Current Events: Global Warming
2007-10-22: Global Warming: Planet's CO2 Production Surges Today, a new study found that atmospheric carbon concentrations are now increasing by 1.93 parts per million each year--the fastest rate of buildup since monitoring activities began in 1959 and considerably higher than the 1.58-ppm average for the 1980s and the 1.49 ppm for the 1990s.
2007-09-09: Global Warming: Polar Bear Population Predicted To Dwindle WIth Retreating Ice Due to Global Warming, future reduction of sea ice in the Arctic could result in a loss of 2/3 of the world's polar bear population within 50 years.
2007-02-03: Global Warming: Nanoengineered Concrete Could Cut Carbon Dioxide Emissions While corporations, governments and individuals balk at addressing their excessive CO2 emmissions, a group of engineers at MIT has researched the nanostructure of concrete, the world's most widely used material, whose production accounts for 5 to 10 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. This research has found that concrete's strength is a function of its structure, not its materials, making way for different materials that won't contribute to further global warming.
2006-06-25: How much future sea level rise? More evidence from models and ice sheet observations A chilling look at the current models of warming on the earth. An interesting sidelight is how scientists have used satellites to measure the loss of ice sheets.
2007-06-24: Global Warming: Where are the Carbon Sinks? Forests in the United States and other northern mid- and upper-latitude regions are playing a smaller role in offsetting global warming than previously thought, according to a study appearing in Science this week.
2006-06-19: Global Warming: Climate Scientists Spotlight Arctic Warming, Plight Of Polar Bears A climate scientist at the University of Chicago and 30 of her colleagues from across North America and Europe are urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the polar bear as a threatened species because global warming is melting its sea-ice habitat.
2006-06-17: Global Warming: An Incoveniet Truth So far the best 2006 movie. A sobering but enjoyable film concerning Global Warming and Al Gore's efforts to get the message out throughout the world. Roger Ebert's Review
2006-05-26: Greenhouse Gas, Temperature Feedback Mechanism May Raise Warming Beyond Previous Estimates A team of European scientists reports that climate change estimates for the next century may have substantially underestimated the potential magnitude of global warming. They say that actual warming due to human fossil fuel emissions may be 15-to-78 percent higher than warming estimates that do not take into account the feedback mechanism involving carbon dioxide and Earth's temperature. Feedback Loops In Global Climate Change Point To A Very Hot 21st Century Studies have shown that global climate change can set-off positive feedback loops in nature which amplify warming and cooling trends. Now, researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley have been able to quantify the feedback implied by past increases in natural carbon dioxide and methane gas levels. Their results point to global temperatures at the end of this century that may be significantly higher than current climate models are predicting.
2006-04-18: Dimming the Sun PBS's NOVA reports on the discovery of dimming sunlight reaching Earth, which has led scientists to realize that they may have miscalculated their models of the climate and how fast it's changing. And if their models are wrong, it means the worst-case warming scenario could be a lot worse than anyone has predicted. In "Dimming the Sun," NOVA unravels this baffling climate conundrum and the implications for Earth's future. Note: Tuesday's show was on Titan: Voyage to the Mystery Moon.
2005-12-31: Now: Global Warming For any of you that missed it, NOW had a great program on Global Warming. The program regarded the sound science behind Global Warming, while covering the politics involved, where Mobil-Exxon and others, spend millions attempting to discredit the scientists. At stake? Major impacts throughout the planet or reduced profits for some corporations.
2005-11-20: Study Shows Climate Warming To Shrink Key Water Supplies Around The World In the looming future, global warming will reduce glaciers and storage packs of snow in regions around the world, causing water shortages and other problems that will impact millions of people, according to researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Washington in a review paper published in the November 17 issue of the journal Nature.
2005-10-24: Climate model predicts dramatic changes over next 100 years The most comprehensive climate model to date of the continental United States predicts more extreme temperatures throughout America.
2005-10-02: Climate Change More Rapid than Ever. According to the calculations of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, over the next century the climate will change more quickly than it ever has in the recent history of the earth with global temperatures rising by up to four degrees by the end of the century. Because of this warming, the sea level could rise on average by as many as 30 centimeters.
2005-10-02: Sun's Direct Role in Global Warming Underestimated by 10 to 30 Percent.
2005-09-17: Hurricanes Are Getting Stronger, article explores the increase in categroy 4 and 5 hurricanes and climbing ocean temperatures.
2005-07-11: Warming hits 'tipping point' and Climate warning as Siberia melts. According to Russian researchers, the recent melting of a peat bog the size of France and Germany combined could unleash potent greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
2005-07: GW Fuels Nastier Storms, thanks Deborah Helle.
2005-05: Jon Louma, in his "Slaves to Energy" article in the May/June 2005 "UU World," questions whether we can change our destructive course. Louma invokes Dr. Chad Tolman's thoughts about contradictions in the moral life of Thomas Jefferson concerning slavery —and our own modern parallel of global warming.
2005-02-27: From Steve Hall, See the New Scientist for an interesting article, Climate change: Menace or myth? Climate Change: Menace of Myth? Union of Concerned Scientists site for global warming. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) site for global warming. 2005-03-30: Study highlights irreversible global decline. 10th Annual UUA Florida District Social Justice Conference: Global Warming and Climate Change included three keynote speakers (Doctor Daniel A. Lashof, the Hon. Harvey Rubin, and the Rev. Katherine Jesche), who made presentations and took part in a panel discussion during the morning session. In the afternoon, small group discussions facilitated action plans for individuals, UU congregations and the larger community. Download Audio and PDF files here: Conference on Global Warming.
If you have any questions, or suggestions email the webmaster at the bottom of this page; the purpose of this page is to cover a wide range of topics that would be useful to UUs.