| Many of us are indifferent because we haven’t yet felt the full force of Global Warming. But each year, more and more evidence is emerging that this phenomenon in unravelling itself faster than we think.
If the voices of future generations could be heard, they would undoubtedly plead for action.
Here are just a few examples that I have witnessed as I’ve travelled the world. I’d be interested to know if others also have some Global Warming ’signs’, ’symptoms’ or ‘catastrophes’ that you have also witnessed or may wish to share:
1. Melting Greenland Ice Sheet and Arctic Sea Ice – Inuit homes disappearing and Polar Bears drowning.
2. Melting Antarctic Sea Ice. Similar problems.
3. More Frequent Extreme Weather – droughts and sudden storms in Kenya. I saw these kill lots of cattle and depriving farmers of their livelihood. We all know about the increase in prevalence and strength of Hurricanes hitting the US. Who can’t remember New Orleans?
4. Disappearing Glaciers – I’ve read all about this in the Inconvenient Truth and have seen their shrinkage in Canada and them physically breaking up in front of my face (South Island, New Zealand).
5. Oceans Warming With Coral Bleaching & Disintegration. Met with the Marine Biologist at the Banyan Tree, Maldives and the Six Senses ‘Sonevafushi’ resort in the Maldives. They showed how the rising sea temperatures has killed off much of the coral. This process is affecting the otherwise natural defences of the Maldives islands which is a serious problem as sea levels continue to rise, due to the melting ice caps.
6. Increase of Vectors. There has been a significant increase of giant jellyfish in Japanese seas due to increased acidity and warmth in the oceans. The Japanese have found that due to Global Warming and increased sea temperatures, they are now rising from the seabed to the surface. The jellyfish have interfered so much with the fishing process and fishermen nets that they keep getting clogged with jelly rather than fish. To try and solve this, the Japanese fishing industry manufactured giant nets to specifically catch these Jellyfish and destroy them. Once on board they chopped them up and threw the remains back into the ocean, hoping this would solve the problem. Now more and more jellyfish are appearing in the sea and although the original cause is linked to Global Warming, they have found out that the process of cutting them up has actually released billions more eggs into the sea which have since been fertilized. The Japanese are seriously concerned about the state of the fishing industry and are looking for solutions before the problem spirals out of control. But we all know, the biggest solution is for us to curb our CO2 emissions so sea temperatures maintain a normal temperature.
Further reading on Global Warming:
If you want to read more about the evidence, you can buy Al Gore’s book or DVD, An Inconvenient Truth or read The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery. Both are available for sale on EcoSwitch. Although Al Gore’s information was attacked by Climate sceptics that came out, it is still briefed in many schools and almost all of the information is completely accurate. No wonder Al Gore and the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
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