Global warming and climate change have been the focus of controversy and debate for nearly half a century - Is global warming real? What causes climate change - is it man made? Should we do something? What can we do?
What is Global Warming?
Atmospheric gases (primarily water vapor but also including carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, etc.) work together to retain some of the sun’s heat so that the earth stays a comfortable climate - this is known as the greenhouse effect and is necessary for human life. Climate change - long term changes in the overall climate of a particular region - can also occur naturally. The Ice Age, for example, is thought to be a natural change in the global climate. Some believe this was caused by a change in the distance between the earth and the sun, or a change in the earth’s orbital path, while others believe this climate change may have came about because of meteorites.
According to temperature records over the past 150 years, the average global temperature has risen at least one degree overall and more than 2 degrees specifically in the arctic. Scientists have also discovered a correlation between these temperatures and the level of carbon dioxide (and more recently methane gas) in the atmosphere.
In a perfect world, the trees and plants would balance the carbon dioxide levels in the air and a natural animal population would emit just the right amount of methane and CO2 to keep the atmosphere and climate in check.
In our world - we’ve removed vast amounts of vegetation to make space for structures that operate on polluting fossil fuels; we degrade land by breeding huge herds of methane-emitting cattle to feed our growing population; we manufacture products using processes that create even more gases. Our normal habits have altered the gas balance of our atmosphere, retaining more heat than ever before, and is considered to be the man made side of global warming and the current climate change.
Is Global Warming Real?
We’ve examined this question in a previous post, Global Warming: Fact or Fiction. Whether man made or natural, can anyone truly argue the fact that climates are changing around the world? Yes, global warming is real - Britain’s National Academy of Science states:
“The world’s leading climate experts at the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change believe that it is greater than 90 per cent likely that human activity is responsible for most of the observed warming in recent decades. That is a pretty strong consensus.”
Global Warming Proof
“Global warming will intensify drought and it will intensify floods,” states Stephen Schneider, editor of the Climatic Change journal. 2007 brought some of the worst floods in history to a number of countries around the planet - including 14 African countries, the UK, Malaysia, the US midwest, and North Korea. Droughts and water shortages have been just as prominent in recent years - plaguing areas of the Middle East, the southeastern US, Spain, and Australia.
The longtime dream route between Europe and Asia, the Northwest Passage, was open and ‘fully navigable’ for the first time in its monitored history in 2007. This is perhaps the most extreme sign that the arctic is melting at an alarmingly fast rate.
Click here to view the embedded video. Extreme summer temperatures are another obvious proof that global warming is real. Not only are the summers becoming unbearable in many regions around the world - they’re lasting longer and longer. In fact, here in the Blue Ridge foothills of the southeast US, the leaves are just now showing their bright autumn colors and the highs were in the 70’s last week. 10 years ago, short sleeves were out of sight before the beginning of October!
These unusual changes in climate have also been linked to more frequent and more intense forest fires across the world. Wildfires in the past decade have burned longer, destroyed more land, and happened more often than ever before. The US, especially the southeast and southwest, have been affected drastically by these fires. Fires are also starting in forests in the Amazon, Siberia, Greece, Indonesia, and a number of other countries around the globe.
Proof that global warming is real is all around us - from the extreme temperatures to the more and more frequent natural disasters. It is almost 100% likely that a big portion of this climate change is because of our own actions, habits, and lifestyles.
What do you think?
译文:
全球变暖确有其事吗?五个证明促使我们行动起来
现在,全球变暧已经成为人们争论的焦点并为之争论了半不多半个世纪——全理变暖是真的吗？是什么引起了气候的变化——是不是人为的呢？我们是否该为之做些什么？我们又得做些什么呢？
什么是全球变暧？
大气层的气体（主但是水汽，但也包括二氧化碳，甲烷，臭氧等）一起作用来吸收太阳所散发的热量，因此，地球上的气候是比较宜人的——这就是我们所熟知的温室效应，它对我们人类起着至关重要的作用。气候的变化——在某个区域的变化的长期积累，导致这个地区整个气候的变化——也是会自然发生的。例如，冰河世纪，人们就认为是全球气候的自然演变。有人认为这种现象是由太阳和地球之间的距离的变化而引起的，或者说是因为地球轨道的变化，然而也有人觉得这种变化是由殒星引起的。
根据过去150年间的记录，全球的平均总体气温上升了至少1度，在北极则上升了2度多。科学家们还发现了这些气温上升的程度和大气中二氧化碳（最近几年是甲烷）的浓度有着莫大的关系。
在理想情况下，树木和花草可以使大气中的二氧化碳处于一个平衡的状态，而人和动物所释放出来的二氧化碳也刚好能使大气层处在一种可控制的状态下。
但在我们的现实世界中——我们铲除了大量的植物来为制造污染空气的化石燃料工厂让出空间；我们把大量的土地用来养殖成群的牲口以供养我们口趋庞大的人口。我们生产制造了很多产品，制造的过程中我们也生产出了许多的废气。我们的日常生活习惯已经破坏掉了大气中的气体平衡，使大气吸收的热比以往任何时候都多。这被认为是当前大气变暧中人为方面的因素。
全球变暖真的存在吗？
我们在之前的贴子里面讨论过这样的问题，全球变暧：是虚构还是确有其事。不管是人为的还是自然变化，全球的气候在不断的变化已经是一个不争的事实。是的，全球变暖确实存在——英国国家科学院指出：
政府间的气候变化小组中获得诺贝尔奖的世界主要气候专家认为，近几十年，90%的气温上升都是人类所引起的，专家们的意见空前的一致。
全球变暧的证明
“气候变暖会加剧干旱同时也会引发引灾”，气候变化期刊的编辑史蒂芬·施耐德说。2007年,地球上的很多国家都遭受了有史以来最严重的洪灾——包括14个非洲国家，英国，马来西亚，美国中西部，还有朝鲜。干旱和缺水问题这些年来越来越突出——瘟疫在中东，美国东南部，西班牙，澳大利亚蔓延。
在2007年，欧洲到亚洲的梦幻之旅——西南通道，已经被打开并且有史以来第一次‘完全可以通航’。这可能是北极融化的一个最显著也是快得最让人纠心的一次。
点击这里观点内置录象 夏日的极端气温是证明全球变暖的一个明显标志。不单只是在世界上的某些地区气温变得越来越让人无法忍受——这种天气还持续得越来越长。事实上，上周在美国东南部的蓝脊山麓70米处的地方树上的叶子已经开始显现出秋天原颜色。而在10前年，在十月份之年人们几乎已经不穿短袖了！
这种不寻常的变化还和世界上越来越剧烈的森林大火相联系。过去几年，林火开始比以往持续得越来越久，破坏的土地越来越广，发生的次数也越来越频繁。在美国，特别是东南部和西南部，已经受到这些大火的剧烈影响。大火还开始在亚马逊，西伯利亚，希腊，印尼和全球的其它国家的从林出现。
以上这些都证实了全球变暖是确确实实存在的——从极端的气温到越来越多的自然灾害。我们可以100%地肯定，其中的很大一部分是由我们的行为，生活习惯，生活方式引起的。
你怎么认为呢？