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Global Warming part of a "Climate Crisis" |
Human-caused global warming has been proven without doubt by Nobel Prize winning scientists.
A Climate Report by NCAR atmospheric scientist Dr. Kevin Trenberth
By Janice Mason of the Estes Park Trail-Gazette
published on April 2nd, 2008
According to scientist Dr. Kevin Trenberth, the damage to the atmosphere, to this point, is so severe that it will take 100 years to level off climate changes now being seen across the globe. And that’s if excessive carbon emissions halt today and no longer increase from this point on.
“Greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, do not wash out (of the atmosphere) in the lifetime of 100 years,” Trenberth said. “We’ve got very good evidence for that now.”
Trenberth gave an intriguing lecture on Tuesday at the Estes Park Museum, as part of a Sustainable Mountain Living group series. He is the head of the Climate Analysis Section and deputy director of the Global Dynamics Division at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. Trenberth explained the way the atmosphere reacts to global warming and why severe storms and drought are plaguing the planet.
To simplify, the greenhouse effect caused by global warming traps water vapor, storms collect moisture and create too much rain at any given time and create flooding. Drought occurs in the already arid areas of the planet with global warming causing fires, seen more frequently in the West, and reduced water levels. High temperatures create the perfect environment for the proliferation of pests, such as the pine beetle, and so on.
According to Trenberth, these occurrences and more are going to come at continued frequency. The spikes in temperature over the last five years, melting glacier ice and unbearable heat waves, are from the effects of carbon dioxide produced by modern lifestyles. That is why scientists are calling these changes currently being observed a “climate crisis.”
Not all changes in climate are gradual. In 2004, the water level of Lake Powell fell 100 feet due to drought conditions. In 2003, 30,000 people died in Europe as a result of a freakish heat wave.
The effects that are being seen now are from 100 years of pollution and little regulation. According to Trenberth, scientists have not seen levels of carbon dioxide this high in six million years, and it has been confirmed by these scientists that it is due to human activity.
“Unequivocal” is the word used in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report explaining the evidence that global warming is a product of human activity. Trenberth and his fellow IPCC scientists won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their findings.
So what are the answers? Trenberth said one solution is to “vote” for politicians that have the future of the planet and all its inhabitants in mind. One hundred and seventy-six counties, “excluding the United States,” have adopted the Kyoto Protocol, which contains the international objective of reducing greenhouse gasses that cause climate change. Unless leaders chose to adopt new environmental standards, things will continue to get worse in relation to climate change. Current climate developments won’t discontinue over night but the clock will be turned toward a brighter outlook for future generations if the climate crisis is taken seriously today.
One note in Trenberth’s slides said, “...we must adapt to climate change: we will adapt, whether unplanned (disruptive untold damage and loss of life), autonomously or planned.”
To learn more about what’s being done locally or to get involved, attend the next Sustainable Mountain Living meeting on Saturday, April 5, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. in the Hondius Room of the Estes Park Library.
The final lecture in the Sustainable Mountain Living four-part series, titled “Facing Limits: The 21st Century Challenges of Energy, Population and Climate Change,” will take place on April 22, at 7 p.m. at the Estes Park Museum. Michael Brownlee of Boulder will present “Relocalization: Making Friends with an Unthinkable Future.”
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