CBS Global Warming story misses the point

[Guest guest]

The story on today's CBS Sunday Morning

(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/07/sunday/main2335194.shtml)

about the weather and global warming did shed light on the climate

change crises, but it also showed the apathy that too many Americans

have toward this life changing event. One person said, " If this is

global warming, I love it. " If this is global warming, and many

scientists say it is and that it's melting the ice caps, then there

is going to be catastrophic flooding causing hundreds of thousands

of homeless refugees. That's not something to love.

 

One of the scientists that Sunday Morning correspondent Sharyn

Alfonsi interviewed said we shouldn't worry about this heat wave,

but if it is caused by global warming, then yes, we do need to worry

and we need to start taking action now. Many scientists say there

is a connection between the current heat wave and climate change.

They have been predicting more and more frequent unseasonable warm

spells caused by manmade global warming, and this year's warm winter

fits that pattern exactly. Yes, there have been freak weather

events like this in the past, but only on very rare occasions.

However, in recent decades, these record breaking weather events

have increased dramatically.

 

David Easterling of the National Climate Data Center was recently

quoted as saying there has been " a fairly rapid rise of globally

average temperatures, also temperatures in the United States, since

about the mid-1970s. " The records from the National Climate Data

Center show that over the last 55 years, especially the last 20, the

number of unusually warm days and warm nights has steadily

increased.

 

After NASA climatologist Drew Shindell told Alfonsi not to worry, he

did confirm that the Earth's annual surface temperature is

rising. " In the past 30 or 40 years you can see the global warming

distinctly, " Shindell said. " The planetary temperature is going

steadily and sharply up. "

 

Another climatologist, Jerry Meehl, agreed and added, " Over the next

two or three decades, we will see a trend of just more frequent warm

spells and less frequent cold snaps. "

 

The reporter said " it would be an error to say this one week or one

winter is only due to global warming. " Of course it's not " only "

due to global warming, but it is connected to global warming, and

that is something we need to be concerned about. The reporter used

Colorado, as an example, indicating that the state is " blanketed

with back to back blizzards this winter — no talk of Global Warming

there. " Actually, she`s wrong. Colorado's third big snowfall in a

month also fits a pattern long predicted for global warming. The

warmer the air, the more moisture it can hold, which leads to

heavier precipitation of rain or snow.

 

Scientists say there are always immediate causes contributing to

warm spells, such as the current warm El Nino patch that's appeared

again in the Pacific. But El Nino, like everything in earth's

climate, is influenced one way or another by manmade global

warming. Climate scientists in the United Kingdom calculate that

the current El Nino, combined with the additional warming effect of

the increasing manmade greenhouse gases mean a better-than-even

chance that 2007 will be the hottest year on earth since records

have been kept. Already, the 10 hottest years on record have been in

the past 11 years.

 

And it doesn't matter that we've only had temperature data since the

1800s. Recent scientific evidence and conclusions regarding global

warming have been based partly on Antarctic ice core samples which

are able to show temperatures and carbon dioxide levels dating back

more than 650,000 years. These core samples have shown that carbon

dioxide levels and surface temperatures have been significantly

higher in recent years than at any time in the past.

 

The National Academy of Sciences, an agency established by the

federal government, found that global warming is real and that

humans are the cause. Ralph Cicerone, head of that agency, stated

back in July 2005, " Global warming is caused primarily by humans and

nearly all climate scientists today agree with that viewpoint.

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now at its highest level in

400,000 years and it continues to rise. Nearly all climate

scientists today believe that much of Earth's current warming has

been caused by increases in the amount of greenhouse gases in the

atmosphere, mostly from the burning of fuels. "

 

Global warming is real, humans are causing it and we should all

support the effort to control it. We have nothing to lose and

everything to gain by giving this serious threat the care and

attention it deserves. You can take action now with PURPOSE -

People United Rightly Protecting Our Sacred Earth. Start now by

signing our petition to Congress making " Climate Change, Global

Warming and Saving the Planet " this country's top priority:

 

Global Warming Petition

(http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/890510358)

 

To find out more about PURPOSE and to learn how you can help save

the planet, visit any or all of these websites:

 

PURPOSE Website

(http://FreedomExpress.net/PURPOSE)

 

PURPOSE Discussion Group

(CommittedPURPOSE/)

 

PURPOSE on MySpace

(http://www.myspace.com/committedpurpose)

 

Earth Warrior living with PURPOSE

(http://360./committedpurpose)

 

Books and DVDs for PURPOSE

(http://astore.amazon.com/freedomexpres-20)

 

PURPOSE Gift Shop

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