Reports of Global Warming’s Death

It’s been a cold winter so far! First, a research vessel gets stranded in the Antarctic and the ice breaker attempting to rescue the Akademik Shokalskiy gets stuck in the sea ice too. Then the USA gets hit by a polar vortex that freezes practically half of all Americans. It’s no surprise that climate change deniers are mocking the concept of Global Warming. After all, how could the planet be warming with unprecedented cold weather like this happening around the globe?

Maybe it could be warming because there are precedents for these weather events after all. In fact, a review of the historical data shows that the weather events were actually evidence of warming.

That’s right — the only thing that was unprecedented about the polar vortex freezing the USA was the rarity of the event. The truth is that Global Warming is lengthening the gaps between deep cold snaps like the one that just hit the US, say meteorologists. It’s been seventeen years since temperatures dipped this low in the US. “That stretch — from Jan. 13, 1997 to Monday — is by far the longest the U.S. has gone without the national average plunging below 18 degrees.”

The Akademik Shokalskiy did not get caught in sea ice because the temperatures in the Antarctic were colder than usual. It got caught because it was deep in Commonwealth Bay when sudden gale force winds blew fast ice into the bay before the Akademik had the opportunity to get out of it. When you look at the numbers, it becomes undeniable that, in spite of the increase in a certain type of sea ice in the Antarctic, Global Warming is melting the ice on both of the earth’s poles.

First of all, take a look at how much of Antarctica is melting in recent times:

Then look at the extent of sea ice in the Arctic in recent times compared to the past 1,450 years:

These factors are leading to a rise in sea level that affects the entire planet:

When you take a closer look at the data, you can see that the reports of Global Warming’s death are greatly exaggerated.

Drill, baby. Drill!

In light of the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, you would think that Sarah Palin and other Republicans who chanted, "Drill, baby. Drill!" during the last election are feeling a little foolish now. So where do GOP lawmakers stand on the mantra now that the devastation that drilling for oil can do to the environment is glaringly apparent?

Although some have tempered their position, others continue to staunchly defend offshore drilling. As you might expect, you could find a supporter of "Drill, baby. Drill!" in a landlocked place like Utah. Surprisingly, even a GOP legislator from Texas, which has a long Gulf coast, still supports it. It's likely a safe bet that continuing supporters of offshore drilling receive campaign funding from the oil industry.

Something smells fishy in the world's seafood supplies

You're sailing along on a clear day while the sun is setting. You look out over the ocean and everything looks beautiful. But underneath the swells, all is not well.

Last week the Science journal released an article by Boris Worm of Dalhousie University. It reports that if current trends continue, the populations of most seafoods will collapse by 2048. By collapse, Worm means that the populations will be so decimated that they will be insufficient to sustain harvesting. In fact, the catch of 29 percent of the seafood species humans consume have already crashed by ninety percent.

This does not bode well for humans. Seafood is high in protein, and is an excellent source of omega oils essential to normal growth in young children. Furthermore, more than a billion people -- many of whom are poor -- rely on seafood as their primary source of protein. And let's face it: seafood is just plain delicious.

The primary source of this problem is the loss of ocean biodiversity caused by humans. Worm's study found that the increasing pace of diversity loss threatens the "ecosystems services" that many human populations depend on for survival. An example of a practice that is highly destructive to biodiversity in the deep ocean is bottom-trawling. Fortunately, international effort is being made to curb bottom-trawling, but this is just one of many ways humans are contributing to the loss of seafood harvests.

Another contributor is the increase in "dead zones" scattered around our planet's oceans. A dead zone is a large area in the ocean devoid of oxygen that leads to the widespread death of animals that cannot swim or crawl away from it. For example, in the Gulf of Mexico, there is a dead zone the size of New Jersey that forms each April and lasts through the summer. It is caused by agricultural and urban runoff and wastewater treatment.

Fortunately, it's not too late to reverse the impending loss of our seafood populations if we act now. Worm's study found compelling evidence that ecosystems can recover if action is taken to protect them. But we have to act soon and it will take coordinated international efforts. Some areas will need to be protected from fishing altogether. Additionally, commercial fisheries will need to be provided with incentives to fish any given species only to the extent where a sufficient population remain in any given area to sustain the reproduction of that species so the biodiversity is not lost.

Obviously, this is contrary to the short term financial interests of the fisheries. To address this might mean the implementation of unpopular programs like governmental regulations or subsidies to fisheries. However, such actions could not be as unpopular as humans no longer having seafood on the table would be.