Re: A CLIMATE-DESTABILIZATION COMPENDIUM

From: Machete (Laughing_at_frencharmy.com)
Date: 08/27/04 

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 04:07:29 -0500

Docotor Marijuana, you're back!! Got a spleef for me?
"Dr. Jai Maharaj" <usenet@mantra.com> wrote in message
news:HCzvgcjmhNgTMbY@gOAIXGuLAgx...
> Forwarded message from prez@usa-exile.org
>
> [ Subject: A Climate-Destabilization Compendium
> [ From: prez@usa-exile.org
> [ Date: 5 Aug 2004 22:44:12 -0500
>
>
> -From: Andy Caffrey <andy@starstreamcable.com>
> -Date: August 1, 2004 5:34:21 AM GMT+07:00
> -Subject: NRDC: New Science on Global Warming
>
> http://nrdc.org/globalWarming/fgwscience.asp
>
> A Climate-Destabilization Compendium
>
> Global Warming: In Depth: Index
>
> New Science on Global Warming
> A summary of recent findings on the changing global climate.
>
> In recent years, scientists have added considerably to the large
> body of evidence that shows human activity is changing the global
> climate, raising temperatures and affecting ecosystems around the
> world. Here we summarize the most significant findings of the last
> few years.
>
> Study of the global climate is one of our most complex scientific
> endeavors. Yet we now know more than we ever have about humankind's
> impact on earth's temperature. The news isn't good. Global average
> temperatures have increased by 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit over the last
> century -- warming faster than any time in the last 1,000 years. As a
> result, the 1990s was the hottest decade in the last 1,000 years.
>
> Today, most mainstream scientists and scientific bodies agree that
> heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) -- mainly from the
> burning of fossil fuels in cars, power plants, factories, and homes
> -- have caused temperatures to rise around the globe. Because
> emissions of heat-trapping gases are expected to increase, scientists
> predict temperatures to rise dramatically over the next century,
> resulting in serious harm to life on our planet. Below are some of
> the landmark scientific findings released over the last few years
> that outline humankind's impact on earth's climate. Given this
> growing body of evidence, we must act now to reduce pollution from
> cars and power plants. Our health and the health of our planet depend
> on it.
>
> Satellite Data Confirms Climate Change
> Nature 2004 429:7
> (May 2004)
>
> Scientists at the University of Washington and the Air Resources
> Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
> found that satellite measurements of lower atmospheric temperatures
> show as much global warming as surface temperature measurements when
> the data are analyzed correctly. The team made the discovery using a
> new technique for separating the signals originating from the lower
> and upper atmosphere. Previous efforts to measure temperature trends
> using satellites suggested that the lower atmosphere is warming more
> slowly than the earth's surface and have been repeatedly cited by
> global warming skeptics. The new study found that the upper
> atmosphere is cooling apparently due to increased heat trapping in
> the lower atmosphere and stratospheric ozone depletion.
>
> * For more information: Nature website, "Climate Change"
> study.
>
> Inside the Greenhouse: The Impacts of CO2 and Climate Change on
> Public Health in the Inner City
> Harvard Medical School
> (April 2004)
>
> A new report from the Center for Health and the Global Environment at
> Harvard Medical School shows that residents of the inner city are
> particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and global
> warming. The most direct threat is from heat waves. Exposure to
> excessive heat caused over 8,000 deaths in the United States between
> 1979 and 1999, and the incidence of heat waves is expected to double
> by the middle of this century if heat-trapping pollution is not
> curtailed. Higher temperatures also elevate the level of ozone smog
> in urban areas, which contributes to excess mortality and triggers
> more asthma attacks. In addition, higher concentrations of carbon
> dioxide, the primary heat-trapping pollutant that causes global
> warming, has been shown to increase the formation of allergenic
> pollen, which may increase the incidence of asthma and respiratory
> allergies.
>
> * For more information: Full report
>
> Climatology: Threatened Loss of the Greenland Ice-***
> Nature 2004 428: 616
> (April 2004)
>
> Unless heat-trapping emissions are reduced substantially, Greenland
> is likely to warm by at least 3 degrees Celsius by the year 2100,
> enough to trigger the complete and irreversible meltdown of the
> Greenland ice ***, reported scientists in the April 8 issue of
> Nature. The Greenland ice *** is second in size only to Antarctica,
> and its complete meltdown could raise the global average sea level by
> 7 meters (23 feet). While the complete collapse of the Greenland ice
> *** could take as long as 1,000 years, that process could become
> inevitable by the end of this century.
>
> * For more information: Nature website, "Greenland
> Ice-***" study.
>
> NOAA 2003 Climate Report
> National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
> (January 2004)
>
> The most recent data show that 2003 tied 2002 as the second hottest
> year on record, following 1998. The five hottest years have all
> occurred since 1997 and the 10 hottest since 1990. Extreme heat waves
> caused more than 20,000 deaths in Europe and more than 1500 deaths in
> India during 2003.
>
> * For more information: Full report
>
> Defusing the Global Warming Time Bomb
> Scientific American
> (March 2004)
>
> In the face of clear evidence that the earth's energy balance has
> already been altered by pollution, Dr. James Hansen remains
> optimistic about our ability to prevent dangerous global warming if
> we act now. The Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space
> Studies wrote in the March issue of Scientific American that global
> warming can be controlled if we begin earnestly to improve our energy
> efficiency and increase our use of renewable energy sources. Any
> delay would be dangerous, Hansen argues, because an additional
> warming of merely one degree Celsius could be enough to trigger the
> eventual disintegration of ice sheets in Greenland and parts of
> Antarctica.
>
> * For more information: Scientific American website
>
> Global Warming: The Imperatives for Action from the Science of Climate
> Change
> Sir David King, Chief Scientific Adviser to the U.K. Government;
> Address to the AAAS
> (February 2004)
>
> Sir David King, the chief scientific adviser to the British
> Government, sounded a similar note of urgency when he delivered a
> plenary address at the American Association for the Advancement of
> Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Seattle on Feb 13. The British
> government has committed to reducing its emissions of heat-trapping
> gases by 60 percent from 1990 levels by mid-century and is urging
> other industrialized countries to adopt the same goal. Sir David
> emphasized that the international community needs to work together
> immediately, not only to stabilize the level of heat-trapping
> greenhouse gases, but also to develop alternative technologies in
> order to move away from our dependence on fossil fuels.
>
> In his article published in the January 9, 2004, issue of Science Sir
> David brings optimism by pointing out that reducing carbon emissions
> "does not necessarily make us poorer. Between 1990 and 2000, Great
> Britain's economy grew by 30 percent, employment increased by 4.8
> percent, and our greenhouse gas emissions intensity fell by 30
> percent." However, he stressed that delaying action will only make it
> "more disruptive and more expensive" to deal with global warming.
>
> * For more information: British Embassy website
>
> The Effects of Climate Change on Water Resources in the West
> Climatic Change 62 (1-3): 1-11
> (January 2004)
> As the West Goes Dry
> Science 2004 303: 1124-1127
> (February 2004)
>
> The American West will have more wintertime floods and summertime
> droughts if the climate continues to warm, according to scientists
> reporting in the January issue of the journal Climatic Change. Over
> the past 50 years, total snow accumulation in some locations in the
> Cascade Mountains in Oregon and Washington has dropped by 60 percent
> while spring melt is occurring earlier, with spring runoff in streams
> throughout California's Sierra Nevada running as much as three weeks
> earlier than it did in 1948.
>
> Researchers predict that over the next 50 years, precipitation over
> the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada will fall more as rain than snow
> in winter, leading to a further decrease in snow accumulation by 30
> percent to 40 percent and an increased risk of wintertime floods.
>
> Throughout the West, higher temperatures will decrease snowpack and
> cause spring runoff to start 30 to 40 days earlier than it does
> today. A smaller snow reservoir and earlier spring runoff mean that
> there will be less water to last through the summer. According to an
> article published in the February 20, 2004, issue of Science, drier
> summers are predicted to cause farmland values to drop by more than
> 15 percent in California. Fire danger is also expected to soar,
> doubling the mean area burned over the next 80 years.
>
> * For more information: Climatic Change website,
> article abstract; Science Magazine website, article abstract
>
> Extinction Risk from Climate Change
> Nature 2004 427:145-148
> (January 2004)
>
> This study, the first comprehensive assessment of the extinction risk
> from global warming, found that more than 1 million species could be
> committed to extinction by 2050 if global warming pollution is not
> curtailed. This ranks global warming alongside direct habitat
> destruction as the greatest threats to global biodiversity. The
> 19-member research team featured expertise on ecosystems in five
> diverse regions: Mexico's Chihuahuan Desert; Amazonia; Europe; South
> Africa's Cape Floristic Region; and Queensland, Australia. The
> scientists used information on the climate tolerances of species and
> the well-known relationship between species diversity and habitat
> area to project the effects of global warming under various
> assumptions. Their mid-range estimates indicated that 24 percent of
> existing species would eventually become extinct due to climate
> change projected to occur by 2050. Fortunately this risk could be
> significantly reduced by acting soon to reduce emissions of carbon
> dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, according to the study.
>
> * For more information: Nature website, abstract of
> "Extinction Risk" study
>
> Modern Global Climate Change
> Science 2003 302: 1719-1723
> (December 2003)
>
> Two prominent U.S. government scientists, Dr. Thomas Karl of the
> National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration and Dr. Kevin
> Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, published
> a paper in the December 5th issue of Science concluding that human
> influences are the dominant factor in recent global warming and that
> "in the absence of climate mitigation policies . . . the likely
> result is more frequent heat waves, droughts, extreme precipitation
> events and related impacts [such as] wildfires, heat stress,
> vegetation changes and sea-level rise."
>
> * For more information: Abstract | Full Text
>
> Human Impacts on Climate
> American Geophysical Union
> (December 2003)
>
> The American Geophysical Union, the largest scientific organization
> of earth scientists, issued a new position statement on December
> 16th, concluding that "Scientific evidence strongly indicates that
> natural influences cannot explain the rapid increase in global
> near-surface temperatures observed during the second half of the 20th
> century." The drafting committee for this consensus statement
> included John Christy, whose work to measure atmospheric temperatures
> using satellites is often cited by global warming naysayers.
>
> * For more information: Full statement on climate change
>
> Offsetting the Radiative Benefit of Ocean Iron Fertilization by
> Enhancing N2O Emissions
> Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 30, no. 24, 2249
> (December 2003)
>
> In recent years, researchers have been looking for ways to remove
> carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it somewhere where
> it cannot contribute to global warming. One hypothesis has been that
> "fertilizing" the ocean with extra iron would stimulate phytoplankton
> in the ocean to absorb more carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.
> Adding iron to the ocean will not reduce global warming, however,
> according to a paper by Xin Jin and Nicolas Gruber in the December
> 15, 2003, issue of Geophysical Research Letters. As phytoplankton
> remove extra carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in response to iron
> fertilization, they also release nitrous oxide, a much more powerful
> greenhouse gas, which offsets any benefits from absorbing carbon
> dioxide.
>
> * For more information: Geophysical Research Letters website
>
> An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United
> States National Security
> U.S. Department of Defense
> (October 2003)
>
> This Defense Department study, obtained by the media in February
> 2004, looked at the impact of abrupt climate change on national
> security. Abrupt climate change is a worst-case scenario, which
> scientists consider a plausible, though uncertain, consequence of
> global warming. It draws heavily from a National Academy of Sciences
> report published in 2002 which said the likelihood of crossing a
> threshold that triggers abrupt climate change grows when the climate
> is pushed hardest by rapid loading of the atmosphere with
> heat-trapping pollution.
>
> The authors of the report ordered by the Pentagon say that such a
> scenario could lead to global food and water shortages that would
> drive widespread migrations and border conflicts worldwide. While
> scientists believe this extreme scenario has a low probability, the
> serious economic, health, and environmental effects expected from
> mainstream mid-range global warming forecasts are much more certain
> and fully support prompt action to cut heat-trapping emissions. The
> very high consequences that would result from the scenarios reported
> to the Pentagon reinforce the importance of action now to reduce
> these emissions.
>
> * For more information: Report on Environmental Media
> Services website
>
> Fingerprints of Global Warming on Wild Animals and Plants
> A Globally Coherent Fingerprint of Climate Change Impacts Across
> Natural Systems
> Nature v. 421: 37-42; 57-60
> (January 2003)
>
> The relatively small global warming that has occurred to date has
> already changed the habits or forced significant shifts in the range
> of many species of birds, insects, fish and plants, according to the
> authors of these two studies published in the prominent scientific
> journal Nature . Such altered habits and forced moves -- to
> everything from English butterflies, California Starfish, Estonian
> birds, and Alpine herbs, could seriously disrupt a wide array of
> ecosystems, the studies' authors said. On average, the species'
> geographic ranges have shifted toward the poles at a rate of 4 miles
> per decade and the species' spring events have shifted earlier by 2
> days per decade. The breadth of data covered in the reports allowed
> the authors to express their findings with a far greater certainty
> than they could have a decade ago, they said.
>
> The news is especially alarming considering such shifts have occurred
> with an average increase of only 1 degree Fahrenheit over the last
> century. "If we're already seeing such dramatic changes [among
> species], it's really pretty frightening to think what we might see
> in the next 100 years," Dr. Terry L. Root, a Stanford University
> ecologist and lead author of one of the reports, told The New York
> Times.
>
> Scientists predict average global temperatures during the 21st
> century could jump as much as 10 degrees if we do not cut emissions
> of the heat-trapping gases that cause global warming. The studies
> provide the latest compelling evidence that we must cut emissions of
> heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide to avoid widespread
> ecological disruption. They were conducted by researchers at
> Stanford, Wesleyan and the University of Texas, among others.
>
> * For more information: Nature website, abstract of
> "Fingerprints" study; abstract of "Globally Coherent" study
>
> Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapses
> National Snow and Ice Data Center
> Satellite Spies on Doomed Antarctic Ice Shelf
> British Antarctic Survey
> (March 2002)
>
> Scientists say the dramatic disintegration of a Rhode Island-sized
> ice chunk off the Antarctic Peninsula earlier this year is most
> likely the result of global warming. "With the disappearance of ice
> shelves that have existed for thousands of years, you rather rapidly
> run out of other explanations," Dr. Theodore A. Scambos, a
> glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, told The New
> York Times after the Larsen B shelf collapsed. ("Large Ice Shelf in
> Antarctica Disintegrates at Great Speed," March 20, 2002.) Scambos
> and other researchers said it was the first time in thousands of
> years that the east coast of Antarctica had seen such sharp rises in
> temperature and dramatic ice loss. Over the last 50 years, average
> temperatures in the Antarctica Peninsula have risen by 4.5 degrees
> Fahrenheit (2.5 degrees Celsius), four times the global average. The
> unprecedented warming has led to a pattern of ice shelve loss on the
> eastern side of the Peninsula not seen in 12,000 years, researchers
> said. Scientists said they were also shocked by the speed with which
> the Larsen B shelf disintegrated -- 1,200 square miles (3,000 square
> kilometers) in 35 days.
>
> * For more information: Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapses
> (NSIDC website); Satellite Spies on Doomed Antarctic Ice Shelf (BAS
> website)
>
> Other recent studies found cooling in central Antarctica, including a
> January 13, 2002 report in Nature (Peter T. Doran) and the January
> 18, 2002 issue of Science Magazine (Slawek Tulaczyk). Critics have
> used these studies to claim global warming is not taking place.
> However, the authors of the Science and Nature studies reject such
> claims. Variations in temperature will exist across any large
> landmass. The researchers add that their data shows only that the
> effects of global warming on Antarctica may prove harder to forecast
> than anticipated. Doran told the San Francisco Chronicle that,
> contrary to the insinuations, "global warming is real and happening
> right now." ("Media Goofed on Antarctic Data," February 4, 2002.)
>
> Climate of 2001 - Annual Review
> National Climate Data Center
> WMO Statement on the Status of the Global Climate in 2001
> World Meteorological Organization
> (December 2001)
>
> Both these scientific bodies found earth's temperature for 2001 to be
> the second hottest on record. In addition, nine of the 10 warmest
> years since measurements were first kept in 1860 have occurred since
> 1990, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The
> WMO also found that temperatures are currently rising three times as
> fast as in the early 20th century. The agency attributed much of the
> warming to heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide caused by the
> burning of fossil fuels. "There are skeptics on everything, but
> certainly the evidence we have today shows we do have global warming,
> and that most of this is due to human action," Ken Davidson, the
> director of the WMO's climate program told The New York Times after
> the release of the report. The hottest year on record, according to
> the organizations, was 1998, when average global temperatures were
> 58.1 degrees Fahrenheit. Average temperature for 2001 was 57.8
> degrees, according to the National Climatic Data Center.
>
> * For more information: NCDC website; WMO website
>
> Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions
> National Academy of Sciences
> (June 2001)
>
> This report was requested by President Bush to determine whether
> mankind's actions were causing global warming. The answer was a
> resounding 'yes.' The blue ribbon panel found that "greenhouse gases
> are accumulating in earth's atmosphere as a result of human
> activities, causing surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean
> temperatures to rise." "Temperatures are, in fact, rising," the
> report adds. The unanimous 11-member panel, which included previous
> skeptics about global warming, said increasing temperatures posed a
> problem to humans and ecosystems around the globe. They also said the
> problem was getting worse. In addition, the panel stated scientific
> confidence was "higher today than it was 10 or even 5 years ago" that
> increased greenhouse gas concentrations were to blame for earth's one
> degree temperature increase over the last 50 years. Human-induced
> warming and associated sea level rise are expected to continue
> through the 21st century, the group said, and national policy
> decisions made now will influence the extent of the damage suffered
> by humans and ecosystems later in this century.
>
> * For more information: Full study
>
> Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis
> Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
> Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
> (January and February 2001)
>
> This United Nations-sanctioned panel of hundreds of scientists
> released two landmark reports on climate change at the beginning of
> 2001. The first, known as the Working Group I Report on the
> scientific basis of climate change, states unequivocally that
> pollution (mainly from the burning of fossil fuels) causes climate
> change. "Emissions of greenhouse gases...due to human activities
> continue to alter the atmosphere in ways that are expected to affect
> the climate," the study says. Global warming has caused sea levels to
> rise, ocean heat content to increase, and snow cover and ice extent
> to decrease, according to the study. This and other evidence led the
> panel to conclude that "there is new and stronger evidence that most
> of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to
> human activities." The report also predicts that earth's average
> temperature could rise by 3 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next
> 100 years. That increase would mark the most rapid change in 10
> millennia. It would also be as much as 60 percent higher than the
> IPCC predicted less than six years ago. The study found that warming
> in the 20th century was most likely the greatest of the last 1,000
> years, and that the 1990s was the hottest decade of the last
> millennium.
>
> The second report, "Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation and
> Vulnerability," is the most comprehensive look yet at the existing
> and long-term effects of global warming. It predicts that rising
> temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels could cause
> large-scale and irreversible climate changes. Those changes include
> altered ocean currents, slowed circulation of warm water in the North
> Atlantic and a vast reduction of mountain glaciers and the Greenland
> ice ***. The study also warns of savage floods, disrupted water
> supplies, droughts, violent storms and the spread of cholera and
> malaria as temperatures rise over the next century. Poor countries,
> particularly those in Latin America, Africa and Asia would bear most
> of the burden of extreme climate changes, which would further widen
> the gap between poor nations and rich ones, the report concludes.
> "Most of earth's people will be on the losing side," IPCC Co-Chair
> and Harvard environmental scientist James McCarthy said of the
> study's findings.
>
> * For more information: IPCC website
>
> Climate Change Impacts on the United States
> National Assessment Synthesis Team
> (December 2000)
>
> This study, ordered by Congress in 1990, offers the first
> comprehensive assessment of how human-induced global warming will
> affect the United States. The forecast is gloomy. "Increasingly,
> there will be significant climate-related changes that will effect
> each one of us," the study states. According to the report, if we
> don't curb our emissions of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide,
> temperatures will rise between 5 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the
> next century. That increase will cause, for example, alpine meadows
> in the Rocky Mountains to disappear, sugar maple trees to vanish in
> the Northeast, and greater risk from storm surges in the Southeast.
> Rising temperatures will also exacerbate water shortages (especially
> in the West) and cause New York City to steam in the summer like
> Atlanta does now. Other likely impacts: coastal erosion, destructive
> storm surges and the disappearance of barrier islands, all due to
> rising sea levels.
>
> * For more information: Full study
>
> Climate Extremes: Observations Modeling and Impacts
> Science v. 289: 2068-2074
> (September 2000)
>
> Extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, heat waves and heavy
> rainfall are expected to increase over the next 100 years, according
> to a team of scientists from the National Climatic Data Center. Lead
> author David Easterling notes that these changes will continue to
> increase with the rise of "ever greater amounts of GHGs in the
> atmosphere." Easterling and his colleagues reached their conclusion
> after reviewing hundreds of studies that used data and climate models
> to examine past and future changes in climate extremes. The report
> found that such extreme events will cause sharply increased financial
> losses in the United States and are likely to lead to the extinction
> of more plant and animal species.
>
> * For more information: Extreme Weather Events to
> Continue and Likely Increase; Effects on Society More Intense (NOAA
> website)
>
> Causes of Climate Change Over the Past 1,000 Years
> Science v. 289:270-277
> (July 2000)
>
> Humans are the dominant force behind the sharp global warming trend
> seen in the 20th century, according to this analysis of the climate
> over the last 1,000 years. The report found that natural factors like
> volcanic eruptions and fluctuations in sunshine, which were powerful
> influences on temperatures in past centuries, can account for only 25
> percent of the warming since 1900. The rest of the warming was caused
> by human activity, particularly rising levels of carbon dioxide and
> other heat-trapping gases, according to the study's author, Texas A&M
> geologist Thomas J. Crowley. Crowley notes that "natural variability
> plays only a subsidiary role in the 20th century warming and that the
> most parsimonious explanation for most of the warming is that it is
> due to the anthropogenic increase in greenhouse gases" (GHGs). The
> study presents the most direct link to date between people and the
> 1.1 degree Fahrenheit rise in average global temperatures over the
> last 100 years.
>
> * For more information: Full study
>
> Last revised 6/22/04
> Natural Resources Defense Council
>
> End of forwarded message from prez@usa-exile.org
>
> Jai Maharaj
> http://www.mantra.com/jai
> Om Shanti
>
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>
> The terrorist mission of Jesus stated in the Christian bible:
>
> "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth:
> I came not so send peace, but a sword.
> "For I am come to set a man at variance against his
> father, and the daughter against her mother, and the
> daughter in law against her mother in law.
> "And a man's foes shall be they of his own
> household.
> - Matthew 10:34-36.
>
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