Is Heat an Enemy?

By: Krystin Willson

(To me this picture represents the earth dying because it is engulfed in flames so much that the world is drowning in the heat that it can't escape. Catastrophism Is as Much an Obstacle to Addressing Climate Change as Denial) 

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has stated that climate change is an issue and needs to be made a priority to voters. The reason why is in the article, "Clinton Brings in Gore as Closer on Climate Change", "The world is on pace for the hottest year on record, breaking marks set in 2015, 2014, and 2010. It is about 1.8 degrees warmer than a century ago. Scientists have also connected man-made climate change to deadly heat waves, droughts and flood-inducing downpours". Clinton Brings in Gore as Closer on Climate Change.. 1.8 degrees may seem like a low and irrelevant number but in reality it's a big number for the average of increased temperature from around the world. In fact it is closer to 2 degrees than 1 degree. The closer it is to zero the better because this means that the average temperature around the world is staying consistent. Unfortunately that is not the case. The Climates change will affect us as humans, animals, weather and the rest of the world we live on. People are saying that climate changes cause  droughts in hot areas around the world. This is a threat because these places don't have enough water supply. For some states in the U.S it isn't a big deal but is a big deal for really dry states because they don't receive snowfall in the winter or enough rain to help with their water supply. Climate change is also said to affect colder areas of the world. This areas are experiencing rain so intense that it has, and will continue to cause floods.  Floods are dangerous because they can result in loss of produce, land, and unfortunately death.

The purpose of this blog is to consider the affects of climate change as well as if Hillary Clinton is right? Is climate change a major issue that causes the world trouble or is it an over exaggeration of the increase in temperature worldwide?

According to Dictionary.com, climate change is basically when there is an increase of the average temperature in the climate of the world. Though climate change is a slow process it can still have a major impact on the world even things you wouldn't necessarily think of such as inequities, injustices, and injuries. (These mainly affect citizens of low- income or places facing hardships according toGardens for Health ).  It is crazy to think that this last year, year 2015 broke the record of the hottest year since the year 1998. The climates average temperature has risen .85 degrees since the year 1880.

 One of the main issues with climate change is that a lot of deaths occur because of the natural disasters that occur for the climate change.(Gardens for Health). In fact about six hundred thousand people have died in the last 20 years because of the natural disasters that were triggered by the climate change.  I recommend watching this video Zero Waste is a Local Solution to Climate Change because it tells you exactly what causes the climate change as well as how we can help improve plants climate that we live on. The basics of it is that everything we do and use takes energy and emits greenhouse gases, such as Methane which will emit more CO2 into the air.

(The smoke in the picture  from factories is greenhouse gases that get trapped in the earths atmosphere. DEAR WORLD LEADERS: SIGN THE PARIS AGREEMENT ON EARTH DAY... )                

This is important because some gases in the atmosphere stop heat from leaving. These gases will then react chemically that result in changing the temperature (Nasa Climate). I personally found this interesting because I thought air just left once it got high enough in the atmosphere but in reality more and more greenhouse gases are getting stuck up in the atmosphere preventing normal flow of gases and air resulting in an increase in temperature. ( This is how I explain it because it makes the most sense to me). Another explanation used is that it is like a two way mirror. The light will pass through and becomes trapped but can also reflect.

The climate change doesn't just affect humans and climate of the world. There are other life sources that suffer from climate change too such as animals. They have to suffer the consequences of the climate change as well. The animals that suffer the most are those that live in the coldest of environments. This includes penguins and polar bears. Their Frozen Homes are literally melting away.

(Animals such as polar bears, penguins, and other animals in similar habits are suffering because their homes are melting and the temperature is rising. Polar Bear Evolution Tracked Climate Change, New DNA Study Suggests)

In conclusion, I may not agree with most of politics but I do think that Hillary Clinton is right. Climate Change is a serious issue and we need to treat it more seriously.  This issue is causing greenhouse gases to stay in our atmosphere instead of letting certain substances pass onward. The climate change is causing animals to lose their homes because the ice is melting. Other animals environment is being changed as the climate goes through changes. Climate change results in aweful droughts, and floods. These natural disasters then cause people dying. So a question we should ask ourselves is, is ignoring climate change worth the death of so many thousands of people's lives and possibly our own lives? Now consider the question is heat an enemy? 

Only You Can Prevent Climate Change

By Erin Lofgran

While the Presidential debates are filled with arguing over stupid petty things, Hillary Clinton decided to take some time and have a speech focused directly on… you guessed it, climate change. In her speech on Tuesday, the 11^th of October, she explained to the people of Florida that she has all of these things that she wants to do as president that will help protect the people of America from the effects of climate change. She stated “if you need proof that climate change is real there you go” talking about the struggles that the people of Florida are dealing with every day. Clinton had Al Gore with her where he also talked about the issue of climate change. Clinton has many ideas and initiatives that will help the people of this country. Out of her and Trump, who doesn’t think climate change is actually a thing, and Clinton who is trying to help, for those people out there who also believe this to be a problem, she mas more going for her that someone would think. Climate change is an issue that scientists are dealing with every day. A country can’t stop the works of nature. It just happens.

Everyone and their dog are wondering just what is climate change. What evidence is there to prove it? How can we as people help stop it. Is there anything the we can do?

When a person thinks about climate change they think of global warming and that they are the same thing. But they are not entirely the same. Global warming refers to the temperatures and the weather on the earth’s surface, while climate change is the ongoing change of the climate.

Climate change is supposed to happen. The problem with this round of climate change is that we humans have spread the process up by a lot. This year is the hottest year on record. It is scary how drastic thing have changed just in the last 100 years. CO2 levels have risen which is a huge factor to climate change. Ecosystems are being damaged because of this. Weather patterns change, devastating storms are the result of the warming of the atmosphere. Yet people still deny its existence. Which doesn’t make sense because the evidence is right in front of us.

According to the NASA site there are so many reasons and things that show that it is happening. Not only is the temperature of the ocean rising, but the ocean itself is rising. Sea level rose about 17 centimeters I the last century, which if this continues, there will be many coastal cities and countries that will no longer be above sea level. Another one is that the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are shrinking. As are the glaciers around the world, and the arctic sea ice. Yes, they melt. But they are melting at a rate that is very fast compared to what it used to and should be. Of the water that is on the earth, most of it is in the oceans, the next most concentrated place is in the ice that is found in Greenland and Antarctica and so if they continue to melt like they are, the ocean will continue to rise because all water ends up in the ocean. So if all of this is happening, how can we, as people of the earth, help? The first thing we can do is get people into office who understand that something has to happen if we want to have a healthy world because they will be the ones who set policies and solutions to this issue.

The government has data bases that can inform the rest of us on what is happening and what can be done one of the is the Climate Database where you can read up on all the things. With all the information that is out there, the people are becoming more and more aware that it is an issue that we have pushed along. So what can we do to help? Every day we see the effects of this issue so it is no wonder we want to help. Something that NASA is doing, or trying to do is mitigation and adaptation, where mitigation is stabilizing and reducing the greenhouse gases that are in the atmosphere, and adaptation is changing how we do things in an already damaged world. What we can do is study up on it and try to be cleaner and not be idiots.

The picture above shows the CO2 levels for the years before 1950. This picture is from Wikipedia.

Climate change isn’t something that we can read or hear about on the news and think that it won’t affect us. It is happening everywhere. Climate change isn’t going anywhere. The oceans are rising and the ice sheets are melting. Things are getting warmer. We as the human race, started this and we are going to have to deal with it. There are things that can be done to stop damage and to try to not make it worse. The emissions we have been giving off for years has built up and it’s not really possible to make it all go away.  But we can bring people into office that can help, even a little to get policy in place help.

How can humans create hurricanes?

By: Glendyn King

Hurricane Hermine is the most recent of the great storms since hurricane Wilma to make landfall in Florida since 2005. Hermine claimed the lives of five Americans before dissipating on the sixth of September, just about a month ago. After hurricane Katrina, there has been a lot of attention that has been allocated from the public and the government concerning the subject, with the focus given to hurricanes and the climate and how they are related. These means that the topic is very controversial and political at the moment especially when it can be used at a way of claiming someone has no knowledge on science if they don’t agree, they can be painted as a climate change denier.

 This election has been a brutal fight of name calling and scandals between the two nominees of the main parties, Donald trump and Hillary Clinton, and anything is up for grabs when it comes to trying to smear the other person. Hillary Clinton claimed that the hurricane is due to climate change in an argument against trump. She says that 2015 was the hottest year, and that the climate change associated with that is the direct cause of the hurricane. She then goes on to say that there are more storms coming to Florida in the future.

Hillary Clinton said;

"the science is clear, [climate change] is real, its wreaking havoc... last weeks hurricane is another reminder of the devastation that extreme weather can cause"

The claims that Hillary Clinton made were that climate change caused the hurricane, there are more hurricanes coming, and that climate change is real. I say this last because I will say now that climate change is too big of a topic to cover, instead the claims that climate change caused the hurricane, or at least if hurricanes are on the rise will be looked at.

This issue is very controversial from its base argument that the earth is warming, to the more surface topic that is the focus here, are hurricanes on the rise? It is common to find arguments for both sides, for one, some people are saying that the “US is in the Longest “Hurricane Drought” in recorded history.” The article talks about how the frequency of hurricanes is at an all-time low since the 1800s. While many others say that hurricanes in the Atlantic are on the rise, This article provides this graph of hurricanes over the years

The graph on the left illustrates that hurricanes are on the rise, where the graph on the right shows that cyclones are on the decline. While cyclones are on the fall, the intensity of cyclones are on the rise. This article from a journal points out that “Increasing sea surface temperature, at least partially forced by increased greenhouse gases, as a direct cause of concomitant increase in tropical cyclone intensity” meaning that they may be less frequent but they are stronger.

On the other side, some people will argue against the climate change such as the article

The article used that graph to try and demonstrate the downfall of hurricanes, and to try and point out that Hillary Clinton is wrong. However, these two graphs are not completely different, looking closely at this graph you can see that this is another graph depicting the downfall of cyclones, which is true, but it has nothing to do with Hillary Clintons statement about hurricanes. The trendline of CYCLONES are in fact on the decline. Hurricanes on the other hand are on the rise. The climate change deniers citing the cyclone decline as proof that hurricanes are declining fail to realize or acknowledge that cyclones are not hurricanes. The difference is that cyclones are in the Pacific Ocean and hurricanes are in the Atlantic Ocean. The people, such as Hillary Clinton, that say that hurricanes are on the rise are correct.

Not only are hurricanes on the rise, but there intensity, like the cyclone is on the rise. “We're seeing fewer hurricanes, but the ones we do see are more intense,” This is due to the same reason as was given for the increased intensity of cyclones, the increased temperature of the ocean surface. The National Centers For Environmental Information gives some reasoning behind the increased ocean temperature, stating that the average sea surface temperature in 2014 was 1.03 degrees above the average 20^th century temperature.

            Another point that is made to argue against these points is that hurricanes have existed long before the industrial age. And there has been a big hurricane spotted on Saturn. The point isn’t that people are the only cause of hurricanes, the point is that people are become a cause of hurricanes, or at least indirectly affecting the weather through pollution. there are just too many factors that play into hurricanes to be able to say that one is ‘caused by humans producing greenhouse gases’.

Hillary didn’t know what she was talking about, despite there being some facts in her statement, the point behind it was a false point. She is a politician not a scientist. There are many factors that go into a hurricane. However, what she said was correct, hurricanes are on the rise due to increased temperatures on the surface of the oceans, caused by climate change. 

Earth is Like an Oven

By: Adam Isaac

            Cooking. When most people hear this word, they think about food. Recently, with the earth heating up at a constant alarming rate this term has come to encompass certain species of plants and animals as well. Plants and animals that can’t adapt to warmer temperatures are slowly dying out.  

            In the Science Debate article Hillary Clinton stated that “Climate change is an urgent threat... of our time and the impacts are already being felt around the world and at home” (Science Debate). This article’s focus will be the validity of this statement. Is global warming an urgent threat? Is it something that has happened before? What impacts have been felt? Are these impacts something to worry about?

Global warming is a phenomenon that is caused by the emission of greenhouse gasses, or a gas that slightly raises the temperature of the earth. Not only is the temperature of the earth raised, but the protective ozone layer that keeps harmful radiation from entering the atmosphere is slowly being thinned (Lashof). One common example of a greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. A common chemical that we exhale, and is spewed from cars and machines in the form of exhaust. According to a study done by Terry L. Root, because of greenhouse gasses the average temperature of the earth has risen .6 degrees in the past one hundred years and is expected to continue to change at a faster rate (Root). (See chart labeled “Change in Earth’s Total Heat Content”) That may seem like a very small amount of change, but think about it for a minute. The only reason why life is sustainable on earth is because the earth is exactly the right distance from the sun. If the temperature continues to rise, ice will stop freezing in certain areas. This will, in turn make it harder for certain aquatic species to survive. Amphibians, for example are facing widespread extinction (Pounds). With the coming extinction of some plants and animals, other animals that depended on them as a food source will either have to find a different food source, or go extinct themselves creating a ripple effect.

            Global warming will also get worse as time goes on. The ocean is currently a carbon dioxide pit. It absorbs roughly half of the carbon dioxide emissions that humans produce (Cox).

Eventually, like any pool being filled with water, it won’t be able to hold any more. At this point, the ocean will become a source of the harmful greenhouse gas. Thousands upon Thousands of gallons of greenhouse gasses will then pour out of the ocean and float up to the atmosphere. Thinning the protective ozone layer, and heating our earth.

            Global warming is more of a problem than a lot of people think it is. It is mainly caused by human beings, and is causing a change in climate which can lead to the extinction of certain species. Just like with any real problem, there are people that accept it, others that argue it doesn’t exist, and others that fight against it. Fighting against global warming is a worthy cause. By fighting global warming, as Hilary Clinton agrees, will strengthen our environment, and leave a better world for our children.

            

Works cited

Science debate. 2016. http://sciencedebate.org/20answers

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v439/n7073/abs/nature04246.html

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v344/n6266/abs/344529a0.html

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v408/n6809/full/408184a0.html

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v421/n6918/abs/nature01333.html

http://bases.bireme.br/cgi-bin/wxislind.exe/iah/online/?IsisScript=iah/iah.xis&src=google&base=REPIDISCA&lang=p&nextAction=lnk&exprSearch=76314&indexSearch=ID

Climate Change… Man Made or Chinese Hoax?

By: Abby Bogal

If you have been keeping up with the 2016 presidential election, you probably aren’t the first to notice that the majority of the discussions are filled with name calling, interruptions, and pointing out the flaws in their opponents. But, if you listen close enough, sometimes you can catch some important biological topics being discussed. In the science community, global warming is a topic which many scientists (90%-100% to be exact) have the same views on. Most presidential candidates have the same views, with an exception to Donald Trump who once tweeted, “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive” Whereas, during a Democratic primary debate in Miami, early in March 2016, Hillary Clinton clearly states

“You can see already what’s happening in Miami, particularly in Miami Beach with tides rising. So we do have to invest in resilience and mitigation while we are trying to cut emissions and make up for the fact this is clearly man-made and man-aggravated.”

Some people might believe that climate change and global warming are the same thing, which is not true. To clear up any misconceptions, by definition, global warming is the increase on the average temperature near the Earth’s surface. Climate change is the changes that go along with global warming. For example; changes in weather patterns, the oceans, ice, snow, and ecosystems. 

The purpose of this article is to inform readers on the facts about climate change. The facts are that scientists have the research and data to back up that climate change has been affected by human civilization. It is happening at a rate which is already effecting the future generations to come.

According to NASA, the current warming trend is in all probability human-induced. 90%-100% of climate scientists conclude that humans are the cause of recent global warming, which backs up Hillary’s statement. That being said, even if humans stopped producing greenhouse gases today, we wouldn’t see a change in global warming and climate change for at least a few more decades, maybe centuries. The reason we wouldn’t see an immediate response is because CO2 lingers in the atmosphere because the heat is trapped. According to the latest estimates, temperatures are expected to rise an average 10.8 °F.

In a peer reviewed 2014 Synthesis Report, it is stated that “Human influence on the climate system is clear, and recent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history.” The last three decades have been recorded as the warmest decades since 1850, and further use of greenhouse gases will cause further warming. Since the mid-20^th century, it is very likely that human influences are contributed to the changes in frequency and intensity of daily temperatures.  Evidence of human influence on climate change has been growing rapidly, and changes in ocean and marine organisms are linked to human influence. This report states that to limit climate change, substantial and sustained reductions in the use of greenhouse gas emissions is required.

In the picture below, the data shows that atmospheric CO2 has risen drastically since the Industrial Revolution. This is largely attributed to population growth and economic.

(Credit: Vostok ice core data/J.R. Petit et al.; NOAA Mauna Loa CO2 record.)

            So, is the sun to blame? According to the NOAA, It is extremely unlikely that global temperatures have risen because of the energy we are getting from the sun. The amount of solar energy the sun is giving off has reportedly not increased, based on an 11-year cycle. In the same time frame, global temperature has risen immensely. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that the drastic change in climate is due to the sun.

            Again bringing up the Industrial Revolution, the concentration of CO2 has risen about 35% since that time. According to this source, there are three ways to indicate evidence of humans being a primary cause of climate change. The first being humans basic understanding of greenhouse gases and how our atmosphere traps heat, and how the climate responds to the increase of greenhouse gases, and other human and natural factors influence climate. Second, scientists use indirect estimates from the last 1,000 to 2,000 years to observe living things such as trees and their remains that show how climate change has effected its natural pattern. And third, evidence is based off of computer models built to show how we expect climate to behave under certain human influences.

            Llissa Ocko, a climate scientist, concludes that humans have affected Earth’s climate for the next tens of thousands of years. New research shows that humans delayed the next ice age. We have already effected the lives generations thousands of years in the future. How did we do it? By the rate of which humans are burning fossil fuels in the past couple of centuries, we’ve added an incredible amount of carbon dioxide into the Earth’s atmosphere. The excess warming will disrupt the cause of the next ice age (which isn’t due for another 50,000 years from now, by the way.)

            And last but not least, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research further backs up Hillary Clintons statement in this article. Co-author, Joachim Schellnhuber states that humanity has become its own geological force. Experiments show that even a very small addition of carbon emissions will most likely affect the evolution of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets for the next tens of thousands of years. Likewise, moderate carbon emissions are bound to delay the next ice age. That being said, there is currently no evidence of the beginning of a new ice age.

            The picture below reflects on the rate that glacier thickness is changing within the last half century. You can clearly see that glaciers worldwide are decreasing in thickness as a result from trapped CO2 humans are creating.

            In conclusion, evidence supports the statement that humans have a huge impact on climate change and global warming. Hillary Clinton looked at the facts, and made an educated statement. With a plethora of research, data, and experiments, it is wildly agreed that since the Industrial Revolution, climate change has been growing rapidly. Sources like NASA, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Llissa Ocko; a climate scientist, and many others all conclude that humans are burning fossil fuels and producing greenhouse gases at a rate which is raising sea levels, melting glaciers, and raising global temperatures. So is climate change a Chinese hoax? I’m afraid not, my friends.