The Last Frost

Some more info on the Fourth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:

"Each paragraph of this report was therefore argued over and scrutinised intensely. Only points that were considered indisputable survived this process. This is a very conservative document – that's what makes it so scary" [Guardian Unlimited]

The report suggests the following scenarios are extremely likely:

1. More intense storms  (not just hurricanes)
2. Sea level rise of a few feet
3. Melting of snow from all but the highest mountains.
4. Desertification will worsen.
5. Oceans will acidify, killing coral reefs.
6. Heatwaves will become more frequent.
7. Mass migrations of people and animals away from tropical regions will occur.

Global Warming the final verdict – [Guardian Unlimited]

Global warming and El Nino are predicted by Britain's Meteorological Office to take the blame for the warmest year on record for our planet, 2007. The 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 1994, 2006 is set to be the sixth hottest as reported by Reuters. 

If the 70 degree weather we had in New York City this past Saturday was any indication, I think they're right.

2007 predicted to be world's warmest year – [Reuters.com]

This independent blog post which I found on the Reuters website, suggests that global warming might unleash flu viruses on our world via melting glacial ice. The article suggests that viruses which can lie dormant in the ice may re-activate upon that ice's melting. 

It's certainly an interesting idea to consider. If flu virus's can be preserved, why not other pathogens? It's another potential negative from climate change.

Glaciers May Preserve Viruses For Millions of Years – [FluPatrol.com via Reuters]

An increase in global temperatures may result in an insect population boom. The warmer temperatures may increase the metabolism of the creepy crawlies causing them to reproduce more frequently. It could lead to an increase in insect transmitted diseases like malaria and lyme disease. More importantly perhaps is that it could lead to a decrease in crop production due to an increase in pests, which would of course lead to an increase in pesticide use which hurts everyone. 

Anyway, it's not good, even if you are an entomologist.

Global Warming Could Trigger Insect Population Boom » [LiveScience.com]

A study was recently released that makes predictions about what the Northeastern U.S. will be like in 100 years due to climate change. They make two predictions; one if we curb emissions now, the other if we don't. Here's a taste, 

"Currently, Northeastern cities experience one or two days per summer over 100 degrees. This number could increase by late century to between three and nine days under lower emissions and between 14 and 28 days under higher emissions." [www.theithacajournal.com]

Northeast may be hurt hard by greenhouse gases, scientists warn » [The Ithaca Journal]

So scientists released a report yesterday that concludes our planet is nearing a global average temperature high that exceeds anything in the last 1 Million years. Since the poles heat first, that means a lot of ice will be melting in the next couple of decades. Oh, and the last time it was this hot the ocean levels were 80 feet higher than they are today. If this is true it makes you wonder how long it will take for the Earth to start reflecting these changes in dangerous ways. 

Global warming nears ‘dangerous’ level » MSNBC.com

Some people have been touting Nuclear Energy as being the solution to global warming. Afterall nuclear power plants produce no greenhouse gasses in their day to day operations. Well, if you don't count the emissions released during the arduous process of Uranium mining and enrichment, which are considerable. Oh, and if you're able to ignore the pesky problem of nuclear waste. 

Nuclear waste is some pretty nasty stuff. If a living organism (cockroaches and a few others excluded) gets even close to the stuff unprotected it begins to damage it's DNA, more than likely causing a nasty death. The stuff also has a tendency to stay this way for extremely long periods of time, like 250,000 years or so. Think about that… 250 milleniums. Why a mere 4 thousand years ago some Egyptians were working on building these cool new structures called pyramids. 10 thousand years ago our ancestors were living in caves and just figuring out how to grow food.

So if you have to store something so toxic that it will kill almost any living thing that comes near to it, how do you ensure that the "danger" message get's through? What can you do when you don't know what species you will be communicating with, what language they will speak? How do you ensure anything you build today will be around by then? Well these guys have some ideas.

My opinion is that this is exactly why nuclear energy sucks so damn much.

Future Be Warned: Keep Out! » [Wired News]

Undersea deposits of Methane could be released by the warming of the oceans, leading to further global warming. These underwater methane ices are called clathrates and scientists have been able to identify two distinct periods in recent geological history that huge amounts of methane have been released by the warming of the oceans. The discovery of this potential positive feedback loop could mean bad things for our climate in the future.

Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and there is a lot of it stored under the oceans.  

Global warming could trigger methane release » [Oroville Mercury Register]

Take this with a grain of salt, as with any prediction of the future, we just don't know. Aside from that though, this is great news. Climate scientists have lowered their predictions of the intensity of global warming over the next 100 years. It's just a slight lowering but it's lower none-the-less.

Climate panel lowers global warming forecast » [Stuff.co.nz]

A research group has come to the conclusion that the Amazon rainforest cannot withstand more than two years of consecutive drought without the ecosystem breaking down. In a world of uncertainty due to climate change this is not a good thing. Losing the Amazon rainforest would be catastrophic to life as we know it.

We would pretty much be in deep shit, so let's just hope this doesn't come to pass.

Amazon rainforest turning to desert, triggering ‘Irreversible’ global warming! » [GreenDiary.com]