- Banned
- #401
Climate change means there's all kinds of extremes. Citing specific readings is not scientific at all. The general direction we are going is one we don't want to go. The whole earth is affected. Think of the Earth as a 20 gallon aquarium . The entire livable ( the Earth's biosphere ) portion of that aquarium is the bottom 1/4 th. inch which we are polluting very badly with CO2. CO2 traps heat in the Earth's atmosphere like a slow cooker. Life exists here because of the perfect balance of elements. We have thrown the entire Earth out of balance.That proves absolutely nothing. Global warming is measured by the earths average temperature, not the temperature in Boston or any other city.
Decade °C °F 1880s 13.73 56.71 1890s 13.75 56.74 1900s 13.74 56.73 1910s 13.72 56.70 1920s 13.83 56.89 1930s 13.96 57.12 1940s 14.04 57.26 1950s 13.98 57.16 1960s 13.99 57.18 1970s 14.00 57.20 1980s 14.18 57.52 1990s 14.31 57.76 2000s 14.51 58.12
And the 2010's average temperature rose to 58.9 degrees Fahrenheit a 2.19 degree rise since 1880. The average temperature of the earth and the atmosphere should remain fairly constant from one decade to the next. From year to year it goes up and down but there should be no long term trend, up or down.
If the current rate of world atmospheric temperature rise continues, sea levels will be up 11 inches by 2050 and 2 1/2 feet by 2100. Yet our problems will not be just coast flooding. Russia will become the major producer of wheat as the US, China, and India's outputs dwindle. Many fruit trees, including peaches, have a peculiar temperature requirement. If they don't experience enough chill during wintertime, they get confused and don't bloom properly. No bloom, no harvest. In the US, most of our production of peaches and several types of fruit trees will disappear. Corn will also be hit hard. Our oceans creatures will suffer far more than land species since oceans absorb 93% of the heat. Fishing for Salmon, Tuna, Snapper, Grouper, and Cod will see major reductions in yield. Etc, etc,....
It is not a question of will we devote our resource to stopping climate change but rather when. I believe we can not avoid the results of climate change in this century. What we can do is prepare to deal with problems produced by climate change and reduce greenhouse gases so man and and our environment can be saved.