More Things You Can Do to Slow Global Warming

Plant a tree. Plant more than one tree. Plant as many trees as possible. Here's the deal. Trees produce Oxygen from CO2. There is nothing on this planet that produces more oxygen than trees. The balance right now is shifting. As we kill trees (i.e. cut them down for lumber, forest fires, etc) we deprive ourselves of our supply of oxygen and produce more CO2. As the ratio of CO2 to oxygen increases, asphyxiation (deprivation of oxygen) will become more of a threat to human life.

Here is the scary part: Trees are disappearing fast. You can read my previous posts about deforestation to learn more about the reasons. One of them is simply people cutting down the trees. In Vietnam, for example, 50% of the trees were cut down between 2000 and 2005. There are many similar statistics in tropical areas of the world, such as the amazon. These tropical areas produce most of the oxygen that we breathe, so the fact that they are disappearing the fastest is not good.
Also, global warming itself is causing deforestation. 25% of the forest in northeast Alaska has perished in 2 yrs due to forest fires. This is a huge number of trees. As you can read in my previous posts, there are forest fires everywhere and they are becoming more intense due to global warming. Trees everywhere are suffering the effects of global warming. Some, such as the yellow cedars, are dying just because it is too hot for them. The rate of amazon tree growth has slowed as a result of hotter temperatures. As global warming persists, we can expect a lot more trees to die, especially in the cooler areas of our planet, the only areas untouched by deforestation.

How to Stop Global Warming

Stopping global warming is complicated. But here are the things you can do to significantly reduce your impact.
1) If you're a student: either a) live within 5 mi of college or b)take online courses. You don't need to drive over 15 minutes to get to college everyday.
2) If you're a working adult: a) work somewhere that is 5 mi or less from where you live.
b) move within 5 miles of you're job.
No commuting greater than 15 minutes to work.
3) Take public transportation if possible. It is a lot better for the environment.

Amazon Desertification Caused by Global Warming

The following is an excerpt from the blog Minding the Planet:

Amazon Desertification May Start Next Year --
Global Warming Could Increase by 50% -- Note to Self: Find New Planet

Amazon rainforest 'could become a desert'

And that could speed up global warming with 'incalculable consequences', says alarming new research

The Independent (U.K.), July 23, 2006

The vast Amazon rainforest is on the brink of being turned into desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate, alarming research suggests. And the process, which would be irreversible, could begin as early as next year.

Studies by the blue-chip Woods Hole Research Centre, carried out in Amazonia, have concluded that the forest cannot withstand more than two consecutive years of drought without breaking down.

Scientists say that this would spread drought into the northern hemisphere, including Britain, and could massively accelerate global warming with incalculable consequences, spinning out of control, a process that might end in the world becoming uninhabitable.

Africa Devastation Caused by Global Warming

Global Warming in Africa

Climate change could have a devastating impact on Africa, wiping out all the benefits from the measures to help the continent agreed by the world's richest nations last year.

Kenya - Worst drought in 60 years, 2001. Over four million people were affected by a severely reduced harvest, weakened livestock, and poor sanitary conditions.

Lake Chad - Disappearing Lake. The surface area of the lake has decreased from 9,650 square miles (25,000 km2) in 1963 to 521 (1,350 km2) today. Modeling studies indicate the severe reduction results from a combination of reduced rainfall and increased demand for water for agricultural irrigation and other human needs.

Kenya -- Deadly malaria outbreak, summer, 1997. Hundreds of people died from malaria in the Kenyan highlands where the population had previously been unexposed.

Tanzania -- Malaria expands in mountains. Higher annual temperatures in the Usamabara Mountains have been linked to expanding malaria transmission.

Indian Ocean -- Coral Reef Bleaching (includes Seychelles; Kenya; Reunion; Mauritius; Somalia; Madagascar; Maldives; Indonesia; Sri Lanka; Gulf of Thailand [Siam]; Andaman Islands; Malaysia; Oman; India; and Cambodia).

Persian Gulf -- Coral reef bleaching.

Seychelles Islands -- Coral reef bleaching.

South Africa - Burning shores, January 2000. One of the driest Decembers on record and temperatures over 104�F (40�C) fueled extensive fires along the coast in the Western Cape Province. The intensity of the fires was exacerbated by the presence of invasive vegetation species, some of which give off 300% more heat when burned compared to natural vegetation.

Lake Mead Sea Level Drops 100 feet

Lake Mead's sea level drops 100 feet

Over the past few decades, the driest states in the United States have become some of our fastest-growing; meanwhile, an ongoing drought has brought the flow of the Colorado to its lowest levels since measurements at Lee’s Ferry began 85 years ago. At the Senate hearing, Udall stated that the Colorado River basin is already two degrees warmer than it was in 1976 and that it is foolhardy to imagine that the next 50 years will resemble the last 50. Lake Mead, the enormous reservoir in Arizona and Nevada that supplies nearly all the water for Las Vegas, is half-empty, and statistical models indicate that it will never be full again. Read more.

clipped from www.lvrj.com "At the current rate of use, Lake Mead has 10 years of water left in it,"

Walruses Driven Onto Land

clipped from www.mail.com By DAN JOLING Thousands of walrus have appeared on Alaska's northwest coast in what conservationists are calling a dramatic consequence of global warming melting the Arctic sea ice Alaska's walrus, especially breeding females, in summer and fall are usually found on the Arctic ice pack. But the lowest summer ice cap on record put sea ice far north of the outer continental shelf, the shallow, life-rich shelf of ocean bottom in the Bering and Chukchi seas Walrus feed on clams, snails and other bottom dwellers. Given the choice between an ice platform over water beyond their 630-foot diving range or gathering spots on shore, thousands of walrus picked Alaska's rocky beaches "It looks to me like animals are shifting their distribution to find prey," said Tim Ragen, executive director of the federal Marine Mammal Commission. "The big question is whether they will be able to find sufficient prey in areas where they are looking." Walrus need either ice or land to rest they cannot swim indefinitely

Polar Bears to Die Out by 2050

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clipped from www.world-science.net Report: Most polar bears to die out by 2050 Two-thirds of the world’s po­lar bears will be killed off by 2050 — and the en­tire popula­t­ion gone from Alas­ka — be­cause of thin­ning sea ice from glob­al warm­ing in the Arc­tic, U.S. gov­ern­ment sci­en­tists fore­cast Fri­day. Only in the north­ern Ca­na­di­an Arc­tic is­lands and the west coast of Green­land are any of the world’s 16,000 po­lar bears ex­pected to sur­vive through the end of the cen­tu­ry, said the U.S. Ge­o­log­i­cal Sur­vey, which is the sci­en­tif­ic arm of the In­te­ri­or De­part­ment. USGS pro­jects that po­lar bears dur­ing the next half-cen­tu­ry will dis­ap­pear along the north coasts of Alas­ka and Rus­sia and lose 42 per­cent of the Arc­tic range they need to live in dur­ing sum­mer in the Po­lar Ba­sin when they hunt and breed. A po­lar bear’s life usu­ally lasts about 30 years. Sci­en­tists do not hold out much hope that car­bon di­ox­ide can be turned around in time to help the po­lar bears

Forest Fires In Alaksa Increase Due to Global Warming

In 2004, over 6.6 million acres burned, in the largest Alaska fire season ever documented. In 2005, approximately 4.6 million acres of Alaska burned, the third largest area ever recorded. Cumulatively, during these two years, over 25% of the forests in the northeast sector of Alaska perished. These burn rates are entirely consistent with global warming models and predictions. During the last thirty years, the area burned in western North America has doubled, and it is forecast to increase by as much as 80% over the next 100 years under projected climate warming. Read more.

Warming Leads to Dying Trees

500,000 acres of yellow cedar trees have died in Alaksa.
The onset of cedar decline coincided with the beginning of a warming trend in Alaska.
In Southeast Alaska, scientists have documented a massive die-off of yellow cedar on over 500,000 acres of land. Many consider yellow cedar the Tongass National Forest’s most valuable tree both economically and culturally. Because of warmer temperatures, there has been less snow to protect the tree roots and also early dehardening of the foliage. Then, when there is a subsequent late freeze, the foliage and roots are severely injured, leading to tree death.

Deforestation Releases CO2 into the Air

Deforestation is often cited as one of the major causes of the enhanced greenhouse effect. Trees and other plants remove carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) from the atmosphere during the process of photosynthesis. Both the decay and burning of wood releases much of this stored carbon back to the atmosphere. Read more.

Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface.Because of deforestation, they now cover 6%. Vietnam lost 51% of its forest between 2000 and 2005 due to deforestation. Nigeria lost 54% of its forest between 2000 and 2005. Many tropical countries, including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka, Laos, Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea, Ghana and the Cote d'lvoire have lost large areas of their rainforest. 90% of the forests of the Philippine archipelago have been cut. In 1960 Central America still had 4/5 of its original forest; now it is left with only 2/5 of it. Madagascar has lost 95% of its rainforests. Atlantic coast of Brazil has lost 90-95% of its Mata Atlântica rainforest. Half of the Brazilian state of Rondonia's 24.3 million hectares have been destroyed or severely degraded in recent years. As of 2007, less than 1% of Haiti's forests remain, causing many to call Haiti a Caribbean desert.[7] Between 1990 and 2005, the Nigeria lost a staggering 79% of its old-growth forests.[8] Several countries, notably the Philippines, Thailand and India have declared their deforestation a national emergency.[9][10]

Polar Bears Are Drowning

Many polar bears have died off the coast of Alaska, where they likely drowned by swimming long distances through the ocean to find the artic ice shelf. They couldn't find it because it had retreated 160 miles north of the coast of Alaska. Some polar bears have swam up to 60 miles before keeling over due to exhaustion. The polar bears that have survived now live on land and feed off of carcasses of poached whales. The population of polar bears living on sea ice has shifted from 87% to 33%. Read more.

Whale Populations Devastated by Warming Oceans

Minke whales are fast becoming extinct. Their populations have halved in less than a decade.

This is most likely due to contraction of see ice in the Antarctic, say scientists. Read more.

Shrinking Lake Chad

Lake Chad has shrunk from 15,000 to 500 sq miles in 40 years
Read more.