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Global warming

general texts related to global warming (causes, effects, mitigation)

Water scarcity and global warming

With continued population growth, increased per capita consumption, and
anticipated climate change, the global water situation appears bleak.
Since water scarcity is a highly localized issue determined by regional
climatic and demographic factors, a single solution will not solve all
of the world’s water scarcity problems.

However, improved management,
more water efficient technologies, and support for the world’s most
vulnerable countries and ecosystems will likely play leading roles.
According to the UN-backed World Commission on Water, coping with water
scarcity will require global investment of $100 billion per year.
Willingness to invest this sum will be vital to the future of human
well-being and economic development in all countries of the world.

Invest in renewable energies - not in fossile

Investments in sustainable energies

Invest in renewable energies - not in fossile
«Aiding oil, harming the climate» is a new report from the organisation "Oil Change International", which shows dramatically that the major investments still go into the oil, gas and coal sector instead of renewable energies. For more than 25 years, wealthy countries have been using aid and other foreign assistance to subsidize the expansion of the international oil industry, a practice known as “Oil Aid”. It is impossible to actively subsidize the expansion of the oil industry and effectively fight global warming at
the same time.

CO2 concentration causing global temperature increase

There is no doubt any more: In order to mitigate global warming, the
emission of greenhouse gases must be reduced, the sooner the better.
This will then lead to a stabilization of the greenhouse gas
concentration in the atmosphere – and in the very long term hopefully
to a decrease of its concentration.The level at which the greenhouse gas concentration gets stabilized does determine the warming effect, i.e. the temperature increase.

The
following graph shows the relation between the greenhouse gas
concentration (expressed as CO2-equivalents) and the resulting average
global temperature increase on the surface.

Climate Change: 4th report of IPCC

Observational evidence from all continents and most oceans shows that
many natural systems are being affected by regional climate changes,
particularly temperature increases. Warming of the climate system is
undeniable, as is now evident from observations of increases in global
average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice,
and rising global average sea level.

The following is an excerpt and summary of the 4th report from the Intergovernmental panel of Climate change (IPCC) about the causes and effects of global warming.

The effects of global warming by region

A further IPCC report on predicted effects of climate change by geographical regions (Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, Latin America, North America, Polar regions, small islands) has been released in November 2007. This report does confirm the cause and effects of climate change, which have already been know for years. They also basically confirm their projections about likely regional effects of global warming in their report of April 2007.

Radiation wavelength and greenhouse effect

This article tries to answer a question about the greenhouse effect:
"Greenhouse gases prevent the infrared rays from leaving the Earth’s
atmosphere, but why do they not prevent additional solar radiation from
entering the atmosphere?"

The key is the different wavelength (or different frequency) of
solar light and infrared light. Let’s have a look at the greenhouse
effect (see also the graph about radion transmitted by atmosphere
below):

CO2 emissions for shipping of goods

Globalization makes it easy to send goods around the world. The cost
for shipping goods has never been as low as now. However, the choice of
the means of transportation does severely influence the amount of CO2
emitted for the transportation of goods.
The following table shows the amount of CO2 (in grams) emitted per metric ton of freight and per km of transportation:

Ocean acidification – another effect of global warming

Fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes release over six
billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year. The
consequences of these greenhouse gas emissions are often discussed in
terms of rising global temperatures, but global warming is not the only
threat from increased atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide
(CO2). Ocean acidification, which occurs when CO2 in the atmosphere
reacts with water to create carbonic acid, has already increased ocean
acidity by 30 percent.
Although the chemistry of this effect is well understood and not much
debated, the full consequences of ocean acidification for marine
ecosystems and human well-being are only beginning to be revealed.

Offline Carbon footprint calculator

The attached Excel sheet can be used to calculate both CO2 emissions as
well as primary energy requirements for the following activities:

  • Heating with oil, gas, coal, wood, solar energy or heat pumps
  • Electricity consumption. The actual mix of power generation
    (coal, oil, natural gas, wood, nuclear energy, hydro energy, solar
    energy, wind, geothermal or waste) is taken into consideration.
  • Travelling by car for diesel and petrol fuelled cars. Either
    by actual fuel consumption or by distance and average fuel consumption.
  • Travelling by bus (kilometres or miles)
  • Travelling by train (kilometres or miles)