About Global Warming?

Question

Do you know any recent facts about Global Warming

Answer 1

Here's a bunch of facts, they're not particularly recent just a mixture of odds and ends...


Since humans first appeared on the planet they've exhaled about 1.3 trillion tons of carbon dioxide.

Methane is one of the main greenhouse gases, cows burping and farting produce nearly one fifth (18%) of the manmade methane emissions.

Each person on the planet is responsible for an average of 5 tons of CO2 emissions each year, in the developed nations it's 11 tons, in the US it's 19 tons.

The 10 hottest years on record have occured since 1990; 2005 was the hottest year, 1998 was second. 2007 is set to break the record.

In the last 18,000 years the world has warmed by 9°C.

18,000 years ago much of the world was coverd in glaciers. Over the next 7,500 years temperatures rose by 7°C and the glaciers retreated. Over the next 10,000 years the world warmed by 1°C. In the last 100 years temperatures have risen by just over 1°C.

The world naturally warms and cools. Records go back 542 million years and there have been 4 ice ages and 4 occasions when there was no ice at all.

In the past the polar regions were covered with forests.

It's estimated that by the year 2100 at least 2 billion people will have bee adversely affected by climate change.

In the last 50 million years the world has been cooling, recent rises are a blip in an otherwise downward temperature trend.

The atmosphere and nautral greenhouse effect ensures the planet is habitable. Without these there would be massive temperature swings from day to night and we'd have temperatures like those on the moon - over 100°C by day and -150°C by night.

The last time the world was as warm as it is now was some 140,000 years ago.

Since the onset of the Industrial Revolution some 200 years ago temperatures have been rising much faster than would be expected.

In the last 25 years temperatures have risen by 0.0156°C a year, in the 10,000 years prior to the Industrial Revolution temperatures rose 0.0001°C a year.

Temperatures fell in the middle of the 20th century because our atmosphere was so polluted with factory emissions that it blocked out heat and light from the sun. Clean Air Acts put an end to the worst of the pollution and temperatures started rising again.

The greenhouse effect works because short wavelength sunlight (solar radiation) passes through the blanket of greenhouse gases but the longer wavelength heat from earth (thermal radiation) gets trapped.

Climate change became a major political issue in 1992 with the Earth Summit held in Rio Di Janeiro.

By volume the most prevelant greenhouse gas is water vapour, accounting for up to 4% of the atmosphere.

Water vapour forms part of a natural cycle, when there's too much of it in the atmosphere it falls to earth as rain or snow.

Excluding water vapour, less than 0.1% of the atmosphere is greenhouse gases.

The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is currently 385 parts per million by volume. More than at any time since mankind first set foot on the planet, but much less than there was many millions of years ago.

In terms of numbers, most greenhouse gases are synthetic, a lot of them are now banned (CFC's for example).

Synthetic greenhouse gases are far worse than ones that occur naturally, some of them are 10,000 times as effective at retaining heat than CO2 - something called Global Warming Potential (GWP).

Methane has 23 times the GWP of CO2, nitrous oxide has 296 times.

Carbon dioxide accounts for over 99% of all greenhouse gases but because it's not as effective at retaining heat as other greenhouse gases it only accounts for 72.3% of global warming.

In the last 200 years levels of CO2, methane and nitrous oxide have risen considerably. CO2 has risen from 280 to 385 ppmv, nitrous oxide from 270 to 314 ppbv and methane from 700 to 1745 ppbv.

Trees and plants need carbon dioxide to grow (photosynthesis). They absorb CO2 and produce oxygen. Humans need oxygen to breathe.

Levels of CO2 are rising at least 100 times as fast as natural variations should allow.

When snow falls it traps air, in time this compresses to form ice. Ice core samples stretching back nearly 750,000 years allow us to accurately analyse what was in the air when the snow fell.

The biggest single manmade contributor to CO2 emissions is the burning of fossil fuels, the biggest contributor of methane and nitrous oxide is agriculture.

Power generation is the biggest user of fossil fuels and together with industrial porcesses account for half of all CO2 emissions. Transportation accounts for one fifth.

Vegetation and soil absorbs 120 billion tons of CO2 a year, it releases 119 billion tons. The seas and oceans absorb 90 billion tons per year and release 88 billion tons.

Nature absorbs 3 billion tons more CO2 each year than it releases. In 2006 humans produced 29 billion tons of CO2.

Contrary to popular beleif, planting trees can do more harm than good. Trees planted in cold climates absorb heat from the sun, those planted in hot climates reflect the heat. Tree planting in tropical regions helps alleviate global warming, in temperate climates it may contribute to it.

The amount of heat from the sun varies and in the past this has contributed to the coming and going of ice ages. The difference is very small but over thousands and millions of years it adds up.

The heat energy received from the sun is 1366 W/m²/yr (Watts per square metre per year), naturally it varies by 1.3 W/m²/yr - about a 0.1% difference between miimum and maximum output.

During the Middle Ages there was a period of almost no sunspot activity (called the Maunder Minimum), this was one of the factors that contributed to a global cooling known as the Little Ice Age, other factors were increased volcanic activity and the Black Death which killed half (maybe more) of the European population. Europe was the area most affected by the Little Ice Age.

Volcanoes cause global cooling. They emit huge amounts of sulphur dioxide and other gases, this blocks out sunlight and cools the planet. Following the eruption in 1991 of Mount Pinatubo - the biggest volcano in recent history - global temperatures fell by about 0.5°C.

In 1815 Mount Tambora erupted, the biggest volcano for hundreds of years, the following year became known as 'the year without a summer'.

Global warming is part of a 'Feedback Process', a sort of catch 22 situation. For example, as temperatures rise ice melts, as the ice melts it releases millions of tons of greenhouse gases, these GHG's cause temperatures to rise which causes more ice to melt...

Global warming causes an increase in the levels of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases cause an increase in the levels of global warming.

Global warming is the cause of climate change.

Global warming leads to increased precipitation is some places, the higher temperatures evapourate more water from the seas and oceans which subsequently falls as rain.

It's likely, although not yet conclusive, that climate change has played an important role in the increasing frequency and severity of hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones and similar storm events.

Climate change has resulted in more storms, droughts, floods and heavier rainfall; these in turn cause erosion, famine, disease and other problems.

25 years ago there were between 45 and 55 major floods worldwide each year, 10 years ago there were about 120, currently there are about 190.

Shifting weather patterns mean some areas receive less rainfall; the ground becomes barren and unable to sustain crops and desertification occurs.

Over 1 million square kiolmoetres of Siberian Permafrost has melted in the past few years, this has created over 1000 new lakes and made available much agricultural land.

Sea levels are rising faster than at any time since the glacial retreat some 10,000 years ago - averageing about 3mm a year, 30 times as fast as they were rising before the onset of industrialisation.

Rising sea levels are caused because the oceans expand as they become warmer, there's also additional water from the melting of the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Caps. Oceans are warming faster now than has ever been known.

If the Arctic Ice Cap melted there would be no change in sea levels, this is because it's a mass of floating ice and is already displacing it's own mass of sea water. Antarctica and Greenland aren't floating and any melting here adds to the seas and oceans.

If all the ice in all the world melted sea levels would rise by 80.32 metres, most of which (72.96 metres) would come from the melting of Antractica.

In 2002 a half trillion ton block of ice broke off from Antarctica when the Larsen B Ice Shelf broke off.

It may seem strange but sea levels don't rise by equal amounts across the planet. In some places sea levels are more or less constant but in others they're rising at 10 times the average rate. In the Sundarman Delta sea levels are rising by 30mm a year.

Several island communities have already been forced to evacuate their islands because of rising sea levels, the most recent being the Carteret Islands in the Pacific. There may be other factors besides global warming involved, including the dynamiting or coral reefs. Areas currently threatened include Kenya, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, Maldives, Antigua and Bermuda.

Coastal towns and cities are at risk from rising sea levels including some of the world largest cities such as London, Los Angeles, New York, Boston, New Orleans, Charleston and Miami. Worldwide hundreds of millions could be forced to evacuate.

Increasing levels of CO2 entering the oceans is causing a drop in pH levels and this is adversely affecting some marine life including corals, plankton and shellfish. Recently pH levels have fallen from 8.3 to 8.2, they're expected to drop to 7.7 by the end of the century.

Grass now grows in parts of Antarctica.

Animals are migrating further north and south from the equator each year. Butterflies can now be found 200km further north than they previously existed.

The habitats of polar bears and emperor penguins is being threatened. The waters of the Hudson Bay for example, are now ice free for three weeks more each year than they were 30 years ago. In another 10 or 20 years there may no longer be polar bears in this region and within a hundred years they could be extinct.

Global warming means fewer people will die from cold related conditions such as hypothermia, it also means more people will die from heat related conditions such as heat stroke. Overall more will die.

35,000 people (maybe more) died during the 2003 heatwave in northern Europe; France was especially hard hit.

Warmer temperatures lead to an increase in air and water pollution thus increasing the risk to humans from infection and respiratory conditions such as asthma.

Warmer temperatures are conducive to the breeding and spread of rats, mice, other rodents, ticks, mosquitoes and other vectors for disease.

Rising sea levels lead to the contamination of groundwater rendering it undrinkable whilst at the same time higher temperatures lead to greater evaporation of fresh water thus leading to droughts.

In the last 100 years 50% of the world's glaciers outside the polar regions have melted. The effects of glacial melt include flooding, landslides, water shortages, avalanches and loss of habitat.

In Greenland the Kangerdlugssuaq Glacier is retreating by 40 metres a day and will soon disappear altogether.

A temperature rise of 2 or 3°C is expected to reduce global economic output by 3%, the worst case scenario predicts a decline of 20%.

A possible effect of global warming is the failure or slowing of the ocean conveyor belts or meridional overturning circulation.

The developing nations are expected to be the worst affected by global warming. Decreasing rainfall, drought, insect infestation and severe weather events will seriously impact on crop production leading to famine and starvation.

The most extensive report into climate change and global warming was conducted by the IPCC and concluded that temperature rises of between 1.8°C and 4.0° should be expected by the end of the 21st century.

In 2007 one person is dying every three minutes as a result of global warming, this figure is expected to double by 2020.

A quarter of the species of animals and plants could be extinct by 2050. Species that are threatened include penguin, bear, turtle, caribou, walrus, plankton, krill, whale, crab and seal.

Rising temperatures have a huge impact on food production, a 1°C rise equates to a 10% global loss in grain production and areas already facing food shortages will be hardest hit.

Some other impacts of global warming include: arctic warming, increased power outages, marine food chain disruption, changes to bird migration patterns, more wildfires, erosion, desertification, disappearing beaches, damage to tundra regions, impact on ozone layer, insect infestation, threat to boreal forests, coastal erosion, threat to mountain environments, loss of wetland and marshland habitats, decline in bird population and thawing of permafrost.

An average car produces up to 200 grams of emissions for every kilometre driven. Hybroid cars produce about half the amount.

Careful driving and keeping a vehicle properly maintained can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 30%.

The US is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases accounting for 24.3% of the world total, China is next at 14.5% followed by Russia 5.9%, India 5.1% and Japan 5.0%.

Per head of population (per capita) the US Virgin Islands produce the most greenhouse gases - 121.3 tons per person. Excluding countries where there are external influencing factors then Luxembourg is the highest per capital emitter producing 22.0 tons per person, the US is next at 19.8 tons then Australia 18.0 tons, Canada 17.9 tons and Estonia 13.6 tons. Chad is the least polluting with just 10kg per person.

One scheme put forward to reduce global warming involves moving the planet into a different orbit, one that's 1.5 million miles further from the sun.

Other schemes involve reducing the amount of sunlight by use of giant solar mirrors to reflect sunlight back into space, a global sunshade to divert sunlight from Earth, producing artificial clouds to block out sunlight or using rockets to depost sulphur dioxide in space and reflect back sunlight.

Other schemes are looking at reducing the amount of CO2 by removing it from the atmosphere using chemical processes or natural processes.

Every major oil company and every government in the world now accepts that global warming is a serious issue. Over 90% of the world's population agrees (based on a 2005 survey of 33,000 people in 30 countries).

The US is the country with the highest number of sceptics and a March 2007 Gallup Poll found that 16% of Americans weren't worried about global warming. This compares to 1% of Japanese and about 5% of Europeans. Nicaragua has the lowest number of sceptics - none out of the 1000+ who were surveyed.

Global warming was first put forward as a concept in 1811. In 1896 the link between greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and climate change was established. Scientists have been worried about global warming ever since, much longer than it's been a political issue.

The earth wobbles about like an imbalanced spinning top and over very long periods of time this contrinutes to global warming and cooling, these cycles are called Milankovitch Cycles.

There's a myth that global cooling was the 'in thing' back in the 1970's. Scientists studied solar varition and Milankovitch Cycles and accurately predicted they could cause the earth to cool in the distant future.

Answer 2

Well, as you know, Global Warming is gaining more and more popularity on news. But, Global Warming is just a theory. It hasnt been proved yet or if it is happening are we causing it or is it just a natural cycle. Ethanol is becoming a big topic.

Answer 3

If you wish to receive grant money for climate research, do you think that you'll get a cheque if you say," I need the grant, as I think that I can prove that the figures that the current paradigm is based upon are wrong" ? The great environmentalist, David Bellamy, has been silenced, and refused airtime. There is still no proven causative link between the amount of Co2 in the atmosphere, and an increase in global temperatures. The WWWF photographs of the polar bears swimming were taken in the Arctic summer; when the ice cap partially melts, as they couldn't get up to photograph in the winter. The ice was too thick! The East-Anglian uni research figures. "Oh! The figures don't match our expectations. Oh well. Keep quiet. Because we know that we are right." When the belief, and the faith is more important than squarely facing the legitimate doubts of a lot of non grant-supported scientists, science has been superceded by religious zealots. As Oliver Cromwell colourfully said." I pray thee, in the bowels of Christ, consider that thou mayest be wrong."

Answer 4

Let's set the records straight, we do not control global warming any more than we control the planet going into the so called Ice Age. There is nothing we can humanly do to make it change.

Answer 5

global warming

Answer 6

Yes, fact one: is that it is B.S. as the earth goes through cycles of temperature changes..it's in the fossil record.
Fact two: it makes a political issue out of nothing so Dem's can have something to bring to the table..
Fact three: 30 years ago the fear mongers said we were going into an ice age, that was bogus as well.....now, get a real job and be happy.

Answer 7

Global warming is nothing but a joke and a trend.

Answer 8

I have lived in Alaska for 25 years. I see it. You used to be able to drive up to Portage Glacier and see it. Now you have to get in a boat and go around the edge of the mountain to see it. The permafrost in Fairbanks started melting about 2 years ago and sink holes are forming. Collapsed some roads. It has been frozen for 1000's of years. The polar bears have no pack ice to swim out to while hunting for seals. They are starving to death and will be extinct in my lifetime.
I do not know if it is a natural weather cycle or caused by humans but it is very real, come and see for your self.

Answer 9

sure, what would you like to know?