Climate change is about to reach tipping point

Our planet is very close to reaching a tipping point where climate change and global warming will become irreversible. Many scientists believe that this decade may be our last chance to do something effective against climate change.

The tipping point represents a global temperature increase of two degrees Celsius. This increase in global temperature will among other things lead to melting of polar ice sheets and massive loss of rainforests.

What world quickly needs is new international climate deal but this doesn't look to be happening any time soon because there are still major differences between developed and developing world in proposed cuts.

The continuing melting of the ice worries scientists, especially if it spreads to Siberian permafrost, which stores frozen carbon in the soil away from the atmosphere. Scientists estimate that Siberian holds 1,600 billion tonnes of carbon there - about twice the amount in the atmosphere today.

Rainforests are becoming drier and oceans are becoming increasingly acidic, all because of the increased climate change impact. Extreme weather events such as hurricanes are becoming more frequent and there is also a danger of new diseases.

The only solution to climate change issue is to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and this can only be done by shutting down fossil fuels fired power plants and switching to clean, renewable energy sources.

Global wake up call needed against climate change

The human impact on earth's climate is constantly growing because fossil fuel consumption is not declining. The burning of fossil fuels creates harmful greenhouse gas emissions, most notably carbon dioxide emissions, and the climate change impact continues to grow.

The humanity is still inadequate to solve climate change issue because world leaders still cannot agree on new climate deal. The global wake up call, issued so many time by so many scientists, still hasn't done the trick for world leaders to realize that we don't have all the time in the world for decisive action.

Climate change talks without the legally obliging international climate deal are pretty much useless and world leaders are yet again showing the complete lack of unity when it comes to really important issues.

Climate change is no longer just an environmental issue, we are talking here about the global social issue that will significantly alter the life of our future generations.

The enormous challenge of global warming and climate change is still too much for world leaders to handle and with it we are losing precious time needed to halt climate change from reaching the tipping point, a global temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius.

If this scenario occurs we are talking about frequent extreme weather events such as hurricanes, millions of people losing their homes, many animals becoming extinct, new diseases, more hunger and less water in the world.

Is this really the kind of legacy we want to leave to our children and grandchildren?

Great lakes rapidly losing ice

The U.S. Great lakes are experiencing massive loss of winter ice cover. The recent study by American Meteorological Society says that the average amount of ice covering the Great Lakes has decreased 71 percent since 1973.

The scientists believe that this tremendous loss of ice cover is the result of cyclical climate patterns like El Niño and La Niña, changes in the Arctic Oscillation and broader climate change phenomenon.

The worst loss of ice cover occurred in lake Ontario that dropped by 88% while the largest of U.S. lakes - the lake Superior experienced an ice loss cover of 79%.

The scientists have calculated that only about 5 percent of the Great Lakes surface froze over this winter, which is the minimum amount since satellite photos were first taken from space.

Jia Wang, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lab, warned that the rapid decline in ice cover will lead to faster wintertime evaporation, resulting in reduced water levels. This could also lead to increased and earlier algae blooms, which could lead to water pollution, and may accelerate erosion by exposing more shoreline to waves.

The current winter of 2011-12 wasn't included in the report but its mild temperatures will only serve to speed up the decline.

Canada will not escape warmer temperatures

According to a new study by researchers from the Simon Fraser University Canada will not escape the warming of two degrees Celsius, even if zero greenhouse gas emissions were to be achieved.

Under the best-case scenario (with zero greenhouse gas emissions) the global temperature would still continue to rise by about a quarter of a degree over a decade.

In their study researchers used an earth system climate model developed by the University of Victoria to study the impact of greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions on the global climate.

They have concluded that the widespread presence of aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere is effectively blocking solar radiation at this moment but once aerosol blanket is removed the global temperatures will rise significantly.

They have also concluded that the elimination of all emissions would lead to an additional short-term warming by 0.25 to 0.5 degrees. Earth's temperature would actually continue to rise by a by 0.25 to 0.5 degrees over the next 10 years and then it would begin to decrease by a few tenths of a degree, coming down to today's level after about a century.

Global warming will not have the same impact on all regions - mid to high latitude regions such as Canada, Alaska, northeastern Europe, Russia, and northern China will likely be mostly affected, with a warming of at least 2 ° C being unavoidable in those regions.

Professor Kirsten Zickfeld, an assistant professor of geography at the Simon Fraser University said that "two degrees increase is pretty significant, especially when you consider the global temperature was only five degrees colder than today's during the ice age."

Climate change - Few interesting thoughts and questions

Here are some interesting thoughts and questions about climate change.

1. If climate change is really such a big threat to our well-being why are world leaders taking so long to agree new climate deal that would limit the amount of greenhouse gas emissions? What is the problem here? Lack of trust in science or powerful fossil fuel lobbies?

2. If fossil fuels are really the main culprits behind the excessive greenhouse gas emissions then why is transition to renewable energy sources happening so slow?

3. When will world finally realize that climate change is the biggest environmental threat of our time? When climate change starts running out of control in all corners of the world? Must we really experience the worst before taking a decisive action?

4. Since we are the smartest beings on this planet (though sometimes it's really hard to see that big brain of ours) then we have to act as guardians of this planet and protect all life on it. Instead of it we are making things even worse by increasing the speed of climate change putting thousands of living species all across the globe at the very brink of extinction.

5. Who exactly gave world leaders the right to bet with the largest possible stakes, namely the future of our children and grandchildren and why are global financial issues always more important than climate change?

Climate change has adverse effect on bird species

Climate change will likely have devastating effect on many animal species with tropical birds being one of the worst hit species, especially those birds in tropics that have their habitats in mountainous regions.

This is one of the conclusions of the latest study published in the journal Biological Conservation by Çağan Şekercioğlu, scientist at the University of Utah.

He believes that the number of extinct bird species due to climate change will be somewhere between 100 to 2,500 depending on the total increase in temperatures and the total amount of habitat loss. Without the adequate conservation efforts total number of bird species that will forever perish from the face of this planet due to climate change is likely to be 600 to 900 by the end of this century.

Climate change is not only expected to bring ever-increasing temperatures but also more frequent extreme weather events such as droughts, heat waves, wildfires, cold spells, hurricanes and storms all of which can have devastating impact on many bird species across the globe.

Climate change can even spread malaria-carrying mosquitoes to higher elevations in places like Hawaii, where the malaria parasite can endanger previously unexposed bird species.

Şekercioğlu also added that "not all effects of climate change are negative for birds, and changes in temperature and precipitation regimes will benefit some species. Nevertheless, climate change will not benefit many species."

One thing is sure though, in order to protect not only bird but many other animal species the world will have to do lot more research and provide more conservation efforts. Failure to do so will likely lead to yet another mass extinction event on our planet that will put the future of our generations in great jeopardy.

Arctic shows that the climate change is real

Arctic is intensely feeling the heat of climate change. In fact, Arctic is warming faster than any other place on our planet. The latest data suggests that the 2011 was the warmest year on record with average Arctic temperatures 2.28 degrees Celsius (4.1 degrees Fahrenheit) higher compared to those measured in period from 1951-1980.

The highest recorded temperatures have also lead to an all time low Arctic ice cover. The rapid loss of Arctic ice has been measured by researchers and they say that the ice cover on Arctic has declined by staggering 76 percent from 1979 (16,855 cubic kilometers) to 2011 (4,017 cubic kilometers).

The ever-warming Arctic spells the danger for entire planet because researchers believe that the region could soon hit climatic tipping points that could severely affect the rest of the world.

The loss of sea ice is already having devastating effect on Arctic's ecosystems resulting in decline of many animal species such as polar bears and walruses.

One of the recent studies has even connected this year's cold winter in Europe with the loss of Arctic's ice cover and many researchers also believe that massive blizzards that stroke the U.S. in 2009 and 2010 were also connected with increased melting of Arctic.

The thawing of Arctic's permafrost is also raising serious concerns because of the huge amounts of greenhouse gases trapped in the permafrost. If these gases get released they have potential to equal the amount of greenhouse gases currently emitted by deforestation worldwide.

The melting of Arctic's ice should be of real concern to world leaders but instead of worrying about the global environmental impact of Arctic' ice melting they seem to be more occupied with plans to expand oil and gas exploitation, create new shipping routes, and increase mining and other industry in this ecologically sensitive area.

Climate change the main cause for cold weather in Europe?

The exceptionally cold weather characterized by chilling winds and temperatures well below zero degrees Celsius has been striking Europe for more than a week. According to a scientist Alfred Wegener from the Institute for Polar and Marine Research the main cause for this exceptionally cold weather is climate change, or to be more precise the huge loss of Arctic ice.

Wegener (and some other scientists) believes that complex wind patterns are being changed because the retreat of Arctic sea ice has exposed huge swaths of normally frozen ocean to the atmosphere above.

This has lead to a development of high-pressure weather systems over northern Russia, and they are the ones carrying these freezing winds from the Arctic and Siberia to the rest of the Europe.

Professor Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research confirmed that "the current weather pattern fits earlier predictions of computer models for how the atmosphere responds to the loss of sea ice due to global warming."

The ice free Arctic sea is creating high-pressure weather systems because the water is warmer than the Arctic air above it, and this carries the cold air and freezing winds across the Europe. The scientists are convinced that the retreat of ice from the ocean causes the release of huge amounts of heat from the sea into the significantly colder air above which results in the air to rise. Rising air causes destabilization in the atmosphere and changes the difference in air pressure, also changing wind patterns.

This situation should really help open eyes of many people who believe that climate change is only affecting Earth's polar regions and that they don't have to worry about it.

Tropical rainforests store more carbon than previously thought

Tropical rainforests are together with our oceans the largest carbon sinkers and their preservation is certainly one of the key factors that will decide the outcome of our battle against global warming and climate change.

The deforestation of tropical rainforests doesn't only mean less trees to store carbon but it also represents a major source of carbon emissions by releasing approximately 1.1 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year. In large part of the developing world, deforestation is the biggest source of harmful carbon emissions.

The good news comes from the study recently published in Nature Climate Change which concludes that tropical vegetation contains 21 percent more carbon than previously thought.

In this latest study the scientists have created a carbon density map for the tropics with a level of consistency and accuracy never seen before. Among other things they were able to discover that tropical forests in America store around 118 billion tons of carbon, an almost 20% more than shown by previous studies.

It is of vital importance to have the reliable estimates of carbon storage because they are critical to learn about the amount of total carbon released into the atmosphere by changes in land cover and land use.

Without major reduction in greenhouse gas emissions we can only hope that our forests and oceans will be able to expand their carbon storage ability because currently this looks like our only chance against the worst possible climate change scenario.