is happening right now, and that it is quicker than predicted just 2 years ago.

The evidence for this statement is from many areas. Some of the areas showing change are shown below.

-Multiple plants and animals, in widespread sites, are already showing evidence of climate change. Examples include the timing of plant flowering, animal breeding, and lake thawing.

-Increased ocean surface temperatures in Pacific & Atlantic hurricane-formation zones which will lead to stronger cyclones are definitely related to human-induced warming.

-Acidification of the world’s oceans is happening quickly, because of CO2 in massive amounts being dissolved in salty water. This is going to have major changes on marine environments and as a result food supplies for many areas.

-Calculated sea level rise this century will be greater than that calculated just 2 years earlier. It is expected to rise at least a meter, according to new scientific evidence.

-The increased melting of the Greenland ice sheet which began in the summer of 2004 has been definitely related to global warming.

-West Antarctica’s Ice Shelf is undergoing accelerated melting during the last decade and has witnessed ten major ice-shelf collapses in that period of time.

-Arctic sea-ice is melting much faster than previously estimated, and it is almost certain that the Arctic will be ice-free in summer before 2080.

-Arctic Circle permafrost is thawing much faster than recently thought, and is liberating a lot more greenhouse gases than forecast.

The global warming that is now occurring is going to extend for multiple centuries even after all human-released greenhouse gas escape ceases. This is due to the significant inertia that exists in the climate and the delayed decay of carbon dioxide from within the environment.