Global Warming: An Environmental Historical Perspective

US National Ice Core Laboratory (NICL)

(Storage unit kept at -33oF and 55,000 cubic ft of filled shelves)

- Located in the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood, CO (near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains)

- Houses over 14,000 meters of ice cores from 34 drill sites in Greenland, Antarctica, and high mountain glaciers in western US

- The cores are recovered and studied mostly focused on the reconstruction of past climate states of the Earth

- Their goal: By investigating past climate fluctuations, scientists hope to be able to understand the mechanisms by which climate change is accomplished, and in doing so, they hope to develop predictive capabilities for future climate change

Looking at one of the cylinders of ice, you can see the layers on layers of different colors from different happenings such as annual snowfall; atmospheric gases captured and retained as bubbles; dust including fallout from forest fires, industrial pollution, volcanic eruptions, cosmic particles, and nuclear explosions; and even sea salt carried by wind.

The Keeling Curve

The 'Keeling Curve,' based on continuous measurements taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii that began under the super vision of Charles David Keeling.  It plots the ongoing change in concentrating of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere since 1958.

Measurements showed the first significant evidence of rapidly increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere. 

Committees from global progression

-NOAA

-NCAR

-WMO

-UNEP

Pros of global warming (?)- making agriculture more productive at higher altitudes and preventing new ice age

Cons- rising sea levels, desertification, and increased heat energy for violent weather systems

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)-

-established by two UN agencies; the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) in 1988

-IPCC created 3 working groups with the following assignments: to assess existing scientific info regarding climate change; to assess environmental and economic impacts of climate change; and to formulate strategies for the management of responses to climate change

Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC)-

an international agreement that seeks to limit or reduce emissions of gases, mainly CO2 and methane, with the potential to exacerbate global warming

Kyoto Protocol-

-1997

-an international agreement linked to the UNs FCCC, which commits its Parties by setting internationally binding emission reduction targets

EATE-

This connects to ethic in the environment because of all of the organizations the have been created to attempt to reduce the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Questions:

Do you think global warming is really an issue?  Science seems to do well proving it but there are some that don't agree.

What are some good ways to help reduce global warming and pollution?

Works Cited

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"Kyoto Protocol." Kyoto Protocol. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. <http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php>.

"National Ice Core Laboratory - Who We Are." National Ice Core Laboratory - Who We Are. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2013. <http://nicl.usgs.gov/about.htm>.

"NOAA Satellite Conference 2013 - Home." NOAA Satellite Conference 2013 - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. <http://satelliteconferences.noaa.gov/2013/>.

"UNEP - Google." UNEP - Google. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2013. <https://plus.google.com/106881457303951170381/posts>.

"United Nations Environment Programme." About. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2013. <http://www.unep.org/About/>.

"United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - Main Page." United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - Main Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2013. <http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/ha/ccc/ccc.html>.

"Welcome." GFDL. NOAA, n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2013. <http://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/>.

"WMO in Brief." WMO in Brief. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2013. <http://www.wmo.int/pages/about/index_en.html>.