Is It Getting Hot In Here?

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I don't know about you, but almost every day I look in the newspaper or log onto the internet, I see a story about climate change.  Sometimes the stories/articles are talking about the things we as humans are doing to contribute to climate change, and sometimes they are talking about new resources available to us, to help slow down these changes. Either way, both types of stories/articles say the same thing "Climate change is happening right now".

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According to the EPA website http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/index.html, climate change is affecting people and the environment everyday.  But what is climate change?  Well the EPA defines climate change as "any significant change in measures of climate (such as temperature, precipitation, or wind) lasting for an extended period (decades or longer)". 

I wanted to see if there has been any significant change in the city of Riverside climate in the last decade, however I could only find archives dating back to 2006, so I decided to compare the last 6 years.  According to the web site http://weathercurrents.com/riverside/Archive2011.do, there has not been a significant change in weather in Riverside over the last 6 years.  I made this chart with the information given on the web site and as you can see, the average temperatures have actually dropped:

Year	Average High Temp	Average Low Temp	Days Over 100 °F	Precipitation
2006	79.4 °F	55.3 °F	22	5.26"
2011	77.8 °F	53.8 °F	7	6.93"

Riverside is just one of many cities across the U.S. though so just because we haven't seen much of a change here, does not mean it isn't happening.

According to the website http://news.discovery.com/earth/warmest-decade-climate.html, temperatures trended upward by about 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit per decade over the past 30 years, and the average global temperatures have increased a total of about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880.

This might not seem like a lot, but think about this, "World powers agreed at the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December 2009, to seek to prevent average temperatures from rising beyond 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels in order to halt the most devastating effects of global warming" http://news.discovery.com/earth/warmest-decade-climate.html

 So are we humans responsible for these climate changes?  According to the EPA's report on climate change indicators http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/indicators/pdfs/ClimateIndicators_full.pdf, "In the U.S., greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities increased by 14% from 1990 to 2008, with CO2 accounting for most of this increase".  Worldwide numbers show an increase gases from human activities by 26% from 1990 to 2005.

With these numbers alone, I would definitely say that we are responsible for the majority of global warming.

So by now you might be thinking "Why should I worry about climate change?"  "How does it affect me?"

Well, according to the EPA, climate change can affect human health in many ways, either directly or indirectly.  Some of these effects are::

• Direct temperature - more extreme heat waves during the summer and less extreme cold spells during the winter.  This will be especially dangerous for people with heart problems, asthma, the elderly, and very young children.
• Extreme events - more frequent and severe hurricanes and floods
• Climate-sensitive diseases - may increase the risk of some vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, and encephalitis.
• Air quality - can lead to more respiratory disorders, damaged lung tissue, and particulate matter pollution

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/health.html

Believe it or not, even with all of the information available to us, there are still people who do not think climate change is a problem.

The Heartland Institute http://heartland.org/ideas/global-warming-not-crisis, says that "Probably two-thirds of the warming in the 1990's was due to natural causes".  They also believe that climate change and global warming are all part of a political agenda.

The majority of the world believes that global warming is a serious problem (with the exception of the U.S., China, and Russia).

Only 44% in the U.S. believe climate change is a problem compared to 68% in France, 65% in Japan, 61% in Spain, and 60% in Germany.  However in Brazil, 90% of the population say it is a "very serious problem".
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1427/global-warming-major-problem-around-world-americans-less-concerned

My last thought of the night is this: "What will the world be like in 50 years, if we continue on our current path and make no changes to reduce CO2 levels in the atmosphere?"

I think that the world will definitely be hotter and dryer.  Antarctica will probably be half the size it is now, and Alaska will no longer have all of the glaciers they currently have.  The lakes and rivers will be mostly dried up, and no one will have grass in their yards.

But that's just my opinion!

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