Climate Change, The Warning Signs

It seems that over the past two hundred years in our rush to the modern age we contributed greatly to global warming while doing little to protect our environment. We most now begin to take the necessary steps to slow the process or risk doing irreparable harm to not only ourselves but every living thing on this planet.

In November 2007 the U.N. panel on climate change issued a warning calling on all nations to take immediate action on global warming calling the situation "frightening" "urgent" and "dire'. With carbon dioxide levels at the highest they have been in millions of years one of the greatest concerns is that human activities are accelerating the melting of the arctic ice sheets. The arctic ice melt is the most dramatic evidence of global warming and could result in rising sea levels and the flooding of millions of communities along coast lines. This year the arctic sea ice melt rate was greatly accelerated, the melt off this summer not only broke the old record, it smashed it. The remaining ice is 23 percent less then the old record. Satellite photographs show that the remaining sea ice is also much thinner than normal; this could result in rapid melting and the loss of even more sea ice. 550 billion tons of ice melted this summer alone leading scientist to wonder if we have reached the point of no return.

Greenhouse gases are necessary because they keep the planet's surface warm enough to sustain life. But, as the concentrations of these gases continue to rise the Earth's temperature is climbing to historic highs. For The past 200 years, our use of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, combined with deforestation has caused the concentrations of heat-trapping gases to increase significantly. These gases prevent heat from escaping, like the glass panels of a greenhouse

The effects of global warming are already being felt around the world say many experts. Birds are laying eggs earlier, plants are blooming earlier, migratory patterns are changing and animals that hibernate are waking earlier in the spring. Many animals are moving to higher elevations than they have in the past as well as moving closer to the north and south poles than before indicating warmer temperatures. One resent study shows that over 150 species have already been affected and this could easily disrupt the natural connective balance between species and also lead to extinction of many.Shorter winters, earlier spring snow melts and longer hotter summershave scientist believing the effects of global warming are being felt in Montana . Long term studies have also shown changes in certain plants in Wisconsin and animal hibernation patterns in Colorado. In Alaska the growth of White Spruce trees have been significantly stunted by warming temperatures and in the Arctic the Reduced snow fall, less sea ice and freezing rain in winter have led to the appearance of mosquitoes and robins, never before seen in the region.

Nearly half of the total carbon on the earth’s surface is contained in the boreal forests located in Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia and Russia. Scientists now fear that increasing temperatures and human activities could be releasing this carbon. As carbon is released back into the atmosphere it adds to the greenhouse gases thus increasing the warming effect. The release of carbon has many causes including warmer temperatures leading to permafrost melting, wild fires, rotting trees and pine needles, also construction and deforestation are a big factor. The release of this carbon combined with other pollution results in higher ozone levels witch in turn results additional damage to plants affecting there ability to absorb carbon dioxide, in other words, a cycle of increasing climate change.

At the Bali summit on climate change the representative for the U.S. was initially opposed to giving technology to underdeveloped countries to help them fight global warming. The representative of Papua New Guinea said to the U.S. You have been ask to take the lead, if you are unwilling then leave it to the rest of us, please get out of the way. The U.S., facing opposition from almost 200 countries represented at the summit, was forced to back down and agreed to join the consensus.

Although an agreement was reached at the Bali summit there is no guarentee that this will result in action, this is basically an agreement to hold more talks and what to talk about. I believe it is obvious to most of us that action is needed to avoid doing further damage to our environment, hopefully the talks will result in this action.