No Climate Change No Action Necessary

February 9th, 2010

If Climate Change isn’t taking place then, this website, the world’s governments, hundred’s of NGOs, scores of scientists, and millions of people are wasting our time!

No action is necessary at all!

If that’s what you think, take a look at these two photos of Alaska from the US Geological Survey.

In a UK survey taken by Populus for the BBC during February 3 thro’ 4, 25% of people when asked…

‘From what you know and have heard, do you think that the Earth’s climate is changing and global warming taking place?’

…answered “NO.“

When asked this question…

‘Still thinking about climate change and global warming, based on however much or little you know about this, please say which of the following statements comes closest to your own view, even if none of them exactly describes what you think?’

…only 26% answered…

“Climate change is happening & is now established as largely man made.”

While 25% answered…

“Climate change is not happening.”

When asked about the consequences of climate change…

‘Would you say that, in general, the risks of climate change and its possible consequences have been presented proportionately, or do you think they have been understated, or do you think they have been exaggerated?’

…36% thought it had been exaggerated.

That’s massive scepticism in the UK equating to…

One quarter of the population thinking there is no global warming taking place
One third thinking that the risks have been exaggerated

What’s exaggerated by the two photos above? Does anyone know why glaciers retreat like this?

Rising Temperature, Rising Temperature, Rising Temperature!

Less snow fall and a lubricating layer of water between the base rock and the ice, equals less ice formation and greater ice loss at the face respectively.

Southern Hemisphere .

Down in the southern hemisphere melting ice is also a concern as reported in the NewScientist in January 2010.

The Pine Island glacier in western Antarctica may be past it’s tipping point when a massive collapse becomes inevitable.

It was first reported to be thinning in 2004, but the recently completed survey of the ice shelf in 3D showed that it had irreversibly passed the tipping point, where it will lose 50% of it’s ice in the next 100 years.

The consequences for global ocean levels is a rise 24 centimetres (0.8 feet).

The reason for the collapse is warming seawater which washes up beneath the ice shelf pushing the grounding line (the point where a floating ice shelf becomes a grounded ice sheet), further up the continental shelf.

The situation is exacerbated by the shape of the sea bed which rises to a lip, then drops again into a bowl before rising again proper to the shoreline. The survey found that once the ice has retreated beyond the lip, a rapid and irreversible loss of ice occurs.

The USGS and the UK Hadley center both predict a sea level rise, due to oceanic thermal expansion alone, of 1 to 2 metres (3 to 6.5 feet) by 2100, based on a global temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Imagine what effect this will have on an already under threat Antarctic ice shelf!

We Don’t Need Science To Confirm What We See .

These are observations of what is actually happening right now, forget whether the science is dodgy or not, this is actual physical evidence. Forget whether it’s man made or not, no one else has the capacity to slow down or halt global warming but us.

If you don’t think it’s important just think on this.

We are at the beginning of the effect right now. You think global warming is a natural phenomenon? You’re right! It keeps the Earth inhabitable, right again!

Have you ever heard of runaway global warming? I have and it occurred in the Cretaceous period when the polar ice caps melted and disappeared entirely.

There were lush sub-tropical forests at northern Alaskan latitudes!

The climate is a complex integration of feedback systems, some positive, some negative.

Take the albedo effect, which is a measure of the reflectivity of a surface. Fresh snow and ice reflects some 30% to 80+% of the suns energy right back out to space. Whereas seawater has a low albedo effect, only reflecting ~4%, and dark soil up to 15% of the suns energy.

When the climate is in balance the polar ice caps help regulate global temperature by reflecting just the right amount of the suns energy back to space. If however the global temperature experiences a rapid warming, then polar ice begins to shrink thus reflecting less energy back to space.

Less reflectivity equals more of the suns energy becomes absorbed in the troposphere, equals a higher global temperature. As more and more ice is lost warming becomes exaggerated in what’s known as a positive feedback loop.

So if you are a climate sceptic I ask you not to get bogged down in the ‘who is responsible’ but to look at such observations as shown here, then to ask yourself, ‘how do we stop this from happening’.

If you want to help prevent global warming becoming more of a news headline in the future, you can download my ‘100 Green Living Tips’ pdf to the right, to reduce your impact on the climate by curtailing your carbon footprint.