Evidence of Global Warming in Just the Past 12 Months

Is the climate crisis real? Yes, of course it is. Pause for a moment to consider these events of just the past 12 months:

• Heat. According to NASA, 2010 was tied with 2005 as the hottest year measured since instruments were first used systematically in the 1880s. Nineteen countries set all-time high temperature records. One city in Pakistan, Mohenjo-Daro, reached 128.3 degrees Fahrenheit, the hottest temperature ever measured in an Asian city. Nine of the 10 hottest years in history have occurred in the last 13 years. The past decade was the hottest ever measured, even though half of that decade represented a "solar minimum" — the low ebb in the natural cycle of solar energy emanating from the sun.

• Floods. Megafloods displaced 20 million people in Pakistan, further destabilizing a nuclear-armed country; inundated an area of Australia larger than Germany and France combined; flooded 28 of the 32 districts that make up Colombia, where it has rained almost continuously for the past year; caused a "thousand-year" flood in my home city of Nashville; and led to all-time record flood levels in the Mississippi River Valley. Many places around the world are now experiencing larger and more frequent extreme downpours and snowstorms; last year's "Snowmaggedon" in the northeastern United States is part of the same pattern, notwithstanding the guffaws of deniers.

• Drought. Historic drought and fires in Russia killed an estimated 56,000 people and caused wheat and other food crops in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan to be removed from the global market, contributing to a record spike in food prices. "Practically everything is burning," Russian president Dmitry Medvedev declared. "What's happening with the planet's climate right now needs to be a wake-up call to all of us." The drought level in much of Texas has been raised from "extreme" to "exceptional," the highest category. This spring the majority of the counties in Texas were on fire, and Gov. Rick Perry requested a major disaster declaration for all but two of the state's 254 counties. Arizona is now fighting the largest fire in its history. Since 1970, the fire season throughout the American West has increased by 78 days. Extreme droughts in central China and northern France are currently drying up reservoirs and killing crops.

• Melting Ice. An enormous mass of ice, four times larger than the island of Manhattan, broke off from northern Greenland last year and slipped into the sea. The acceleration of ice loss in both Greenland and Antarctica has caused another upward revision of global sea-level rise and the numbers of refugees expected from low-lying coastal areas. The Arctic ice cap, which reached a record low volume last year, has lost as much as 40 percent of its area during summer in just 30 years.

Notes:

Al Gore summarizes extreme weather events and other natural phenomena as a result of Global Warming from just the past year.

Folksonomies: global warming climate change agw anthropogenic climate change

Taxonomies:
/business and industrial/energy/oil (0.445056)
/business and industrial/agriculture and forestry/crops and seed (0.399245)
/science/weather/meteorological disaster (0.378467)

Keywords:
extreme weather events (0.926906 (negative:-0.207280)), frequent extreme downpours (0.896688 (negative:-0.651589)), all-time high temperature (0.886578 (neutral:0.000000)), Global Warming (0.885440 (negative:-0.207280)), all-time record flood (0.883052 (neutral:0.000000)), Drought. Historic drought (0.874717 (negative:-0.564579)), president Dmitry Medvedev (0.864573 (neutral:0.000000)), Mississippi River Valley (0.862789 (neutral:0.000000)), global sea-level rise (0.861535 (negative:-0.440964)), northeastern United States (0.854523 (neutral:0.000000)), record low volume (0.849424 (negative:-0.523223)), Arctic ice cap (0.843117 (neutral:0.000000)), low-lying coastal areas (0.840636 (negative:-0.440964)), major disaster declaration (0.839108 (negative:-0.410926)), Gov. Rick Perry (0.837701 (negative:-0.410926)), hottest temperature (0.806787 (positive:0.321276)), past decade (0.769027 (neutral:0.000000)), Al Gore (0.764935 (negative:-0.207280)), Extreme droughts (0.760491 (negative:-0.438244)), natural phenomena (0.759790 (negative:-0.207280)), climate crisis (0.756037 (negative:-0.662525)), low ebb (0.754623 (neutral:0.000000)), Asian city (0.752822 (positive:0.321276)), drought level (0.752244 (negative:-0.512011)), northern Greenland (0.748047 (negative:-0.542255)), global market (0.747834 (negative:-0.354045)), home city (0.747283 (negative:-0.265526)), degrees Fahrenheit (0.746260 (positive:0.202331)), natural cycle (0.746191 (neutral:0.000000)), solar energy (0.746104 (neutral:0.000000))

Entities:
Global Warming:FieldTerminology (0.873135 (negative:-0.207280)), Pakistan:Country (0.787718 (negative:-0.450608)), food crops:FieldTerminology (0.766953 (negative:-0.501411)), Greenland:Country (0.725504 (negative:-0.491609)), France:Country (0.661280 (negative:-0.349996)), Russia:Country (0.659113 (negative:-0.564579)), Texas:StateOrCounty (0.654010 (negative:-0.448612)), Al Gore:Person (0.613598 (negative:-0.207280)), Dmitry Medvedev:Person (0.582716 (neutral:0.000000)), NASA:Organization (0.558400 (neutral:0.000000)), solar energy:FieldTerminology (0.549754 (neutral:0.000000)), global market:FieldTerminology (0.526944 (negative:-0.354045)), Gov. Rick Perry:Person (0.525660 (negative:-0.410926)), United States:Country (0.524765 (neutral:0.000000)), Arizona:StateOrCounty (0.508024 (negative:-0.390904)), China:Country (0.504431 (negative:-0.438244)), Mississippi River Valley:GeographicFeature (0.503767 (neutral:0.000000)), president:JobTitle (0.503542 (neutral:0.000000)), Manhattan:City (0.502697 (neutral:0.000000)), Nashville:City (0.497829 (negative:-0.265526)), food prices:FieldTerminology (0.476729 (negative:-0.386274)), Colombia:Country (0.474244 (negative:-0.534257)), American West:Organization (0.472180 (neutral:0.000000)), Kazakhstan:Country (0.467236 (negative:-0.354045)), Antarctica:Country (0.455797 (negative:-0.440964)), Germany:Country (0.439537 (negative:-0.261747)), Australia:Country (0.434866 (negative:-0.261747)), Ukraine:Country (0.406506 (negative:-0.354045)), 128.3 degrees Fahrenheit:Quantity (0.406506 (neutral:0.000000)), thousand-year:Quantity (0.406506 (neutral:0.000000))

Concepts:
Dmitry Medvedev (0.950429): website | dbpedia | freebase | yago
Global warming (0.864495): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Extreme weather (0.727549): dbpedia | freebase | yago
Climate change (0.603499): dbpedia | freebase
Weather (0.600047): dbpedia | freebase
Weather hazards (0.497773): dbpedia
Arctic Ocean (0.493214): geo | dbpedia | ciaFactbook | freebase | opencyc
Storm (0.489629): dbpedia | freebase

 Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison?
Electronic/World Wide Web>Internet Article:  Gore, Al (June 24, 2011), Climate of Denial: Can science and the truth withstand the merchants of poison?, Rolling Stone, issue 1134/1135, Retrieved on 2011-08-28
  • Source Material [www.rollingstone.com]
  • Folksonomies: global warming climate change agw anthropogenic climate change


    Schemas

    21 JUL 2014

     Climate Change

    A meme-bucket for the science and understanding it.
     8