Global Warming can destroy our planet!

1. Global Warmingcan destroy our planet! If we just sit and do nothing about it. http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,20060403,00.html

2. Changes Scientific consensus is that human activity, mainly carbon dioxide emissions, is causing global warming. Every time we use electricity or gasoline, we are sending CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.

3. Global Warming • World before Industrial revolution, 1800 • CO2 level low <280ppm. • ~No fossil fuel emissions (oil, coal, gas). • We’ve had a global climate equilibrium for the last 100,000 years – it’s like we had a very comfortable blanket developed specially for us. • Now we have a huge blanket (caused by the extra human-made emissions in the atmosphere) • made of heat-trapping, heat-emitting IR greenhouse gases.

4. Global Warming

5. How hot will the Earth be in a few years? Depends on us. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/sci_nat/04/climate_change/html/climate.stm

6. CO2 in the atmosphereYears: 1960-2000

7. CO2 in Atmosphere Years: 1000 -2100

8. Earth’s Surface Temperature Years: 1000 -2100 How hot it ultimately gets depends on us.

9. } Cold due to sulfuric emissions: (1940-1970) which caused lung cancer, asthma & acid rain Global average temperatureYears: 1860-2000

10. Consequences: • Polar caps melt • Sea level rise • Extreme temperatures • Cyclones/tornadoes • Drought / floods • Disease • Agriculture losses • Extinction of animal species, corals, vegetation • Worst case scenario: stop ocean conveyor belt

11. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania, Africa) 30 years later…

12. Lake Chad • Was the 6th largest lake in the World! • A study by U. Wisconsin-Madison and NASA's EOS, the lake is now 1/20th of the size it was 35 years ago. • W. Africa (Chad, Niger, Nigeria, & Cameroon), the region has suffered from an increasingly dry climate, experiencing decline in rain since early 1960s. We are causing Extreme poverty in Africa due to our emissions which accounts for 25% of all world emissions compared to Africa’s 3%.

13. Patagonia (Argentina)Longest Glacier in S.A. 1928 2004

14. Costa Rica First official lost species due to Global warming: the golden toad Female Male

15. Hurricanes • 10 hottest years ever, occurred in the last 14 yrs. • 2003 1st hurricane ever in the S. Altantic Ocean • 2005 highest # of hurricanes, • most intense, 6 Greek letters • 2005 Wilma strongest hurricane ever recorded AO Then… • 2006 Monica strongest hurricane ever recorded • Luckily, this year (2006), El Niño decreases # hurricanes

16. Icebergs with caves = broken food chain 60% of krill population killed because of this. Krill are small shrimp-like crustaceans zooplankton, food for baleen whales, mantas, whale sharks, seals, and a few seabird species

17. Worst case scenario: abrupt changeIPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Due to change in salinity, if Artic keeps melting, this current could stop, creating a small ice age in Europe and North America.

18. On top of this… New blooming economies want to live their own version of the “American Dream”. Example: in China, the traditional bicycle lane was closed to lay way to an extra automobile lane. India is now also flourishing economically and greatly increasing their CO2 emissions.

19. Potential Solutions • Reduce CO2 emissions • Reduce energy consumption • Alternative green power: solar, wind • Reforestation • Increase fuel efficiency; e.g. fuel cell, hybrid cars • Emission trading- Kyoto Protocol – signed by 135 nations in Kyoto, Japan to reduce emissions. • Not signed by U.S. or Australia!, the 2 nations with the highest emissions.

20. The Good News is… We can make a difference…

21. We’ve done it before!: Ozone Layer Montreal Protocol's ban on CFCs • For years, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were the agents--contributing to the destruction of the Earth's ozone layer. • After the Montreal Protocol's ban on CFCs, slightly-more benign HCFCs replaced them.. The ozone layer is healing, but there is still a higher incidence of skin cancer and other diseases in the World due in part by this hole.

22. More Good News… You can save over $2,000 every year while helping the planet!

23. Top 16 Things – Save $ with NO initial cost • Turn off (or even better, unplug) appliances • (consider a power strip), cord instead of cordless phones • Turn off water faucet, • shower not baths, flow • change shower head • Clean air-conditioning filters • Tune-up car, keep balanced, Accelerate minimum only *MPG

24. Turn down Water heater, and air conditioner • Use sheets instead of blankets • Turn off PC, printers, when not using: • Use Laptop instead of PC • Use cold water for washing cloths! • Hang clothes if possible • Use dishwasher only when full • Wash by hand if possible

25. Eating habits: • Eat less meat (less methane); • Eat local products • Plant trees • They also lower house T in summer, • They reduce CO2 • Car pooling, walking or biking • Avoid sanitary dishes/napkins • Both styrofoam or paper

26. Buy products with least packaging • Large family packs • Gift bags instead of wrapping • Water bottles!  - use refillable bottle. Packaging and clean water production needs a lot of energy and releases tons of CO2 in the atmosphere annually.

27. Be a wise consumer • Buy less • Give away things you not longer use.

28. Recycle! • (plastic, paper, cardboard, cans, glass) • Email your senators, government officials: • Sign petition at www.undoit.org • Sign petition at climatecrisis.org

29. Top 11 Things – Save $ with some initial cost You will recover the initial costs quickly and at the same time, reduce emissions greatly. • Consider solar water heater • Replace light bulbs with coiled fluorescent

30. Top 11 (cont…) • Consider new appliances with Energy Star* MYTH: Not all new appliances are energy efficient!! Check the labels carefully.

31. Top 11 (cont…) Transportation accounts for 67% of oil used! • Consider buying a small car or a Hybrid, • Use public transportation • Eat organic products (better health, less Br) • Consider wind or solar power • Use silicone or dark baking pans • Use reusable plastic or cloth coffee filter • Use rechargeable batteries Green means it’s also good for your HEALTH.

32. Small changes, make a big difference:

33. In summary… $aveMoney, improveyour Health,Save the Planet! In doing so, we are indirectly helping the extreme poor… …is our moral responsibility.

34. Political Issues • Oil industry interests, • Lobbyists • Governments covering up scientific evidence • (e.g. NASA climatologist, Jim Hansen) • Real cost of nuclear energy • Should include the cost of waste disposal and the cost of medical treatment of potential health diseases due to radioactive materials. • versus cost of clean energy like solar or wind.

35. Take action! Stop Global Warming

36. With your help……we can save the World! We are ONE human race; we only have ONE planet. Let’s use its resources efficiently so that we can all benefit from it.

37. Book References: • The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs • Weather Makers by Tim Flannery • An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore • The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman • Global Warming by Chris Spence • Pathologies of Power, Paul Farmer • Mini Atlas of Global Development, The World Bank

38. Web References… • www.nasa.gov • www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming • www.povertymap.net • www.unmillenniumproject.org • www.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk • www.noaa.gov • www.borgenproject.org • www.unicef.org • www.energyhog.org FUN!! (PC games)