US scientists in fresh alert over effects of global warming

[jpak]

Source: The Guardian UK

Global warming is already having a major impact on life in America, a report by US government scientists has warned. The draft version of the US National Climate Assessment reveals that increasing storm surges, floods, melting glaciers and permafrost, and intensifying droughts are having a profound effect on the lives of Americans.

"Corn producers in Iowa, oyster growers in Washington state and maple syrup producers have observed changes in their local climate that are outside of their experience," states the report.

Health services, water supplies, farming and transport are already being strained, the assessment adds. Months after superstorm Sandy battered the east coast, causing billions of dollars of damage, the report concludes that severe weather disruption is going to be commonplace in coming years. Nor do the authors flinch from naming the culprit. "Global warming is due primarily to human activities, predominantly the burning of fossil fuels," it states.

The uncompromising language of the report, and the stark picture that its authors have painted of the likely effects of global warming, have profound implications for the rest of the world.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/12/us-scientists-effects-global-warming

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deniers suck

yup

[NoOneMan]

1. Not to worry

The Bush family will always have enough food to carry on. Our species will live on

[Plucketeer]

3. Imagine the loathsome

repopulation of the human race if only the Bush's, the Kochs and the like were the only genetic lines left to draw from on a post-apocalyptic earth!

[oxymoron]

2. And of course, it takes the foreign press to report it. nt

[glinda]

4. +1

[Buzz Clik]

5. The latest response from the deniers:

It is too late to do anything now.

[AverageJoe90]

7. Sadly, some of our resident "doomsday" believers have bought into this particular line, too.

When, in reality, there IS still something we can do.....

[Kablooie]

6. We get new alerts about this same thing every week.

All they do is scare the people that are already scared.
And they are losing their effectiveness on them too.

They have no effect at all on the people that run the corporations that can do something about it. I'm sure they are totally ignored.

Scaring the world does nothing because the rich that run things know that they will be provided for even if no one else is.

Until the world comes up with a serious carrot or stick to apply to corporations the world will continue to ignore all these warnings.

[AverageJoe90]

8. That's about what I've said, Kablooie.

Thankfully, I'm not alone, it seems.

[freedom fighter jh]

20. It's an effort to raise awareness

The alternative seems to be to ignore what is shaping up to be the biggest threat that most of us have ever faced.

Maybe these alerts will spur people to think of what they can do.

One suggestion: Go to the 2/17 rally to protest the Keystone XL pipeline: http://act.350.org/signup/presidentsday.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

9. let's name overpopulation as well. Fewer people, less impact

Fewer people, less demand. Less emission fumes. Less garbage. More trees.

Oh, let someone else worry about it....it's those Chinese. Those Indians. Having children is a biological imperative. Babies will make my boyfriend stay with me; will give me someone to lve; will fix our marriage; will make me feel like a real woman; will get me attention. Real humans have as many as they want, we're meant to do so.....oh oops we're having another kid. I don't like condoms; we couldn't help giving in to the urge. Birth control disrupts the spontaneity.

Denial.



Overpopulation disrupts survival.

[cstanleytech]

10. I have a question

over the part where it says " due primarily to human activities, predominantly the burning of fossil fuels,".
Hasnt the world been warming up for hundreds of years before we even started burning fossil fuels in abundance? If so then wouldnt it be more accurate to say that our burning of the fuels has accelerated the speed of the process beyond what it would naturally be?

[Zoeisright]

11. No, it's more like an unnatural acceleration of the process

from thousands of years to decades.

[hatrack]

13. Think of it this way . . . .

The last big extinction spasm on Earth (before the one we're living through at the moment, the Holocene) was the PETM - the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum.

Global temperatures were (on average) about 6C higher than they are today. Not a huge extinction event as such things go, but enough to wipe out about 25% of land species and about 35% of marine species.

There are two major differences between the PETM and the Holocene Extinction. One is the causes of the two events. The consensus is that the PETM was driven by large-scale volcanic eruptions, while we know what's causing the current trend - anthropogenic emissions, in short.

The other difference is the change in time scales. Best scientific estimate is that the 6C increase during the PETM took place over a period of 15-20,000 years. We're currently on track to do the same thing in a period of 100 to 200 years - IOW, 100 to 200 times faster.

That's one handy relative benchmark for the pace of change.

[triplepoint]

14. Extreme Ice and Chasing Ice

--both need to be seen. Obviously, you're looking for information...

Here are a few links to video that should (collectively) answer your question:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1A6E2D304D264F58

[cstanleytech]

15. Very disturbing videos. nt

[triplepoint]

16. That's My Yob on this Board....

Last edited Sun Jan 13, 2013, 12:14 AM - Edit history (2)

or the one I've selflessly tasked myself with...but not in a General Jack D. Ripper way though...**** All our precious bodily fluids notwithstanding now, let's break out that popcorn and continue with DoomStock!



****
"General Jack D. Ripper: I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

--"Dr. Strangelove"
.
.

[jpak]

18. NO

[hatrack]

12. Why do you hate Freedumb?

[jpak]

19. Freedumb isn't free - global warming deniers have to work at being Teh Dumb

yup

[valerief]

17. But with the melting Arctic, fossil fuel burning industries can mine more of the stuff

to burn!

Welcome to Exponential Hell!

[Follow The Money]

21. Free Trade is causing more pollution that light bulbs and SUVs

The media likes to use this as a divisive issue, pitting us against each other over whether global warming is happening or not and who is irresponsible and to blame for it all....

but Industry, particularly in countries that have no environmental standards, causes way more pollution, way more CO2 than any of us can hope to compensate for by changing our light bulbs and driving a Prius.

This is what Free Trade has brought...

Global Warming Alert: Beijing Pollution "Off The Scale", Surpassing "Hazardous" Levels
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022185848


If we are to tackle the issue of global warming, we need to unite on 2 issues with Republicans that we can agree on.

1. Free Trade Sucks. It sucks for workers, it sucks for the environment, Ross Perot was right and even Republicans can see it. This will help prevent global warming by also including a clause that all trade in America will now be with companies that have environmental standards and standards for worker safety and pay. What kind of country would support slave conditions and a horrible environmental conditions just so we could have more cheap shit?

2. Asthma and breathing disorders suck, and pollution is the problem. These diseases are on the rise, no one can argue the cause. We need to clean up our air for future generations. This will help prevent global warming but Republicans don't need to know that either.