The majority of the scientific community believes that global warming is a real threat to the world as we know it today. They believe that global warming mostly results from the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from human activities such as industrial processes, fossil fuel combustion, and deforestation.

There are many causes of global warming. One cause is carbon dioxide that is made from the burning of fossil fuels from power plants for the purpose of electricity generation. Coal makes up 93% of these emissions. Coal emits 1.7 times more carbon per unit of energy when burned than natural gas and 1.25 times more carbon than oil. Consequently, natural gas gives off 50% less carbon dioxide for the same amount of energy produced. Another cause is carbon dioxide that is made from the burning of gasoline in internal-combustion engines of cars, minivans, sport utility vehicles, pick-up trucks, and jeeps. Poor gas mileage is considered the main culprit here. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2000 Fuel Economy Guide, a new Dodge Durango sports utility vehicle (with a 5.9 liter engine) that gets 12 miles per gallon in the city will emit around 800 pounds of carbon dioxide over a distance of 500 city miles; this translates to 19.6 pounds of carbon dioxide emitted into the air for every gallon of gas a vehicle consumes.

Another cause of global warming is carbon dioxide that is made from commercial trucks, contributing another 13% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.

Carbon dioxide that is made from airplanes is another cause of global warming - the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that aviation causes 3.5% of global warming, with a projection that it will rise to 15% by 2050.

Another cause of climate warming is carbon dioxide that is emitted by the structure of buildings, accounting for another 12% of carbon dioxide emissions.

Methane is another cause of climate warming, as methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. According to the IPCC, methane is 20 times more effective than CO2 in trapping heat in the atmosphere. US Emissions Inventory 2004 levels of atmospheric methane have risen 145% in the last 100 years. Sources of this rise in methane include rice paddies, bovine flatulence, bacteria in bogs, and fossil fuel production.

Another cause of global warming is nitrous oxide, a colourless, non-flammable gas with a sweetish odour. It is naturally produced by oceans and rainforests, while it is also artificially produced in nylon, nitric acid production, agricultural fertilizers, cars with catalytic converters, and burning organic matter.

Deforestation is also one of the causes of global warming, the second-leading cause only to carbon emissions. Deforestation is responsible for 25% of all carbon emissions entering the atmosphere, as 34 million acres of trees are burn and cut each year. The destroying of tropical forests alone emit hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.

City gridlock is another global warming cause. According to an annual study by traffic engineers from Texas A&M University, drivers in Los Angeles and New York alone waste 600 million gallons of gas annually while just sitting in traffic. That translates into around 7.5 million tons of carbon dioxide that is emitted into the atmosphere. And remember, just two major U.S. cities are named, not to mention the rest of the U.S. and the world.

Another global warming cause is just the amount of carbon already in the Earth’s atmosphere naturally, as 750 billion tons of carbon are present. Add in another 800 billion tons of carbon that is dissolved in the surface layers of the world’s oceans.

As you can see, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are the major causes of global warming. You can also see there are many sources of these gases, especially carbon dioxide. Much work needs to be done in order to address all the causes of global warming.

Bryan Wong is the owner of the global warming website http://www.geteasyinfo.com/globalwarming - A great website that shares quality Info, News and TIPS on Global Warming

Global warming triggers North Sea temperature rise: report
The North Sea’s water temperature rose to a record average of 2.4 degrees Celsius in October compared to the same period between 1963-1993 in the latest climate-change spinoff, a new
Source: www.feedsfarm.com

Challenge of the human race
temperature has gone up with it. And scientists say there could be a point of no return, a day when humans will no longer be able to prevent the so-called
Source: www.feedsfarm.com

The Arctic and the Antarctic regions play very important roles. How? First, like the human eyes, they are the mirrors to the soul; they are the first to manifest adverse effects like global warming. We witness these changes rather most drastically in these polar regions. Another correspondingly direct effect of global warming is: any change in the polar conditions affects those of all the other regions. Once the polar ice melts, this flushes more freshwater from the region’s rivers, consequently holding the ocean from circulating fast enough, thereby causing higher sea levels. With more ice melting, more land and bodies of liquid water are exposed to the heat of the sun. These two, which naturally absorb more heat than snow and ice, causes more warming oceans and land masses. Worst of all is borne by the Arctic’s perennially frozen soil - melting of the polar ice releases the greenhouse gases (carbon and methane) trapped within. This is very dangerous as the Arctic permafrost contains a third of the planet’s total soil carbon content. Man-made emissions would fade in comparison is all this carbon were released. The National Center for Atmospheric Research has also predicted that the Arctic could be ice-free starting 2040 and sea ice reduced by 80% in the next couple of decades.

Warming of the Arctic has already been felt and is now a cause for apprehension. According to the Polar Bear Specialist Group (the absolute scientific authority on everything involving polar bears) several (5) of their populations in the world are now stamped as declining.

Just recently, the US. Fish and Wildlife Service (USF & WS) announced that the polar bears who once roamed the territory freely may soon be classified under the list of endangered species. The agency has, in fact, done the initial steps already formally proposing to do such that, include the polar bears in the critical registry. This alarming announcement has, in effect, granted the request (later escalating to a demand by way of a lawsuit against the USF & WS) of 3 organizations (the Center for Biological Diversity, the National Resources Defense Council or NRDC, and Greenpeace. For years, these three have been urging the US government precisely to act on the problem. It could be victory for the group, but not much since it has taken the concerned authorities this long ; it will now take painstaking effort to save the polar bears from extinction. An NRDC executive strongly referred to global warming as the one major threat to the survival of the polar bears. He urged further to stop delaying the action and to go full-force; no more half-measures.

Enlisting the species as endangered is not even the culmination of the unified effort; it is only the initial part of a long process. It should take the US Fish and Wildlife Service around one year to study the proposal before they decide on an action to take. Meantime, there is imminent danger that the polar bear would totally lose its sea-ice habitat as this one year rolls by. Loss of sea ice also means loss of their main source of food which are ice seals. This could also result to more mortality as the bears would tend to cannibalize their ranks in the absence of prey. Why? Mainly because enlisting a species as endangered does not necessarily mean ready plans would immediately be implemented. Steps would involve a stoppage on all activities that threaten the bears survival, before developing and implementing of a recovery plan are put to order by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Faced with the rate greenhouse gases are being emitted from the Arctic, this will indeed be a daunting task.

Talking about populations, it is not just that of the polar bears which lie victim to global warming. The Inuits, (a member of the Eskimo peoples living in northernmost North America down to eastern Canada and Greenland) depend on the sea ice for food. The dismal and continued shortening of their hunting season by 50% has had drastic effects on their lives. Will it not be long till a people and an era vanished from the face of the earth? Can we do something about it?

About the Author:

Search Engine Optimization Toronto Is trying to support this cause through this site Globalwarming Awareness2007

Philippines Issues Tsunami Warning after Japan Quake
The Philippine government seismologists issued late Wednesday night a tsunami alert in the country’s northern and eastern coastlines after a powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 8.1 struck the
Source: www.feedsfarm.com

Killer floods wreak havoc as Kenya hosts UN climate change meet
At least 21 people have been killed and 60,000 displaced by massive flooding in northern and coastal Kenya, triggered by three weeks of unusually heavy seasonal rains, officials said Monday
Source: www.feedsfarm.com

There are many predicted effects for the environment and for human life due to global warming. The main effect centres around an increase in the global average temperature. It’s been confirmed by at least 20 scientific societies and academies of science, as well as all the national academies of science of the G8 states, that the Earth’s global average air temperature near its surface rose by 0.56-0.92 C (0.98-1.62 F) degrees during the last 100 years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that this increase is very likely due to the “observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations, which leads to the warming of the surface and lower atmosphere by increasing the greenhouse effect.”

For humans, these changes in climate are particularly dangerous to those who live near the ocean shore and who already suffer from drought, flooding, and poverty.

The IPCC concludes from models that global temperatures will likely rise by 1.1 to 6.4 C (2.0 to 11.5 F) degrees between 1990 and 2100, with the range of temperatures due to the use of differing scenarios of future greenhouse gas emissions and varying degrees of climate sensitivity.

Other effects of global warming include a rising sea level and changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation. In addition, there may be more frequent and intense weather events, such as more intense hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, thunderstorms, blizzards, etc., though it is difficult to connect specific events to global warming.

Global warming is also causing changes in agricultural yields, glacier retreat, reduced summer stream flows, species extinctions, and increases in the ranges of disease vectors. The increased volumes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released by the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing, agriculture, and other human activities are the major reasons why global warming has been occurring and increasing over the last 50 years.

Effects of global warming are expected to cause more changes as it becomes more pronounced; examples include the following projected climate changes (from Wikipedia):

- “A significant slowing of the ocean circulation that transports warm water to the North Atlantic; - Large reductions in the Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheets; - Accelerated global warming due to carbon cycle feedbacks in the terrestrial biosphere, and - Releases of terrestrial carbon from permafrost regions and methane from hydrates in coastal sediments.”

It is uncertain whether for sure these events will occur or to what severity they will occur if they do, but most believe that the chances of at least one of the above events occurring are likely to increase the longer and more severe climate change becomes.

Some scientific members argue whether there will be positive effects from global warming, but most agree that any positive effects will be greatly outnumbered by the number of negative effects.

Projected climate changes due to global warming have the potential to greatly and irreversibly change our climate that will have lasting impacts on both the continental and global scales. One effect will be increased precipitation, due to the increasing temperature.

As Earth’s temperature continues to rise, a very recent report from the IPCC shows that there will be an increasing impact to natural systems and people, especially those who live in Earth’s poorer nations. In 2002, Colorado, Arizona, and Oregon endured their worst wildfire season ever. Also in 2002, drought created severe dust storms that caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage in Texas, Montana, and North Dakota. Since the early 1950s, snow accumulation has decreased by 60%, which has led to some areas of the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington to have shorter winter seasons.

As you can see, effects of global warming are very negative on our planet already, from increased air temperatures to rises in the sea level to more severe storms. Currently, it is a challenge to predict how many effects global warming will have and how strong those effects will be, but most of the scientific community is predicting that global warming will have more negative effects on our planet and way of life the longer and more severe climate change becomes.

Bryan Wong is the owner of the global warming information website http://www.geteasyinfo.com/globalwarming

- A great website that shares quality Info, News and TIPS on Global Warming

Sergio Weakens to Category 1 Hurricane
Hurricane Sergio weakened to a Category 1 hurricane Thursday, soaking areas of Mexico’s Pacific coast with rain, but posing no immediate threat to land
Source: www.feedsfarm.com

Sergio strengthens to a Category 2 hurricane off Mexico’s Pacific coast
Sergio strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane Wednesday, its winds increasing to 98 mph as it drifted far off Mexico’s Pacific
Source: www.feedsfarm.com

If the greenhouse effect has again been currently in the news, it is probably because it is once again being blamed for causing global warming. Stronger hurricanes, periods of extreme weather, heat waves, the frequency of the El Nino phenomenon, these are all attributed to global warming. But how does the greenhouse effect figure in all these?

What is the greenhouse effect?
The greenhouse effect is the ability of our planet’s atmosphere to trap and contain heat. This heat is sourced from the sun and is reflected back towards the atmosphere. Certain gases are responsible for this entrapment and they include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, fluorinated compounds and water vapor. Other man-made chemicals are also capable of retaining heat within the atmosphere.

In itself, the greenhouse effect is not essentially evil. In fact, it is this very phenomenon that has produced life on earth as we know it. Think of the greenhouse effect as a natural thermal blanketing for our planet, maintaining a surface temperature that is just right to encourage organisms to grow and survive. Without this blanketing, the earth’s climate would be too cold – about 59F lower than the average – for our planet to be able to sustain life successfully.

How does the greenhouse effect contribute to global warming?
For more than 4 billion years, the greenhouse effect has kept our planet’s temperature at a friendly level. Gases found in the atmosphere act to trap heat and keep our planet insulated, able to sustain itself. Problems only began to arise when scientists noticed that certain practices and human activities contribute to the modification of this process.

When the Industrial Revolution began, we also devised many ways of using fossil fuel for oil, coal and gas. The only way to utilize these fuels was by burning. As industrialization continued to expand, so did the practice of fossil fuel burning, thereby releasing gases into the atmosphere. The only problem was that these gases had nowhere else to go and have continued to build up over the years.

By building up, they cause the atmosphere to become more efficient in trapping heat, causing climates to turn warmer. This unnatural or man-made result is referred to as global warming.

How global warming affects us
We have been experiencing the effects of global warming for the past years and most of these are felt through changes in the climate. However, it’s important to note that climate change is brought about by other factors and not just as an indirect result of the greenhouse effect. Some of these factors include changes in the circulation of the oceans, changes in our planet’s orbit and even changes in the intensity of the sun itself.

Global warming involves increase in the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere near its surface. While global warming is nothing new to our planet (it has occurred over long periods in the earth’s 4.5-billion-year history alternating with ice ages), it is only now when its drastic changes on a global scale has dire consequences not just for human kind but also to the millions of species that depend upon the earth for sustenance.

A famous example of the effect of global warming is the increase in sea level, brought about by the melting of glaciers. This is a problem not readily seen nor felt in countries or regions that lie on higher ground, but for many areas, this could mean land (and subsistence opportunities) lost to sea. A 0.3-meter increase in sea level for example, can eat up about 15 meters of beach.

As temperatures rise, countries that have agricultural practices firmly dependent on the regularity of glacier-melting will suffer greatly. For many regions in the world, the melting of snowpacks from the mountains means water for plant irrigation and electricity. If the melting occurs at a bad time, the planting and harvesting of crops will be significantly disrupted, causing problems in the economy on a local and national level.

With global warming, abrupt weather changes may also be experienced, such as heat waves that last longer and occur with more frequency, stronger storms and hurricanes and even changes in the behavior of the winds. Warmer climate will also contribute to the displacement of plants and animals, as those who depend upon lower temperature regions to survive will need to move to higher elevations and latitudes. For plants and animals who cannot adapt, it could mean extinction.

Healthwise, diseases that right now are currently limited by the location and living habits of their carriers have the possibility of invading areas that didn’t have a problem with them before. An example of this is malaria, along with other diseases caused by mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes thrive in tropical settings and as more and more regions become warmer, mosquitoes will expand their range. They will now be able to go to areas that they usually do not inhabit because of the temperature. This exposes the formerly unexposed population to the health risks caused by mosquito-borne diseases that also include dengue and elephantiasis.

Facing global warming
The balance of life and competition among species may also be disrupted, in more ways than are currently foreseen. In fact, with global warming, certain lifestyles and animal behavior that we have enjoyed so far may also disappear, unless we do something to try to correct and arrest the problem.

For more information now go to: http://www.solutionstoearthdestruction.com
http://www.stopearthdestruction.com/Effect-Global-Green-House-Warming.html

Outdoor watering banned (The Dalton Daily Citizen)
The state s top environmental official on Friday issued an outdoor watering ban covering parts of north and west Georgia including Murray and Whitfield counties the most severe step environmental officials have ever taken in Georgia.

Philippine storm leaves at least five dead (IANS via Yahoo! India News)
Manila, Sep 30 (DPA) At least five persons were killed in a landslide triggered by a tropical storm that battered the northern Philippines, the Office of Civil Defence (OCD) said Sunday.

Temperature change is a normal occurrence on the changing earth that we live on. If we look back over the past 400,000 years, we see that the average temperature as determined by Antarctic ice-core records, show an 8-deg C change. The earth is normally about -4 to -5 deg C below the current temperature. This was during the four ice ages that occurred during this period.

The warm periods between the ice ages are relative short compared to the length of the ice ages which last about 100,000 years. Our current warm period has lasted longer than normal, about 6,000 years. About the same length of time that we have a recorded record of man on earth.

Carbon Dioxide levels have in the past followed along with the major changes in temperature. However in the past 200 years, this level has jumped and may have even prevented a return to another ice age.

The previous warm period was warmer that our current warm period and lasted almost as long as our current warm period followed by a 100,000 year ice age. This may have been the time of the heavy forest growth and many fires, as the Carbon Dioxide levels also remained high. The Carbon Dioxide levels peaked at the same time that the warming levels peaked, but lasted much longer after the temperatures started to cool. This leads me to believe that the high Carbon Dioxide levels may have brought on the warm periods. As the Carbon Dioxide levels fell the temperature also fell.

If we look at the last 1,100 years, we see only about a one deg C change with the current temperature about equal to what it was about 1,000 years ago. During the last few years the temperatures have leveled off and may be cooling back down again.

With so many factors affecting our global temperatures, I would expect more drastic changes in the future and if history repeats itself, we could be in for another ice age. If in fact anything man is currently doing is affecting the temperature by keeping the earth warmer, it would be a positive thing.

See: (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/pastcc.html#ref) for more information.

In my life time I have seen large orange groves once common in north central Florida wiped out by colder weather and the land owners giving up and moved to more southern areas. I know that the reverse may have been true in other parts of the country and is only evidence that change is normal. There is an old saying, If you don’t like the weather, just wait, it will change.