tolley1028-uwrt-blog

[tolley1028-uwrt-blog]

This picture, (although obviously edited), shows what could result from our actions. What I mean by that is , we can decide right here and right now what we are going to do for the future of the human race. Are we going to continue to pollute, and waste, and pretend that nothing bad is going on? Or, are we gonna rise up and stop all of this harmful pollution? It is up to our generation to save this planet and protect our home for future generations!

[tolley1028-uwrt-blog]

The 11th Hour

GUYS! THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT! I just recently watched a film narrated by none other than...thats right you guessed it...Leonardo DiCaprio. I know right?!?! Amazing! All jokes aside though, Leo is a huge conservationist and he believes in the harmful effects that Climate Change has on our environment so, he narrated the film The 11th Hour, which is a documentary that explains what we have done as a species to harm this planet and where the planet is heading if we do not stop. There is alot of serious and helpful advice in this film given by credible scientists and environmental activists. PLEASE GO WATCH THIS AND EDUCATE YOURSELF!

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Poll Questions! Answer In Comments

1. Do you drive, walk, or ride a bicycle for transportation?

2. Do you eat non-organic products?

3.Do you eat any red meat?

4. How many times (if you drive a car) do you fill up for gas during the week?

5. Do you consume any Coca Cola products?

Most of you are probably looking at these questions and thinking... What does any of this have to do with Climate Change. Well I will tell you, answering these questions allows me to collect data and see how big of a carbon footprint you guys create and based off of that I can see how much of a polluter you are. Finally, I can use the data I collect to offer alternatives in your life so you can make changes that will help the health of the environment. Thank you guys!

[tolley1028-uwrt-blog]

Climate Change

Dear Mother Earth,

Please forgive us, we do not realize all of the harm we are doing. We continue to pollute everyday without a care in the world. We destroy the nature you have provided us with in order to gain more money and power. We pour harmful chemicals in the water that you have provided for us to live off of. We burn all of the fossil fuels and pollute the air that we breathe and darken the beautiful skies that surround you. There needs to be a time where we can say no and I believe that time is now.

[tolley1028-uwrt-blog]

Climate change is happening, humans are causing it, and I think this is perhaps the most serious environmental issue facing us.

Bill Nye

[tolley1028-uwrt-blog]

Our Planet’s Temperature Just Reached a Terrifying Milestone

Data released Saturday from NASA confim that February 2016 was not only the warmest month ever measured globally, at 1.35 degrees Celsius above the long-term average - it was more than 0.2 degrees Celsius warmer than the previously most unusually warm month ever measured: January 2016. The new NASA data confirms unofficial data released earlier this month showing a dramatic and ongoing surge in the planet’s temperature.

NASA’s global temperature data is measured from a 1951-1980 baseline, about 0.3 degrees warmer than pre-industrial levels. That means February 2016 was the first month in history that global average temperatures passed the 1.5 degree Celsius mark. Also, since last month’s warmth was concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere (2.76 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1951-1980 baseline) and the Arctic (5.36 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1951-1980 baseline), these regions of our planet were also record warm, likely the warmest they’ve been for at least thousands of years.

[Continue Reading→]

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Last year, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, the world’s governments agreed to keep warming to a 1.5 degrees Celsius limit by a zero increase in carbon emissions from 2030. While they may have agreed to the target, there was no bite to the bark. Each country made a declaration to limit climate change, but nothing was guaranteed. Few countries managed to meet their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol signed in 1997. Even Europe, which is well ahead on climate policies compared to the rest of the western world, has yet to draft a plan to reduce emissions by 2030. Naomi Klein stated recently at a talk about her new book ‘This Changes Everything – Capitalism Vs. The Climate’, “The emission reduction plans of all participating nations — which, by the way, aren’t legally binding — add up to warming levels twice that.”

According to Eric Holthaus, writing in the online magazine Slate, February 2016 shattered world records of warmth averages. It was the hottest month ever recorded, with preliminary measurements showing a 1.15C -1.4C degree warming above average for the month globally. Holthaus states: “It also means that for many parts of the planet, there basically wasn’t a winter. Parts of the Arctic were more than 16 degrees Celsius (29 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than “normal” for the month of February, bringing them a few degrees above freezing, on par with typical June levels, in what is typically the coldest month of the year. In the United States, the winter was record-warm in cities coast to coast. In Europe and Asia, dozens of countries set or tied their all-time temperature records for February.”

If this trend continues, within months the projected average global warming is likely to approach 2 degrees Celsius, something that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had not expected to happen until 100 years from now. We cannot overstate the importance and the horror of what this means for human civilisations and humankind as a species. Alarm bells should be ringing everywhere, and yet in the capitalist media there is little discussion of the impending crises that temperature rises will bring.

The impact maybe more than we have expected. Scientists previously have had great difficulties with climate modelling uncertainties. However, modern models are becoming very accurate as to the predictions of how the increase in carbon emissions can affect the temperature of the planet. While there is little debate that temperatures are rising, there is an issue, particularly by the IPCC, of what effects they will have. Nicholas Stern, writing in the science journal Nature, argues that the economic models used by the IPCC to estimate the cost of global warming are grossly inadequate: “Current economic models tend to underestimate seriously both the potential impacts of dangerous climate change and the wider benefits of a transition to low-carbon growth. There is an urgent need for a new generation of models that give a more accurate picture.”

Stern points out several key areas where the costs are either radically underestimated or not counted at all. He says the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) understated the limits of the research done thus far. The IPCC estimated that the global losses from an increase of 2°C above the mean pre-industrial average temperature would only cost between 0.2 – 2% of global GDP. This estimate does not take into account all the risks associated with warming and the IPCC models do not factor in catastrophic changes and tipping points.

Levels of carbon dioxide are often looked at for possible tipping points, but the second most prevalent greenhouse gas, methane, absorbs trapped heat about 25 more so. Methane release resulting from melting permafrost has only recently been studied and incorporated into climate models. Some parts of the arctic permafrost area may become a carbon sink, but that will be offset by methane that has been trapped in the ice for millennia. As of 2013, climate models do not incorporate the effects of methane released from melting permafrost, which means even the most extreme warming scenarios might not be extreme enough. A spike in atmospheric methane concentration could set off catastrophic rapid global warming.

[tolley1028-uwrt-blog]

We don’t all realize the impact we are making on the environment because most of us are only seeing ourselves as responsible for our own actions, which is true, however, we must also hold each other responsible to protect this planet for our future generations

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Here are the polar ice caps in the 1980′s and next to them is a picture of the very same polar ice caps after 32 years of Climate Change....