Global Warming....Beware!

I was just wandering around in the internet when i came across a topic so intresting. The topic is nothing but Global Warming. We all have heard about it but do we actually know what does Global Warming Mean and what will be its consequences? We all know that we have misused all the gifts that we have got from mother nature. Over the years we have seen a drastic change in the climatic conditions worldwide. Why is it.?? Just go through this post as i feel we all like to know what exactly this is.

My humble request to all of you:- PLease dont just read it but try to understand it. I have just tried to gather a few information on Global Warming. Hoping u will all like it and take necessary actions to save the world and all the species of living things.




Each year from 1998 through 2007 ranks among the top 25 warmest years on record for the United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Scientists say that the earth could warm by an additional 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit during the 21st century if we fail to reduce emissions from burning fossil fuels, such as coal and oil. This rise in average temperature will have far-reaching effects on the earth's climate patterns and on all living things. Many of these changes have already begun.

Chapter One : Weather Patterns.

The Consequences of Global Warming
On Weather Patterns
Higher temperatures could lead to increased droughts and wildfires, heavier rainfall and a greater number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes.


More Powerful and Dangerous Hurricanes
Warmer water in the oceans pumps more energy into tropical storms, making them stronger and potentially more destructive.



Warning signs today:

1) The number of category 4 and 5 storms has greatly increased over the past 35 years, along with ocean temperature.

2) The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active Atlantic hurricane season in recorded history, with a record 27 named storms, of which 15 became hurricanes. Seven of the hurricanes strengthened into major storms, five became Category 4 hurricanes and a record four reached Category 5 strength.

3) Hurricane Katrina of August 2005 was the costliest and one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history.



Drought and Wildfire
Warmer temperatures could increase the probability of drought. Greater evaporation, particularly during summer and fall, could exacerbate drought conditions and increase the risk of wildfires.



Warning signs today:

1) The 1999-2002 national drought was one of the three most extensive droughts in the last 40 years.

2) Warming may have lead to the increased drought frequency that the West has experienced over the last 30 years.

3) The 2006 wildland fire season set new records in both the number of reported fires as well as acres burned. Close to 100,000 fires were reported and nearly 10 million acres burned, 125 percent above the 10-year average.

4) Firefighting expenditures have consistently totaled upwards of $1 billion per year.



Intense Rainstorms
Warmer temperatures increase the energy of the climatic system and can lead to heavier rainfall in some areas.



Warning signs today:

1) National annual precipitation has increased between 5 and 10 percent since the early 20th century, largely the result of heavy downpours.

2) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports that intense rain events have increased in frequency during the last 50 years and human-induced global warming most likely contributed to the trend.

3) According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Northeast region had its wettest summer on record in 2006, exceeding the previous record by more than 1 inch.




Chapter 2: Health

Deadly Heat Waves
More frequent and severe heat waves will result in a greater number of heat-related deaths.



Warning signs today:

1) In 2003, extreme heat waves claimed as many as 70,000 lives in Europe. In France alone, nearly 15,000 people died during two weeks of soaring temperatures, which reached as high as 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

2) Much of North America experienced a severe heat wave in July 2006, which contributed to the deaths of over 140 people, including some who owned working air conditioners.

3) In the 1995 Chicago heat wave, 739 heat-related deaths occurred in a one-week period

Bad Air, Allergy and Asthma
Global warming could increase smog pollution in some areas and intensify pollen allergies and asthma. Hotter conditions could also aggravate local air quality problems, already afflicting more than 100 million Americans.




Warning signs today:

1) Scientific studies show that a higher level of carbon dioxide spurs an increase in the growth of weeds such as ragweed, whose pollen triggers allergies and exacerbates asthma.

2) The number of pollen allergy and asthma sufferers has increased worldwide over the last several decades. Some researchers have suggested that this could be an early health effect of human-caused climate change.

3) Air pollution makes allergies worse: Diesel exhaust particles can interact with pollen and deliver it deeper into the lung.

4) Rising temperatures increase ground-level ozone smog production, which presents a serious threat to asthmatics.

Infectious Disease and Food and Waterborne Illness Outbreaks
Warming temperatures, alternating periods of drought and deluges, and ecosystem disruption have contributed to more widespread outbreaks of infections like malaria, dengue fever, tick-borne encephalitis, and diarrheal illnesses. People living in poverty will be hardest hit by the global surge in infectious diseases.




Warning signs today:


1) Disease-carrying mosquitoes are spreading as the climate allows them to survive in formerly inhospitable areas. Mosquitoes that can carry dengue fever viruses were previously limited to elevations of 3,300 feet but recently appeared at 7,200 feet in the Andes Mountains of Colombia. Malaria has been detected in new higher-elevation areas in Indonesia and Africa, posing new risks to millions of impoverished people whose health is already challenged.

2) Heavy rainfall events can wash pathogens from contaminated soils, farms, and streets into drinking water supplies. An outbreak of diarrheal illness in Milwaukee in 1993 which affected 403,000 people was caused by the parasite Cryptosporidium, which washed into the city's drinking water supply after heavy rains.

3) Higher outdoor temperatures can cause increased outbreaks of foodborne illnesses such as salmonella, which reproduces more rapidly as temperatures increase. Another foodborne bacteria, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, once native to subtropical regions, has expanded its range as far north as Alaska, where in 2004 it sickened unlucky cruise ship passengers when they ate raw local oysters.

Dangerous Weather Events
A warmer atmosphere can hold -- and dump -- more moisture, contributing to more intense extreme weather events, which in turn put people's lives at risk.

Warning signs today:

1) Hurricane Katrina forced the evacuation of 1.7 million people in 2005, and lead to deaths and long-term health problems for 200,000 New Orleans residents.

2) A combination of rising sea levels, reduced snowfall and increased rainstorms threatens to flood the homes of 300,000 California residents in the Sacramento-San Joaquin river delta area, potentially contaminating the drinking water of 24 million people.

3) Alternating drought and floods have led to food and water shortages, malnutrition, mass migrations and international conflict. Some researchers suggest that 50 million people worldwide could become "environmental refugees" by 2010, displaced by rising sea levels, desertification, depleted aquifers and intermittent river flooding.

Chapter 3: Wild Life

Ecosystem Shifts and Species Die-Off
Increasing global temperatures are expected to disrupt ecosystems, pushing to extinction those species that cannot adapt. The first comprehensive assessment of the extinction risk from global warming found that more than 1 million species could be obliterated by 2050 if the current trajectory continues.



Warning signs today:

1) A recent study of nearly 2,000 species of plants and animals discovered movement toward the poles at an average rate of 3.8 miles per decade. Similarly, the study found species in alpine areas to be moving vertically at a rate of 20 feet per decade in the second half of the 20th century.

2) The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report found that approximately 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species assessed so far are likely to be at increased risk of extinction if global average temperature increases by more than 2.7 to 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

3) Some polar bears are drowning because they have to swim longer distances to reach ice floes. The U. S. Geological Survey has predicted that two-thirds of the world's polar bear sub-populations will be extinct by mid-century due to melting of the Arctic ice cap.


4) In Washington's Olympic Mountains, sub-alpine forest has invaded higher elevation alpine meadows. Bermuda's mangrove forests are disappearing.


Chapter 4: Glaciers And Sea Levels.

Melting Glaciers, Early Ice Thaw
Rising global temperatures will speed the melting of glaciers and ice caps and cause early ice thaw on rivers and lakes.



Warning signs today:

1) After existing for many millennia, the northern section of the Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica -- a section larger than the state of Rhode Island -- collapsed between January and March 2002, disintegrating at a rate that astonished scientists. Since 1995, the ice shelf's area has shrunk by 40 percent.

2) According to NASA, the polar ice cap is now melting at the alarming rate of nine percent per decade. Arctic ice thickness has decreased 40 percent since the 1960s.

3) Arctic sea ice extent set an all-time record low in September 2007, with almost half a million square miles less ice than the previous record set in September 2005, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Over the past 3 decades, more than a million square miles of perennial sea ice -- an area the size of Norway, Denmark and Sweden combined -- has disappeared.

Sea-Level Rise
Current rates of sea-level rise are expected to increase as a result both of thermal expansion of the oceans and melting of most mountain glaciers and partial melting of the West Antarctic and Greenland ice caps. Consequences include loss of coastal wetlands and barrier islands, and a greater risk of flooding in coastal communities. Low-lying areas, such as the coastal region along the Gulf of Mexico and estuaries like the Chesapeake Bay, are especially vulnerable.



Warning signs today:

1) Global sea level has already risen by 4 to 8 inches in the past century, and the pace of sea level rise appears to be accelerating. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that sea levels could rise 10 to 23 inches by 2100, but in recent years sea levels have been rising faster than the upper end of the range predicted.

2) In the 1990s, the Greenland ice mass remained stable, but the ice sheet has increasingly declined in recent years. This melting currently contributes an estimated one-hundredth of an inch per year to global sea level rise.

3) Greenland holds 10 percent of the total global ice mass. If it melts, sea levels could increase by up to 21 feet.



HOW TO FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING


LIMIT GLOBAL WARMING POLLUTION
Raise your voice. Congress needs to enact new laws that cap carbon emissions and require polluters pay for the global warming gases that they produce. Send a message to your elected officials, letting them know that you will hold them accountable for what they do -- or fail to do -- about global warming.

GREEN JOBS AND CLEAN ENERGY
Choose renewable energy. Pick a Green-e-certified energy supplier that generates at least half of its power from wind, solar energy and other clean sources. If you don't have that option, look at your current electricity bill to see if you are able to support renewable energy in another way. For details, see NRDC's guide to buying clean energy.

Offset your carbon footprint.
You can make up for your remaining carbon output by purchasing carbon offsets. Offsets represent clean power that you can add to the nation's energy grid in place of power from fossil fuels. Not all offset companies are alike. See our guide to carbon offsets for tips on how to choose an offset supplier.

DRIVE SMARTER CARS
Choose an efficient vehicle: High-mileage cars such as hybrids and plug-in hybrids use less gas and save money. Over its lifetime, a 40-mpg car will save roughly $3,000 in fuel costs compared with a 20-mpg car. Compare fuel economy performance before you buy.

Drive smart.
If all Americans kept their tires properly inflated, gasoline use nationwide would come down 2 percent. A tune-up could boost your miles per gallon anywhere from 4 to 40 percent, and a new air filter could get you 10 percent more miles per gallon. Learn more about saving fuel and money through proper car maintenance at Simple Steps.

GREEN HOMES AND BUILDINGS
Weatherize your home or apartment. Heating and cooling consume about 40 percent of energy in the home. Sealing drafts and making sure that your home has adequate insulation are two easy ways to become more energy-efficient. Visit Simple Steps for more tips and to learn how to take advantage of federal tax credits for energy-efficient home improvements.

Buy energy-efficient appliances.
Look for the Energy Star label, which identifies the most efficient appliances. At Simple Steps, you can learn more about investing in energy-efficient products and find out which appliances and rooms in the home use the most electricity.

Replace your light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.
Compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs. What's more, CFLs lower your energy bills and keep a half-ton of carbon dioxide out of the air. For more on the benefits of switching to CFLs, visit Simple Steps. Also learn about LEDs as another energy-efficient lighting alternative.

BETTER COMMUNITIES AND TRANSPORTATION
Drive less. Choose alternatives to driving such as public transit, biking, walking and carpooling, and bundle your errands to make fewer trips. Choosing to live in a walkable "smart growth" community near a transportation hub will mean less time driving, less money spent on gas and less pollution in the air. Learn more about smart growth communities.


A Small Video to Make you realise the impact of Global Warming.