Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Do you really believe Global Warming is taking place?

Through the blog you can see what global warming is, the effects it has and information on changes caused by global warming. After looking through the blog do you thinks these facts prove that global warming is taking place? Or is it going to in the future? or not at all?

Is it Happening?

Yes. Earth is already showing many signs of worldwide climate change.

  • Average temperatures have climbed 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) around the world since 1880, much of this in recent decades, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. 

  • The rate of warming is increasing. The 20th century's last two decades were the hottest in 400 years and possibly the warmest for several millennia, according to a number of climate studies. And the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that 11 of the past 12 years are among the dozen warmest since 1850. 

  • The Arctic is feeling the effects the most. Average temperatures in Alaska, western Canada, and eastern Russia have risen at twice the global average, according to the multinational Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report compiled between 2000 and 2004. 

  • Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing, and the region may have its first completely ice free summer by 2040 or earlier.polar bearss are already suffering from the sea-ice loss. 

  • Glaciers and mountain snows are rapidly melting—for example, Montana's national glacier park now has only 27 glaciers, versus 150 in 1910. In the Northern Hemisphere, thaws also come a week earlier in spring and freezes begin a week later.

  • An upsurge in the amount of extreme weather events, such as wildfires, heatwaves and strong tropical storms is also attributed in part to climate change by some experts.

Will Green Power doom the Golden Eagle?

In an article from the UK Mail Online is a  reminder of the inexorable law of unintended consequences.  In California’s attempt to switch to green energy has put the sates Golden Eagle in risk.

Scores of the protected birds have been dying each year after colliding with the blades of about 5,000 wind turbines. Now the drive for renewable power sources, such as wind and the sun, being promoted by President Obama and state Governor Jerry Brown has raised fears that the number of newborn golden eagles may not be able to keep pace with the number of turbine fatalities.The death count along the ridgelines of the Bay Area’s Altamount Pass Wind Resource Area has averaged 67 a year for three decades.The 200ft high turbines, which have been operating since the 1980s, lie in the heart of the grassy canyons that are home to one of the highest densities of nesting golden eagles in the US.‘It would take 167 pairs of local nesting golden eagles to produce enough young to compensate for their mortality rate related to wind energy production,’ field biologist Doug Bell, manager of East Bay Regional Park District’s wildlife programme, told the Los Angeles Times. ‘We only have 60 pairs,’ he added.
Here’s a photo of one of these rare beauties (also from the article):