(In technical lingo, the so-called social cost of carbon would be negative.)”

Carbon credit

Nordhaus has suggested, based on the social cost of carbon emissions, that an optimal price of carbon is around $30(US) per ton and will need to increase with inflation.

Carbon credit

The social cost of carbon is the additional damage caused by an additional ton of carbon emissions.

Carbon price

So again we have the right outcome — provided the carbon price equals the social cost.

Carbon tax

Several administrative advisers have stated that the social cost should be reduced to zero (currently at $36 per ton of carbon dioxide).

Carbon tax

Carbon emissions have an "unpriced" societal cost in terms of their deleterious effects on the earth's climate.


…obsessing about climate change is avoiding a frank discussion about the here-and-now problems of budget deficits, the federal debt, school choice, entitlement reform, and so on.

Political positions of Paul Ryan

He suggested using discussions about raising the federal debt ceiling as "leverage" to reduce federal spending.

Political positions of Paul Ryan

He helped bring the issues of the national debt and the national deficit into the national policy debate.

Political positions of Paul Ryan

His positions on fiscal policy have included tax cuts, cuts to entitlement programs, freezes on discretionary spending, the elimination of automatic inflation increases in calculating budget baselines, deregulation, and the privatization of social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and education.

United States federal budget

Prior to the 2008-2009 U.S. recession, experts argued for steps to be put in place immediately to address an unsustainable trajectory of federal deficits.

United States federal budget


Global warming is driving major melting on the surface of Greenland’s glaciers and is speeding up their travel into the sea.”

Global warming

Surface temperature increases are greatest in the Arctic, which has contributed to the retreat of glaciers, permafrost, and sea ice.

Global warming

Not only does this increase the absorption of sunlight, it also increases melting and sea level rise.

Greenland ice sheet

When the meltwater seeps down through cracks in the sheet, it accelerates the melting and, in some areas, allows the ice to slide more easily over the bedrock below, speeding its movement to the sea.

Sea level rise

This acceleration is due mostly to human-caused global warming, which is driving thermal expansion of seawater and the melting of land-based ice sheets and glaciers.

Shutdown of thermohaline circulation

Global warming could lead to an increase in freshwater in the northern oceans, by melting glaciers in Greenland, and by increasing precipitation, especially through Siberian rivers.


The melting Greenland ice sheet is already a major contributor to rising sea level and if it was eventually lost entirely, the oceans would rise by six metres around the world, flooding many of the world’s largest cities.

Greenland ice sheet

If the entire 2,850,000 km3 (684,000 cu mi) of ice were to melt, global sea levels would rise 7.2 m (24 ft).

Greenland ice sheet

Ice sheet models project that such a warming would initiate the long-term melting of the ice sheet, leading to a complete melting of the ice sheet (over centuries), resulting in a global sea level rise of about 7 metres (23 ft).

Greenland ice sheet

If the entire 2,850,000 cubic kilometres (684,000 cu mi) of ice were to melt, it would lead to a global sea level rise of 7.2 m (24 ft).

Greenland

If the Greenland ice sheet were to melt away completely, the world's sea level would rise by more than 7 m (23 ft).

Ice sheet

The Greenland ice sheet occupies about 82% of the surface of Greenland, and if melted would cause sea levels to rise by 7.2 metres.


Ice cap is disappearing far more rapidly than previously estimated, and is part of a long-term trend, new research shows

2013 in science

Rapidly melting sea ice is causing ocean acidification in the Arctic to occur at faster rates than previously forecast, with serious implications for the food web, according to new research.

Climate change in the Arctic

The data show a long-term negative trend in recent years, attributed to global warming, although there is also a considerable amount of variation from year to year.

Future of Earth

However, the long-term trend is for the plant life on land to die off altogether as most of the remaining carbon in the atmosphere becomes sequestered in the Earth.

Retreat of glaciers since 1850

A 2019 study showed that Antarctica is losing ice six times faster than it was 40 years ago.

Sea level rise

More recent research, especially into Antarctica, indicates that this is probably a conservative estimate and true long-term sea level rise might be higher.


“Federal scientists have documented a sharp jump in this nuisance flooding — often called ‘sunny-day flooding’ — along both the East Coast and the Gulf Coast in recent years.

Gulf Coast of the United States

The area is vulnerable to hurricanes as well as floods and severe thunderstorms.

Gulf Coast of the United States

In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall along the central Texas coast, then migrated to and stalled over the greater Houston area for several days, producing extreme, unprecedented rainfall totals of over 40 inches (1,000 mm) in many areas, unleashing widespread flooding.

Mississippi

The French called the greater territory "New France"; the Spanish continued to claim part of the Gulf coast area (east of Mobile Bay) of present-day southern Alabama, in addition to the entire area of present-day Florida.

New Orleans

As the hurricane passed through the Gulf Coast region, the city's federal flood protection system failed, resulting in the worst civil engineering disaster in American history.

United States

The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet (4,300 m).


These tidal floods are often just a foot or two deep, but they can stop traffic, swamp basements, damage cars, kill lawns and forests, and poison wells with salt.

River Parrett

The area is prone to winter floods of fresh water and occasional salt water inundations, the worst of which in recorded history was the Bristol Channel floods of 1607, which resulted in the drowning of an estimated 2,000 or more people, with houses and villages swept away, an estimated 200 square miles (520 km2) of farmland inundated and livestock destroyed.

River Thames

Wells with water tables that mixed with tributaries (or the non-tidal Thames) faced such pollution with the widespread installation of the flush toilet in the 1850s.

Salt marsh

Coastal salt marshes can be distinguished from terrestrial habitats by the daily tidal flow that occurs and continuously floods the area.

Salt pannes and pools

High salt marsh Arrow-grass (forb) panne Briefly flooded, very shallow with a moderate amount of vegetation usually dominated by Arrow grass (Triglochin maritimum), with the deeper sections possibly remaining unvegetated.

Wetland

A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail.


On the Pacific Coast, a climate pattern that had pushed billions of gallons of water toward Asia is now ending, so that in coming decades the sea is likely to rise quickly off states like Oregon and California.

California

The state's diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast.

Oregon

The state's southwestern portion, particularly the Rogue Valley, has a Mediterranean climate with drier and sunnier winters and hotter summers, similar to Northern California.

United States

The climate is arid in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska.

Western United States

Along the Pacific Ocean coast lie the Coast Ranges, which, while not approaching the scale of the Rocky Mountains, are formidable nevertheless.

Western United States

Annual rainfall is greater in the eastern portions, gradually tapering off until reaching the Pacific Coast where it increases again.


“During ice ages, caused by wobbles in the Earth’s orbit, sea levels dropped more than 400 feet as ice piled up on land.

Earth

The ice shields of Antarctica and Greenland are counted as land, even though much of the rock that supports them lies below sea level.

Ice age

Sea levels drop due to the removal of large volumes of water above sea level in the icecaps.

Ice age

During the last glacial period the sea-level has fluctuated 20–30 m as water was sequestered, primarily in the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets.

Ice age

During glaciation, water was taken from the oceans to form the ice at high latitudes, thus global sea level dropped by about 110 meters, exposing the continental shelves and forming land-bridges between land-masses for animals to migrate.

Quaternary glaciation

Due to the volume of ice on land, sea level was about 120 meters lower than present.


the last sea-level high point, … occurred between the last two ice ages, about 125,000 years ago.

Beringia

The last glacial period, commonly referred to as the "Ice Age", spanned 125,000–14,500 YBP and was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age, which occurred during the last years of the Pleistocene era.

Beringia

The Ice Age reached its peak during the Last Glacial Maximum, when ice sheets began advancing from 33,000 YBP and reached their maximum limits 26,500 YBP.

Ice age

The Andean-Saharan occurred from 460 to 420 million years ago, during the Late Ordovician and the Silurian period.

Last Glacial Period

The Last Glacial Period (LGP) occurred from the end of the Eemian to the end of the Younger Dryas, encompassing the period c. 115,000 – c. 11,700 years ago.

Weichselian glaciation

The last cold period began about 115,000 years ago and ended 11,700 years ago.


Through decades of research, it has become clear that human civilization, roughly 6,000 years old, developed during an unusually stable period for global sea levels.

Human

Though most of human existence has been sustained by hunting and gathering in band societies, many human societies transitioned to sedentary agriculture approximately 10,000 years ago, domesticating plants and animals, thus enabling the growth of civilization.

Human

Humans began to exhibit evidence of behavioral modernity at least by about 100-70,000 years ago and (according to recent evidence) as far back as around 300,000 years ago, in the Middle Stone Age, (with some features of behavioral modernity possibly beginning earlier, and possibly in parallel with evolutionary brain globularization in H. sapiens).

Human

[citation needed] By the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic period (50,000 BP), and likely significantly earlier by 100-70,000 years ago or possibly by about 300,000 years ago behavioral modernity, including language, music and other cultural universals had developed.

Human

Agriculture and sedentary lifestyle led to the emergence of early civilizations (the development of urban development, complex society, social stratification and writing) from about 5,000 years ago (the Bronze Age), first beginning in Mesopotamia.

United States

Over the years, more and more evidence has advanced the idea of "pre-Clovis" cultures including tools dating back about 15,550 years ago.


“Ice-free means the central basin of the Arctic will be ice-free

Arctic Circle

The climate inside the Arctic Circle is generally cold, but the coastal areas of Norway have a generally mild climate as a result of the Gulf Stream, which makes the ports of northern Norway and northwest Russia ice-free all year long.

Arctic Ocean

"Patterns of zooplankton diversity through the depths of the Arctic's central basins".

Arctic Ocean

The two major basins are further subdivided by ridges into the Canada Basin (between Alaska/Canada and the Alpha Ridge), Makarov Basin (between the Alpha and Lomonosov Ridges), Amundsen Basin (between Lomonosov and Gakkel ridges), and Nansen Basin (between the Gakkel Ridge and the continental shelf that includes the Franz Josef Land).

Arctic Ocean

As temperatures cool dramatically in the winter, ice forms and intense vertical convection allows the water to become dense enough to sink below the warm saline water below.

North America

Greenland, along with the Canadian Shield, is tundra with average temperatures ranging from 10 to 20 °C (50 to 68 °F), but central Greenland is composed of a very large ice sheet.


by that I mean the central Arctic will be ice-free.

Arctic

The melting of the ice is making the Northwest Passage, the shipping routes through the northernmost latitudes, more navigable, raising the possibility that the Arctic region will become a prime trade route.

Earth

Most fresh water, about 68.7%, is present as ice in ice caps and glaciers.

Global warming

They include effects on the oceans, ice, and weather and may occur gradually or rapidly.

Murmansk

The port of Murmansk remains ice-free year round due to the warm North Atlantic Current and is an important fishing and shipping destination.

Retreat of glaciers since 1850

"Extreme melt onCanada's Arctic ice caps in the 21st century".


There will still be about a million square kilometres of ice in the Arctic in summer

Arctic Ocean

Much of the Arctic ice pack is also covered in snow for about 10 months of the year.

Arctic Ocean

It is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year and almost completely in winter.

Retreat of glaciers since 1850

It covers almost 14 million km2 and some 30 million km3 of ice.

Sea ice

In the Arctic, the area of ocean covered by sea ice increases over winter from a minimum in September to a maximum in March or sometimes February, before melting over the summer.

Sea ice

Predictions of when the first "ice free" Arctic summer might occur vary.


Most people expect this year will see a record low in the Arctic’s summer sea-ice cover.

Arctic Ocean

Arctic ice pack

"Nonetheless, the extreme loss of this summer’s sea ice cover and the slow onset of freeze-up portends lower than normal ice extent throughout autumn and winter, and the ice that grows back is likely to be fairly thin".

Arctic sea ice decline

"Absurd January Warmth in Arctic Brings Record-Low Sea Ice Extent".

Arctic sea ice decline

The previous record of the lowest area of the Arctic Ocean covered by ice in 2012 saw a low of 1.58 million square miles (4.09 million square kilometers).

Arctic sea ice decline

The Arctic sea ice minimum is the day in a given year when Arctic sea ice reaches its smallest extent, occurring at the end of the summer melting season, normally during September.


People tend to think of an ice-free Arctic in summer in terms of it merely being a symbol of global change.

Arctic Ocean

Research shows that the Arctic may become ice-free in the summer for the first time in human history by 2040.

Arctic sea ice decline

"US Navy predicts summer ice free Arctic by 2016".

Arctic sea ice decline

"Some of the models suggest that there is a 75 percent chance that the entire north polar ice cap during some of the summer months will be completely ice-free within the next five to seven years," Gore said.

Arctic sea ice decline

Models that best match historical trends project a nearly ice-free Arctic in the summer by the 2030s.

Global warming

"A sea ice free summer Arctic within 30 years?".


“Underneath the permafrost there are sediments full of methane hydrates.

Clathrate gun hypothesis

(2008) estimate that not less than 1,400 gigatonnes of carbon is presently locked up as methane and methane hydrates under the Arctic submarine permafrost, and 5–10% of that area is subject to puncturing by open taliks.

Methane

Significant reservoirs of methane clathrates have been found in arctic permafrost and along continental margins beneath the ocean floor within the gas clathrate stability zone, located at high pressures (1 to 100 MPa; lower end requires lower temperature) and low temperatures (< 15 °C; upper end requires higher pressure).

Permafrost carbon cycle

Methane clathrate, or hydrates, occur within and below permafrost soils.

Permafrost

It also contains gas hydrates in places, which are a "potential abundant source of energy" but may also destabilize as subsea permafrost warms and thaws, producing large amounts of methane gas, which is a potent greenhouse gas.

Permian–Triassic extinction event

"The potential volume of oceanic methane hydrates with variable external conditions".


“The most recent prediction of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is that seas will rise by 60 to 90 centimetres this century.

Global warming

Over the 21st century, the IPCC projects that in a very high emissions scenario the sea level could rise by 61–110 cm.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:237

Among other findings, the report concluded that sea level rises could be up to two feet higher by the year 2100, even if efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to limit global warming are successful; coastal cities across the world could see so-called "storm[s] of the century" at least once a year.

Sea level rise

In its fifth assessment report (2013) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated how much sea level is likely to rise in the 21st century based on different levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

Sea level rise

If emissions remain very high, the IPCC projects sea level will rise by 52–98 cm (20–39 in).

Sea level rise

For example, in 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected a high end estimate of 60 cm (2 ft) through 2099, but their 2014 report raised the high-end estimate to about 90 cm (3 ft).


the first scientists to show that the thick icecap that once covered the Arctic ocean was beginning to thin and shrink.

Arctic Ocean

Nevertheless, as all the explorers who travelled closer and closer to the pole reported, the polar ice cap is quite thick, and persists year-round.

Arctic Ocean

The summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50%.

Global warming

Global warming has led to decades of shrinking and thinning of the Arctic sea ice, making it vulnerable to atmospheric anomalies.

Retreat of glaciers since 1850

Other studies show that between 1960 and 1999, the Devon Ice Cap lost 67 km3 (16 cu mi) of ice, mainly through thinning.

Retreat of glaciers since 1850

The 66 km2 (25 sq mi) ice shelf drifted into the Arctic Ocean.


‘Next year or the year after, the Arctic will be free of ice’

Arctic Ocean

Research shows that the Arctic may become ice-free in the summer for the first time in human history by 2040.

Arctic sea ice decline

"Expert predicts ice-free Arctic by 2020 as UN releases climate report".

Arctic sea ice decline

"US Navy predicts summer ice free Arctic by 2016".

Ice age

(Current projected consequences of global warming include a largely ice-free Arctic Ocean within 5–20 years, see Arctic shrinkage.)

North Pole

Reports have also predicted that within a few decades the Arctic Ocean will be entirely free of ice in the summer.


“as surface temperatures of the oceans warm up, the immediate response is more water vapor in the atmosphere.

Atmospheric methane

This process is enhanced by global warming, because warmer air holds more water vapor than colder air, so the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere increases as it is warmed by the greenhouse effect.

Eocene

These isotope changes occurred due to the release of carbon from the ocean into the atmosphere that led to a temperature increase of 4-8 °C (7-14 °F) at the surface of the ocean.

Sea level rise

The heat needed to raise an average temperature increase of the entire world ocean by 0.01 °C would increase the atmospheric temperature by approximately 10 °C.

Water vapor

The upper temperature level is given by the soil or water surface of the earth, which absorbs the incoming sun radiation and warms up, evaporating water.

Water

Water vapor and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere provide a temperature buffer (greenhouse effect) which helps maintain a relatively steady surface temperature.


While the north-east, midwest and upper great plains have experienced a 30% increase in heavy rainfall episodes – considered once-in-every-five year downpours – parts of the west, particularly California, have been parched by drought.

California

Water use and conservation in California is a politically divisive issue, as the state experiences periodic droughts and has to balance the demands of its large agricultural and urban sectors, especially in the arid southern portion of the state.

San Joaquin Valley

The valley experienced a severe drought from 2011 to 2017.

San Joaquin Valley

By August 2014, a three-year drought was prompting changes to the agriculture industry in the valley.

Western United States

However, parts of the West get extremely high amounts of rain or snow, and still other parts are true desert and get less than 5 inches (130 mm) of rain per year.

Western United States

Drought is much more common in the West than the rest of the United States.


The contrast in precipitation between wet and dry regions and between wet and dry seasons will increase, although there may be regional exceptions.

Morocco

Most regions have distinct seasons where summer is usually not spoiled by rain and winter turns wet, snowy and humid with mild, cool to cold temperatures, while spring and fall see warm to mild weather characterised by flowers blooming in spring and falling leaves in autumn.

Tropical monsoon climate

In essence, a tropical monsoon climate tends to either see more rainfall than a tropical savanna climate or have less pronounced dry seasons.

Tropical monsoon climate

Regions with this variation of the tropical monsoon climate typically see copious amounts of rain during the wet season(s), usually in the form of frequent thunderstorms.

Tropical savanna climate

There are generally four types of tropical savanna climates: Distinct wet and dry seasons of relatively equal duration.

Tundra

Despite the potential diversity of climates in the ET category involving precipitation, extreme temperatures, and relative wet and dry seasons, this category is rarely subdivided.


Some, however, bristle at the belief that because floods and storms have always occurred, they should not be linked to climate change”

2007 United Kingdom floods

Climate researchers have suggested that the unusual weather leading to the floods may be linked to this year's appearance of La Nina in the Pacific Ocean, and the jet stream being further south than normal.

2015 South Indian floods

Although some studies have reported an increase in frequency and intensity of extremes in rainfall during the past 40–50 years, their attribution to global warming is not established."

Climate change denial

To the public, this was related to climate change and the possibility of effective action, but news interest faded.

Climate change denial

Public attention was renewed amidst summer droughts and heat waves when James Hansen testified to a Congressional hearing on 23 June 1988, stating with high confidence that long term warming was underway with severe warming likely within the next 50 years, and warning of likely storms and floods.

Climate change in Australia

In 2014, the Bureau of Meteorology released a report on the state of Australia's climate that highlighted several key points, including the significant increase in Australia's temperatures (particularly night-time temperatures) and the increasing frequency of bush fires, droughts and floods, which have all been linked to climate change.


This means that the world is now 1C warmer than it was in pre-industrial times

Global warming

Multiple independently produced instrumental datasets confirm that the 2009–2018 decade was 0.93 ± 0.07 °C warmer than the pre-industrial baseline (1850–1900).

Global warming

Near- and long-term trends in the global energy system are inconsistent with limiting global warming to below 1.5 or 2 °C relative to pre-industrial levels.

Global warming

Current pledges made as part of the Paris Agreement would lead to about 3.0 °C of warming at the end of the 21st century, relative to pre-industrial levels.

Global warming

Before the Industrial Revolution, naturally occurring amounts of greenhouse gases caused the air near the surface to be warmer by about 33 °C (59 °F) than it would be in their absence.

World Bank

The planet is now 0.8 °C warmer than in pre-industrial times.


The thermal expansion of the oceans, compounded by melting glaciers, resulted in the highest global sea level on record in 2015.

Sea level rise

Since the last glacial maximum about 20,000 years ago, the sea level has risen by more than 125 metres (410 ft), with rates varying from less than a mm/year to 40+ mm/year, as a result of melting ice sheets over Canada and Eurasia.

Sea level rise

This acceleration is due mostly to human-caused global warming, which is driving thermal expansion of seawater and the melting of land-based ice sheets and glaciers.

Sea level rise

Between 1993 and 2018, thermal expansion of the oceans contributed 42% to sea level rise; the melting of temperate glaciers, 21%; Greenland, 15%; and Antarctica, 8%.

Sea level rise

The three main reasons warming causes global sea level to rise are: oceans expand, ice sheets lose ice faster than it forms from snowfall, and glaciers at higher altitudes also melt.

Sea level

Most of this rise can be attributed to the increase in temperature of the sea and the resulting slight thermal expansion of the upper 500 metres (1,640 feet) of sea water.


“The oceans, which absorb more than 90% of the extra CO2 pumped into the atmosphere“

Carbon dioxide

Currently, about half of the carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels remains in the atmosphere and is not absorbed by vegetation and the oceans.

Carbon dioxide

The oceans act as an enormous carbon sink, and have taken up about a third of CO 2 emitted by human activity.

Carbon dioxide

Most of the CO 2 taken up by the ocean, which is about 30% of the total released into the atmosphere, forms carbonic acid in equilibrium with bicarbonate.

Carbon dioxide

NOAA states in their May 2008 "State of the science fact sheet for ocean acidification" that: "The oceans have absorbed about 50% of the carbon dioxide (CO 2) released from the burning of fossil fuels, resulting in chemical reactions that lower ocean pH.

Sea

More recently, anthropogenic activities have steadily increased the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere; about 30–40% of the added CO2 is absorbed by the oceans, forming carbonic acid and lowering the pH (now below 8.1) through a process called ocean acidification.


The world’s alpine glaciers recorded a net annual loss of ice for the 36th consecutive year and the Greenland ice sheet … experienced melting over more than 50% of its surface.

Greenland ice sheet

It was estimated that in the year 2007 Greenland ice sheet melting was higher than ever, 592 km3 (142.0 cu mi).

Greenland ice sheet

The Greenland Ice Sheet has experienced record melting in recent years since detailed records have been kept and is likely to contribute substantially to sea level rise as well as to possible changes in ocean circulation in the future if this is sustained.

Greenland ice sheet

The area of the sheet that experiences melting has been argued to have increased by about 16% between 1979 (when measurements started) and 2002 (most recent data).

Greenland ice sheet

The area of melting in 2002 broke all previous records.

Greenland ice sheet

In 2006, estimated monthly changes in the mass of Greenland's ice sheet suggest that it is melting at a rate of about 239 cubic kilometers (57 cu mi) per year.


Greenland ice sheet … would balloon sea levels by around 7m should it disintegrate

Greenland ice sheet

If the entire 2,850,000 km3 (684,000 cu mi) of ice were to melt, global sea levels would rise 7.2 m (24 ft).

Greenland ice sheet

Ice sheet models project that such a warming would initiate the long-term melting of the ice sheet, leading to a complete melting of the ice sheet (over centuries), resulting in a global sea level rise of about 7 metres (23 ft).

Greenland ice sheet

If the entire 2,850,000 cubic kilometres (684,000 cu mi) of ice were to melt, it would lead to a global sea level rise of 7.2 m (24 ft).

Greenland

If the Greenland ice sheet were to melt away completely, the world's sea level would rise by more than 7 m (23 ft).

Ice sheet

The Greenland ice sheet occupies about 82% of the surface of Greenland, and if melted would cause sea levels to rise by 7.2 metres.


The rapid changes in the climate may have profound consequences for humans and other species… Severe drought caused food shortages for millions of people in Ethiopia, with a lack of rainfall resulting in “intense and widespread” forest fires in Indonesia that belched out a vast quantity of greenhouse gas

Drought

According to the WWF, the combination of climate change and deforestation increases the drying effect of dead trees that fuels forest fires.

Drought

Recurring droughts leading to desertification in East Africa have created grave ecological catastrophes, prompting food shortages in 1984–85, 2006 and 2011.

Ethiopia

The ensuing government suffered several coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and a huge refugee problem.

Ethiopia

A 17-year-long civil war, along with severe drought, negatively impacted Ethiopia's environmental conditions, leading to even greater habitat degradation.

Famine

A primary cause of the famine (one of the largest seen in the country) is that Ethiopia (and the surrounding Horn) was still recovering from the droughts which occurred in the mid-late 1970s.


“Typically, in such an attribution study, scientists will use sets of climate models — one set including the factors that drive human global warming and the other including purely “natural” factors — and see if an event like the one in question is more likely to occur in the first set of models.

Attribution of recent climate change:101

Attribution of recent climate change

For example, when climate model simulations of the last century include all of the major influences on climate, both human-induced and natural, they can reproduce many important features of observed climate change patterns.

Attribution of recent climate change:103

Attribution of recent climate change

The clear message from fingerprint studies is that the observed warming over the last half-century cannot be explained by natural factors, and is instead caused primarily by human factors.

Attribution of recent climate change:193

Attribution of recent climate change

Models are, however, able to simulate the observed 20th century changes in temperature when they include all of the most important external forcings, including human influences and natural forcings.

Attribution of recent climate change

Climate models forced by natural factors and increased greenhouse gases and aerosols reproduce the observed global temperature changes; those forced by natural factors alone do not.

Attribution of recent climate change

Therefore, climate models are used to study how individual factors affect climate.


“Earlier this month, NASA scientists provided a visualization of a startling climate change trend — the Earth is getting greener, as viewed from space, especially in its rapidly warming northern regions.

Antarctica

NASA's Climate Change website indicates a compatible overall trend of greater than 100 gigatonnes of ice loss per year since 2002.

Earth

This last phenomenon is known as the greenhouse effect: trace molecules within the atmosphere serve to capture thermal energy emitted from the ground, thereby raising the average temperature.

Earth

The perception of Earth shifted again in the 20th century when humans first viewed it from orbit, and especially with photographs of Earth returned by the Apollo program.

Global warming

Climate change is more accurate scientifically to describe the various effects of greenhouse gases on the world because it includes extreme weather, storms and changes in rainfall patterns, ocean acidification and sea level.".

Hubble Space Telescope

It has recorded some of the most detailed visible light images, allowing a deep view into space.


It is clear, then, that greening is emerging as a factor with the potential to blunt some of the worst impacts of human greenhouse gas emissions.

Effects of global warming

The effects of global warming or climate damage include far-reaching and long-lasting changes to the natural environment, to ecosystems and human societies caused directly or indirectly by human emissions of greenhouse gases.

Greenhouse gas

It is likely that anthropogenic (i.e., human-induced) warming, such as that due to elevated greenhouse gas levels, has had a discernible influence on many physical and biological systems.

Pollution

Humans have ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the consequences of global warming, a major climate report concluded.

Scientific consensus on climate change:139

Scientific consensus on climate change

European Science Foundation in a 2007 position paper states: There is now convincing evidence that since the industrial revolution, human activities, resulting in increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases have become a major agent of climate change ... On-going and increased efforts to mitigate climate change through reduction in greenhouse gases are therefore crucial.

Scientific consensus on climate change:692

Scientific consensus on climate change

While ‘climate change’ can be due to natural forces or human activity, there is now substantial evidence to indicate that human activity – and specifically increased greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions – is a key factor in the pace and extent of global temperature increases.


Arctic greening was recently cited, in a major report by the U.S. Geological Survey, as the central reason that the state of Alaska, despite worsening wildfires and more thaw of permafrost, might still be able to stow away more carbon than it loses over the course of the 21st century.”

Alaska North Slope

The source rock for the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field and neighboring reserves is also a potential source for tight oil and shale gas – possibly containing "up to 2 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil and up to 80 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to a 2012 U.S. Geological Survey report."

Arctic methane emissions

reported permafrost was thawing quicker than predicted, and was happening even to thousands years old soil; They estimated that abrupt permafrost thawing could release between 60 and 100 gigatonnes of carbon by 2300, they mentioned gaps in the research and that abrupt permafrost thawing should have priority research and urgency.

Climate change feedback

In 2008, a research expedition for the American Geophysical Union detected levels of methane up to 100 times above normal in the Siberian Arctic, likely being released by methane clathrates being released by holes in a frozen 'lid' of seabed permafrost, around the outfall of the Lena River and the area between the Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea.

Climate change in the Arctic

A new study used field observations, radiocarbon dating, and remote sensing to account for thermokarst lakes, the authors concluded that, "..methane and carbon dioxide emissions from abrupt thaw beneath thermokarst lakes will more than double radiative forcing from circumpolar permafrost-soil carbon fluxes this century."

Global warming controversy

One theory is that the climate may reach a "tipping point" where positive feedback effects lead to runaway global warming; such feedbacks include decreased reflection of solar radiation as sea ice melts, exposing darker seawater, and the potential release of large volumes of methane from thawing permafrost.


Any reasonable person can recognize both positives and negatives among the policy proposals of both Tories and Labour.

2015 United Kingdom general election:224

2015 United Kingdom general election

Less attention was given to policy areas that might have been problematic for the Conservatives, like the NHS or housing (policy topics favoured by Labour) or immigration (favoured by UKIP).

2017 United Kingdom general election:180

2017 United Kingdom general election

In a speech in Tynemouth the next day, May said Labour had "deserted" working-class voters, criticised Labour's policy proposals and said Britain's future depended on making a success of Brexit.

2019 United Kingdom general election:123

2019 United Kingdom general election

The Labour Party proposed a renegotiation of the withdrawal agreement (towards a closer post-withdrawal relationship with the EU) and would then put this forward as an option in a referendum alongside the option of remaining in the EU.

2019 United Kingdom general election:201

2019 United Kingdom general election

The Liberal Democrats, the Greens, the SNP and Labour all support a ban on fracking, whilst the Conservatives propose approving fracking on a case-by-case basis.

Conservative Party (UK)

Both Cameron and Theresa May have aimed at helping families achieve a work-home balance and have previously proposed to offer all parents 12 months parental leave, to be shared by parents as they choose.


Over time, climate becomes a net problem: by the 2070s, the UN Climate Panel finds that global warming will likely cause damage equivalent to 0.2 per cent to 2 per cent of global GDP.

Effects of global warming

(2001) concluded that world GDP would change by plus or minus a few percent for a small increase in global mean temperature (up to around 2 °C relative to the 1990 temperature level).

Effects of global warming

In 2019 the National Bureau of Economic Research found that increase in average global temperature by 0.04 °C per year, in absence of mitigation policies, will reduce world real GDP per capita by 7.22% by 2100.

Global warming

"Large potential reduction in economic damages under UN mitigation targets".

Global warming

Climate proxy records show that natural variations offset the early effects of the Industrial Revolution, so there was little net warming between the 18th century and the mid-19th century, when thermometer records began to provide global coverage.

Global warming

The 10th Emissions Gap Report issued by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) predicts that if emissions continue to increase at the same rate as they have in 2010–2020, global temperatures would rise by as much as 4° by 2100.


“Because CO₂ acts as a fertilizer, as much as half of all vegetated land is persistently greener today.

Fertilizer

A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin (other than liming materials) that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants.

Fertilizer

Ammonia is produced from natural gas and air.

Fertilizer

The greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are produced during the manufacture of nitrogen fertilizer.

Fertilizer

Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are widely available as water and carbon dioxide.

Fertilizer

This ammonia is used as a feedstock for all other nitrogen fertilizers, such as anhydrous ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) and urea (CO(NH2)2).


precipitation from global warming will make the world much greener

Global warming

After an initial warming due to emissions of greenhouse gases, the atmosphere will hold more water.

Global warming

Changing the type of vegetation in a region impacts the local temperature by changing how much sunlight gets reflected back into space, called albedo, and how much heat is lost by evaporation.

Sahara

The area is next expected to become green in about 15,000 years (17,000 AD).

Sahara

At present (2000 AD), we are in a dry period, but it is expected that the Sahara will become green again in 15000 years (17000 AD).

Urban heat island

With the temperature of the nearby buildings sometimes reaching over 50 degrees different from the near-surface air temperature, precipitation will warm rapidly, causing runoff into nearby streams, lakes and rivers (or other bodies of water) to provide excessive thermal pollution.


A recent Nature study expecting more severe hurricanes from global warming still found that damages would halve from 0.04 per cent to 0.02 per cent of global GDP, because the increased ferocity would be more than made up by increased prosperity and resilience.

Effects of global warming on humans

(2008) normalized mainland U.S. hurricane damage from 1900 to 2005 to 2005 values and found no remaining trend of increasing absolute damage.

Effects of global warming

Nevertheless, one recent study has found that potential global economic gains if countries implement mitigation strategies to comply with the 2°C target set at the Paris Agreement are in the vicinity of US$17,000 billion per year up to 2100 compared to a very high emission scenario.

Effects of global warming

(2001) projected losses in world GDP for a medium increase in global mean temperature (above 2–3 °C relative to the 1990 temperature level), with increasing losses for greater temperature increases.

Effects of global warming

In 2019 the National Bureau of Economic Research found that increase in average global temperature by 0.04 °C per year, in absence of mitigation policies, will reduce world real GDP per capita by 7.22% by 2100.

Global warming

"Large potential reduction in economic damages under UN mitigation targets".


“Yet, a new study of 60 climate models and scenarios shows this warning fails to take into account the fact that global warming will mean precipitation increases.

Climate change and agriculture

For example, many models are running simulations based on doubled carbon dioxide projections, temperatures raise ranging from 1 °C up to 5 °C, and with rainfall levels an increase or decrease of 20%.

Effects of global warming

Although increased rainful will not occur everywhere, models suggest most of the world will have a 16-24% increase in heavy precipitation intensity by 2100.

Global warming

Past models have underestimated the rate of Arctic shrinkage and underestimated the rate of precipitation increase.

Physical impacts of climate change

This large-scale pattern of change is a robust feature present in nearly all of the simulations conducted by the world's climate modeling groups for the 4th Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and is also evident in observed 20th century precipitation trends.

Scientific consensus on climate change:591

Scientific consensus on climate change

Changes in the climate system that are confidently predicted in response to increases in greenhouse gases include increases in mean surface air temperature, increases in global mean rates of precipitation and evaporation, rising sea level, and changes in the biosphere.


No one ever says it, but in many ways global warming will be a good thing

Climate change denial

Even if the current and future projected human effects on Earth's climate are not negligible, the changes are generally going to be good for us.

Global catastrophic risk

It is a global good, so even if a large nation decreases it, that nation will only enjoy a small fraction of the benefit of doing so.

Global warming

One potential source of abrupt climate change would be the rapid release of methane and carbon dioxide from permafrost, which would amplify global warming.

Global warming

Adaptation is especially important in developing countries since they are predicted to bear the brunt of the effects of global warming.

Global warming

In the scientific literature, there is an overwhelming consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused mainly by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases.


in a letter to The Times from Lord Krebs and company, essentially telling the newspaper to stop reporting less-than-negative climate stories.

The New York Times

Former The New York Times executive editor Bill Keller decided not to report the piece after being pressured by the Bush administration and being advised not to do so by The New York Times Washington bureau chief Philip Taubman.

The New York Times

During the Iranian nuclear crisis the newspaper minimized the "negative processes" of the United States while overemphasizing similar processes of Iran.

The Washington Times

During the Climatic Research Unit email controversy (also known as "Climategate") in 2009 in the lead-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the Times wrote in an editorial "these revelations of fudged science should have a cooling effect on global-warming hysteria and the panicked policies that are being pushed forward to address the unproven theory."

The Washington Times

In 1993, the Times published articles purporting to debunk climate change.

The Washington Times

It has also published many columns which reject the scientific consensuses on climate change, on ozone depletion, and on the harmful effects of second-hand smoke.


The projection that much of the Great Barrier Reef could perish within the next few decades could turn out to be too pessimistic, since other research has shown that some species of corals are surprisingly resilient to the stress from changing ocean temperatures.

Coral bleaching

Large coral colonies such as Porites are able to withstand extreme temperature shocks, while fragile branching corals such Acropora are far more susceptible to stress following a temperature change.

Great Barrier Reef

Bleaching events in benthic coral communities (deeper than 20 metres or 66 feet) in the Great Barrier reef are not as well documented as those at shallower depths, but recent research has shown that benthic communities are just as negatively impacted in the face of rising ocean temperatures.

Great Barrier Reef

A March 2016 report stated that coral bleaching was more widespread than previously thought, seriously affecting the northern parts of the reef as a result of warming ocean temperatures.

Great Barrier Reef

In March 2017, the journal Nature published a paper showing that huge sections of an 800-kilometre (500 mi) stretch in the northern part of the reef had died in the course of 2016 due to high water temperatures, an event that the authors put down to the effects of global climate change.

Great Barrier Reef

These forms of pollution have made the reef less resilient to climate change.


a new study by scientists at the Australian Research Council finds that the ongoing bleaching event is mainly due to human-caused global warming, and that if global warming proceeds as currently expected, “large parts” of the Great Barrier Reef could die by the mid-2030s.

Climate change in Australia

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the reef has experienced unprecedented rates of bleaching over the past two decades, and additional warming of only 1 °C is anticipated to cause considerable losses or contractions of species associated with coral communities.

Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

Scientific consensus on climate change:144

Scientific consensus on climate change

International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences (CAETS) in 2007, issued a Statement on Environment and Sustainable Growth: As reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), most of the observed global warming since the mid-20th century is very likely due to human-produced emission of greenhouse gases and this warming will continue unabated if present anthropogenic emissions continue or, worse, expand without control.

Scientific consensus on climate change:77

Scientific consensus on climate change

Human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas), and secondarily the clearing of land, have increased the concentration of carbon dioxide, methane, and other heat-trapping ("greenhouse") gases in the atmosphere...There is international scientific consensus that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities.


Great Barrier Reef

The percentage of baby corals being born on the Great Barrier Reef dropped drastically in 2018 and scientists are describing it as the early stage of a "huge natural selection event unfolding".

Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

"Great Barrier Reef has 'lost half its coral since 1985'".

Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef

"Great Barrier Reef 2050 plan no longer achievable due to climate change, experts say".


It has occurred during the warmest year on record, which occurred in 2015, and the two most unusually mild months on Earth, which took place in January and February, respectively.”

2006 European heat wave

April 2007 was also the warmest month in history, the average temperature being 5 °C warmer than normal.

2006 European heat wave

December, January and February also brought extremely mild weather making the winter of 2006/2007 the warmest in recorded history.

2006 European heat wave

December 2006 and January 2007 were the warmest months in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan and other cities of European Russia.

2006 European heat wave

Every winter month (December, January, February) had a CET above 5 °C (41 °F), only the second time this has happened since 1900 (after 1988/89, although November 1988 was colder than any month of 2006/07) and only the sixth since 1659 (1685–86, 1833–34, 1833–34, and 1868/69 also).

2014–16 El Niño event

"2014 one of the warmest years on record globally".


A World Heritage site, it is currently under assault from unusually hot ocean temperatures,”

Orlando, Florida

The area's warm and humid climate is caused primarily by its low elevation, its position relatively close to the Tropic of Cancer, and its location in the center of a peninsula.

Orlando, Florida

The area's humidity acts as a buffer, usually preventing actual temperatures from exceeding 100 °F (38 °C), but also pushing the heat index to over 110 °F (43 °C).

St. Louis

The city experiences hot, humid summers, and chilly to cold winters.

St. Louis

It is subject to both cold Arctic air and hot, humid tropical air from the Gulf of Mexico.

St. Louis

The average annual temperature recorded at nearby Lambert–St.


Coral bleaching has devastated 93% of the Great Barrier Reef

Coral bleaching

An overall analysis of coral loss found that coral populations on the Great Barrier Reef had declined by 50.7% from 1985 to 2012, but with only about 10% of that decline attributable to bleaching, and the remaining 90% caused about equally by tropical cyclones and by predation by crown-of-thorns starfishes.

Coral bleaching

"Coral Bleaching Has Ravaged Half of Hawaii's Coral Reefs".

Coral bleaching

These temperatures have caused the most severe and widespread coral bleaching ever recorded in the Great Barrier reef.

Coral bleaching

In 2016, bleaching of coral on the Great Barrier Reef killed between 29 and 50 percent of the reef's coral.

Great Barrier Reef

Five Great Barrier Reef species of large benthic corals were found bleached under elevated temperatures, affirming that benthic corals are vulnerable to thermal stress.


Higher temperatures, we’re told, will be deadly—killing “thousands to tens of thousands” of Americans

Over the course of approximately 100 days, at least 500,000 people were killed.

July 1966

A heat wave began across much of the midwestern United States, killing hundreds of people over a six-day period where temperatures remained above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Philippines

The war, as well as the ensuing cholera epidemic, resulted in the deaths of thousands of combatants as well as tens of thousands of civilians.

Scientific consensus on climate change:234

Scientific consensus on climate change

Each year, about 800,000 people die from causes attributable to urban air pollution, 1.8 million from diarrhoea resulting from lack of access to clean water supply, sanitation, and poor hygiene, 3.5 million from malnutrition and approximately 60,000 in natural disasters.

Unit 731

This military aerial spraying killed tens of thousands of people with bubonic plague epidemics.


2015 Indian heat wave

In 2013, 1,216 people died due to the heat.

Captain Cold

After the elder Snart insults him and his mother, calling them weak, Cold punches him, but finds himself unable to kill him, instead getting Heat Wave to do it.

Cold wave

Both cold waves and heat waves cause deaths, though different groups of people may be susceptible to different weather events.

Cold wave

Globally, more people die during hot weather than cold weather.

Urban heat island

Within the United States alone, an average of 1,000 people die each year due to extreme heat.


In pushing too hard for the case that global warming is universally bad for everything, the administration’s report undermines the reasonable case for climate action.

Climate change denial

Public concern over global warming and support for climate policy-making in the US is low relative to other nations (see Chapter 10, this volume), contributing to inaction by the US government.

Global warming

While the ozone layer and climate change are considered separate problems, the solution to the former has significantly mitigated global warming.

Global warming

It has been argued that the Montreal Protocol, may have done more than any other measure, as of 2017[update], to mitigate climate change as those substances were also powerful greenhouse gases.

Global warming

They challenged the scientific evidence, argued that global warming would have benefits, warned that concern for global warming was some kind of socialist plot to undermine American capitalism, and asserted that proposed solutions would do more harm than good.

Global warming

Litigation is increasingly used as a tool to strengthen climate action, with governments being the biggest target of lawsuits demanding that they become ambitious on climate action or enforce existing laws.


“…climate change will also reduce the number of cold days and cold spells.

Climate change in Canada

Temperature-related changes include longer growing season, more heatwaves and fewer cold spells, thawing permafrost, earlier river ice break-up, earlier spring runoff, and earlier budding of trees.

Effects of global warming

Future climate change will include more very hot days and fewer very cold days.

Global warming

Since 1950, the number of cold days and nights have decreased, and the number of warm days and night have increased.

Physical impacts of climate change

Effects on weather encompass increased heavy precipitation, reduced amounts of cold days, increase in heat waves and various effects on tropical cyclones.

Scientific consensus on climate change:72

Scientific consensus on climate change

These include increases in air and water temperatures, reduced frost days, increased frequency and intensity of heavy downpours, a rise in sea level, and reduced snow cover, glaciers, permafrost, and sea ice.


The report confidently claims that when temperatures rise, “the reduction in premature deaths from cold are expected to be smaller than the increase in deaths from heat in the United States.

Climate change in the United States

Some of the greatest increases in average temperatures in the U.S. are expected in the region over the coming decades.

Climate change in the United States

"A projected increase of 4.05 degrees Fahrenheit in average temperature is expected by 2065, and a projected increase of 9.37 degrees Fahrenheit in average temperature can be expected by the turn of the century if nothing is done to curb emissions.

Global warming

The 10th Emissions Gap Report issued by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) predicts that if emissions continue to increase at the same rate as they have in 2010–2020, global temperatures would rise by as much as 4° by 2100.

Urban heat island

Heat is more likely to increase the risk of mortality in cities in the northern part of the country than in the southern regions of the country.

Urban heat island

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that it "is difficult to make valid projections of heat-related illness and death under varying climate change scenarios" and that "heat–related deaths are preventable, as evidenced by the decline of all-cause mortality during heat events over the past 35 years".


cold deaths actually occur during moderate temperatures

2010 Northern Hemisphere heat waves

The first phase lasted only from April 2010 to June 2010, and caused only moderate above average temperatures in the areas affected.

2010 Northern Hemisphere heat waves

Both the American East Coast and parts of the American Midwest had record high temperatures, killing two people on the 8th.

2010 Northern Hemisphere heat waves

The Southwestern United States had near high temperatures from September 26 to October 2, and even hotter than that in some regions.

Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest

It involves cooling the body to temperatures between 20 °C (68 °F) to 25 °C (77 °F), and stopping blood circulation and brain function for up to one hour.

Global storm activity of 2009

Heavy snowfall and sub-zero temperatures killed at least 290 people across Europe.


“The Lancet researchers found that about 0.5%—half a percent—of all deaths are associated with heat, not only from acute problems like heat stroke, but also increased mortality from cardiac events and dehydration.

Air pollution

Air pollution was also found to be associated with increased incidence and mortality from coronary stroke in a cohort study in 2011.

Cancer

It caused about 8.8 million deaths (15.7% of deaths).

Heat stroke

The risk of death is less than 5% in those with exercise-induced heat stroke and as high as 65% in those with non-exercise induced cases.

Hyperthermia

The associated mortality rates of heatstroke is between 40-64%.

Myocardial infarction

The World Health Organization estimated in 2004, that 12.2% of worldwide deaths were from ischemic heart disease; with it being the leading cause of death in high- or middle-income countries and second only to lower respiratory infections in lower-income countries.


But more than 7% of deaths are related to cold—counting hypothermia, as well as increased blood pressure and risk of heart attack that results when the body restricts blood flow in response to frigid temperatures.”

Cardiovascular disease

High blood pressure is estimated to account for approximately 13% of CVD deaths, while tobacco accounts for 9%, diabetes 6%, lack of exercise 6% and obesity 5%.

Drowning

Of those who die after plunging into freezing seas, around 20% die within 2 minutes from cold shock (uncontrolled rapid breathing and gasping causing water inhalation, massive increase in blood pressure and cardiac strain leading to cardiac arrest, and panic), another 50% die within 15 – 30 minutes from cold incapacitation (loss of use and control of limbs and hands for swimming or gripping, as the body 'protectively' shuts down the peripheral muscles of the limbs to protect its core), and exhaustion and unconsciousness cause drowning, claiming the rest within a similar time.

Hypothermia

For example, plunged into freezing seas, around 20% of victims die within two minutes from cold shock (uncontrolled rapid breathing, and gasping, causing water inhalation, massive increase in blood pressure and cardiac strain leading to cardiac arrest, and panic); another 50% die within 15–30 minutes from cold incapacitation (inability to use or control limbs and hands for swimming or gripping, as the body "protectively" shuts down the peripheral muscles of the limbs to protect its core).

Shock (circulatory)

This increased pressure reduced blood flow back to the heart, thereby reducing blood flow to the body and resultign in signs and symptoms of shock.

Underwater diving

The cold water can also cause heart attack due to vasoconstriction; the heart has to work harder to pump the same volume of blood throughout the body, and for people with heart disease, this additional workload can cause the heart to go into arrest.


Migration patterns show people heading for warm states like Texas and Florida, not snowy Minnesota and Michigan.”

Florida

In response to segregation, disfranchisement and agricultural depression, many African Americans migrated from Florida to northern cities in the Great Migration, in waves from 1910 to 1940, and again starting in the later 1940s.

Jacksonville, Florida

LaVilla Brooklyn Northbank Southbank Springfield San Marco Southside Eastside and Arlington Ortega Riverside and Avondale According to the Köppen climate classification, Jacksonville has a humid subtropical climate, with hot humid summers, and warm to mild and drier winters.

Michigan

The southern and central parts of the Lower Peninsula (south of Saginaw Bay and from the Grand Rapids area southward) have a warmer climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa) with hot summers and cold winters.

Orlando, Florida

Because the winter season is dry and freezing temperatures usually occur only after cold fronts (and their accompanying precipitation) have passed, snow is exceptionally rare.

Texas

Texas's Rio Grande Valley has seen significant migration from across the U.S.–Mexico border.


More than half of the 44 studies selected for publication found that raised levels of CO2 had little or no impact on marine life, including crabs, limpets, sea urchins and sponges

Ocean

Plants : including sea grasses, or mangroves Fungi : many marine fungi with diverse roles are found in oceanic environments Animals : most animal phyla have species that inhabit the ocean, including many that are only found in marine environments such as sponges, Cnidaria (such as corals and jellyfish), comb jellies, Brachiopods, and Echinoderms (such as sea urchins and sea stars).

Petroleum

This increase in acidity inhibits all marine life – having a greater impact on smaller organisms as well as shelled organisms (see scallops).

Sea

More recently, anthropogenic activities have steadily increased the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere; about 30–40% of the added CO2 is absorbed by the oceans, forming carbonic acid and lowering the pH (now below 8.1) through a process called ocean acidification.

Sea

Calcium carbonate also becomes more soluble at lower pH, so ocean acidification is likely to have profound effects on marine organisms with calcareous shells, such as oysters, clams, sea urchins, and corals, because their ability to form shells will be reduced, and the carbonate compensation depth will rise closer to the sea surface.

Tide pool

Low tide zone organisms include abalone, anemones, brown seaweed, chitons, crabs, green algae, hydroids, isopods, limpets, mussels, and sometimes even small vertebrates such as fish.


“The oceans will never become acid because there is such a huge buffering capacity in the oceans.

Biodiversity

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide certainly affects plant morphology and is acidifying oceans, and temperature affects species ranges, phenology, and weather, but, mercifully, the major impacts that have been predicted are still potential futures.

Fisheries and climate change

The current level of GHG emissions means that ocean acidity will continue to increase and aquatic ecosystems will continue to degrade and change.

Fisheries and climate change

The rising ocean acidity makes it more difficult for marine organisms such as shrimp, oysters, or corals to form their shells – a process known as calcification.

Sea

United Nations Ocean Conference

For instance as oceans are warming and becoming more acidic, biodiversity is becoming reduced and changing currents will cause more frequent storms and droughts.


We simply could never release enough CO2 into the atmosphere to cause the pH to go below 7 [the point in the pH scale at which a solution becomes acidic].”

Acid

CO2 + H2O ⇌ H2CO3 ⇌ H+ + HCO− 3 It is the decrease in pH that signals the brain to breathe faster and deeper, expelling the excess CO2 and resupplying the cells with O2.

Carbon dioxide

As the concentration of carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere, the increased uptake of carbon dioxide into the oceans is causing a measurable decrease in the pH of the oceans, which is referred to as ocean acidification.

Carbon dioxide

Also, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) writes in their Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report: "The uptake of anthropogenic carbon since 1750 has led to the ocean becoming more acidic with an average decrease in pH of 0.1 units.

PH

When an acid is dissolved in water, the pH will be less than 7 (25 °C).

PH

At 25 °C, solutions with a pH less than 7 are acidic, and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic.


“Dr Browman, a marine scientist for 35 years, said he was not saying that ocean acidification posed no threat, but that he believed that “a higher level of academic scepticism” should be applied to the topic.

Carbon dioxide

This has caused an increase in hydrogen ion (acidity) of about 30% since the start of the industrial age through a process known as "ocean acidification."

Climate change and ecosystems

Ocean acidification poses a severe threat to the earth's natural process of regulating atmospheric C02 levels, causing a decrease in water's ability to dissolve oxygen and created oxygen-vacant bodies of water called "dead zones."

Ocean acidification

It's yet another reason to be very seriously concerned about the amount of carbon dioxide that is in the atmosphere now and the additional amount we continue to put out."

Ocean acidification

In a synthesis report published in Science in 2015, 22 leading marine scientists stated that CO 2 from burning fossil fuels is changing the oceans' chemistry more rapidly than at any time since the Great Dying, Earth's most severe known extinction event, emphasizing that the 2 °C maximum temperature increase agreed upon by governments reflects too small a cut in emissions to prevent "dramatic impacts" on the world's oceans, with lead author Jean-Pierre Gattuso remarking that "The ocean has been minimally considered at previous climate negotiations.

Skepticism

Skepticism (American English) or scepticism (British English, Australian English, and Canadian English) is generally a questioning attitude or doubt towards one or more items of putative knowledge or belief or dogma.


The worsening of tidal flooding in American coastal communities is largely a consequence of greenhouse gases from human activity, and the problem will grow far worse in coming decades, scientists reported Monday.

Effects of global warming

The effects of global warming or climate damage include far-reaching and long-lasting changes to the natural environment, to ecosystems and human societies caused directly or indirectly by human emissions of greenhouse gases.

Among other findings, the report concluded that sea level rises could be up to two feet higher by the year 2100, even if efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to limit global warming are successful; coastal cities across the world could see so-called "storm[s] of the century" at least once a year.

Scientific consensus on climate change:130

Scientific consensus on climate change

The introduction includes this statement: There is strong evidence that the warming of the Earth over the last half-century has been caused largely by human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels and changes in land use, including agriculture and deforestation.

Scientific consensus on climate change:299

Scientific consensus on climate change

US National Academy of Sciences: "In the judgment of most climate scientists, Earth's warming in recent decades has been caused primarily by human activities that have increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Sea level rise

The main idea in the report according to one of his authors Michael Oppenheimer is that if humanity will drastically reduce Greenhouse gas emission in the next decades the problem will be tough but manageable.


roughly three-quarters of the tidal flood days now occurring in towns along the East Coast would not be happening in the absence of the rise in the sea level caused by human emissions.

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami:50

The raising of the sea floor significantly reduced the capacity of the Indian Ocean, producing a permanent rise in the global sea level by an estimated 0.1 millimeters (0.004 in).

Effects of global warming

Even if emission of greenhouse gases stopped overnight, sea level rise will continue for centuries to come.

Global warming

Global warming

Over the 21st century, the IPCC projects that in a very high emissions scenario the sea level could rise by 61–110 cm.

Sea level rise

This has consequences for Europe and the U.S. East Coast, which received a sea level rise 3–4 times the global average.


Scientists say the recent climate agreement negotiated in Paris is not remotely ambitious enough to forestall a significant melting of Greenland and Antarctica, though if fully implemented, it may slow the pace somewhat.”

Global warming

Although the parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2 °C (3.6 °F) in the Paris Agreement of 2016, the Earth's average surface temperature has already increased by about half this threshold and current pledges by countries to cut emissions are inadequate to limit future warming.

Global warming

In 2015 all UN countries negotiated the Paris Agreement, which aims to keep climate change well below 2 °C.

Paris Agreement

A pair of studies in Nature have said that, as of 2017, none of the major industrialized nations were implementing the policies they had envisioned and have not met their pledged emission reduction targets, and even if they had, the sum of all member pledges (as of 2016) would not keep global temperature rise "well below 2 °C".

Paris Agreement

At the Paris Conference in 2015 where the Agreement was negotiated, the developed countries reaffirmed the commitment to mobilize $100 billion a year in climate finance by 2020, and agreed to continue mobilizing finance at the level of $100 billion a year until 2025.

Retreat of glaciers since 1850

The potential for major sea level rise depends mostly on a significant melting of the polar ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica, as this is where the vast majority of glacial ice is located.


Until last June, most scientists acknowledged that warming reached a peak in the late 1990s

Hockey stick controversy

The reconstruction found significant variability around a long-term cooling trend of −0.02 °C per century, as expected from orbital forcing, interrupted in the 20th century by rapid warming which stood out from the whole period, with the 1990s "the warmest decade, and 1998 the warmest year, at moderately high levels of confidence".

Hockey stick controversy

The text stated that it was "likely that, in the Northern Hemisphere, the 1990s was the warmest decade and 1998 the warmest year" in the past 1,000 years.

Hockey stick controversy

The SPM statement in the IPCC TAR of 2001 had been that it was "likely that, in the Northern Hemisphere, the 1990s was the warmest decade and 1998 the warmest year" in the past 1,000 years.

Hockey stick controversy

The use of proxy indicators to get quantitative estimates of the temperature record of past centuries was developed from the 1990s onwards, and found indications that recent warming was exceptional.

Hockey stick graph

The reconstruction found significant variability around a long-term cooling trend of –0.02 °C per century, as expected from orbital forcing, interrupted in the 20th century by rapid warming which stood out from the whole period, with the 1990s "the warmest decade, and 1998 the warmest year, at moderately high levels of confidence."


a marginally significant warming trend in the data over the past several years, erasing the temperature plateau that vexed climate alarmists have found difficult to explain.

Global warming controversy

The group also confirmed that over the past 50 years the land surface warmed by 0.911 °C, and their results closely matched those obtained from these earlier studies.

Global warming controversy

A study released in 2009, combined historical weather station data with satellite measurements to deduce past temperatures over large regions of the continent, and these temperatures indicate an overall warming trend.

Global warming controversy

Using the long-term temperature trends for the earth scientists and statisticians conclude that it continues to warm through time.

Global warming controversy

Over several decades of development, models have consistently provided a robust and unambiguous picture of significant climate warming in response to increasing greenhouse gases.

Retreat of glaciers since 1850

The Little Ice Age was a period from about 1550 to 1850 when the world experienced relatively cooler temperatures compared to the time before and after.


Temperatures in 1999 were nearly three-tenths of a degree lower than in 1998, and a similar change should occur this time around, though it might not fit so neatly into a calendar year.

Celsius

This means that a temperature difference of one degree Celsius and that of one kelvin are exactly the same.

Eocene

These isotope changes occurred due to the release of carbon from the ocean into the atmosphere that led to a temperature increase of 4-8 °C (7-14 °F) at the surface of the ocean.

Winter

Winter is often defined by meteorologists to be the three calendar months with the lowest average temperatures.

Year

The Gregorian calendar attempts to cause the northward equinox to fall on or shortly before March 21 and hence it follows the northward equinox year, or tropical year.

Year

Because 97 out of 400 years are leap years, the mean length of the Gregorian calendar year is 365.2425 days; with a relative error below one ppm (8·10−7) relative to the current length of the mean tropical year (365.24219 days) and even closer to the current March equinox year of 365.242374 days that it aims to match.


Often the compensatory cooling, known as La Niña, is larger than the El Niño warming.”

El Niño

The cool phase of ENSO is La Niña, with SSTs in the eastern Pacific below average, and air pressure high in the eastern Pacific and low in the western Pacific.

El Niño

The exact opposite heating and atmospheric pressure anomalies occur during La Niña.

El Niño–Southern Oscillation

The warming phase of the sea temperature is known as El Niño and the cooling phase as La Niña.

La Niña

La Niña (/lɑːˈniːnjə/, Spanish pronunciation: [la ˈniɲa]) is a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon that is the colder counterpart of El Niño, as part of the broader El Niño–Southern Oscillation climate pattern.

La Niña

La Niña is the positive and cold phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, and is associated with cooler-than-average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.


“The notion that world-wide weather is becoming more extreme is just that: a notion, or a testable hypothesis.

Falsifiability

Popper considered falsifiability a test of whether theories are scientific, not of whether propositions that they contain or support are true.

Falsifiability

This will be the one which not only has hitherto stood up to the severest tests, but the one which is also testable in the most rigorous way.

Falsifiability

From a new idea, put up tentatively, and not yet justified in any way—an anticipation, a hypothesis, a theoretical system, or what you will—conclusions are drawn by means of logical deduction.

Falsifiability

Given an empirical basis, the criterion of demarcation draws a sharp line between those theories that are scientific, and those that are un-scientific.

Statistical hypothesis testing

Hypothesis tests are used when determining what outcomes of a study would lead to a rejection of the null hypothesis for a pre-specified level of significance.


In fact, the trend, while not statistically significant, is downward.”

Hysterectomy

"Hysterectomy Procedures Pacing A Downward Trend".

Solar cycle

Another series based on the ACRIM data is produced by the PMOD group and shows a −0.008%/decade downward trend.

Uptick rule

One empirical study found no statistically significant link between the uptick rule and the rates of price decline.

Usage share of operating systems

Recent weekly data shows a downward trend for desktops.

Usage share of operating systems

Gartner's own press release said, "Apple continued its downward trend with a decline of 7.7 percent in the second quarter of 2016", which is their decline, based on absolute number of units, that underestimates the relative decline (with the market increasing), along with the misleading "1.7 percent [point]" decline.


Forget what global warming activists would lead you to believe—2015 was not even close to the hottest year on record.

Global warming

Global warming is the long-term rise in the average temperature of the Earth's climate system.

Global warming

"The next five years will be 'anomalously warm,' scientists predict".

Global warming

This is much colder than the conditions that actually exist at the Earth's surface (the global mean surface temperature is about 14 °C).

Years of Living Dangerously

He learns that "Earth could warm by more than 9 degrees F (5 degrees C) by 2100 if we don’t aggressively reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases", and that more frequent heat waves and droughts will contribute to food shortages, which can lead to greater conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Years of Living Dangerously

He tells Friedman that "you've got to recognize [that global warming] is going to be one of the most significant long-term challenges, if not the most significant long-term challenge, that this country faces and that the planet faces.


Satellite temperature readings going back to 1979 show 1998 was by far the warmest year in the satellite era

Global warming hiatus

The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 reported that "2005 and 1998 were the warmest two years in the instrumental global surface-air temperature record since 1850.

Global warming hiatus

The exceptionally warm El Niño year of 1998 was an outlier from the continuing temperature trend, and so subsequent annual temperatures gave the appearance of a hiatus: by January 2006, it appeared to some that global warming had stopped or paused.

Global warming hiatus

In January 2013 James Hansen and colleagues published their updated analysis that temperatures had continued at a high level despite strong La Niña conditions, and said the "5-year mean global temperature has been flat for a decade, which we interpret as a combination of natural variability and a slowdown in the growth rate of the net climate forcing", noting "that the 10 warmest years in the record all occurred since 1998."

Global warming hiatus

Under the heading "Global Warming Standstill" they "noted that the 'standstill' temperature is at a much higher level than existed at any year in the prior decade except for the single year 1998, which had the strongest El Nino of the century.

List of heat waves


But we do have other reliable indicators of temperatures before the late 1800s, and the evidence shows temperatures have been warmer than today for most of the past several thousand years, including warmer-than-present temperatures for most of the human civilization time period

Eocene

For example, diverse geochemical and paleontological proxies indicate that at the maximum of global warmth the atmospheric carbon dioxide values were at 700–900 ppm while other proxies such as pedogenic (soil building) carbonate and marine boron isotopes indicate large changes of carbon dioxide of over 2,000 ppm over periods of time of less than 1 million years.

Eocene

At around 41.5 million years ago, stable isotopic analysis of samples from Southern Ocean drilling sites indicated a warming event for 600 thousand years.

Global warming

Before the Industrial Revolution, naturally occurring amounts of greenhouse gases caused the air near the surface to be warmer by about 33 °C (59 °F) than it would be in their absence.

Scientific consensus on climate change:4

Scientific consensus on climate change

The current scientific consensus is that: Earth's climate has warmed significantly since the late 1800s.

Supercontinent

The Jurassic is thought to have been approximately 10 degrees Celsius warmer along 90 degrees East paleolongitude compared to the present temperature of today's central Eurasia.


“With a record El Niño, we should have experienced record high temperatures.

El Niño

Over the southern part of the continent, warmer than average temperatures can be recorded as weather systems are more mobile and fewer blocking areas of high pressure occur.

El Niño

The event temporarily warmed air temperature by 1.5 °C, compared to the usual increase of 0.25 °C associated with El Niño events.

Global storm activity of 2010

"Temperatures reach record high in Pakistan".

Global storm activity of 2010

[citation needed] The east coast had records various record low temperatures in southern states such as Georgia Alabama and Florida in the US.The eastern seaboard, had like the Western Seaboard also suffered one of the worst winters on record.

Global storm activity of 2010

[citation needed] On July 12, France and Belgium also saw record temperatures.


The strong El Niño has continued into 2016, raising the possibility that this year will, yet again, set a global temperature record

2014–16 El Niño event

In August, the NOAA CPC predicted that the 2015 El Niño "could be among the strongest in the historical record dating back to 1950."

2014–16 El Niño event

The event subsequently started to weaken with sea surface temperature anomalies across the equatorial pacific decreasing, while predictions about a possible La Niña event taking place during 2016 started to be made.

Instrumental temperature record

Consistent with Schmidt's comment, the NASA / NOAA announcement stated that "globally-averaged temperatures in 2016 were 1.78 degrees Fahrenheit (0.99 degrees Celsius) warmer than the mid-20th century mean" and that the impact of El Niño warming was estimated to have "increased the annual global temperature anomaly for 2016 by 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit (0.12 degrees Celsius)."

Instrumental temperature record

This long-term trend is the main cause for the record warmth of 2015 and 2016, surpassing all previous years—even ones with strong El Niño events."

North Atlantic oscillation

Despite one of the strongest El Nino ever recorded in the Pacific Ocean, a largely positive North Atlantic Oscillation prevailed over Europe during the Winter of 2015-2016.


world temperatures, because they have gone up only very slowly, less than half as fast as the scientific consensus predicted in 1990

Global warming

Currently, surface temperatures are rising by about 0.2 °C per decade.

Global warming

In the scientific literature, there is an overwhelming consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused mainly by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases.

Scientific consensus on climate change:48

Scientific consensus on climate change

Global warming in this case was indicated by an increase of 0.75 degrees in average global temperatures over the last 100 years.

Scientific consensus on climate change:507

Scientific consensus on climate change

Since the start of the 20th century, the global mean surface temperature of the Earth has increased by more than 0.7°C and the rate of warming has been largest in the last 30 years.

Scientific consensus on climate change:719

Scientific consensus on climate change

On the basis of available data, climate scientists are now projecting an average global temperature rise over this century of 2.0 to 4.5°C.


the world is barely half a degree Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than it was about 35 years ago

Earth

"The Earth's Centre is 1000 Degrees Hotter than Previously Thought".

Earth

About a billion years from now, all surface water will have disappeared and the mean global temperature will reach 70 °C (158 °F).

Eemian

The warmest peak of the Eemian was around 125,000 years ago, when forests reached as far north as North Cape, Norway (which is now tundra) well above the Arctic Circle at 71°10′21″N 25°47′40″E / 71.17250°N 25.79444°E / 71.17250; 25.79444.

Fahrenheit

A temperature interval of 1 °F is equal to an interval of 5⁄9 degrees Celsius.

List of ecoregions in North America (CEC):1332

Over the last 100 years the Earth's temperature has increased 0.6 degrees Celsius and it is predicted to increase an additional 3.5 degrees over the next century.


Also, it is increasingly clear that the planet was significantly warmer than today several times during the past 10,000 years.

Climate of India

During the Mesozoic, the world, including India, was considerably warmer than today.

Earth

Consequently, summers are 2.3 °C (4 °F) warmer in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere under similar conditions.

Little Ice Age

The result is a picture of relatively cool conditions in the seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries and warmth in the eleventh and early fifteenth centuries, but the warmest conditions are apparent in the twentieth century.

Scientific consensus on climate change

The current scientific consensus is that: Earth's climate has warmed significantly since the late 1800s.

Sun

However, the geological record demonstrates that Earth has remained at a fairly constant temperature throughout its history, and that the young Earth was somewhat warmer than it is today.


there has been no increase in frequency or intensity of storms, floods or droughts, while deaths attributed to such natural disasters have never been fewer

2015 South Indian floods

So [the] frequency, [the] ferocity of untimely rains increases, [along with] erratic monsoons, droughts and floods; all these are caused [by climate change]."

Climate of India

As in much of the tropics, monsoonal and other weather patterns in India can be wildly unstable: epochal droughts, floods, cyclones, and other natural disasters are sporadic, but have displaced or ended millions of human lives.

Effects of global warming on humans

Gross increases are mostly attributed to increased population and property values in vulnerable coastal areas; though there was also an increase in frequency of weather-related events like heavy rainfalls since the 1950s.

Effects of global warming

more intense droughts and tropical cyclones) are more uncertain.

Environmental issues in the Philippines:61

Environmental issues in the Philippines

Combined with sea level rise, this stratification into more extreme seasons and climates increases the frequency and severity of storm surge, floods, landslides, and droughts.


Antarctica is gaining land-based ice, according to a new study by NASA scientists published in the Journal of Glaciology

Antarctica

Glaciologists in Antarctica are concerned with the study of the history and dynamics of floating ice, seasonal snow, glaciers, and ice sheets.

Antarctica

In January 2008 British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientists, led by Hugh Corr and David Vaughan, reported (in the journal Nature Geoscience) that 2,200 years ago, a volcano erupted under Antarctica's ice sheet (based on airborne survey with radar images).

Glaciology

Glaciology (from Latin: glacies, "frost, ice", and Ancient Greek: λόγος, logos, "subject matter"; literally "study of ice") is the scientific study of glaciers, or more generally ice and natural phenomena that involve ice.

Global warming in Antarctica

[1] In their latest study (September 20, 2007) NASA researchers have confirmed that Antarctic snow is melting farther inland from the coast over time, melting at higher altitudes than ever and increasingly melting on Antarctica's largest ice shelf.

Ice shelf

A study by NASA and university researchers, published in the June 14, 2013 issue of Science, found however that ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves are responsible for most of the continent's ice shelf mass loss.


It projects that temperatures are likely to be anything from 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 to 8.1 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer by the latter part of the century

Fahrenheit

A temperature interval of 1 °F is equal to an interval of 5⁄9 degrees Celsius.

Pavel Banya

Pavel Banya enjoys warm summers, with an average of 22 degrees (72 degrees Fahrenheit) Celsius in July, and colder winters, with an average of 1 degree Celsius (34 degrees Fahrenheit) in January.

Planck temperature

In SI units, the Planck temperature is about 1.417×1032 kelvin (equivalently, degrees Celsius, since the difference is trivially small at this scale), or 2.55×1032 degrees Fahrenheit or Rankine.

Sadovo

Officially, the highest record for Sadovo is 41.2 degrees Celsius (106.16 degrees Fahrenheit), while the lowest is -30.7 degrees Celsius (-23.26 degrees Fahreheit).

Sadovo

During 1916, the highest absolute temperature (45.2 degrees Celsius or 113.36 degrees Fahrenheit) was recorded from the Sadovo weather station.


a new study by a leading climate economist, Richard Tol of the University of Sussex, concludes that warming may well bring gains, because carbon dioxide causes crops and wild ecosystems to grow greener and more drought-resistant.

Agriculture

It may improve productivity by warming the soil, incorporating fertilizer and controlling weeds, but also renders soil more prone to erosion, triggers the decomposition of organic matter releasing CO2, and reduces the abundance and diversity of soil organisms.

Effects of global warming

While CO 2 is expected to be good for crop productivity at lower temperatures, it does reduce the nutritional values of crops, with for instance wheat having less protein and some minerals.

Effects of global warming

If GHG emissions grow a lot (IPCC scenario RCP8.5), already dry regions may have more droughts and less soil moisture.

Politics of global warming

It is the first comprehensive contribution to the global warming debate by an economist and its conclusions lead to the promise of urgent action by the UK government to further curb Europe's CO 2 emissions and engage other countries to do so.

Richard Tol

In 2009, Tol published an influential paper that combined data from several earlier studies, concluding that at least some amount of global warming could lead to economic gains.


A key study published in the Journal of Climate this year by Bjorn Stevens of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, found that the cooling impact of sulfate emissions has held back global warming less than thought till now

Global warming

A study from 2014 investigated the most common climate engineering methods and concluded that they are either ineffective or have potentially severe side effects and cannot be stopped without causing rapid climate change.

Global warming

Scientific discussion takes place in journal articles that are peer-reviewed, which scientists subject to assessment every couple of years in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports.

Global warming

Research in the 1950s suggested that temperatures were increasing, and a 1952 newspaper used the term "climate change".

Global warming

This phrase next appeared in a November 1957 report in The Hammond Times which described Roger Revelle's research into the effects of increasing human-caused CO 2 emissions on the greenhouse effect: "a large scale global warming, with radical climate changes may result".

Scientific consensus on climate change

International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences (CAETS) in 2007, issued a Statement on Environment and Sustainable Growth: As reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), most of the observed global warming since the mid-20th century is very likely due to human-produced emission of greenhouse gases and this warming will continue unabated if present anthropogenic emissions continue or, worse, expand without control.


“Global warming alarmists’ preferred electricity source – wind power – kills nearly 1 million bats every year (to say nothing of the more than 500,000 birds killed every year) in the United States alone.

Environmental impact of wind power

His meta-analysis concluded that in 2012 in the United States, wind turbines resulted in the deaths of 888,000 bats and 573,000 birds, including 83,000 birds of prey.

Environmental impact of wind power

An estimated 1 to 9 million birds are killed every year by tall buildings in Toronto, Ontario, Canada alone, according to the wildlife conservation organization Fatal Light Awareness Program.

Environmental impact of wind power

A 2013 study produced an estimate that wind turbines killed more than 600,000 bats in the U.S. the previous year, with the greatest mortality occurring in the Appalachian Mountains.

Environmental impact of wind power

Some earlier studies had produced estimates of between 33,000 and 888,000 bat deaths per year.

Environmental impact of wind power

600,000 bats killed at wind energy facilities in 2012, study says, LA Times, November 8, 2013.


[…] Killing 30 million bats every year in response to dubious claims that global warming might once in a great while kill 100,000 bats makes no sense.”

Effects of global warming on human health:156

One piece of their evidence is that in summer 2003, during Europe's big heat wave, there were 70,000 recorded deaths related to the heat.

Effects of global warming on humans

In addition, climatic changes are estimated to cause over 150,000 deaths annually.

Effects of global warming

Air pollution, wildfires, and heat waves caused by global warming have significantly affected human health, and in 2007, the World Health Organization estimated 150,000 people were being killed by climate-change-related issues every year.

Effects of global warming

Even so, climate change was projected to cause an additional 250 000 additional deaths per year between 2030 and 2050.

Global warming controversy

Wouldn't you think it makes sense to make sure we're as robust and wealthy as possible?


If global warming caused the 2014 Queensland heat wave, why wasn’t it as severe as the 1972 Queensland heat wave?”

Climate change in Australia

Global warming could lead to substantial alterations in climate extremes, such as tropical cyclones, heat waves and severe precipitation events.

Climate change in Australia

By 2014, another report revealed that, due to the change in climatic patterns, the heat waves were found to be increasingly more frequent and severe, with an earlier start to the season and longer duration.

El Niño

However, over time the term has evolved and now refers to the warm and negative phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and is the warming of the ocean surface or above-average sea surface temperatures in either the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

Global warming

Since the 1950s, droughts and heat waves have appeared simultaneously with increasing frequency.

Global warming

The effects of global warming include rising sea levels, regional changes in precipitation, more frequent extreme weather events such as heat waves, and expansion of deserts.


“Lyme Disease is much more common in northern, cooler regions of the United States than in southern, warmer regions.

East Coast of the United States

The area from southern Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York City south to central Florida has a temperate climate, with long, hot summers and cold winters with occasional snow in the northern portions, and milder winters in the southern portions.

Lyme disease

In the U.S., Lyme is most common in the New England and Mid-Atlantic states and parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota, but it is expanding into other areas.

Lyme disease

Lyme disease occurs regularly in Northern Hemisphere temperate regions.

Temperate climate

These are the climates that are typically found at southernmost portion of the temperate zone between 23.5° and 35° north or south, and thus are far more influenced by the tropics than any other tepid climate type, usually having warmer temperatures over the year, longer summers and mild, short winters.

Temperate climate

In these the temperatures remain relatively cool through most of the year as opposed to mild and warm in the subtropics and cold in the subpoles.


U.S. Forest Service data show pine beetle infestations have recently declined dramatically throughout the western United States.

Mountain pine beetle

The US Forest Service results show colloidal chitosan elicited a 40% increase in pine resin (P<0.05) in southern pine trees.

Mountain pine beetle

However, unusually hot, dry summers and mild winters throughout the region during the last few years, along with forests filled with mature lodgepole pine, have led to an unprecedented epidemic.

Mountain pine beetle

It may be the largest forest insect blight ever seen in North America., monocultural replanting, and a century of forest fire suppression have contributed to the size and severity of the outbreak, and the outbreak itself may, with similar infestations, have significant effects on the capability of northern forests to remove greenhouse gas (CO2) from the atmosphere.

Mountain pine beetle

As of May 2013, the Pine Beetle is aggressively devastating forests in all 19 Western States and Canada, destroying approximately 88 million acres of timber at a 70–90% kill rate.

Mountain pine beetle

A lodgepole pine tree with a pitch tube A lodgepole pine tree infested by the mountain pine beetle, with visible pitch tubes Invaded pine tree forest on the slopes of Chancellor Peak in Yoho National Park, Canada A pine tree forest north of Breckenridge, CO shows infestation in 2008.