Showing posts with label global warming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label global warming. Show all posts

Research Predicts the Consequences of Global Warming on Pacific Nations

Nations in the Pacific are the first to be affected by global warming. The tide is literally coming in higher and higher. Children play in sea water as it enters homes built on the highest points available on small islands. The Australian Government's Pacific Climate Change Science Program (PCCSP) has released a report on the Pacific region.

The last decade has been the warmest ever recorded. Acidity in sea water is also rising because there is more carbon dioxide. Cyclones are predicted to increase with greater rainfall. Day and night temperatures will be higher.

While the report will help Pacific nations show what damage has been done by the developed world, it is doubtful advanced countries will assist financially. Knowing what will happen will help island nations plan for the future though the changes are already apparent as the sea takes over the land.
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Climate
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Surely Australia Could Pay a Little More for a Cleaner Planet

It is so strange how support for Kevin Rudd's Emissions Trading Scheme has totally evaporated. Kevin Rudd rightly claims that his backing down from trying to pass the legislation cost him leadership of his party and the country, so great was public support for it then. Times have changed. With big rises in water charges and electricity charges across the country people just don't want a bar of it anymore.

The proof of global warming is considerable. Ice is disappearing from the North and South Poles. Those who still contend that it is made up just to get money out of the public must be living on another planet - in their minds at least. No one wants to be paying higher prices for essential items than consumers in other countries, but the world is changing. China is making major changes. to reduce pollution. Finland introduced the world's first carbon tax in 1990. That is two decades ago. Sweden followed in 1991. Great Britain brought in a climate change levy in 2001. Boulder in Colorado has had a carbon tax on electricity since 2007. There has been a tax on all fuels in Quebec from 2007. British Columbia initiated the most efficient carbon tax in 2008 with $10 tax per metric ton rising to $30 in 2012. So Australians would not be alone in paying higher prices.

Young Australian families today have never known hard times. Economies go in boom and bust cycles. Australia has been lucky in avoiding the busts due to a small population "owning" a tremendous resources base. It is the only country in the world with this economic advantage. Surely Australia can do it a little tougher and help show the way to a better world.
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Society
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Storms Are Getting Stronger and More Frequent

It is accepted that we are getting more rain though it evaporates very quickly and leads to drought. The cycle of evaporation and rain is speeding up. The planet it heating up as the poles are melting. Glaciers are reducing in size with the water flowing into the oceans thus increasing the height of the sea. There is one thing that has not been studied in depth - wind.

Tornadoes are getting stronger. Furthermore, storms with high winds are becoming more frequent and stronger. Over the last decade storm winds have become five per cent faster. The highest strength winds have increased by ten per cent. Analysis of wind change is not that easy. Wind does not show up in satellite pictures. Special equipment such as radar altimeters are put onto satellites. They get data by scanning for echoes. The frequency and strength of storms is definitely increasing.

It is not yet proven to be due to global warming. This could be a cyclical phenomenon. Nonetheless, it is drawing a long bow not to presume it is an aspect of global warming. Rising seas with stronger storms will cause more erosion in coastal regions.
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Science
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