Posted on 11/15/2005 1:19:48 PM PST by humint
"In my view, climate change is the most severe problem that we are facing today - more serious even than the threat of terrorism." - David A. King, Chief Scientific Advisor to the British Government, Feb. 2004.
I must admit that I'm glad this spring-like warm spell has come about this week to relieve us of last week's sudden drop in temperature. What most people don't realize, however, is that we should consider ourselves lucky to have felt those cruel and nasty temperatures. Seven of the 10 hottest years in the 20th century were in the 1990s, and temperatures are estimated to become three to nine degrees (F) hotter by the end of the century. The cause? Humans. These recent climate changes are due largely in part to humans' energy consumption habits and global warming. While it is true that natural environmental processes have an effect on the global climate, recent scientific evidence shows that natural causes are not a sufficient explanation for this rapid rise in temperature.
The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that most of the temperature increase in the last 50 years is due to human activities. The biggest source of man-made carbon dioxide pollution comes from electricity production, contributing to about 37 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. The serious effects of these temperature changes are evident in the extreme weather we have recently experience (Katrina, anyone?). Other grave consequences loom: ice caps are melting and sea levels are rising as a result, flooding coastal areas. Droughts, wildfires, and heat waves are becoming more frequent and intense. Bacteria that are normally killed during periods of warm weather are now still active. This is only the beginning.
It is important to recognize, however, that harnessing the same energy that initiated this global warming disaster can be used to resolve it. Today, cars that get 70 miles per gallon are produced, yet the United States average is still only 20 miles per gallon. In addition, reduction of carbon dioxide emissions is possible by using renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. The price of wind power has decreased 80 percent within the past 20 years, and the cost of solar power has made it possible for California State Universities to use solar energy on three of their campuses.
The significance of the global warming problem led to the governments of more than 150 countries to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. These ratifying countries commit to reducing their carbon dioxide emissions and five other greenhouse gases: methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, HFCs and PFCs. While most of the world's industrialized nations support the Kyoto Protocol, the United States is an exception. The United States releases more greenhouse gases than any other nation in the world, and because it contributes so much to the problem of global warming, some experts suggest that the Kyoto Protocol cannot succeed without U.S. participation.
In order to make a difference, this year Trinity College has joined the nationwide Campus Climate Challenge through ConnPIRG. The specific goal of the challenge is to have 500 participating campuses by 2008 working to reduce their campus's global warming emissions below their 2005 levels by two percent per year. This is clearly not a change that will be made overnight. But the serious issue of global warming is happening in your lifetime, and you can do something to change it:
1. Turn off your computer at night. (Or for all of you AIM addicts, set your computer to sleep instead of using screensavers and save 600 lbs. of coal a year.)
2. Conserve water: take shorter showers and turn off faucets when not in use. (Group showers, anyone?)
3. Make use of the recycling bins for paper and bottles in your dorm. (Make sure this Tripod ends up in the right place.)
4. Shop with a re-usable shopping bag. (In our case, this might mean re-using those plastic bags from the Cave.)
5. Unsuscribe from junk-mail lists. (Yes, boys, Victoria's Secret catalogs count as junk mail.)
6. Make love, not trash.
Every minute, the Earth gets a little hotter, the air a little dirtier, and the water a little more acidic. Every little thing counts. Remember, good planets are hard to find.
Why yes, this problem in my field is the biggest most stupendous crisis ever so please give me the pass word to the Govt Treasury so I may take as much money out of it as possible to save you from this awful threat.
And i consider the most severe problem we face the environmental movement that has hijacked science for this BS global warming crap -
How is recommending personal responsibility as it relates to conservation a bad thing?
Get it now?????
In the right context it isn't. This article opens with an official comparing apples to elephants. Terrorism and the environment are two subjects that do not fit on a single threat scale. Beyond that, the lighthearted suggestions are fine...
"Get it now?????"
GET WHAT - THAT A. GORE HAS LEARNED HOW TO READ?
"Get it now?????"
GET WHAT - THAT A. GORE HAS LEARNED HOW TO READ?
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