Environmental Impacts of Climate Change

This article vigorously disputes the findings of an article by Chris Thomas published in Nature that claims global warming will cause massive extinction.

Danish researchers analysed ancient pieces of driftwood in north Greenland which they say is an accurate way to measure the extent of ancient ice loss.

Al Gore is one of the most vocal advocates for viewing climate change as a crisis. After the speech Mr. Gore drew criticism from the Center for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters, for misrepresenting an upward trend.

If the EPA were to administer the Clean Air Act as written with respect to greenhouse gases, then it would need to hire 230,000 more staff and spend $21 billion annually to deal with the deluge of paperwork that would result.

Climate change has contributed to a flattening of the complex, multi-layered architecture of Caribbean coral reefs, compromising their role as a nursery for fish stocks and a buffer against tropical storms, a study shows.

The debate on global warming and increasing concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases highlights the possibility of increased incidences of extreme weather events, as the earth's mean temperature is expected to rise steadily in future.

"New evidence on the melting Pine Island Glacier (PIG), one of the melting Antarctic glaciers that some scientists feel may pose a threat to sea level increases, suggests that it is not climate change that is causing the glacier to melt."

"Late for a party? Miss a meeting? Forget to pay your rent? Blame climate change; everyone else is doing it. From an increase in severe acne to all societal collapses since the beginning of time, just about everything gone wrong in the world today can be attributed to climate change. Here’s a list of 100 storylines blaming climate change as the problem."

As with CO2, atmospheric concentrations of N2O have been boosted by human activity, mostly agricultural, by about 16% since the Industrial Revolution began.

According to a new report published by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent – 18 percent – than transport.

Researchers aren't sure what's killing the state's moose herd, but they suspect the decline has something to do with global warming.

"The world economic downturn and upheaval in the Arab world might grab headlines, but another big problem looms: environmental change. Along with extreme weather patterns, rising sea levels, and other natural hazards, global warming disrupts freshwater resource availability -- with immense social and political implications. Earlier this year, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence published a report, Global Water Security, assessing hydropolitics around the world. In it, the authors show that international water disputes will affect not only the security interests of riparian states, but also of the United States."

Estimates of future temperature increases derive from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international body charged with studying and informing policy makers on the science of climate change.

Global warming, so the argument goes, is causing Arctic sea ice to melt, and, unless that process is arrested, polar bears will be unable to survive because they need Arctic sea ice to reach their primary source of food: seals.

If one thing more than any other is used to justify proposals that the world must spend tens of trillions of dollars on combating global warming, it is the belief that we face a disastrous rise in sea levels.

Recent scientific data and developments reveal that Mother Nature is playing a cruel joke on the promoters of man-made climate fears.

[O]ne of the standout presentations at the Heartland Institute’s fourth International Conference on Climate Change was the one by Nils-Axel Morner, former emeritus head of the paleogeophysics and geodynamics department at Stockholm University.

Researchers have discovered that contrary to popular belief half of the ice flows in the Karakoram range of the mountains are actually growing rather than shrinking. It challenges claims made in a 2007 report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the glaciers would be gone by 2035.

This op-ed argues that arctic warming may be helping polar bears thrive and adding diversity of species to the Arctic.

Recent research on Kilimanjaro points to manmade local and regional factors playing the leading role in the shrinking ice pack.

Six years ago, the United Nations issued a dramatic warning that the world would have to cope with 50 million climate refugees by 2010.

This map was originally released by the United Nations in an attempt to show how climate change would displace a decent amount of the world's population. The U.N. specifically stated that there would be "50 million climate refugees by 2010."

The chart shows the global average sea-surface temperature from 1850 to 2008.

Until Democrats and Republicans start launching their own satellites into space you can count on this site to show you the up-to-date raw facts about global sea ice.

Despite claims that global warming will contribute to environmental problems such as air pollution, this chart demonstrates that air pollution levels have declined as temperatures have risen over the last several decades.

Current Arctic sea-ice extent is barely distinguishable from the extent observed by the satellites on the same day in 1980, the first year in which satellite coverage allowed the extent of the ice to be reliably monitored.

Most assessments of the environmental and economic consequences of climate change focus solely on negative, often catastrophic, scenarios. This article seeks to achieve a balance by exploring the potential economic benefits of a rise in global temperatures, as well as addressing the potential costs.

This Article examines the challenges global climate change presents for the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and its primary administrative agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

Scientific debate continues regarding the extent to which human activities contribute to global warming and what the potential impact on the environment might be.

"The popular notion that polar bears are declining or already expatriated worldwide has been initiated and perpetuated by environmental organizations and individuals who apparently believe that current subpopulation numbers and trends are an insufficient basis for an appropriate status determination."

This paper brings forth observational and theoretical evidence to show that rising levels of CO2 have not had any observable association with increases in global tropical cyclone frequency and intensity.

On the basis of current evidence, it is difficult to sustain the notion that climate change is the greatest threat to public health or the environment today. But what about the future?

"In the last two years, a remarkable amount of disturbing news has been published concerning global warming, largely concentrating on melting of polar ice, tropical storms and hurricanes, and mass extinctions. The sheer volume of these stories appears to be moving the American political process toward some type of policy restricting emissions of carbon dioxide.

Climate change is mainly projected to add to existing problems, rather than create new ones. Of particular significance are four categories of hazards to human health and safety which have frequently been cited as major reasons for controlling greenhouse gas emissions.

Researchers have found extreme and destructive rainfall events were more common in many parts of the world during the Little Ice Age than they have been subsequently, contradicting the forecasts of the IPCC.

This report discusses a variety of ways in which anthropogenic global warming proponents believe greenhouse gas emissions are harming the environment.

Morphological and stratigraphical observational facts in the Sundarban delta provide data for a novel sea level reconstruction of the area. This sea level documentation lacks traces of a global sea level rise.

Observational facts indicate that sea level is by no means in a rapidly rising mode, but rather quite stable.

I am a strong supporter of a clean environment. We need to be vigilant to keep our land, air and waters free of real pollution, particulates, heavy metals, pathogens, but carbon dioxide (CO2) is not one of these pollutants.

"In an assessment on Global Water Security, U.S. Intelligence Community predicts that exploding populations in developing countries coupled with climate change would be naturally transformed into drought, floods and lack of fresh water. Followed by poor governance, this in the next 10 years would cause significant political instability that eventually would lead from social disruptions to state failures, the report released in February this year, says."

This is the program summary page, each speaker listed links out to a video of their presentation. 2009 International Conference on Climate Change.

In this podcast, Patrick J. Michaels discusses the 2009 G20 summit and the worldwide struggle over climate change and emission issues.

That was the question at the core of a recent Oxford-style debate called Intelligence Squared U.S. Three experts argue in favor of a motion; three others argue against it. In this debate, the proposition was: "Global Warming Is Not a Crisis."

Consistent alternative view of climate change, which has arisen in the peer-reviewed scientific literature yet receives little public attention.

In this video, long-time sea level scientist, Nils-Axel Morner, explains why sea levels are really not rising to such extreme levels as global warming alarmists contend.

A culture of scientific exaggeration and a political community that takes credit from having saved us from certain doom—a doom played out nightly on the network news.

This video clip describes how attempts to place animals such as the polar bear and walrus on the endangered species list can help to lend credibility to the case of anthropogenic global warming proponents.

This film by the documentary-maker Martin Durkin presents the arguments of scientists and commentators who don't believe that CO2 produced by human activity is the main cause of climate change.

In order to create a clean energy economy that will increase our Nation's prosperity, promote energy security, protect the interests of taxpayers, and safeguard the health of our environment, the Federal Government must lead by example.

The Clean Air Act is the law that defines EPA's responsibilities for protecting and improving the nation's air quality and the stratospheric ozone layer.

Of all the great social and technological changes of the 20th century, none may be more crucial to our well-being and that of future generations than the change that has occurred in the way we view our environment.

This report summarizes the science of climate change and the impacts of climate change on the United States, now and in the future.

Climate change now looms as a more immediate and serious threat than ever before and in need of swift, effective Congressional action.

The main activity of the IPCC is to provide at regular intervals Assessment Reports of the state of knowledge on climate change. The latest one is "Climate Change 2007", the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.

"The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012."

For centuries Americans have drawn strength and inspiration from the beauty of our country. It would be a neglectful generation indeed, indifferent alike to the judgment of history and the command of principle, which failed to preserve and extend such a heritage for its descendants.

You have recently held an undersea Cabinet meeting to raise awareness of the idea that global sea level is rising and hence threatens to drown the Maldives. This proposition is not founded in observational facts and true scientific judgements.

Lindzen talks about the natural variability in earth's climate, and the need to refrain from viewing climate change as a crisis.

Unfortunately for the polar bear, the 'best available science,' and in fact all available science relating to global warming, sea ice, and polar bears, indicates the species faces global extinction in the wild by century’s end.

Congress should amend the CAA so that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not authorized to regulate GHGs for climate change purposes. Concerns about GHG emissions and climate change should be addressed through a different path.

This document provides a copy of some weather observations from 1922. According to the document, individuals were beginning to see signs of melting Arctic ice due to warming trends. The observations in this article suggest that warming and cooling cycles have been a part of recent climatic history.

Despite convincing evidence that observed climate changes do not portend a calamitous future, global warming alarmism is invading nearly every aspect of our society.

One of the great horror stories associated with predictions of CO2-induced global warming is that the warming will be so fast and furious that many species of plants and animals will not be able to migrate towards cooler regions.

This book objectively gathers and analyzes scientific data concerning patterns of past climate changes, influences of changes in ocean temperatures, the effect of solar variation on global climate, and the effect of CO2 on global climate.

Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming convincingly demonstrates the remarkable differences between what we commonly read about global warming and what is really happening.

This link features the Congressional Budget Office's research and analysis on climate change and its economic impacts.

Information from the EPA on global warming issues.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the leading international body for the assessment of climate change.

National Review Online’s Planet Gore blog was launched in February 2007 to track the news, data, and misinformation that feed the global-warming/climate-change debate. The blog additionally serves as a resource for accurate information about fossil fuels, alternative energy, environmental activism, the climate-change political process, and Al Gore’s carbon footprint.