An Inconvenient Truth That Hurts Even Worse A Year Later
In June of 2006, my GF and I caught An Inconvenient Truth in the theater and walked away very moved and impressed by the film's message of warning and wake-up. While Christmas shopping in late December, I spied the DVD copy of An Inconvenient Truth and ended up throwing it in the cart (I rarely buy DVDs, preferring to rent). The DVD contains an update from Gore on the global warming situation in the year since the film was completed.
To sum, in the year since the movie wrapped, more evidence of rising global temperatures has come to light, as have additional studies linking weather events to global warming. In the 30 minute update, which is well worth anyone's time, Gore touches on the following:
Hurricanes
Also known as cyclones (Australia) and typhoons (Asia), studies have been released linking the growing intensity of hurricanes to rising sea surface temperatures. Although the 2006 hurricane season in the Atlantic was a big zero, Australia had a very active season and China had Saomai - the strongest "super typhoon" it has seen in the past 50 years. The takeaway: expect to see more highly amped hurricanes in the near future.
Global Temperatures
The 12 month period from July 2005 to June 2006 was the warmest period in US history. In July, 2006, South Dakota hit 120 degrees. In July, 2005, the temperature reached a mind-boggling 125.6 degrees in Pakistan - which may or may not be an all-time record. Honey, cancel the Pakistan trip next summer, will ya?
Ocean Acidification
An enormous amount of CO2 is dumped into the atmosphere each day - Gore tells us it is 70 million tons per day. Of that, 25 million tons per day is absorbed by the ocean. All of that CO2 reduces the pH level of the ocean and makes it more acidic. More acidic water makes it difficult for organisms like coral and shell fish to calcify. You may have seen alarming reports about bleached-out coral reefs, which are considered to be the rain forests of the ocean. Ocean acidification is caused by CO2 emissions and it has the potential to negatively impact the entire ocean food chain. Nice.
Glacial Earthquakes
Greenland has the second most ice on the planet, after Antarctica. For now. Ice melt on Greenland is accelerating; last year Greenland lost about 50 cubic miles of ice to melt. As the ice has begun to melt faster, the incidence of glacial earthquakes has picked up. From 1993 to 1999, the number of glacial quakes exceeding 4.5 on the Richter scale increased from 7 to 15. From 1999 to 2005, the number increased from 15 to 32. This is evidence of destabilized ice and, as Gore says, is another clear warning sign that global warming is real.
Major Wildfires
A study was released that linked warming temperatures with more frequent and more intense fires in the western US. Higher temps, incidentally, also dry out the Earth's soil (soil moisture evaporation), creating a breeding ground for lightning induced wildfires. Unfortunately, more wildfires means more CO2 released into the Earth's atmosphere. This appears to be one of those positive feedback loops.
Permafrost
Frozen in soil in places like Siberia and Alaska is a lot of CO2 and methane. The permafrost in Siberia, for example, contains something like 70 billion metric tons of methane. For those of you who haven't made the jump to the metric system that is 1.54323584 × 10^14 pounds. Lot of LBs there. A Russian scientist has bad news: a Siberian peat bog the size of Germany and France has begun to thaw. Not good.
All in all, a sobering update from the former VP Gore.
Update: Calendar year 2006 was the warmest year on record in US history.
