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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI15052589/00001
Notes
- Scope and Content:
- Evidence is mounting that our planet is undergoing rapid
and troubling change. In short, this is what is happening:
1) Average global temperature is rising. In the past
100 years the average temperature on Earth’s surface
has increased 0.74° C (1.3° F); 11 of the last 12 years
rank among the hottest on record since 1850 (IPCC,
2007). The current rate of warming is faster than anything
detected for thousands of years.
2) Billions of tons of greenhouse gases blanket the globe.
Emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide
— so-called greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere
— have been rising since the start of the Industrial
Revolution, and their concentration in the atmosphere is
now more than 70 percent higher than pre-industrial
levels. Combustion of fossil fuels such as coal account for
most emissions in the United States (U.S. EPA, 2006).
3) Ecosystems are changing. Blossoms and leaves are
appearing earlier in the spring, birds are migrating and
reproducing earlier, and winters are no longer cold enough
to control insect and other pests. High alpine species have
nowhere higher to go, and polar species are running out of
ice. Invasive species are more prevalent. (Parmesan, 2006).
4) Weather is less predictable and more extreme.
Droughts, heat waves, floods, and intense hurricanes
have all increased in many locations (IPCC, 2007).
5) Glaciers and snow packs are disappearing.
The famed snows of Kilimanjaro will be gone by
2020 (Thompson et al., 2002), ski resorts in the
Alps are canceling competitions due to lack of snow
(Burke, 2006), and Glacier National Park will be
largely glacier-free by 2030 (Hall and Fagre, 2003).
6) Arctic sea ice is thinning and retreating.
Satellite images document a rapid decrease in the
extent of sea ice across the Arctic (IPCC, 2007).
Native people say it’s no longer safe to hunt on
the unstable ice, and there’s not enough sea ice
along the coasts to protect communities from fall
and spring storms.
7) Sea level is rising. Since 1900, sea level has been
rising ten times faster than over the past two millennia
(IPCC 2007, IPCC 2001a).
8) The ocean is becoming more acidic. As carbon
dioxide reacts with seawater, acidity increases, making
it more difficult for marine animals like corals and
clams to create and maintain calcium carbonate shells
and skeletons. Acidification is so rapid in the southern
ocean that within the next 100 years shell-building
animals may be unable to survive (Raven et al. 2005).
What happens to Earth’s climate in the next few
centuries depends to a large extent on decisions that
we as individuals, organizations, and governments
make in the next decade.
There is a growing scientific consensus that by stabilizing
atmospheric carbon dioxide at 450 parts per million
by 2100 we can avert severe damage to some coral reef
systems and probably prevent catastrophic jumps in sea
level that would result from disintegration of large land
ice sheets (O’Neill and Oppenheimer, 2002).
If we start now, achieving this goal is possible without
draconian measures, scientists say. Options ranging
from capping industrial emissions to broad use of
more fuel-efficient vehicles to increased reliance on
alternative energy sources could, if applied together,
keep emissions in check for the next 50 years (Pacala
and Socolow, 2004), buying us time to develop safe,
feasible technologies for even greater reductions.
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Florida International University
- Rights Management:
- Please contact the owning institution for licensing and permissions. It is the user's responsibility to ensure use does not violate any third party rights.
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