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October 15, is blog action day on Global Warming. Many bloggers are uniting to bring attention to this issue. It is serious, real and frightening. Al Gore had it right in spite of a novelist who thought he knew more than the scientists.
When the scientists started talking about a change in our world a mistake was made. Someone called it Global Warming and the title caught on. It was a mistake because the skeptics seized on the fact that they had just endured one of the coldest winters ever recorded and they scoffed at such a thing as Global Warming. Scientists now call it by the correct title, Climate Change.
In parts of the world the winters are the coldest in recorded history while summers are becoming hotter. Hurricanes are more violent and other storms like tornadoes, dust storms, flooding and drought are more frequent and more prolonged.
Even terrible earthquakes like the one in Indonesia and Samoa that triggered the tsunami's are probably caused by the changing climate of mother earth. The ice caps are melting at an accelerated rate and the World is becoming a scary place.
Is it man made? I am not even close to being a rocket scientist so I don't have a clue, but I do know that man is certainly speeding it up. co2 in the atmosphere is provable and real. And that comes from the exhausts of your car and from the dirty smoke stacks of industries. Smog in the air should convince the ones who scoff at Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, if nothing else will.
Coal emits around 1.7 times as much carbon per unit of energy when burned as does natural gas and 1.25 times as much as oil. Natural gas gives off 50% of the carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, released by coal and 25% less carbon dioxide than oil, for the same amount of energy produced. Coal contains about 80 percent more carbon per unit of energy than gas does, and oil contains about 40 percent more. For the typical U.S. household, a metric ton of carbon equals about 10,000 miles of driving at 25 miles per gallon of gasoline or about one year of home heating using a natural gas-fired furnace or about four months of electricity from coal-fired generation. Carbon Dioxide Emitted from Cars
About 33% of U.S carbon dioxide emissions comes from the burning of gasoline in internal-combustion engines of cars and light trucks (minivans, sport utility vehicles, pick-up trucks, and jeeps).US Emissions Inventory 2006 page 8 Vehicles with poor gas mileage contribute the most to global warming.
Illegal Toxic Waste as Viewed From Space
It is real and it is serious. We are fouling our own nest and if we want to leave this planet to future generations we each have an obligation to do what we can to stop the destruction. We can push for clean energy like wind and solar. We can drive fuel efficient cars and urge the auto industry to hurry with affordable electric cars. We can even do small things like doing laundry in cold water (It comes out just as clean), air drying our clothes and buying energy efficient appliances and light bulbs.
Here is a link to a calculator to see how much you can save
Here is a link to the NASA site with more valuable information on the polar ice caps and the rising waters in the oceans.
We can all do our part and we really should.
12 comments:
I've just got round to reading your long and informative blog. What a worry it is! And we're probably never going to see the worst of it! I fear for my grandchildren.
In one way Australia is in a good position because we don't need much heat to warm houses or to dry clothes. On the other hand, WE SELL COAL!!!!!!
Your 'pollution from space ' picture may find its way onto my blog with a poem. I hope that's OK.
This is just superb, Darlene -- all this pertinent information in compact precise form with photos, links, everything. Thank you so much for taking the time to research this and share it here.
Good blog and subject to be concerned about. We don't know that we are making this happen, given the climate history of earth, but we may be contributing and we should do what we can anyway as it's better quality of life.
I only take exception with one point. There is no geological evidence that global climate change has any bearing on causing earthquakes which have been part of earth's geologic story all along. They might impact local weather after they happen and make some changes that way but they can't be blamed on climate in flux according to everything I have read from geologists.
Incidentally from what I know, the same thing is true with volcanoes which can impact weather and climate totally causing massive cooling if they throw a lot of ash up high, but are due to underground stresses and not air patterns.
Good Post! We bought 10 of Al Gore's DVD and gave them away as gifts when it came out. Of course we kept one for ourselves :)
Darlene, excellent post. Thank you for all the work you put into this. You are appreciated.
*Rinkley Rimes - Please do use the 'pollution from space'. I borrowed it from an article and it's in the public domain. We need power to keep cool here so energy is important for us in a different way.
*Jaored - Thank you so much.
*Rain - I got the information that climate change may be responsible for earthquakes and volcanic eruption from a science article, but it could be controversial.
* Looking to the Stars - Good for you. I'm glad you are taking it so seriously.
*One Woman's Journey - Thank you for your nice words.
You are such a smart woman! Dear Ms Hodgepodge . . for some reason you have not been popping up in my reader so I feel very guilty for not having visited sooner . . .Actually, the earthquakes aren't anything to do with global warming. They happen all the time and this particular 'rim' in the pacific is notoriously volatile. Earthquakes happen in 'clusters' and this year has been a cluster year. The problem is that the people worst affected live in poorly constructed housing and usually on flat, tidal areas so become very vulnerable to Tsunami and earthquake induced damage. Weather patterns are another story and I read just today that the arctic ice could be broken completely within 10 years. Already Caribou (reindeer) are suffering due to higher rainfall which ices over and prevents them from accessing the lichen they eat and in summer, the extra moisture and early springs cause mosquitos to give them hell and delay their migrations. Terribly sad. But good on you for participating in Blog Action Day. We might be individuals but together we are many and raising awareness is a great start. Doing something would be even better.
I did the quiz. I don't have a dishwasher. Rarely use my printer. I don't have aircon but I do use little bar heaters and electric fans in the summer. Water heaters are regulated here so you can't turn them up, just down. They are preset at 42C
*Baino- Turned out I wasn't so smart after all. I'm sorry that I read an opinion piece and took it for fact on the earthquake theory. Oops!
Climate change is a huge issue that we must deal with and your article really demonstrate this. However, while reading the international press I saw that most scientists, international ones that is, agree that the number one threat to the planet is overpopulation and climate change no. 2. Here in this country, overpopulation is not mentioned in the media as it is not a popular subject, even less so than climate change. My husband was invited (and I joined him) to the 1994 International Conference on Population in Cairo and many of the problems we encounter now were mentioned then. The planet cannot sustain the billions of people who will be added within the next 50 years. Please check on this and you will see what a threat it is.
*Vagabonde - You are right; over population is a big issue. I think we have it under control in the industrialized world, but third world countries need to face this issue. The heads of religions must address their medieval thinking on birth control.
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