Greenhouse gases causing huge ocean acidification

The increased emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) are not only contributing to global temperature increase but also cause huge ocean acidification.

According to the latest study by the University of Hawaii man-made carbon emissions have been main factor behind the increased acidity in our oceans. In fact, man-made carbon emissions over the last 100 to 200 years have raised ocean acidity far beyond the range of natural variations.

Ocean acidification is enormous threat to marine life because it impairs the ability of marine organisms such as corals and mollusks to form their skeletons or shells, and these marine organisms play key role in enabling the proper functioning of marine food chain.

If ocean acidification continues world will soon experience huge biodiversity loss in our oceans and seas. This is because such rapid increase in acidity leaves very little time for marine species to adapt.

The natural rate of change in climate has always left enough time for many species to adapt but this is no case with man-made climate change. The researcher Tobias Friedrich at the the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii explained this by saying that "when Earth started to warm 17,000 years ago, terminating the last glacial period, atmospheric CO2 levels rose from 190 parts per million (ppm) to 280 ppm over 6,000 years. Marine ecosystems had ample time to adjust. Now, for a similar rise in CO2 concentration to the present level of 392 ppm, the adjustment time is reduced to only 100 – 200 years."

The only way to stop further ocean acidification is to drastically reduce the amount of carbon emissions on global level and this can be achieved only with very strict international climate deal. Judging by the latest climate change talks new climate deal is very low on political agenda of world leaders, well behind global financial woes that seem to be taking all the attention.

We can’t hide from climate change

Sadly we can’t hide from climate change and our only chance is to try to slow it.

Slowing climate change is lot easier to say than done, particularly without the legally binding international climate deal that would force countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide emissions as the result of excessive fossil fuel burning.

World needs fossil fuels to satisfy ever growing demand for energy and renewable energy sector (despite achieving huge growth in the last couple of years) is still way off from being able to successfully replace fossil fuels on global scale.

As long as world heavily relies on fossil fuels we won't see any significant change in our fight against climate change and we won't be able to prevent a 2C temperature increase seen by many scientists as the point of no return, where climate change will completely run out of control.

The world has already reached the point where political leaders must think about the possible solutions to adapt to climate change instead of just delaying the necessary action for better times. Without the immediate action better times will never come and entire humanity will have to face an uphill task of living together with climate change.

You know that old saying „ you can run but you can't hide“? The same can be applied with climate change. We can run from the truth and pretend like climate change is some imaginary tale invented by environmentalists and burry our head in the sand and pretend like this doesn’t concern us but once climate change starts showing its scary face we won't be able to hide from it because it will affect our entire planet.

In other words, do nothing and the doomsday awaits…

Greenhouse gases will postpone next ice age

The increased amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide is a main factor behind the ongoing climate change issue. According to a recent study published in a journal Nature Geoscience the increased amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will also postpone the coming of next ice age on Earth.

The scientists estimate that so far there have been at least five ice ages in Earth's past. Term ice age refers to a certain period characterized by a long-term reduction in the earth's surface and atmospheric temperature, which represents ideal conditions for the growth of ice sheets and glaciers.

Our planet is currently in so called interglacial period which started 10,000-15,000 years ago. The end of this period and new ice age are expected in around 1,500 years time, if atmospheric concentrations of main greenhouse gas – carbon dioxide (CO2), do not exceed 240 parts per million by volume (ppmv).

The current concentrations of CO2 are somewhere around 390 ppmv, and keeping that level of CO2 emissions or increasing it will postpone the coming of new ice age.

While the fact that the next ice age will be postponed looks like good news, everything else about climate change and global warming looks negative.

The scientists say we should limit the global temperature rise to within 2 degrees Celsius in order to avoid major climate change threats such as extreme weather events and sea level rise. However, world is doing very little to achieve this goal because fossil fuels are still being heavily used all across the globe, and there also seems to be no chance for any meaningful climate change agreement in near future.

Climate change - Nothing will change in 2012?

The world leaders still haven't agreed to commit to major greenhouse gas emission cuts and without this type of legal agreement world doesn't stand a chance in fight against global warming and climate change.

Every new year without the major cuts in emissions brings us one step closer to a climate change tipping point, a 2C temperature increase, seen by many scientists as the point of no return and a ticket to a worst possible climate change scenario.

The scenario that involves frequent extreme events, floods, drought, new diseases, many extinct species, and more hunger in the world. Sadly this scenario doesn't seem to be enough for world leaders to act quickly as they are constantly delaying actions for "better days".

These days world is more worried about major financial uncertainties connected with United States and EU, and world leaders are yet again giving all their attention to global financial woes, leaving very little room for global environmental issues on their political agenda.

It's like they are hoping that climate change issue will solve itself without their intervention and without major cuts in emissions. They are still not aware that climate change is no longer just a environmental issue but also social and economic issue that could forever change the future of our civilization.

All hope is still not lost though there's very little of it still left among the most incurable optimists. We are gambling with the future of our planet and the stakes are really high. The political bluff is no longer enough to win the pot with such high stakes.

Is renewable energy the best solution to tackle climate change?

The answer whether renewable energy is really the best solution to climate change isn't simple, in fact the right answer to this question would be both yes and no. Yes because only renewable energy has the potential to replace fossil fuels and with it reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions and no because transition to renewable energy is not going fast enough.

Time is extremely important factor in our fight against climate change because world is fast approaching the global temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius seen by many scientists as the tipping point after which we will no longer be able to halt climate change.

The scientists say that if world fails to prevent temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius we could be in for the worst possible climate change scenario with extreme weather events being the regular thing.

Our only chance to tackle climate change is to make massive cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions. The problem is that none of the world's biggest polluters such ac China and United States wants to oblige to major emission cuts because that would apparently be of great damage to their economies.

They are once again forgetting that climate change is not only doing big environmental but also big economic damage that is already measured in billions of dollars. What this means is that stopping climate change from running away with it also means preventing gigantic economic damage.

This predicted economic damage would be a combined result of huge biodiversity loss, reduced crops, damage done by frequent natural disasters such as hurricanes and flooding, etc.

There's a lot of talk about renewable energy these days but lot of talk doesn't also mean lot of action. Yes, it is true that global renewable energy capacity grows rapidly from the mathematical point of view but in real life renewable energy is at least half of decade away from being able to successfully replace fossil fuels as main energy source.

And there's a really huge doubt whether climate change will give us so much time to make the switch to renewables.

earth hour 2012 Official video

Droughts caused by climate change destroy forests

Our forests store approximately 45 percent of the carbon found on land which means that they are vital in our fight against climate change. However, the increased climate change impact has in the last ten years resulted in frequent droughts that have caused deaths of trees in all continents, except Antarctica.

Dying of trees and lesser forest cover gives extra impact to global warming by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere by trees and also by releasing carbon that was locked up in their wood.

The death of forests trees can also have huge impact on biodiversity; rainforests for instance belong to the areas with the richest biodiversity on our planet so increased forest mortality can irreversibly alter many ecosystems.

If droughts continue they will cause major damage to our forests in years to come. Droughts negatively affect transport of water in trees which results in tree deaths and they also cause huge wildfires.

One of the recent examples of what drought is doing to trees comes from Texas where wildfires destroyed around 175 million cubic feet of timber, according to Texas Forest Service economists and analysts. The economic value of all those trees as they stood in the forest was $97 million. The total volume of all that destroyed timber could have produced $1.6 billion worth of different forest products.

Climate change still low on political agenda

Climate change is still low on political agenda and world leaders are yet again more worried about global finances than about global climate, just like this was the case in 2009. Big European debt crisis accompanied by the recent US economic woes are taking away from climate talks in Durban any chance of success.

The scientists have already issued warnings that greenhouse gases are back on rise in the atmosphere which causes faster melting of polar ice caps and increases the global sea levels.

It is almost the same scenario as in 2009, namely financial crisis is once again being used as an excuse to delay any significant climate change action. Because of the financial crisis politicians are once again unwilling to put hands in their pockets and come up with the money needed to adapt to global climate changes.

The three largest polluters in the world -China, United, States and India are extremely reluctant to commit to any significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. None of these three countries is ready to sign new climate deal yet none of these countries want to be blamed for failure in reaching new climate deal.

It seems like each of these three major polluters has some conditions under which deal should be signed. They all seem to be forgetting that climate change is global issue which means no conditionality but unity. At this moment in time global political unity certainly looks more like the utopia than actual reality.

If world fails to agree on new climate deal any time soon greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rise increasing global temperature between three and five degrees Celsius by the end of this century. Such temperature increase would forever change the life on our planet.

Let us think about the heritage we will leave to our children and grandchildren.

No optimism about climate change talks in Durban

Copenhagen 2009 – disappointment, Cancun 2010 – disappointment and Durban 2011 - you guessed again disappointment. The climate change talks in Durban, South Africa have started but expectations are very low, in fact many analysts believe that the new climate deal isn't possible in this political climate any time soon.

The Kyoto protocol expires next year and it certainly doesn't look like world leaders are ready to revive it. This is because two world's largest polluters, China and United States, the countries that hadn't even signed Kyoto protocol do not agree to carbon emission cuts.

China is still classed as a developing country and United States feels that China should oblige to same cuts as developing world. China, on the other hand, believes that United States and the rest of the developing world have mainly contributed to climate change issue and so they must oblige to larger cuts in emissions.

The fact that scientists are constantly issuing warnings that the world needs to drastically reduce the emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases doesn't seem to be giving too many sleepless nights to world leaders.

World's largest polluters are running away from new climate deal and a swift action to stave off the catastrophic effects of global warming is still nowhere on the radar.

Optimism is certainly not the word associated with the climate talks in Durban. The major players have already clearly announced their unwillingness to negotiate their positions so any hope to reach new climate deal any time soon seems to be totally lost.

Climate change will cause more extreme weather events

When thinking about the worst possible climate change scenario extreme weather events are really the first thing that comes to my mind. There are many scientists across the globe who would agree that if we fail to significantly decrease global level of carbon emissions this scenario will become our everyday's reality.

The latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on climatic extreme events also shares this opinion. According to UN heatwaves will become significantly longer, hotter and increase in frequency, and rainfall will be heavier during the 21st century, all because of the increased climate change impact.

It was also concluded that there is an increased risk from hurricanes and cyclones as wind speeds in hurricanes and tropical cyclones were likely to increase though there is still not enough evidence to draw firm conclusions for each region.

There is also a chance of an increase in danger in high mountains from landslides and the bursts of glacial lakes. All these phenomena will account for not only major environmental but also major economic damage measured in billions of dollars.

There's a very little chance that this newest report will have any effect at international climate talks that will soon begin in Durban, South Africa. World leaders apparently still believe we have all the time in the world to tackle climate change issue.

And the carbon emissions continue to grow, increasing global temperatures and bringing us very close to a global temperature increase of two degrees Celsius which is seen by many scientists as the point of no return in our fight against climate change.