MAIN MENU
WHAT WE CAN DO
EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

WHAT WE CAN DO

350 Global Warming. Global Action. Global Future. "Get Involved. Join a global movement to solve the climate crisis. 350 is the most important number on the planet. This number is the safe line for our global planet and a start line for a global movement. Join 350.org to take action in your community, engage our world leaders, and build and international movement to solve the climate crisis."

**The 2030 Challenge. (Architecture 2030). June 2008. Credible scientists give us 10 years to be well on our way toward global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. Yet there are hundreds of coal-fired power plants currently on the drawing boards in the US. Seventy-six percent (76%) of the energy produced by these plants will go to operate buildings. Buildings are the major source of demand for energy and materials that produce by-product greenhouse gases (GHG). Slowing the growth rate of GHG emissions and then reversing it over the next ten years is the key to keeping global warming under one degree centigrade (°C) above today's level. It will require immediate action and a concerted global effort. To accomplish this, Architecture 2030 has issued The 2030 Challenge asking the global architecture and building community to adopt the following targets...."

Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection are asking people to join in to encourage leaders in business and government to make stopping climate change a priority.

*CALL FOR CLIMATE! ( earthdaynetwork ). -"On Earth Day, April 22nd, join Earth Day Network in our global Call for Climate by contacting your national leaders and demanding bold, swift and fair action to tackle climate change. And from now until Earth Day, take action and sign Earth Day Network's Sky Petition."

The Carbon Offset Project List. (Environmental Defense Fund). -- "We get a lot of questions from companies that want to buy carbon offsets, but don't know where to start or who to buy them from. This list is our answer: A set of high-quality projects that we've reviewed carefully and would turn to for our own offset needs."

Care2 Petition site (global warming)

**Clean Energy Initiative [Missouri]. (Also called Renew Missouri). "Providing affordable energy for the future. Spread the word. Volunteer to help get the Clean Energy Initiative on the ballot . The deadline for collecting signatures is May 4th. We need your help today." The full ballot language.

Climate Change: Placebo, Weak Medicine, or Real Action? (Friends Committee on National Legislation) Posted April 17, 2008. - "Urge your senators to take real action to enact strong, effective legislation to address climate change this year. Urge them to strengthen the Lieberman-Warner bill (S. 2191) by requiring the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions deeper and sooner, at least 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020....

Climate Equity Campaign. –"The Climate Equity Campaign is a coalition of groups seeking immediate attention to the global warming crisis and its impacts on peoples around the world." Initial action item: "Tell the presidential campaigns that you expect them to not only address climate change, but to provide specifics -- including how they plan to help developing nations cope with human-caused climate change."

Climate Matters Video Contest on Vimeo. Inspire Your Next President. Created by 1skycampaign, July 30, 2008. Several good videos show examples.

Continue the Legacy. Thoreau's Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming, An Online Anthology. (Union of Concerned Scientists). -- "From Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the nineteenth century to Rachel Carson and E.O. Wilson in the twentieth, writers have played a profound role in drawing attention to our natural environment and inspiring people to protect it. To continue this tradition and inspire action on global warming, the Union of Concerned Scientists has partnered with literary publisher Penguin Classics to encourage the public to submit essays and images about climate change for publication in a new online book, Thoreau’s Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming."

Earth Day 2008 Events Worldwide. "Create an event, Register your event, Find an event...." (Earthdaynetwork)

Eight Reasons Our Changing World Will Turn You Into an Environmentalist, Like It or Not. By AlterNet Staff, AlterNet . Posted April 22, 2008. - "The challenges our society faces with depleted energy resources, water shortages, soaring food costs all point to environmental solutions.... AlterNet picked eight topics -- water, global warming, food, health, energy, pollution, consumption and corporations -- that pose real dangers to the future of human life and selected a series of recent essays that illustrate these problems, along with links to organizations and further resources that address these issues. (Please use the comment section to share other articles and resources on these issues.)....

Environmental Defense New Patriotism

**Face It, There Is a Solution to Global Warming (Architecture 2030). Kick off FOCUS THE NATION with: FACE IT WEBCAST. Turn it around on January 30-31, 2008.

What you must know about global warming to make a difference...

• Substitute the webcast for any class!
• It’s a concise, half-hour webcast jammed-packed with key information.
• It’s viewable any time after 9 am, January 30, 2008.
• And, the details of the Reverberate Competitions will be unveiled during the webcast!

Fight Global Warming. What You Can Do (Environmental Defense)

Five Innovation Initiatives for 2008. Environmental Defense. Posted January 8, 2008. "Getting the economics right can win lasting environmental solutions."

Fixing The Planet.com. -"Welcome to FixingThePlanet.com! I'm Ed Begley, Jr. My two partners and I created this site as a simple to use one-stop resource for those interested in learning about sustainable living."

Global Warming Solutions. What Can We Do? (National Geographic)

Green Jobs Now: 9-27-08, National Day of Action to Build the New Economy. Host an Event, Find an Event, Sign the Petition. Sponsored by Green For All, 1Sky, and WeCanSolveIt.org.

GREEN Schools. Generation of Respect for Education and the Environment Now. Posted April 10, 2008. - "Earth Day Network’s successful history of working with teachers, PTAs, students, and school administrators has led us to develop a long term, national campaign on green schools. We have partnered with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which has also expanded its well-known green buildings projects into the school setting, to green all of America’s k-12 schools within a generation. To learn more about our ground-breaking campaign...."

Green Start-Up Companies (Time April 28, 2008 Issue). - Includes articles on Amyris Biotechnologies, Nanosolar, First Solar, Serious Materials, Petroalgae, E-meter, Solarcity, ClimateCheck, Verdiem, Enphase, Ausra, Verenium, Finavera Renewables, Ergo Exergy, and GridPoint.

Letter Supporting the “Clean Energy Tax Stimulus Act of 2008” (S. 2821). (Friends Committee on National Legislation). Posted April 10, 2008. Send a letter to Senators regarding Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Mommy Meetups & Stroller Marches. Moms and Kids Making Calls for the Climate. Posted April 10, 2008, (Greenpeace). -"Mothers Day was originally founded in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe, a social justice activist calling for a peaceful and sustainable future. Today, moms have the very same dreams. The biggest threat to those dreams is global warming...."

National Wildlife Federation Global Warming National Policy Solution

No New Coal Power Plants! Sign this petition.

An Open Letter on America’s Energy Future. (Institute for 21 st Century Energy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce). 2008. --" An open letter to the 44th President of the United States and the 111th U.S. Congress: America is facing a long-term energy crisis, one which could become one of the most significant economic and national security challenges of the 21st century.  We strongly recommend that you attach the highest priority to developing and implementing a strategic energy policy that has a long-term, commonsense vision and the full attention of our national leadership.... Come of the proposals: “ Aggressively Promote Energy Efficiency, Reduce the Environmental Impact of Energy Consumption and Production, Invest in Climate Science to Guide Energy, Economic, and Environmental Policy...."

**Operation Climate Vote (Environmental Defense Action Fund). The Time has come for Congress to Act. Global warming is the most serious environmental threat facing the planet today. Congress needs to mark up and vote on legislation that caps and reduces America's global warming pollution before the holiday recess. Send an email today. Urge Congress to act. Site includes U.S. Senate and House Updates.

Project Hot Seat – Stop Global Warming (Greenpeace). "Don’t just sit there, do something! Congress has a choice: They can stop global warming and ignite an energy revolution or they can keep doing nothing to stop the coming climate disaster…. Our mission is simple: Push Congress to become champions to stop global warming. Don't let Congress play with fire. Click on your state below and find out how to get involved in your community...."

**Repower America. ( A project of The Alliance for Climate Protection). [Includes Videos]. "Repower America is the bold clean energy plan to “repower” our country with 100% clean electricity within 10 years. First described in a speech last July by Al Gore, Repower America means new industries with high-paying jobs. It means lower energy costs. And, it means substituting clean domestic sources of energy and a transition away from dirty coal and foreign oil. Read about the goal here. By making buildings and homes more efficient, ramping up renewable energy generation, constructing a unified national smart grid, and transitioning to clean and affordable plug-in cars, we can address our country’s economic and national security challenges—all while making huge strides to solve the climate crisis. Please join with Al Gore and more than two million others calling on our leaders to Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years.

**Send a letter to your Congressional representative or the editor of your local newspapers (SaveOurEnvironment.org)

Send a message to members of Congress to act now on global warming (League of Conservation Voters).

Send Congress Their Global Warming To-Do List! Target: US Congress. Sponsor: Environmental Defense. "Congress is coming back in September, and they now have less than two months leftto pass meaningful legislation on global warming before year's end. We cannot afford for politicians to be wishy-washy on this issue. Scientists agree that we must act now in order to stop the terrible consequences of global warming."

Send the Presidential candidates a message to stop global warming (League of Conservation Voters)

Solving Climate Change Saves Billions. The 2030 Blueprint. (Architecture 2030). - "A groundbreaking study released by Architecture 2030 this week shows that an investment of just $21.6 billion towards building energy efficiency would replace 22.3 conventional coal-fired plants, reduce CO2 emissions by 86.7 MMT, save 204 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 10.7 million barrels of oil, save consumers $8.46 billion in energy bills and create 216,000 new jobs.... One of the most important questions facing those attempting to solve the climate change crisis is, 'How do we reduce CO2 emissions dramatically and immediately?' The simplest answer is, 'Turn off the coal plants.' Although coal produces about half of the energy supplied by the Electric Power Sector, it is responsible for 81% of this sector’s CO2 emissions.... we must implement an immediate moratorium on the construction of any new conventional coal-fired power plants and complete a phasing out of all existing conventional coal plants by the year 2030. Anything short of this will fail....."

States Must Be Allowed to Reduce Global Warming Pollution from Vehicles ( Union of Concerned Scientists). Twelve states, representing a third of the  U.S. auto market, have adopted clean car standards to reduce global warming pollution from vehicles—and even more are considering doing so. Yet, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has, for years, delayed a decision on the waiver states need to implement these crucial standards. Take action.

**Stop Global Warming Virtual March (stopglobalwarming.org). Ongoing. "This is a movement about change, as individuals, as a country, and as a global community. Join the 887,265 supporters of the Stop Global Warming Virtual March, and become part of the movement to demand our leaders freeze and reduce carbon dioxide emissions now. We are all contributors to global warming and we all need to be part of the solution."

Subscribe to the free Earth Equity News.

Take Action! stopglobalwarming.org

Take Action To Repower America. (we can solve the climate crisis)

Take Action to Support Transportation Solutions (Environmental Defense). "You can earn 'transformation points' for your state while helping decrease your pollution and carbon emissions by taking our Transportation Solutions and Personal Action Pledges, and telling your friends.

A Target for U.S. Emissions Reductions. Global Warming 101 . (Union of Concerned Scientists). "Contents: 1. Setting a Reasonable Target - 2. Dividing Up the Work - 3. Defining the U.S. Share of Global Emissions Reductions - 4. Evaluating Existing Proposals - 5. The Way Forward...."

Tell Administrator Johnson: "You're dismissed!"  (Friends of the Earth) Posted April 11, 2008. - "Sign his walking papers and send Congress a message. By filling out the form at the bottom of this page, you will be signing our dismissal notice below, which will be presented to EPA Administrator Steven Johnson.  You will also be sending your members of Congress a message regarding your wish to see Administrator Johnson out of his current position (which you can edit)...."

Tell Congress to Fund Green Jobs & Grants. 1 Sky, June 19, 2008 . -- Congress is now deciding which federal programs will be funded in 2009. Among those programs are the Green Jobs Act, which would invest $125 million in green-collar job training programs, and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, which would authorize grants to local communities to help improve their energy efficiency and increase renewable energy.

Tell EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson to stop censoring documents! (Barbara Boxer, Take Action). Posted January 25, 2008. -"Join 6,781 Americans and email EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson: Demand that he produce full, complete, and uncensored documents explaining his decision to block 19 states from fighting global warming now!"

Tell GM to Offer Real Hybrid Solutions Today! "Hybrid technology has the potential to provide us with cleaner, more fuel-efficient options in every vehicle class, as exemplified by the Ford Escape Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid, and Toyota Prius. On March 20, General Motors (GM) vice chairman Bob Lutz admitted at the New York Auto Show that not making a vehicle like the Prius was “a mistake.” Yet GM continues to make that same mistake. Its new “two mode” hybrid SUVs, the Chevy Tahoe and GMC Yukon Hybrids, actually feature larger gasoline engines than most conventional versions of these models. The electric motor provides an additional power boost but only a modest gain in overall fuel economy."

Tell Houghton Mifflin global warming isn't a matter of debate. Posted April 10, 2008. - "Friends of the Earth has received a copy of American Government , published by mammoth Houghton Mifflin, which is used in AP government classes in high schools nationwide. The latest edition's chapter on "Environmental Policy" contains a discussion of global warming so biased and misleading it would humble a tobacco industry PR man...."

Tell the 2008 Presidential Candidates Your Ideas for Moving Forward on Climate and Energy. (Care2 Petitionsite).

Top Ten Things You Can Do to Save The Climate ( U.S. Climate Emergency Council).

350 Global Warming. Global Action. Global Future. "Get Involved. Join a global movement to solve the climate crisis. 350 is the most important number on the planet. This number is the safe line for our global planet and a start line for a global movement. Join 350.org to take action in your community, engage our world leaders, and build and international movement to solve the climate crisis."

TreePeople "is a nonprofit organization that has been serving the Los Angeles area for over three decades. Simply put, our work is about helping nature heal our cities. We offer sustainable solutions to urban ecosystem problems, focusing on three areas: 1. Training and supporting communities to plant and care for trees, Educating school children and adults about the environment, 3. Working with government agencies on critical water issues."

**The 2030 Challenge. (Architecture 2030). June 2008. Credible scientists give us 10 years to be well on our way toward global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. Yet there are hundreds of coal-fired power plants currently on the drawing boards in the US. Seventy-six percent (76%) of the energy produced by these plants will go to operate buildings. Buildings are the major source of demand for energy and materials that produce by-product greenhouse gases (GHG). Slowing the growth rate of GHG emissions and then reversing it over the next ten years is the key to keeping global warming under one degree centigrade (°C) above today's level. It will require immediate action and a concerted global effort. To accomplish this, Architecture 2030 has issued The 2030 Challenge asking the global architecture and building community to adopt the following targets...."

Transportation by the Numbers. Posted July 28, 2008, Environmental Defense Fund. -- "With gas prices skyrocketing, public transit ridership is at an all time high. Instead of cutting back on public transportation services, we should be reforming our national transportation system to create more affordable travel options for the whole country. Check out our 10 Facts About Oil and Gas to learn more. 96 Percent of the world's transportation energy currently supplied by oil. $75 Cost of barrel of oil on July 18th, 2007. $131 Cost of barrel of oil on July 18th, 2008. 9.6 billion Number of fewer miles Americans drove in May 2008 compared to May 2007. 10.3 billion Number of trips taken via the U.S. public transportation system in 2007, the highest in 50 years...."

**Urge Congress to Pass a Strong Clean Energy Bill! "Congress is poised to pass a bill with a fuel economy standard of 35 mpg and a renewable electricity standard of 15%. This is our chance for an energy bill that finally addresses our addiction to fossil fuels. Sign the petition and tell Congress to keep the energy bill strong."

Urge Your State to Join the Clean Car Lawsuit! (Union of Concerned Scientists). January 22, 2008. "Thirteen states, representing over a third of the U.S. auto market, have already adopted clean car standards to reduce global warming pollution from vehicles. But Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen Johnson rejected the advice of his staff, directives of two federal judges, and the Supreme Court, and denied the waiver states need to implement these crucial standards."

U.S. Business Leaders' Call for Strong, Science-Based Global Warming Legislation. Join the Call! (Union of Concerned Scientists). June 2008. - "Last year, 26 major corporations—including General Electric, Ford Motor Company, and Duke Energy—called on Congress to pass aggressive climate legislation that will help significantly reduce global warming pollution…. Please urge local businesses and your local Chamber of Commerce to sign our call to action today."

The U.S. House Must Act on Global Warming This Year! [Send an email ] (League of Conservation Voters). "As Congress prepares to set their 2008 agenda , now is the time to contact your Representative to make sure that solving global warming is a top priority this year. The U.S. House needs to hear from as many constituents as possible so that they get the message: Global warming is the greatest environmental crisis that we face, and we need solutions now! "

*U.S. Scientists and Economists' Call for Swift and Deep Cuts in Greenhouse Gas Emissions. (Union of Concerned Scientists). March 24, 2008, -"There is growing momentum in the United States to establish policies that cap and reduce our nation's heat-trapping emissions…. We call on our nation’s leaders to swiftly establish and implement policies to bring about deep reductions in heat-trapping emissions. The strength of the science on climate change compels us to warn the nation about the growing risk of irreversible consequences as global average temperatures continue to increase over pre-industrial levels (i.e., prior to 1860).... A distinguished group of U.S. scientists and economists have come together to develop and endorse this Call for Swift and Deep Cuts in Greenhouse Gas Emissions. The core purpose is to ensure that this debate is informed by a powerful, succinct statement from top U.S. experts on the urgency of U.S. action, and the scale and feasibility of needed reductions." Sign the letter.

*The Way We Live Now. Why Bother? By Michael Pollan, Published: April 20, 2008, New York Times, The Green Issue. - "Why bother? That really is the big question facing us as individuals hoping to do something about climate change, and it’s not an easy one to answer.... For us to wait for legislation or technology to solve the problem of how we’re living our lives suggests we’re not really serious about changing — something our politicians cannot fail to notice. They will not move until we do.... Here’s the point: Cheap energy, which gives us climate change, fosters precisely the mentality that makes dealing with climate change in our own lives seem impossibly difficult. Specialists ourselves, we can no longer imagine anyone but an expert, or anything but a new technology or law, solving our problems.... In the judgment of James Hansen, the NASA climate scientist who began sounding the alarm on global warming 20 years ago, we have only 10 years left to start cutting — not just slowing — the amount of carbon we’re emitting or face a 'different planet.' Hansen said this more than two years ago, however; two years have gone by, and nothing of consequence has been done. So: eight years left to go and a great deal left to do.... If you do bother, you will set an example for other people. If enough other people bother, each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change, markets for all manner of green products and alternative technologies will prosper and expand.... Measured against the Problem We Face, planting a garden sounds pretty benign, I know, but in fact it’s one of the most powerful things an individual can do — to reduce your carbon footprint, sure, but more important, to reduce your sense of dependence and dividedness: to change the cheap-energy mind...."

*We Can Solve the Climate Crisis. Sign the petition for a global treaty on climate change.

What You Can Do About Global Climate Change (Mother Earth News)

The wind energy industry needs bipartisan cooperation on Production Tax Credit (PTC) extension. (American Wind Energy Association). -- "On June 17, [2008] the Senate again failed to move forward with the House of Representatives’ proposed one-year PTC extension. Bipartisan cooperation on Capitol Hill is needed to successfully move a PTC extension forward. Without rapid legislative action, the PTC will expire at the end of 2008. To maintain existing jobs and to continue growing thousands of new jobs, it is vital that Congress acts quickly to extend the PTC. Please contact your Members of Congress and urge them to work toward a bipartisan solution to extending the PTC.

to top  ~  to menu

EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

Atlas of Climate Change. Effects in 150 Bird Species of the Eastern United States. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern, Research Station, General Technical Report NE-31, etc. By Stephen N. Matthews, Raymond J. O’Connor, Louis R. Iverson and Anantha M. Prasad.

The Chesapeake Bay and Global Warming: A Paradise Lost for Hunters, Anglers, and Outdoor Enthusiasts? (National Wildlife Federation). -- "The threats posed by global warming are real. The Chesapeake Bay region is already experiencing climate changes that stress human development and natural habitats alike. Without an effective response, these trends will undo decades of conservation work, leading to major changes in the bay and fewer opportunities for hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation. Fortunately, solutions are available. But, for these solutions to work, the people of the bay region must call for action now...."

Effects. The current and future consequences of global change (Global Climate Change, NASA’s Eyes on the World)

**Global Climate Change, NASA’s Eyes on the Earth. Includes “Sea Level Viewer, Climate Time Machine, Global Warming Tube, Climate Blog, Eyes on the Earth,” and more….

Global Warming and Our Coasts. (National Wildlife Federation). -- "Coastal areas around the United States support thousands of species of fish and wildlife, and they are crucial for the regional economy, culture and quality of life. Healthy coastal habitats protect us from the effects of hurricanes and flooding. However, coastal habitats and wildlife are under pressure from human activities such as development and pollution. Now, sea-level rise and other climate changes due to global warming will create even greater challenges for our coasts."

Global warming pollution increases 3 percent. By Seth Borenstein – September 25, 2008. Washington (Associated Press) -- "Worldwide man-made emissions of carbon dioxide — the main gas that causes global warming — jumped 3 percent last year, international scientists said Thursday. That means the world is spewing more carbon dioxide than the worst case scenario forecast by a Nobel Prize-winning group of international scientists in 2007. Scientists said if the trend does not stop, it puts the world potentially on track for the highest predicted rises in temperature and sea level. The pollution leader was China, followed by the United States, which past data show is the leader in emissions per capita in carbon dioxide output. And while several developed countries slightly cut their CO2 output in 2007, the United States churned out more. Still, it was large increases in China, India and other developing countries that spurred the growth of carbon dioxide pollution to a record high of 9.34 billion tons of carbon (8.47 billion metric tons). Figures released by science agencies in the United States, Great Britain and Australia show that China's added emissions accounted for more than half of the worldwide increase. China passed the United States as the No. 1 carbon dioxide polluter in 2006. Emissions in the United States rose nearly 2 percent in 2007, after declining the previous year. The U.S. produced 1.75 billion tons of carbon (1.58 billion metric tons)."

Greenland losing the most ice. Global warming is detailed by NASA. Published December 17, 2008, Columbia Daily Tribune. -- Washington (Associated Press) - "More than 2 trillion tons of land ice in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska have melted since 2003, according to new NASA satellite data that show the latest signs of what scientists say is global warming. More than half of the loss of landlocked ice in the past five years has occurred in Greenland, based on measurements of ice weight by NASA’s GRACE satellite, said NASA geophysicist Scott Luthcke. The water melting from Greenland in the past five years would fill up about 11 Chesapeake Bays, he said, and the Greenland melt seems to be accelerating."

**Is the financial crisis more dire than the climate crisis? Posted by Joseph Romm, September 22, 2008, Grist. -- "Not even close . If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment. So warned IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri last fall when the IPCC released its major multi-year report synthesizing our understanding of climate science. And remember, Pachauri was handpicked by the Bush administration to replace the 'alarmist' Bob Watson. It's the facts that make scientists alarmists, not their politics (see 'Desperate times, desperate scientists'). What happens if we fail to act in time to avert the climate catastrophe? We cross carbon-cycle tipping points, such as the loss of the tundra, beyond which there is 'no redemption.' We head toward CO2 concentrations this century that are triple or quadruple preindustrial levels. We should expect 0.8 to 2.0 meters of sea level rise this century, inundating the homes of 100 million people. We face desertification of one third the planet and loss of the glaciers that provide water to a billion people. We face loss of more than two thirds of the species on the planet, and a hot, acidic, and largely lifeless ocean. We face humanity's self-destruction -- 6 degrees C total planetary warming."

Loss of bird species points to environmental crisis: Report. By Hanneke Brooymans, Canwest News Service. Published September 22, 2008, Canada.com. -- Edmonton -- "Common birds are in decline across the world, sending a clear signal there is something very wrong with the basic health of our environment, says a new report. Twenty of North America's most common bird species have declined more than 50 per cent over the last 40 years, says The State of the World's Birds, released Monday at BirdLife International's World Conference in Buenos Aires. Around the world, one in eight bird species - 1,226 species in total - face extinction, largely due to loss of habitat and climate change."

Melting Arctic Ocean Raises Threat of ‘Methane Time Bomb’. By Susan Q. Stranahan, Yale Environment 360, October 30, 2008. -- "Scientists have long believed that thawing permafrost in Arctic soils could release huge amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Now they are watching with increasing concern as methane begins to bubble up from the bottom of the fast-melting Arctic Ocean."

*Not-So-Permafrost: Big Thaw of Arctic Soil May Unleash Runaway Warming. New estimates show that frozen Arctic soil contains far more potential greenhouse gas than previously recognized--and could speed climate change as it melts. By David Biello, August 26, 2008, Scientific American. -- "'Drunken' trees listing wildly, cracked highways and sinkholes—all are visible signs of thawing Arctic permafrost. When this frozen soil warms, it releases carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases as microbes start to thrive on the organic material it contains—a potentially potent source of uncontrollable climate change. Now new research published in Nature Geoscience shows that such frozen Arctic soil holds nearly twice as much of the organic material that gives rise to planet-warming greenhouse gases as previously estimated."

Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Habitats of the Chesapeake Bay: A Summary. (National Wildlife Federation, 2008). -- "Global warming is changing the face of the Chesapeake Bay by accelerating the rate of sea-level rise. At risk is an amazing diversity of coastal habitats, from sandy beaches and barrier islands along the Atlantic Coast to coastal marshes, swamps, seagrass beds, and estuarine beaches in the bay itself. Together, these habitats support thousands of species of fish and wildlife, and they are a linchpin for the regional economy, culture, and quality of life. This short report summarizes results of a detailed modeling analysis commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation of how Chesapeake Bay habitats will be affected by sea-level rise in the coming century."

Sea-Level Rise and the Chesapeake Bay. (National Wildlife Federation, July 2008?). -- "Our latest report, Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Habitats of the Chesapeake Bay, shows in vivid detail the dramatic effects of sea-level rise on the nation's largest estuary, which sustains more than 3,600 species of plants, fish and animals including great blue herons and sea turtles. If global warming continues unabated, projected rising sea levels will significantly reshape the region's coastal landscape, threatening waterfowl hunting and recreational saltwater fishing in Virginia and Maryland. See how sea-level rise will impact Chesapeake Bay habitats. Click each region below to view a sea-level rise animation and download a PDF of the maps...."

Strongest Storms Grow Stronger Yet, Study Says. By Kenneth Chang. Published September 3, 2008, New York Times. -- "A new study finds that the strongest of hurricanes and typhoons have become even stronger over the last two and a half decades, adding grist to the contentious debate over whether global warming has already made storms more destructive. 'I think we do see a climate signal here,' said James B. Elsner, a professor of geography at Florida State University who is the lead author of the paper, being published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature."

Troubling toll in Thoreau's backyard. Scientists say species drop amid warming. By Billy Baker, Boston Globe, October 28, 2008. -- "In the 1850s, a few years after he had gone to "live deliberately" in a cabin in the woods at Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau began to compile detailed records on hundreds of species of plants in his beloved Concord. Those same data now are being used to measure the effect of climate change, and the news is not good, researchers said yesterday. Scientists from Boston University and Harvard reported that 27 percent of the species documented by Thoreau have disappeared, and another 36 percent are in such low numbers that their disappearance is imminent. These findings occur even though most of Concord's natural areas have been protected or undeveloped since Thoreau's time. During that same period, Concord's mean annual temperature climbed by 4 degrees, the researchers said."

Walrus in a Warming World. The melting of Arctic sea ice poses new challenges for Pacific walrus. by Bill Sherwonit, Defenders Magazine, Summer 2008. -- "The first hints that something was amiss in the oceanic world of Pacific walrus washed onto eastern Siberian shores in the late 1990s. For the first time in memory, local residents and scientists saw thousands of walrus cows and calves on land in late summer. Normally the animals are far offshore during this season, floating on the sea-ice pack as it retreats north through the Chukchi Sea, between Alaska and Russia. More disturbing signs surfaced in 2004. A team of climate change researchers cruising through the Beaufort Sea observed walrus calves swimming alone in deep water, far from either ice or land. 'Crying' loudly, the calves apparently had been separated from—and possibly abandoned by—their mothers. Alarmed by the encounters, the researchers published their discovery in a scientific journal, noting that nothing like this had ever been reported."

Water-vapor feedback is “strong and positive,” so we face “warming of several degrees Celsius.”Climate Progress, October 26, 2008. -- "A new study in Geophysical Research Letters (subs. req’d), ' Water-vapor climate feedback inferred from climate fluctuations, 2003–2008' analyzed recent variations in surface temperature and 'the response of tropospheric water vapor to these variations.' They concluded that the 'water-vapor feedback implied by these observations is strongly positive' and 'similar to that simulated by climate models.' The analysis concludes: The existence of a strong and positive water-vapor feedback means that projected business-as-usual greenhouse-gas emissions over the next century are virtually guaranteed to produce warming of several degrees Celsius. The only way that will not happen is if a strong, negative, and currently unknown feedback is discovered somewhere in our climate system."

Western Climate Initiative. What are the impacts of global warming on the West? (National Wildlife Federation, July 2008?). -- "Wildlife in the West is particularly vulnerable to global warming. We see: warmer temperatures and reduced snowpack in the Rockies, Cascade and Sierra Nevadas affecting salmon and trout populations . pervasive drought is reducing forage levels and cover for big game and sage grouse . warmer, drier conditions are increasing the levels of catastrophic wildfire. View the National Wildlife Federation's report, Fueling the Fire, for more information on how global warming is impacting wildlife in the West."

Worries over stability of Greenland icesheet. By Richard Ingham, September 1, 2008, couriermail.com.au. -- "Scientists say they can no longer rule out a fast-track melting of the Greenland icesheet, a prospect once merely the preserve of doomsayers. Such melting would see much of the world's coastline drowned by rising seas. The researchers found that the great Laurentide icesheet which smothered much of North America during the last Ice Age melted far swifter than realised, dumping billions of tonnes of water into the ocean."

to top  ~  to menu