A lot of the latest research can be found at this frequently updated blog site –
A project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.
Heat-trapping greenhouse gases are at unprecedented levels, and the paleoclimate record suggests that even slightly higher levels are untenable:
In 2009, the scientific literature caught up with what top climate scientists have been saying privately for a few years now:
"None of the handful of mis-statements (out of hundreds and hundreds of unchallenged statements) remotely undermines the conclusion that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal” and that most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-twentieth century is very likely due to observed increase in anthropogenic [human caused] greenhouse gas concentrations."
Physicist John Holdren – “it is too late to avoid dangerous anthropogenic warming of the planet. Now the only question is whether we can avoid unmitigated catastrophe.”
Global warming and cooling are naturally occurring cyclical events that have been occurring since the beginning of time. They are due to various combinations of events, e.g. tectonic activity, solar cycles, and changes in the earth's rotation and magnetic field. Some cycles involve a partial reduction of glaciation and some a complete glacial meltdown. Green warming gasses are so named because it is scientifically known that in certain conditions they trap heat into the earth’s atmosphere. Presented with evidence that large amounts of CO2 and other g.w.g.’s have occurred in the planet’s atmosphere the geological past without a consequent warming effect need to be viewed with the understanding that other conditions were completely different then. There may have been other chemicals in the atmosphere which reflected more heat away for example, and different life forms – such as algae and bacteria also have different effects on the climate.
There is irrefutable evidence that glaciation is reducing, sea levels are rising and deserts are expanding. The correlation between human industrialisation – in the g.w.g. emitting form that it has taken - and planetary warming is convincing enough for us to at the very least take action to reduce these emissions as much as possible just in case. And if the earth is warming due to other factors this simply makes it all the more important that we to not add to this. The more we eliminate warming caused by humans the less damage will be done in the shorter term, and long term we are more likely to still have a habitable planet.
The Lancet and the British Medical Journal recently reported to governments that climate change is already causing sea water level rises and desertification which means loss of arable land and fresh water shortages. These and other effects of climate change, such as ferocious storms, are increasing with a consequent increase of famine and disease, and they predict a global health catastrophe. They recommend the use of clean energy sources and reducing meat consumption. The meat industry produces a large proportion of green house gas from the animals and the industrial methods used to farm and to market them. Cheap animal feed (soya) imported from South America and else where is also a cause of deforestation, which, when so much forest has already been lost is tragic in itself and a major cause of species loss – but also adds massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. It also entails forcing native people from their homes.
Reduction of meat consumption is generally helpful because farm animals (as secondary producers) take much more energy to produce than plant foods eaten directly. It is possible however for those animals that are consumed to graze and/or have locally grown organic feed (according to type), but instead, taxes are presently used to subsidise methods which involve deforestation, abuses of human rights, high chemical use, high food mileage, the suffering of animals in factory farms, and the destruction of communities as smaller businesses cannot compete. This happens because
in the present economic system these methods are ‘cheaper’ and due to fact that
in the present economic system greater financial wealth means greater lobbying power for multinational agri-business and the supermarkets that they supply. This is one example of how capitalism produces damaging practices and locks them into place. Powerful economic groups also support climate change denial and
human cause denial in the media to protect their capital investments and profits.
Fossil fuel use is toxic to our environment. With regard to climate change the main effects that it has are:
1) Global Dimming.
Fossil fuel use, as well as producing greenhouse gases, creates other pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, soot, and ash which change the properties of clouds. Clouds are formed when water droplets are seeded by air-borne particles, such as pollen. Polluted air results in clouds with larger number of droplets than unpolluted clouds. This then makes those clouds more reflective. More of the sun’s heat and energy is therefore reflected back into space.
Global dimming is hiding the true power of Global Warming - but it is no savior. The pollutants that lead to global dimming also lead to, for example, smog, respiratory problems, and acid rain. Also, climatologists believe that the reflection of heat has made waters in the northern hemisphere cooler. As a result, less rain has formed in key areas and crucial rainfall has failed to arrive over the Sahel in Northern Africa. In the 1970s and 1980s, massive famines were caused by failed rains. Climatologists had never quite understood
why they had failed, however, global dimming models strongly suggest that “
what came out of our exhaust pipes and power stations contributed to the deaths of a million people in Africa, and afflicted 50 million more with hunger and starvation.” And billions may be devastatingly affected in the future. The Asian monsoons bring rainfall to half the world’s population. Climatologists are stressing that
the roots of both global dimming causing pollutants and global warming causing greenhouse gases have to be dealt with together and
“rapidly”; “we are running out of time.” We have to change our way of life to avoid massive environmental damage and possible extinction. This has been the message for over 20 years, but little has actually been done, because the present power structures and economic system resist the necessary changes.
Facts ref:
http://www.globalissues.org/EnvIssues/GlobalWarming/globaldimming.asp
2) Global warming.
Global warming is causing the Gulf Stream to be cut off by melt water from the North Pole. Melt water from the north is pushing the Gulf Stream south. The Gulf Stream is a major ocean current that flows to our shores from the Caribbean. It prevents Britain and Ireland being a much colder countries. They are actually on the same latitude as Newfoundland. Colder currents are already being experienced in the sea around these coasts.
Although the temperature of the planet as a whole is rising, the more frequent cold winds and rain clouds in this region mask the increased heat. Heat is also absorbed into the sea – which would otherwise be much colder due to the melt water from the north. So the general temperature often seems not much different. The strength and direction of the wind, however, is much more obviously different - as are the rain patterns which are frequently unseasonable – and more often come in the form of torrential down pours.
Ecosystems are complex, for example:
i) Extra carbon dioxide in the air is not only dangerous because of the warming effect. Together with sulphur dioxides from industry, more CO2 is being absorbed into the oceans, forming acids which are eroding the coral reefs, which are basic to the ocean food chain.
ii) Although emissions from airplanes form a smaller percentage of the human produced total than those produced by the meat industry, the emissions have a high impact because of where they are delivered into the atmosphere.
iii) What might be considered a small rise in global temperature can have massive knock-on effects. In particular, research shows that vast East Siberian arctic shelf methane stores are already destabilizing and venting. Scientists learned last year that the permafrost contains
about twice as much carbon as contained in the atmosphere, much of which would be released as methane. Methane is about 25 times more potent a heat-trapping gas than CO2 over a 100 year time horizon,
but about 72 times more potent over 20 years.
Methane release from the melting of the
once perma-frost is the most dangerous amplifying feedback in the entire carbon cycle. The release of even a fraction of the methane stored in the shelf could trigger abrupt climate warming. For more on this see:
http://climateprogress.org/2010/03/04/science-nsf-tundra-permafrost-methane-east-siberian-arctic-shelf-venting
Other carbon-cycle feedbacks that threaten to amplify the impacts of human-caused emissions:
Indeed, the best evidence is that the climate is now being driven by amplifying feedbacks.
Of course, global warming gasses are not the only pollutants that human activity is producing. Fossil fuels, particularly oil and coal also cause widespread pollution where they are accessed, as well as structural environmental devastation such a mountain top removal. There are also the problems of oils spills and ships cleaning tanks at sea. World wide, toxic substances are routinely used and produced as waste products in agriculture and in manufacturing, for example, in the making of plastics - which is also part of the oil industry. The sun is more dangerous to us because of depletion of the o-zone layer by C.F.C.s. This is causing a much higher rate of skin cancer. I have heard that the o-zone layer shows signs of repair - but has a way to go yet to be as protective as it used to be.
Human activity is causing a very high rate of extinction of the earth's species, either directly due to over fishing for example, or indirectly through environmental damage.1998 survey by the American Museum of Natural History found that 70% of biologists view the present era as part of a mass extinction event, on a par with the extinction of the dinosaurs. The extinctions show the damage to our living environment and also impact on us directly. In particular the bee, a major pollinator, is in trouble.
At the moment, the way that many people are trying to make a good life for themselves, despite some apparent success, they are actually destroying it. We cannot separate ourselves and what we do from the rest of the world; and we cannot benefit ourselves in isolation. Although we have to concentrate on projects in hand, it is not difficult to look around occasionally, and check that we are not harming the world by what we are using, how it comes to us, how we are using it and how we dispose of it; or by what we are producing (including the by-products e.g., emissions). In this way we find better ways of doing things that are much more enriching. The advantages to the environment of reducing car travel for example, by cycling/walking/working nearer to home or at home, come with the advantages of reducing the time and energy wasted on unhealthy forms of traveling, and increasing the time that we have for exercise and for creating and enjoying more coherent, supportive, and safe communities.
By creating a healthy world we inevitably benefit ourselves. To do this we have to face the truth and to do what needs to be done. Of course, any one who has tried to make a healthier, fairer world will have found themselves soon bumping up against the apparently immovable object of the many manifestations of capitalism. The minority ownership/power and profit driven methods of capitalism are presently preventing healthy development on a massive scale. It is thus essential for life to remove capitalism and to replace it with the common ownership and thus real democracy of socialism. This enables our healthy development because communities then have the power to organize themselves for their own benefit. The establishment of socialism is the irresistible force that will sweep away the unnecessary and crippling constraints imposed by capitalism, and make our best hopes possible. However there are also general lifestyle changes that we can make now that will channel energy into, rather than diverting it away from this task.
As it is, things will probably get worse before they get better, but by changing to socialism, and with healthy practices,
the less bad things will get, and
the sooner they will come good.