Article Review - 8 Summer Miseries made worse by Global Warming

Some of the year 12 Students will be improving the breadth and depth of their reading in coming months. Some of them will also be sharing their reviews of it to try and help other Geographers engage with interesting material. Jack's review of a National Geographic article on potentially negative effects of global warming is below:

Review of ‘8 Summer Miseries Made

Worse by Global Warming’ - Jack.L

As you would expect from the title, this article published on the National Geographic website explains the worsening of many of the bad parts of summer ranging from decreasing air quality to the increased danger to swimming in rivers.

The author Brian Howard goes into detail about the following eight topics; heat waves, bad air, biting insects, poison ivy, hay fever, food-borne illnesses, dangerous swimming and the risk to national parks and landmarks. Howard goes into basic details about each of the items stated about how they would be made worse in the future due to the global warming. For example he states that global temperatures are likely to increase by up to 5°C by 2100, if emissions are not reduced. Also that increased temperatures will lead to increased ground-level ozone pollution; which will lead to increased respiratory diseases, such as asthma and currently 27 million people in the US suffer from asthma.

All in all, I found Brian Howard’s article interesting and would recommend it to anyone that is interested in the effects of global warming.

Here is a link to the article:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140701-global-warming-summer-climate-change-science/?rptregcta=reg_free_np&rptregcampaign=20131016_rw_membership_n1p_intl_se_w#

Tourists overlook Navajo Canyon in 1948 at Mesa Verde National Park, which is now vulnerable to increased flooding and more frequent wildfires.

PHOTOGRAPH BY WILLARD CULVER, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Useful Weather and Climate Videos

Below are some excellent videos from the Met Office which explain some important basics of weather and climate patterns:

How does the Earth's Climate System work?

What is the Jet Stream?





What are Weather Fronts?




What are Air Masses?

(The Only) Solution to Desertification?

The issue of desertification is one of the prime issues of our present and our future. Alan Savory gives an excellent TED Talk below analysing what he sees as the only viable solution.

Questions to Consider:
How big an issue is Desertification?
Could there be other solutions?
Is it too late to solve this problem?

Durban Climate Summit - Discuss...

C.Krueger has collated some statements about the Durban climate summit below. What do you think? Are these effective in helping to alter climate change? Should we be worried about climate change at all?

Respond with opinions below this post or tweet @bsgeography

The Durban Climate Summit

"Climate change is the greatest emerging humanitarian challenge of our times, causing suffering to hundreds of millions of people worldwide," – Kofi Annan, former UN secretary-general and president of the Geneva-based Global Humanitarian Forum (GHF)

“The latest science is telling us we are in more trouble than we thought.” –Janos Pasztor, UN climate adviser

The annual ritual of discussions to restrict global warming to within 2 degrees was performed at Durban from November 28 to December 9 2011. Thousands of experts, government negotiators, campaigners, and businessmen gathered and talked, talked, talked… There was considerable skepticism if ever the “dirty boys” of the planet would learn to behave responsibly.

What is the basic issue?

The temperature on the Earth is rising due to global warming, and it is rising at a speed which scientists attribute to human actions leading to excessive emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that trap heat. This has changed, and is changing the weather patterns everywhere. The prediction is that a global temperature rise beyond 2 degrees Celsius can lead to catastrophic climatic disasters beyond control.

Evidence of Global Warming?

The statistics from the International Disaster Database found out that in the last 5 years of the 21^st century, there were more global disasters recorded than in during the last 200 years. In the period of time between 1900 and 1910 for example, there were just 28 disasters recorded. Everyone is realizing that the weather is changing more often and is becoming harder to predict year by year.

The question is whether summits like the Durban one can change something in human behaviour in order to change the climate… 

US Met Office admits that the worlds climate is shifting

A very interesting article from 'The Day' website on recent climatic events and their link to Climate Change.

http://www.theday.co.uk/environment/freezes-fires-and-crop-failures-trigger-alarm

Video Map of USA Severe Weather Warnings

This excellent video from the NOAA shows severe weather (blue) and tornado (red) warnings from last year. Its amazing how much of the USA is affected.

 

A level geographers in particular should note the location and pattern of tornado warnings.

Kyoto Protocol: Excellent Intro

The video below from Canada's CBC network gives an excellent introduction to the Kyoto protocol and how Canada and other countries have followed it up. The article it is taken from is a must read to add facts and figures to the picture presented by the video.

Rio +20 Earth Summit starting next week...

The Rio earth summit next week could have a huge impact on our future. You can get acquainted with it using the Storify below as a portal. We will follow it on this blog during next week so come back and see it...

Can Global Warming Be Managed #BSClimateChange