Dramatic change in the area of the Great Salt Lake over the past 25 years. Left: August 1985. Right: September 2010. The lake was filled to near capacity in 1985 because feeder streams were charged with snowmelt and heavy rainfall. In contrast, the 2010 image shows the lake shriveled by drought. // Credit : USGS Landsat Missions Gallery

Global Climate Change Part 3 of 4:  Au naturale or anthropomorphic? That is indeed the debate.

If one reads even the most benign of scientific reports, it would be impossible to deny the obvious global climate change beseeching our home, the only home we have; Planet Earth.

With mean global temperatures rising higher and the duration of which are now far longer during the late 20^th Century and early 21^st Century than at any other time in the past 2000 years, completely incontestable facts absolutely refute any possibility that the more recent extreme global climate change is anything other than anthropomorphic.

Facts such as these from The Nature Conservancy.

 

• FACT: Average global temperatures increased by about 1 degree Celsius over the 20th century.
• FACT: The United States contains only 5 percent of the world's population, but contributes 22 percent of the world's carbon emissions.
• FACT: 15 percent of carbon emissions come from deforestation and land use change.
• FACT: The Golden Toad (Bufo periglenes) is thought to be the first species to go extinct because of climate change.
• FACT: Personal cars and trucks in the United States emit 20 percent of the United States' carbon emissions.
• FACT: Air conditioning and heating account for almost half of electricity use in the average American home.
• FACT: Climate change is linked to stronger hurricanes, more drought and increased coral deaths from bleaching.
• FACT: Climate change is linked to an increase in disease-carrying pests that lead to the increased spread of diseases such as dengue fever, malaria, lyme disease and West Nile virus.

As if we aren't getting hot enough, we return to the heated debate; natural VS anthropomorphic!

Mother Nature does in fact oscillate quite regularly (remember that word), creating global climate change throughout history and even somewhat predictable when viewing long-term data and the affects shown by Mother Nature herself in signs ranging from tree rings to ooze on the bottom of lakes and the oceans.

Natural events such as the eruptions of volcanoes El Chichón, Eyjafjallajökull and Pinatubo have all contributed to global climate change.  Variations in radiation from the Sun, Earth's slight wobbles and even oceanic currents such as El Niño and La Niña have played a part in recent global climate changes.

Remember that word "regularly?"

Here's the part that has an overwhelming number of the science community so very concerned:  Since the beginning of time, Mother Nature's changes have become semi-predictable using scientific evidence and data gathered around the globe. However, beginning around the mid 20th Century, her historic past has been interrupted, her cycles altered and we've entered into a realm of the unknown, a realm in which global climate change can best be described as irregular, extreme events.

We're not just talking serious tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, etc. we're talking the wildest tantrums from Mother Nature we could conceive; extremes from crop-destroying drought in areas normally wet, those areas from where much of our food comes. As warmer weather causes water to evaporate (remember; water vapor is a key component to global warming) severe floods occur in cities and suburbs, but we continue paving our way to "success."

Deforestation to make way for the concrete jungle in urban areas; enabling farmers and timber industries to thrive in rain forests reducing the available canopy which produces the oxygen we and our fellow earthlings breathe combine to increase the surface temperatures of the planet.  And, with each action we create even more breeding grounds for global climate change.

Wait!  There's more!  Melting glaciers and permafrost reduce the radiation reflective capabilities of our planet, adding to the endless cycle of change. Increases in greenhouse gases accumulate heat melting  glaciers and allowing radiation to reach our plant, thereby increasing the rate of global climate change.

This vicious circle has changed Mother Nature's "regularity" and with each anthropomorphic change the cycle is entrenched deeper and deeper.

Heads in the sand // Credit: Sierra Club Jim Daugherty

Given such undeniable proof and immense volumes of scientific evidence, we can no longer deny th e reality; extreme global warming, creating global climate change, is anthropomorphous in nature.

Drastically altering Mother Nature’s regular cycle of weather changes and worse; her natural ability to absorb the shock, she may no longer be able withstand the onslaught of humanity.  We have changed her entire global makeup and she's on the hospital bed with life support attached.

The overwhelming evidence is; global warming since the mid 18^th Century, since the Industrial Revolution, has made itself known with a ubiquitous and ominous presence in our lives.

So.  Say you're one of those with their head in the sand, can you tell me; are there any signs in that sand?