This article was about how global warming effects are coming sooner than anticipated and will be much more dangerous than earlier predicted. Leading scientist of the world say the will be much stronger than modern time storms and with the melting of polar ice sheets, the drowning of major coastal cities is a high possibility . These finding were released last Tuesday in the European Science journal, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. In addition, former NASA climate scientist, James E. Hansen is afraid that “we’re in danger of handing young people a situation that’s out of their control”.

The theory that led these scientists to believe in such dramatic events are the following. First, burning fossil fuels at a dangerous pace and poring heat trapping gasses into the atmosphere will cause a quick climate change. Then this will cause ice sheets in Green land and Antarctica to melt rapidly. This in turn will cause coastal cities to flood. The prediction of this event was to be a couple of centuries away but scientists think it may just be a couple of decades away. There are some scientists in the world that doubt theories like these but many are on board with this theory.

James Hanson et al.’s recent paper is somewhat controversial among other mainstream climate scientists, in that the conclusions drawn frame a much faster and dramatic climatic shift driven by previously larger than predicted Atlantic meridional overturning slowdown. Some mainstream climate scientists have called into question Hanson’s motivations or conflict of interest in these findings, as he’s been seen as an activist for climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, taking part as a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the EPA for failing to regulate carbon emissions. His political efforts are motivated by his knowledge as a climate scientist, but should he lose credibility as far as his research is concerned?

In this article, the redistribution of water resources around the globe is discussed. Comparing the years between 1968 and 2010, more water originating from the Artic and North Atlantic Oceans is present lower south in recent years due to increased evaporation up north caused by climate change. They were able to find the source of the water by using isotopic analysis that tells a story of where the water has traveled.  An increased temperature from climate change is causing the ice caps up north to melt faster than ever and this is causing an unstable polar vortex that frequently plunges into North America and brings cold temperatures to the Eastern US. The change in the polar vortex also brings all of that extra water vapor to the south disrupting precipitation distribution.

This is a problem because this can change many of the mechanisms used to transport water around the globe. Lower air temperatures can hold less moisture than warmer temperatures, an increase or decrease in temperature can change when, and where the moisture is released. Seeing as this article is only focusing on one area of the globe, it is hard to say what impacts other areas are having as well. This article stood out to me mainly because of the distance. Changes in the Artic are affecting people over 2500 miles away. It just goes to show that our actions do have equal or greater reactions and we should be conscious of them.

Resource:

http://www.esf.edu/communications/view.asp?newsID=4162

According to the National Geographic Video in this weeks Module, a drought occurs when “more water is used than is replenished, a balance between supply and demand.” Droughts can last up to years and people are a main reason why droughts have been occurring more often. The video also explains that droughts are a natural occurrence but this is changing with more research into climate change. A New York Times article from the beginning of April explains how scientists say the drought in California is being worsened by global warming.

Unlike how the video explains that droughts are from water being used and not replaced at the same rate, this article argues that California’s drought is a result of not enough rain AND too much heat. Because of the feedback that exists when temperatures are warmer than normal, evaporation comes with that drying out rivers and the soil. The drought in California is the worst in 120 years with some studies suggesting it is the worst in more than a thousand years. Deke Arndt, the chief of the climate monitoring branch of the National Climatic Data Center explains that “unless something dramatic happens very soon, we’re realistically looking to next fall as the next opportunity for putting a big dent in the drought.”

Thinking about the drought from a policy standpoint, there is much that could be done to conserve water in California. Restrictions on when water can be used for recreational use and restricting how much water farmers can use for agriculture are ways to mitigate the water crisis. If nothing is done, the people of California will be forced to reduce their consumption because there will be no natural water left it will all have to be brought in and will be an expensive highly demanded product.

Reference: Fountain, Henry. “California Drought is Worsened by Global Warming, Scientists Say.” New York Times. 1 April 2015. Web. Retrieved: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/02/science/california-drought-is-worsened-by-global-warming-scientists-say.html

As we learned in class, El Nino years are usually good for the areas of the Southwest United States that are used to heavy droughts. The current El Nino season has produced more rainfall than most typical years but is not living up to the expectations of the California people. The people were hoping for big rain storms that would allow for them to get far away from the drought-like conditions that they were used to. Californian’s are started to take their attention to saving up the storm water to use it when water becomes scarce. This method would allow them to fully take advantage of the El Nino rain that they experience and they could save it for years where water was extremely scarce. According to a NY Times article, scientists believe that a storm water collection system could collect 200 billion gallons of water which is enough to supply 1.4 million households for an entire year.

A water system like the one scientists are proposing would most likely cost around one billion dollars to implement. The State Water Resources Control Board has authorized spending 200 million dollars on the cause but this is likely not enough so the areas are not sure where they are going to get the extra money. The area of Los Angeles is a key area for projects to collect rainwater because they import 85% of their water. The importation of water can become costly and difficult when large areas of the Southwest are experiencing droughts of their own. It will be interesting to see how cities like Los Angeles start utilizing storm water because essentially they are missing out on clean water that could be used in the future.

Article:

Nagourney, Adam. “Storm Water, Long a Nuisance, May Be a Parched California’s Salvation.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 2016. Web. 27 Mar. 2016. <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/20/us/storm-water-long-a-nuisance-may-be-a-parched-californias-salvation.html>.

After another major terrorist attack in Brussels fear is once again rampant of an attack on America.  The fear has lead to policies being suggested by Donald Trump that could never be implemented like the barring of Muslims from the United states.  Fear of terrorism has however led to other expensive policies like the invasion of Iraq.  President Obama was recently cited saying that more people die falling in their bath tubs every year than form terrorist attacks.  Although this does not mean terrorism is not a serious issue, it could be argued that terrorism has been overacted.

Another issue that could have far more long term effects than terrorism is global warming. Yet global warming has been consistently ignored by presidential candidates like Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Brussels is a city a less than 100 feet above sea level meaning that global warming is risk there.  James Hansen of NASA released a paper the same day of the attacks stating the earth the effects of global warming were rising faster than predicted.  This paper went largely ignored while the attacks on Brussels were focused on immensely and leading for immediate calls for policy action to the president.

-http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/24/opinion/terrorists-bathtubs-and-snakes.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FGlobal%20Warming&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection&_r=0

As the number of earthquakes rise in a once earthquake-free state, the state of Oklahoma has chosen to step in and set some ground rules. The amount of earthquakes have gradually been increasing for past six years. When the earthquakes first began in 2010, there were only three that were recorded with a magnitude above 3. In 2015, there were 907 earthquakes with a magnitude above 3. 2016 is already paving the way for more quakes with 160 in the last three months. Oklahoma regulators have requested that oil and gas industries now reduce the amount of oil and gas liquids being injected into the ground by 40%. The regulators are focusing this request on a location the size of Connecticut with around 411 injection wells.

The government and state Legislature had been denying the correlation between the oil and gas industry and the increase in earthquakes in the state. A seismologist reminded the state that due to the increased number of quakes, there could also be an extremely brutal and awakening quake on the way. The reason for the increased number of earthquakes in the state of Oklahoma is because of the increased number of injection wells in the state as well. Due to the 40% cutback of waste injection, there could be a decrease in production as well.