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Unit 4 Global Warming CGC1 DP1
Unit 4 Global Warming CGC1 DP1
- Carbon dioxide is without doubt the most well known greenhouse gas. It is also the greenhouse gas man contributes to most, primarily through burning fossil fuels. Since the industrial revolution concentrations of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere have increased at an even faster rate. So how quickly are CO2 levels rising?
generally have some associated carbon dioxide emissions. Nuclear power, for instance, relies on large amounts of electricity for fuel processing and so indirectly results in carbon dioxide emissions.
Ice is thinning
Antarctica, home to these Adlie penguins, is heating up. The annual melt season has increased up to three weeks in 20 years.
At sea, in the Canadian high Arctic, a polar bear negotiates what was once solid ice. Bears are drowning as warmer waters widen the distance from floe to floe
Upsala Glacier, Argentina, which was once one of the grandest glaciers to ever exist, continues to shrink on a yearly basis
3) Oceans Currents
Warmer oceans can be mean colder continents within a hotter globe. Larger amounts of fresh water are being added to our oceans. If oceans becomes diluted by freshwater, the salt concentration drops, and the water gets lighter, idling on top and stalling some currents. Ocean currents running between warm and cold regions serve as natural thermoregulators, distributing heat from the equator toward the poles.
4) Drought
An increase in the occurrence of drought Areas that lack precipitation over a long period of time. As fast as global warming is transforming the oceans and the ice caps, it's having an even more immediate effect on land. People, animals and plants living in dry, mountainous regions like the western U.S. make it through summer thanks to snowpack that collects on peaks all winter and slowly melts off in warm months. Lately the early arrival of spring and the unusually blistering summers have caused the snowpack to melt too early, so that by the time it's needed, it's largely gone.
Global warming is tipping other regions of the world into drought in different ways. Higher temperatures bake moisture out of soil faster, causing dry regions that live at the margins to cross the line into fullblown crisis.
Pacific salmon populations fell sharply in 1997 and 1998, when local ocean temperatures rose 6 degrees F.
Costa Rica announced that two-thirds of 110 species of colorful harlequin frogs have vanished in the past 30 years
The Quiver tree (S. Africa), is starting to die off as it struggles to survive in arid conditions that are now worsening
6) Extreme Weather
As the world warms, some extreme climate events, like the frequency of heat waves and very heavy precipitation, are expected to increase. Blizzards and snow storms may actually increase in intensity and frequency in some colder locations As climate change gathers pace, devastation caused by extreme weather is becoming more common. Many extreme weather events require energy, often in the form of heat. As temperatures increase, extreme weather events will tend to increase in severity. The number of hurricanes that occurred in 2004 was the thirdhighest number in the 1950-2004 window. The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active Atlantic hurricane season in recorded history
Bushfires are becoming more and more common due to intense heat and long periods without precipitation. Bushfire numbers are especially on the rises in countries like the US and Australia
Tornadoes are increasing in number and in severity, perhaps an effect of global warming
Hurricanes are increasing in numbers and in severity, Hurricanes require warm ocean temperatures in order to form.
Nation representatives met again in December of 1997 at a conference in Kyoto to sign a revised agreement. Since then, a number of negotiations on Kyoto have taken place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bonn, Germany, the Hague, Netherlands, and in Kyoto again.
Countries Positions
Canada
On December 17, 2002, Canada ratified the treaty. Numerous polls have shown support for the Kyoto protocol around 70% After January 2006, the Liberal Party government was replaced by a Conservative Party minority government under Stephen Harper, who previously has expressed opposition to Kyoto. On April 25, 2006, it was announced that Canada would have no chance of meeting its targets under Kyoto, and would instead look to participate in U.S. sponsored Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.
On May 2, 2006, it was reported that environmental funding designed to meet the Kyoto standards has been cut, while the Harper administration develops a new plan to take its place.
United States
The United States of America (USA), although a signatory to the protocol, has neither ratified nor withdrawn from the protocol. The current President, George W. Bush, has indicated that he does not intend to submit the treaty for ratification, not because he does not support the general idea, but because of the strain he believes the treaty would put on the economy The position Bush has taken on climate change has shifted with a gradual increasing acceptance that global warming is a problem, and that it is partly caused by human activity. The United States has signed the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, a pact that allows those countries to set their goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions individually, but with no enforcement mechanism.
Australia
Australia has refused to sign the Agreement due to issues with the protocol. The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, has argued that the protocol would cost Australians jobs, and that Australia is already doing enough to cut emissions. The Federal Opposition, the Australian Labor Party, is in full support of the protocol and it is currently a heavily debated issue within the political establishment. The opposition claims signing the protocol is a "risk free" prospect as they claim Australia would already be meeting the obligations the protocol would impose. As of 2005, Australia was the world's largest emitter per capita of greenhouse gases. The Australian government, along with the United States, agreed to sign the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate at the ASEAN regional forum on 28 July 2005.
India
India signed and ratified the Protocol in August, 2002. Since India is exempted from the framework of the treaty, it is expected to gain from the protocol in terms of transfer of technology and related foreign investments. At the G-8 meeting in June 2005, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pointed out that the per-capita emission rates of the developing countries are a tiny fraction of those in the developed world. Following the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, India maintains that the major responsibility of curbing emission rests with the developed countries, which have accumulated emissions over a long period of time.