Global Warming News n Views

I found this interesting information on Global warming and climate change on EPA website for kids.  Simple to understand:

Earth has warmed by about 1ºF over the past 100 years. But why? And how? Well, scientists are not exactly sure. The Earth could be getting warmer on its own, but many of the world’s leading climate scientists think that things people do are helping to make the Earth warmer.

The Greenhouse Effect: Scientists are sure about the greenhouse effect. They know that greenhouse gases make the Earth warmer by trapping energy in the atmosphere.

Climate Change: Climate is the long-term average of a region’s weather events lumped together. For example, it’s possible that a winter day in Buffalo, New York, could be sunny and mild, but the average weather – the climate – tells us that Buffalo’s winters will mainly be cold and include snow and rain. Climate change represents a change in these long-term weather patterns. They can become warmer or colder. Annual amounts of rainfall or snowfall can increase or decrease.

Global Warming: Global warming refers to an average increase in the Earth’s temperature, which in turn causes changes in climate. A warmer Earth may lead to changes in rainfall patterns, a rise in sea level, and a wide range of impacts on plants, wildlife, and humans. When scientists talk about the issue of climate change, their concern is about global warming caused by human activities.

The greenhouse effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gases in the atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, for example) trap energy from the sun. Without these gases, heat would escape back into space and Earth’s average temperature would be about 60ºF colder. Because of how they warm our world, these gases are referred to as greenhouse gases.

It may seem hard to believe that people can actually change the Earth’s climate. But scientists think that the things people do that send greenhouse gases into the air are making our planet warmer.

Once, all climate changes occurred naturally. However, during the Industrial Revolution, we began altering our climate and environment through agricultural and industrial practices. The Industrial Revolution was a time when people began using machines to make life easier. It started more than 200 years ago and changed the way humans live. Before the Industrial Revolution, human activity released very few gases into the atmosphere, but now through population growth, fossil fuel burning, and deforestation, we are affecting the mixture of gases in the atmosphere.

Climate change is a far greater threat to the world than international terrorism, the UK Government’s chief scientific adviser has said. Sir David King said the US had failed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

And without immediate action flooding, drought, hunger and debilitating diseases such as malaria would hit millions of people around the world.

US President George Bush says more research is needed before he introduces punitive carbon taxes on industry.

But Sir David criticised the Bush administration for relying too exclusively on market-based incentives and voluntary actions.

Climate change is the most severe problem we are facing today Sir David King

He told Science, the “house magazine” of the US scientific establishment: “As the world’s only remaining superpower, the United States is accustomed to leading internationally co-ordinated action.

“But at present the US Government is failing to take up the challenge of global warming.”

Flood risk

In Britain, the number of people at high risk of flooding was expected to more than double to nearly 3.5 million by 2080, Sir David said.

And damage to properties could run to tens of billions of pounds every year.

Britain was trying to show leadership by cutting energy consumption and increasing the use of renewable sources, Sir David added.

But the UK was responsible for only about 2% of the world’s emissions while the US, with just 4% of the world’s population, produced more than 20%.

The UK was asking the world’s developed economies to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60% of 1990 levels by about 2050, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), Sir David said.

Severe problem

But despite declaring support for the UNFCC’s objectives, the US had failed to ratify the Kyoto accord for emission reductions and “refused to countenance any remedial action now or in the future”.

The United States is already in the forefront of the science and technology of global change, and the next step is surely to tackle emissions control too Sir David King

Sir David added: “We can only overcome this challenge by facing it together, shoulder to shoulder.

“We in the rest of the world are now looking to the USA to play its leading part.”

Sir David said climate change was the most severe problem faced by the world.

“The United States is already in the forefront of the science and technology of global change, and the next step is surely to tackle emissions control too,” he said.

“If we do not begin now, more substantial, more disruptive, and more expensive change will be needed later on.”

Population growth

Levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have risen steeply since the industrial revolution.

Concentrations have increased mainly because of the use of fossil fuels, deforestation and other human activities, spurred on by economic and population growth.

Greenhouse gases stop energy escaping from the Earth’s surface and atmosphere.

If levels rise too high, excessive warming can distort natural patterns of climate, researchers say.