Articles & Resources

Global Warming: It Can't Be Ignored

The heat just can't be ignored. With all of the non-air-conditioned homeowners sweltering, swimming pool hour extensions and obligatory electricity conservation, one can fairly assume this has been an exceptionally hot summer.

The turn of the 20th century brought the Industrial Revolution and with it a warming trend. According to the National Academy of Sciences, the Earth's surface temperature has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past century, with accelerated warming during the past two decades, a pace which scientists predict will only accelerate with time.

Most experts agree that such extreme changes in the climate of the earth can be attributed to human activity. It is the burning of fossil fuels like gasoline, coal, and oil which emit the "greenhouse gases" responsible for the warming effect. The blanket of water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone and methane, which hangs in the atmosphere, helps maintain the comfortable temperature to which humans are accustomed. The rate at which carbon dioxide is emitted through the burning of coal, oil and natural gas has only made this greenhouse gas blanket unnaturally thick, trapping more heat than it ever has before.

Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases are likely to accelerate the rate of climate change. Scientists expect that the average global surface temperature could rise 1-4.5°F in the next fifty years, and 2.2-10°F in the next century, with regional variations. With the increase in temperature will come powerful storms, cyclones and hurricanes, flooding, extended heat and dry spells, the melting of glaciers and the rising of world sea levels.

These extremities in weather have already begun to occur. The number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled in the last 30 years, the flow of ice from glaciers in Greenland has more than doubled over the past decade and at least 279 species of plants and animals are already responding to global warming by moving closer to the poles.

There has been a tendency to ignore the crises however, despite the warning signs. True we humans lead busy and stressful lives, but ignoring the reality does not make it go away. The sooner action is taken the longer our species will last and the better our quality of life.

The average American generates about 15,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year from personal transportation, home energy use and from the energy used to produce all of the products and services we consume. Small changes to your daily routine, such as the following, can help tremendously to stop global warming:

• Move your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer
• Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner
• Unplug electronics from the wall when you're not using them
• Buy recycled paper products
• Plant a tree
• Buy locally grown and produced foods
• Avoid heavily packaged products
• Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible
• Keep your car tuned up
• When it is time for a new car, choose a more fuel efficient vehicle

For more ideas on how you can make a difference, visit www.climatecrisis.org.

Sources: American Institute of Physics, United Nations framework Convention on Climate Change, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, www.climatecrisis.org.