A new report in the journal Science finds that the air over the Antarctic has warmed dramatically over the past 30 years, three times the global average. The greatest warming -- nearly 1.4 degrees F (0.75 degrees C) per decade in the winter -- has occurred about 3 miles (5 kilometers) above the surface. Scientists are unable to explain the temperature spike, but they note it could point to some unknown climate change mechanism.

Something dramatic and terrifying is happening to the Planet - the climate is abruptly changing as each of us procreate and consume ourself and the Earth to death. We simply must stop now, and begin fixing the ecological fabric of being. This will require sacrifice, hard work and voluntary simplicity on all our parts.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry | Permalink | Comments (8) | More on Antarctic rapid warming

The Bush administration has announced increased gas mileage requirements for pick-up trucks and sport-utility vehicles - for the first time covering the largest SUVs like the Hummer H2. Yet given the massive threat to America's and the world's economies, environment and social welfare from climate change and oil wars, the increases are amazingly tepid and unambitious. Pickups and SUVs must increase their fuel efficiency by 11 percent in the next five years. This is not going to stop global warming and wean America from under-priced foreign oil, and is damaging more ambitious efforts to address a building planetary emergency.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry | Permalink | Comments (1) | More on automobile fuel effiency

Concern regarding climate change has finally gone mainstream in the U.S., shown by the current Time Magazine cover story. "Never mind what you've heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us... From heat waves to storms to floods to fires to massive glacial melts, the global climate seems to be crashing around us." Perhaps now we can act?

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A new report finds glaciers and ice sheets on both of the Earth's polar regions are melting faster than previously thought and could cause sea levels around the world to rise as much as 13 to 20 feet by the end of the century, endangering not only low lying islands but major cities on every continent.

The team lead by scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado concluded that ice in both the Artic and Antarctic regions is now melting faster than previously believed - causing the Earth to shake as it does. Ice sheet disintegration starts slowly, but once it gets going it will be "out of our control and there will be no way to stop it".

Meanwhile, as Bush dithers local communities such as Seattle lead.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry | Permalink | Comments (4) | More on global warming ice glacier melt

The first U.S. global warming public service announcement campaign was launched today by Environmental Defense and the Ad Council. More on long overdue effort to educate the American public through the media - as well as the actual ads - can be found at Fight Global Warming.

Recent surveys have shown Americans to be concerned with climate change, though generally they inaccurately think it is something that will only be felt in the distant future. A massive, well-crafted public education campaign emphasizing the urgency of immediate dramatic action is a necessary precursor to saving the planet and humanity.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry | Permalink | Comments (4) | More on global warming public education

Australia has been hit with a powerful category 5 cyclone, the strongest in decades. Category 5 and 4 hurricanes (cyclones & typhoons) are becoming the norm, yet denial regarding humanity's role in their causation continues. Australian media is finally covering the link between warming oceans and stronger storms (more). As a recent blog comment noted, "we are heading for a disaster, of epoch proportions... What's it going to take, a half a dozen Katrina's to wake us up? Yes, we have reached the tipping point, we were warned. Now, we are going to have to pay the price." Take Action: Send Australia a Global Warning!

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A firm link has been established between warming oceans and hurricane intensity (more | search), as scientists report in a new study that rising sea surface temperatures are the primary factor fueling a 35-year trend of stronger, more intense hurricanes. And in the North Atlantic Ocean basin warming is also increasing the number of hurricanes. Natural cycles can not explain the trends in stronger and more frequent hurricanes because the cycles are different for each basin. "This is not natural variability."

LA Times: "Of all the factors that drive a major storm — such as humidity, wind shear or broad air circulation patterns — only the steady increase in sea surface temperatures over the last 35 years can account for the rising strength of tempests in six ocean basins around the world, including the North Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology reported."

"Their research revealed that the increase in the most severe storms — category 4 and 5 hurricanes have doubled since 1990 — was directly linked to the rising temperature of tropical oceans, which warmed globally by 1 degree Fahrenheit during the same period. Warm water vapor rising from the sea helps energize massive storms."

Guardian: "The study comes in answer to critics, mostly scientists involved in hurricane prediction, of previous research. They argued that local factors such as the difference in wind direction at various altitudes (known as wind shear) would swamp any effect of warmer oceans... To counter this, the authors included wind shear in their calculations."

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry | Permalink | Comments (1) | More on ocean warming hurricane

Human-fueled global warming has reached a "tipping point" and will continue even if greenhouse gas emissions were halted immediately. A review of climate science also found severe climate change impacts are evident now and urgent action to minimize damage is necessary. There are many reasonable policy responses that could be implemented now. Every day we wait, the greater the momentum behind abrupt, runaway climate change. 76% of Americans desire leadership to reduce pollution linked to global warming.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry | Permalink | Comments (8) | More on climate change tipping point

Ground-level ozone, the same pollutant that makes smog, is responsible for a surprisingly large part of the spring and summer warming that has been detected in the Arctic, NASA states in a new study. The pollution caused by highly industrialized countries at high latitudes is being blown northward, and resulting concentrations of ground-level ozone may be responsible for 30-50% of evident Arctic warming. The lesson is that industrial pollutants of all types threaten the global ecological system's balance.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry | Permalink | Comments (0) | More on smog climate change

Greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere reached record highs in 2004, are still climbing and show no signs of leveling off, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Carbon dioxide atmospheric concentrations grew last year by 2.6 ppm - well above the 1.9 ppm average over the past decade. The sharp increase in CO2 levels now places its concentration at 381 parts per million (ppm) - 100ppm above the pre-industrial average.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry | Permalink | Comments (1) | More on carbon dioxide concentrations

The global warming impact on polar ice sheets has been confirmed. Climate warming is changing how much water remains in Earth as ice and snow. The most comprehensive survey ever undertaken of the enormous ice sheets covering both Greenland and Antarctica shows a net loss of ice to the sea.

Papua New Guinea island communities are already being flooded, displaced and are in shelters after floods.

Excerpts: "The 20 billion net tons of water melted into the oceans each of those 10 years is equivalent to the amount of fresh water annually used in homes, businesses, and farming in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia... One prediction is that sea levels should increase by a foot or two by 2100, and up to 25 feet within 500 years. Some of that sea level rise is based on melting of glaciers and major ice sheets, and some is based on thermal expansion of water in the oceans, which increases in size as it gets warmer."

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry | Permalink | Comments (1) | More on ice sheet melt

The world's great rivers are drying up at an alarming rate, with devastating consequences for humanity, animals and the future of the planet. More than half the world's 500 mightiest rivers have been seriously depleted. Some have been reduced to a trickle in what the United Nations will this week warn is a "disaster in the making". Global warming is endangering even the rivers that have largely escaped damming. Serious water scarcity is going to be one of the major manners climate change exhibits itself, even kills.

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A new study has found that global annual sales of renewable energies such as wind, solar and biofuels could more than quadruple in a decade to nearly $170 billion if oil prices remain high and technology costs fall. Such investments are a necessity if climate catastrophe is to be averted, but in itself is insufficient to solve the problem, as major advances in energy efficiency, population reduction and sustainable consumption are also desperately needed if global ecological sustainability is to be achieved in our lifetimes.

Posted by Dr. Glen Barry | Permalink | Comments (1) | More on renewable energy sales growth

The soon to be released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is expected to state that human emissions are the only possible explanation for major changes in the Earth's climate. Previous reports had indicated humans were "probably" to blame. The report is expected to state that doubling of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere would bring a temperature rise of 2C-4.5C or maybe higher, but that there is great uncertainty about the pace and scope of future change.

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