Global warming will cause more powerful thunderstorms

The future climate change scenarios are predominantly negative and scientists from all over the world seem to agree that the world is heading towards a major environmental disaster that will seriously affect our future wellbeing.

The scientists are constructing numerous climate models with the help of sophisticated computer programs in order to determine changing weather conditions that should help them predict our future climate. The latest of these studies comes from Tel Aviv University, Israel, where scientists have used computer climate models and studied real-life examples of climate change in order to determine the impact that changing weather will have on storms.

The scientists have concluded that climate change will likely have major impact on lightning activity, and have predicted that every one degree Celsius of global temperature increase will cause approximately a 10 percent increase in lightning activity.

The increased lightning will have particularly negative impact in areas that are increasingly becoming warmer and drier such as the Mediterranean and the Southern United States that will likely be experiencing very intense thunderstorms.

The researchers also fear that wildfires will become more frequent in these areas because dry environment could spread fires more widely and quickly, making them more devastating than ever before.

More wildfires would also contribute to increase in air pollution by releasing far more smoke into the air than before, adding to a variety of different environmental issues.

More intense rainstorms could also result in flash-flooding, leading to problems with water supply because of the lack of water being retained in groundwater and lakes.

Carbon capture and storage technology against climate change?

Carbon emissions continue to grow because our entire industry still heavily relies on fossil fuels. Transition to renewable energy still mostly looks like a distant dream and this is the main reason why there is so much talk and ongoing research involving different carbon capture and storage technologies.

Capturing carbon and then subsequently sequestering it underground would contribute to less greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, therefore reducing the global climate change impact.

The bad news is that there are still no commercially viable power plants equipped to capture carbon dioxide on a large scale, a few small-scale and pilot plants do exist, but they are yet to become commercially utilized.

The currently available carbon capture and storage technologies don't come cheap because they are highly energy intensive and science is still on a lookout for material(s) that would enable lower energy intensity and decrease total costs.

Highly polluting coal power plants are still dominant in large part of the world and are together with our cars major carbon emitters. There has been lot of talk about „clean coal technologies“but coal still remains anything but clean energy source.

The transition to renewable energy still looks like the best option to stave off the worst consequences of climate change. However, given the current rate of transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy it looks like there won't be enough time left for us to use renewable energy sources as our main weapon against global warming and climate change.

Because of this shortage of time carbon capture and storage looks like the only logical way to reduce carbon emissions sufficiently in order to prevent worst climate change scenario.

The ongoing research should primarily focus on the energy costs of carbon capture because this is the main factor that will determine the commerciality of these new technologies.

The governments should play their part too in offering incentives and tax benefits to power plants that implement carbon capture and storage technologies.

We need to speed things up because climate change won't give us too much time do something about it.

Global warming in Tibet is definitely not good

There have been some recent reports that imply how global warming in Tibet is actually a good thing, especially for agriculture and tourism because increased temperatures have prolonged the growing season of crops. Tibet is specific area when we look at the big global warming picture because of two reasons. The first reason is the fact that global warming in Tibet is increasing temperatures four times faster than anywhere else in China, and the second even more important reason is that Tibetan plateau is the world's third-largest store of ice (Tibetan glaciers), and therefore an extremely important source of water for many Asian countries.

Deserts shrinking because of global warming?

Many scientists believe that one of the consequences that will come along with global warming is the expansion of world's deserts, most notably Sahara but not all scientists share the majority's opinion. In fact some scientists even believe that deserts are slowly retreating and how water and life will slowly start to grow in these dry places thanks to warming trend.

The evidence that supports this theory (up to a certain point) are satellite pictures of North Africa that seem to show the pattern of areas of the Sahara in retreat. According to this theory global warming would increase the temperature on Earth which would result in more evaporation of the oceans, and in the end result in more rainfall. And the more rainfall there is the more deserts are likely to retreat making way for new life to flourish.

Though this theory sounds very logical and is supported with satellite images of North Africa it still looks to be far from reality, especially if we look at what's happening in the ground. Droughts have been frequent in the last few decades in Africa, and it is really difficult to see some benefits from global warming despite these satellite images.

It also has to said that if there's one thing that really varies a lot then this is the amount of rainfall in deserts. In order to really see a pattern of deserts shrinking we should be having satellite images of at last last couple of centuries. At this point and given current evidences this is only an assumption and not an actual proof. Yes, the last few years there has been higher than average rainfall but such short period is really negligible and insufficient to make any solid conclusion about global warming effect on deserts.

What global warming is all about

Global warming is the increase in Earth's average temperature. Most scientists agree this is due to human activity, or to be more precise because of fossil fuels burning, and excessive greenhouse gas emissions. Industry dependent on fossil fuels is mostly responsible for global warming phenomenon. Current levels of greenhouse gases are much higher than they were in pre-industrial period, and the worst thing is that they are constantly growing. This is intensifying greenhouse effect resulting in warmer temperatures on Earth.

If we take a look at last 10 or 15 years we can clearly see the global warming trend, for instance 1998 was the warmest record year, followed by 2005. Some believe there is no global warming because this winter was very cold but this is unfortunately not true, because cold winters used to be much more common than there are today, so this year's cold winter was more an exception to clear pattern than the actual proof that there's no global warming.

Ice on both our poles is melting very fast, and sea level rise up to one metre by the end of the century looks imminent from the current point of view. Many scientists believe that if current greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise Arctic will be ice free before the end of this century. We still very much depend on fossil fuels to satisfy our demand for energy, and we must change this very soon if we want to fight global warming. If we continue with fossil fuels burning we won't stop current levels of greenhouse gases, in fact we will make things even worse. Answer perhaps lies in the renewable energy sector but this sector needs lot more developing before becoming sufficient to satisfy energy demand on global scale.

Many scientists agree that given the current trend temperatures will rise by more than 2C by the end of this century. This could cause weather to become totally unpredictable, significantly rise sea levels, and much more frequent hurricanes could flood many coastal areas worldwide, severe droughts could become more common causing severe food shortages, and species unable to adapt to these changes will pay with their lives. Many believe that solution to global warming problem is cutting greenhouse gases to reduce the impact of global warming.

Take a look at this excellent global warming video that will give you more insight to what global warming is all about.

Greenhouse gases - Definition and their role in global warming

Greenhouse gases are harmful gases that cause global warming, this is what most people know of greenhouse gases. Indeed their role in global warming phenomenon is their most important role, and unfortunately the biggest ecological problem we are facing today. Greenhouse gases are causing so called "greenhouse effect". Our planet gets plenty of radiation from the Sun that passes through the atmosphere to the Earth's surface where it gets released back into the atmosphere as Infrared radiation, of which some is absorbed by greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases then return this energy in form of heat back towards the Earth.The higher the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere the more radiation is absorbed causing in the end higher temperature. Greenhouse gases are very important and play crucial role in maintaining the temperature of the Earth, without them life on Earth wouldn't be possible because planet would be too cold.

There is no doubt that we need greenhouse gases but the problem is in their current levels. Greenhouse gas that is getting lot of attention lately is carbon dioxide (CO2), among other more known greenhouse gases are methane and water vapor. Higher concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (most notably CO2) is the main cause why today we talk so much about global warming and climate change, and why Earth's temperature in the last 100 years increased by about 0,8 °C. As the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to rise so will the temperatures creating completely new conditions that will make life much more difficult than we can imagine.

With higher concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and higher global temperature on our planet there will be a lot of problems that will present threat to entire life on our planet. Warmer temperatures will cause sea level to rise, which will lead to increased intensity of extreme weather events known as the climate change. Climate and weather will become totally unpredictable with frequent storms, hurricanes, floods and droughts. Many animals will go extinct and there is also the increased possibility of new diseases because of different Earth's climate.

Because of these reasons world is rightly worried about upcoming years, and if we fail to cut current levels of greenhouse gases emissions, future generations will suffer dearly. Scientists still do not have unique opinion what is the danger level zone of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Atmospheric CO₂ is currently somewhere about 385 parts per million (ppm) and is increasing by about 2 ppm each year mainly because of fossil fuels burning. Some say dangerous level will start somewhere around 450 ppm or even higher, others say we have already entered the danger zone once we crossed the 350 ppm mark. But they all agree that we must cut greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible in order to have any chance against global warming. Infamous Kyoto protocol tried to make the difference but it failed at the very beginning by giving exceptions and not including major emitting countries like United States and China. The new agreement will have to include all countries worldwide with the special emphasis on major emitters and their reducing targets.

So now we know we have to reduce greenhouse gases emissions but the question how still remains. As long as fossil fuels (coal, oil) remain dominant energy source this doesn't look likely because fossil fuels when burn release large quantities of CO2 that ends up in the atmosphere. So we definitely need to turn our attention to renewable energy sector that is so far still negligible on global scale, still lacking in funds to become fully competitive with dominant fossil fuels. Development of renewable energy sector is still too slow, and still not economically acceptable (when compared to cheap fossil fuels like coal) to really make the difference. Power plants and vehicles are doing the most damage, and world will be forced to find the balance between economic and energy needs on one side, and environmental needs on other. This time on, environment needs to win.

Global warming could have devastating effect on kangaroos

Global warming effect will have devastating effect on many animals, and kangaroos are no exception as it was showed in the latest study published in the December issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. According to this study already a small increase of only a half degree Celsius may shrink kangaroos' geographic ranges, and the increase of two degrees would be devastating shrinking kangaroos' geographic ranges to almost 50 % (48% to be precise).

Increase in temperature will not directly affect animals, but their habitats, and the amount of water needed for their survival. Currently accepted climate models predict temperatures in northern Australia to be between 0.4 and two degrees warmer by 2030, and between two and six degrees warmer by 2070.

Even kangaroos are not fast enough to escape from global warming effects

Though kangaroos are very mobile animals even they would find hard time adapting to new changes, as there would be shortages both in food as well as the water once already dry seasons become even hotter. Less habitats on their disposal, less food and less water will likely cause their starvation and reproduction problems that could in the worst scenario even end up in kangaroo extinction by the end of the century, as there are some climate models predicting temperature increase by more than 6 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

Kangaroos are a national symbol of "land down under", and Australian government should put more emphasis to curb emissions, especially since Australia is among top five world emitters with no signs of slowing down its emissions. And as long as coal based energy sector remains dominant in Australia, emissions will rise, giving more negative impact to global warming. Future definitely doesn't look bright for kangaroo population in Australia.

Big lakes also affected with global warming

Almost all world's big lakes like Superior, Tanganyika and Tahoe are showing signs of warming trends due to the global warming and climate change. But many scientists thought until recently that this is not the case with Russia's Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake that was expected to be among those most resistant to climate change, due to its tremendous volume and unique water circulation. But unfortunately so, the latest scientific study showed that climate change also affects this enormous lake, meaning the climate change is really everywhere.

The conclusion that resulted from careful and repeated sampling over the last sixty years showed that there is a "significant warming of surface waters and long-term changes in the food web of the world's largest, and most ancient lake." Lake Baikal is extremely important from many different aspects, especially ecological since this lake is World Heritage site and real heaven for biological diversity, with more than 2500 plant and animal species, with most, including the freshwater seal, found nowhere in the world. This lake is not only rich with different lives but also with fresh water and it contains 20 percent of the world's freshwater, and it is large enough to hold all the water in the United States' Great Lakes, and is also world's oldest and deepest lake.

As this study showed there is "1.21°C increase in water temperature since 1946, chlorophyll a (300 percent since 1979), and an influential group of zooplankton grazers (335 percent since 1946) have important implications for nutrient cycling and food web dynamics, and these "temperature changes in Lake Baikal are particularly significant as a signal of long-term regional warming." This lake is located in frigid Siberia, where winter temperatures drop even to -50 degrees F, and these results show that even this area is strongly affected with the current global warming trend, and that global warming is really a "global" problem that includes all corners of the Earth, no matter what some people think and say.

These results were revealed by the team of scientists that included Stephanie Hampton, an ecologist and deputy director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara, California, and Marianne Moore, a biologist at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass., together with four other scientists, and were issued in the journal Global Change Biology.

Lake Baikal- also responding to climate change

Global warming in Australia - Nature conservation problem

Global warming is affecting all continents and Australia isn't excluded. Temperatures over Australia are estimated to rise by about 1 ºC by 2030, and 1.8 ºC by 2070, compared to levels in 1990's.

Dr. Michael Dunlop said in new report, "Implications of Climate Change for the National Reserve System" how "climate change is forcing environmental scientists to rethink their approach to a nature conservation that has focused on preventing change or restoring landscapes toward a pre-European state, as climate changes have become inevitable".

According to this report 9000 protected areas in Australia are already critical for nature conservation because of global warming and because of this some animals and plants will find their habitats in places where they’ve never been seen before, and others will disappear from areas where they used to live, and for many regions the look, sound, and smell of the landscapes we are familiar with will gradually change.

Dr. Dunlop also stated that if we want to have any chance in preserving current ecosystems we need to protect as many habitats as possible, especially larger areas of habitat and areas that have long history in providing a shelter for biodiversity during times of climate change. Invasive species will also present big problem as well as many new exotic weeds and pests that will benefit from changing climates.

Fight against global warming will be difficult one, especially since this a global problem that includes whole world, and one individual action won't be sufficient. However many individual actions joined into one global action should stand a decent chance, but unfortunately we are still talking more about individual efforts than acting globally. And that has to change, and real fast. Even hope doesn't last for eternity.

Global warming - Great threat to Australian nature conservation efforts

Clean energy - Earth's only chance against global warming

Unfortunately for all of us, Earth is already faced with global warming because of dangerous greenhouse gases that are result of fossil fuels combustion. Oil, coal and natural gas are still something modern world can't live with and clean energy (renewable energy sources) are still very negligible on global scale and are satisfying very small percentage of world's total energy need.

Fossil fuels are traditional and dominant in many countries (especially in US since US emits most greenhouse gases into the atmosphere) and renewable energy sources which could provide clean energy that isn't harmful for environment are really lacking necessary attention of world's leading countries like USA, China and India.

Not only our air is polluted but there's also the worst ecological problem in history of the mankind - global warming which is mainly caused by carbon dioxide that gets released into atmosphere during the fossil fuels burning. Earth's temperature increased significantly (this particularly refers to Antarctica), ice is melting and obvious signs of climate change already showed us what we could expect in years to come.

There's lot of talking about renewable energy sources and their researching is taking place in many countries, but the real question is do we have enough time to wait for these clean energy sources? As current situation points out fossil fuels will be dominant force in the next 50 years as well and since our population will grow, there'll be also increased need for energy so we could expect even more greenhouse gases in atmosphere in years to come.

Some countries, especially in Europe are doing its best, investing large funds in renewable energy sources and their progress is already remarkable (i.e. Germany and Scandinavian countries). On the other side there are countries like USA that are reluctant to give major boost to clean energy sector because of its traditional dependence upon fossil fuels and very influential fossil fuels industry. We also have countries like China and India that are lately experiencing amazing economical growth and mainly because of its coal powered plants since coal is the cheapest (and also the dirtiest) fossil fuel and they lack necessary funds to invest in some other ecologically more acceptable energy sources.

This all means one big problem because efforts that some (smaller) countries put into their renewable energy sector are overshadowed by these big countries' dependence on fossil fuels, and there is really no exit from this enchanted circle. And it won't be until world's leading countries take this problem more seriously and what's more important start to do something noticeable about it. Only with clean energy sources we have a real chance stopping ever-increasing global warming levels and make safe future for our kids. So what are we waiting for?