Friends -
So you think Climate Change is a big deal... provided you've gotten through Phase I*.  Here are eight more "boundaries" to contemplate.  I'm in Phase I on these.  Very interesting concept though... splitting up the problem gives us more breathing room in some areas allowing prioritization and concentration on "smaller" issues.

What to you think? TBrooke

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* is it real? »»» did we cause it? »»» what to do?

What's Ahead for Earth and Us

By S. T., on February 27th, 2010

“Three of nine boundaries – climate change, biodiversity and nitrogen fixation – have been exceeded.”

Unnaturally heating and cooling the planet (Image: Mauri Rautkari/Rex Features)

A hotter earth is a situation that that will lead to many other issues very soon, like lack of water and food, extinctions, change in air quality, and more.  In a  new article in New Scientist these issues are separated into nine individual challenges that people will have to soon deal with. (Never mind getting some people to even admit they exist). This particular list is about Earth’s nine “support systems” and how they are being threatened by human activity.

Every year or so someone puts together a list like this to bluntly point out to people, very clearly, what is at stake. In 2008 there was a list of the 9 critical tipping points we are approaching with climate change, and I have read others that are similar.   Which list is more important to you is probably based on whether or not you are concerned about the future effects of climate change, or are worried about the planet, or are worried about animals, etc.  I like this list because it emphasizes the bottom line of climate change:  how far can we push the earth’s systems before they will no longer support human life?  Personally, I’m not as worried about the particular animals or fish or trees as I am about people.  The planet will likely be OK no matter what we do to it, with new species evolving to take the place of others that go extinct, but it’s very possible that humans will cause their own extinction. If we ruin this planet, our only home, to the point where it can no longer support us, that’s it for us.  We have no where else to go.

Because there are so many people who deny climate change is  even happening right in front of their eyes and therefore pushing for no action at all, things could get very ugly in a few years.  The saddest thing of all is that it doesn’t have to be that way. If we were taking aggressive steps now to prepare for climate change’s worst effects and strongly curbing emissions, we could transition into a hotter world a little easier, and there would be less loss of life.  But it’s not happening that way.  Here is what to look out for in the coming years. Each segment leads to its own article.

The complete article:
What’s Ahead for Earth and Us

CONCLUSION

However you cut it, our life-support systems are not in good shape. Three of nine boundaries – climate change, biodiversity and nitrogen fixation – have been exceeded. We are fast approaching boundaries for the use of fresh water and land, and the ocean acidification boundary seems to be looming in some oceans. For two of the remaining three, we do not yet have the science to even guess where the boundaries are.

That leaves one piece of good news. Having come close to destroying the ozone layer, exposing both ourselves and ecosystems to dangerous ultraviolet radiation, we have successfully stepped back from the brink. The ozone hole is gradually healing. That lifeline has been grabbed. At least it shows action is possible – and can be successful.

Fred Pearce is New Scientist’s senior environment correspondent

Posted using ShareThis

Fwd: Too cold? Global Warming - yeah right

Larry -

I forwarded your EMail to the TBROOKEY blog and posted a comment.

TBrooke

Begin forwarded message:

- for "Draper Larry F." <draperlf@aol.com>

Global warming advocates ignore the boulders

By George F. Will

Sunday, February 21, 2010

New Climate Change Concerns are Real

New Climate Change Concerns are Real

Here are three articles illustrating the reality of climate change today.


TBrooke

The first story of concern is new today, and about melting in the Antarctic peninsula.
The second story of concern is about runaway climate change and how methane is contributing to it.
The third story on how countries are misjudging what must be done is equally frightening.

Climate Scientists Untrustworthy

Jim-

Could you point me to a reference for this?  There are so many unfounded accusations in the media today, put out by climate change deniers and those with vested interests, all of which have been proved false by the international scientific community.  

This deniers campaign by non-scientists has unfortunately  created a hugh obstacle for the average person to obtain the facts and realize the seriousness of this global problem.  You know, that for all the scientific data supporting climate change, collected over the last 30 years to be false, thousands of scientists from all over the world would have to be involved in some gigantic conspiracy.  It would be like trying to fool the world that the Apollo Project to the moon never happened.  All of the thousands of engineers (Including myself) spread among hundreds of companies across the country who worked in a vast development  network would have to had been a part of a massive scheme to fool the entire international press.  Impossible.  And what would be their motivation anyway?  Having worked with scientists all my career, I can tell you they make up one of  the most honest of professions.  The scientific method by nature keeps it this way where everyone is constantly checking each others work trying to uncover errors.

TBrooke

On Feb 21, 2010, at 10:59 AM, JAMES FRYE wrote:

Brooke, I'm always willing to discuss differences.  My problem is a mistrust of what I am reading.  Why? Recently it has been proven(?)* that climate data presented as evidence for global warming was not accurate, not complete, and not scientifically selected.  Yet everyone seemed to jump on that data as conclusive proof that the world is going to hell in a hand basket!  Is the world warming?  It could very well be.  Is the ice cap melting?  Probably.  Is this a danger to mankind?  Could be  What should I do?  If it makes sense, do it, if it doesn't forget it.  One thing that I have learned over the years, you can make data tell anything you want it to.  Jim Frye 

* my edit TBG

Too cold? Global Warming - yeah right

Friends -

Cold?  Of course, it's winter.  When our Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the Sun for several months each year... Duh.

Kinda puts the kibosh on Global Warming doesn't it.  Well, not really.  Read the recent essay below from Dr. James Hansen who is the world's leading expert on climatology.  Dr. Hansen is an adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of Columbia University and Columbia's Earth Institute, and director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Here are several excerpts from his essay:


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Note: Small print and graphics can be enlarged by clicking.

   Results.

   Figure 3 below shows the measured temperature increase of the planet from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to the present.   

• The past year, 2009, tied as the second warmest year in the last130 years.

• Global mean temperature was 0.57ºC (1.0ºF) warmer than the climatologic average.

• The global record warm year was 2005.

  Global cooling in the past decade?

  Why are some people so readily convinced of a false conclusion, that the world is really experiencing a cooling trend? That gullibility probably has a lot to do with regional short‐term temperature fluctuations, which are an order of magnitude larger than global average annual anomalies. Yet many lay people do understand the distinction between regional short‐term anomalies and global trends. 

   Figure 5a illustrates the global map of temperature anomalies in December 2009 . There were strong negative temperature anomalies at middle latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, as great as ‐8°C in Siberia, averaged over the month. But the temperature anomaly in the Arctic was as great as +7°C. The cold December perhaps reaffirmed an impression gained by Americans from the unusually cool 2009 summer. There was a large region in the United States and Canada in June‐July‐August with a negative temperature anomaly greater than 1°C, the largest negative anomaly on the planet.

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Here is the complete article:
If It’s That Warm, How Come It’s So Darned Cold? - James Hansen