Figuratively speaking that is.
Just a few days ago, on August 19, the New York Times published an article previewing the work of the International Panel on Climate Change. This panel was made up of several hundred (!) scientists, working under the aegis of the United Nations, and includes some Nobel Prize winners. The upcoming report is the fifth time that the panel has published a report since 1988, and the news is not good. Basically, the panel rebukes those who doubt climate change, or speak of the process slowing down. The panel states that temperatures are continuing to rise in many areas. So are ocean levels. In fact, this huge committee reached consensus on stating that sea levels have the potential to rise more than three feet by the year 2100. This level of change would flood major cities across the globe, including Miami, New Orleans, New York, and Boston. Not to mention Shanghai, Venice, Sydney, and London.
What's striking about this report is that for the first time, the panel members laid the blame on us. The report states that human activities, particularly those resulting in increased emissions, are the principle cause of the climate changes being observed and recorded.
What are those changes? Well, carbon dioxide levels, up 41% since the end of the 19th century, have increased at a faster rate in the past 20 years than has ever been seen in human history (at least as far as we can tell using ice core samples retrieved in the arctic and antarctic - I'll talk a bit more about this in class). And if you were born after April 1985, as all of you were, you have never experienced a single month of "below average" temperature.
Think about that for a second. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (our country's main weather and sea conditions information source) reports that 2012 was the warmest year - ever. (I'm assuming that they are referring to "ever" in the sense of human history. My guess is that the earth was a lot warming when the dinosaurs were roaming around the planet chomping on 30 foot tall ferns).
The main concern is that every increase, every single degree of temperature, adds a tremendous amount of heat energy to the planet. This energy has an exponential effect on other systems. This means that a 1X increase will cause a 10X increase in say, ocean temperatures, that would then cause a 100X increase in something else. Looking at things exponentially, the possibility that human activities may lead to an increase in temperature of up to 5 degrees in the coming 200 years has the potential to be catastrophic. We may not be around to be effected by its full impact, but is that the type of environment we want to leave to our children's children?
Every major scientific academy in the world, or at least 99.8% of them, agree that climate change is real and that it is happening now. Some scientists however question the role of mankind and human activities in creating this situation (or at least, in making it worse). There seems to be consensus that the panel has tried to be conservative in their predictions. In fact, they have even laid out some scenarios in which the temperature and sea level increases might be bad, though not nearly as catastrophic as many think.
What to do, what to do.
Well - what should we do? How should we react to this news?
I invite you to watch the video clip that I have embedded below, titled "The Most Terrifying Video You Will Ever See". It's a 9 1/2 minute long lectur-ette (not counting whatever ad YouTube as in front of it which I encourage you to skip!) and well worth seeing. After you watch the video, I'd like you to reflect on what I wrote, and what was presented in the video. After thinking about for several minutes, I'd like you to post a comment on the blog that reflects your personal response to the question: "What should we do?". One paragraph to relate your response to the video, and another with your top 3 choices about changes that you, or all of us, can make in our lifestyles right now to help things out a bit.
Because, the thought of doing nothing at all is, frankly, terrifying.
