Climate change bringing infection, hunger and illness

Just look at the way the temperature shifts rapidly from cold to hot and back again. There used to be a gradual change during the equinoxes but now the shift occurs with ever increasing rapidity. This alone is indicative that the climate is changing. Once the balance has been knocked askew, it will not easily be set right again. As has been stated, it does not matter if you refuse to believe that humans are the primary cause of this. it is happening and is the catalyst for greater and greater species and habitat loss.

Again, the red herring argument that if you don't believe man is contributing to climate change that the effects of it can be dismissed raises its head. It is baseless in the face of reality. Whether or not you believe man is contributing to this even with the evidence staring you in the face, there is no doubt that its effects, particularly regarding health are being felt. And that is not just in one place.This is a global issue. Why is it so hard for some to understand that humans and other species are suffering and dying based on current conditions in this world exacerbated by our own actions? The intensity of weather events we are seeing and have seen are bringing about changes that are now affecting food production, water availability and biodiversity as our world population increases. However, by making you think man has no part in this or taking for a ride in their time machine, they will try to divert the conversation and make you believe it is something we shouldn't worry about now when there is so much more to this than just a date. That is the same insanity, ignorance and irresponsibility hawked by the Merchants Of Doubt (credit Dr. Naomi Oreskes) and distraction, and it should not be entertained by those who know the truth.

In my neck of the woods, we've had the hottest April and May on record, the driest first five months of the year, and a serious drought. Switzerland, known as the "Water Castle of Europe" (translated from the French), is suffering considerably from the drought - the level of the rivers, the lakes and the aquifers have sunk to unprecedented low levels for this time of the year. Crops are threatened, birds are having great difficulties building nests and breeding, the number of ticks bearing Lyme's disease has doubled, and that is just part of the story.

http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/indicators/C52/

Emissions in many wealthier countries fell in 2008 and 2009 as the global recession took hold. In the United States, CO2 emissions shrank by nearly 10 percent from 2007 to 2009, from a high of 1.58 billion tons of carbon to 1.43 billion tons, the lowest level since 1995. Emissions from oil, which is largely used for transportation, declined by nearly 11 percent, while those from coal, which is mainly burned to generate electricity, fell by over 13 percent.

The United Kingdom’s CO2 emissions fell by over 10 percent from 2007 to 2009. German emissions dropped by 8 percent, and French emissions dropped by 5 percent. Japan saw its emissions decline nearly 12 percent over the two-year period. (See data.)

At the same time, CO2 emissions in the world’s most populous countries, China and India, continued to grow rapidly. China’s emissions rose to 1.86 billion tons of carbon in 2009, representing nearly a quarter of global emissions from fossil fuel burning. With average annual emissions growth of 8 percent over the past decade, China overtook the United States in 2007 as the world’s leading CO2 emitter. India’s emissions grew by close to 5 percent a year over the past decade; the country passed Russia in 2007 to become the world’s third largest emitter.

Still, emissions per person in developing economies remain far below those of most of the industrial world. The tiny nation of Qatar ranks highest in per capita emissions, at 11.5 tons of carbon per person in 2009, followed by several other oil-rich countries. Australia, the United States, and Canada lead the major industrial countries, emitting 4–5 tons of carbon per person in 2009. Per capita emissions in these countries are three times those in China and nearly four times the world average. At the same time, many European countries, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, have comparable standards of living to the United States but emit only half as much carbon dioxide per person.

Emissions totals for individual countries include all fossil fuels burned within their borders. For manufacturing giants like China, this means that their total emissions include those resulting from the production of goods destined for other countries. A recent study by researchers at Stanford University found that 22 percent of Chinese emissions resulted from the production of goods for export. The study also found that the manufacture of goods imported by the United States was responsible for 190 million tons of carbon emissions per year. If emissions totals were adjusted to account for Chinese exports and U.S. imports, the United States would again be the world’s leading emitter.

While fossil fuel use is responsible for the majority of carbon dioxide emissions, changes in land use, such as clearing forests for cropland, also emit a substantial amount of CO2. In 2008, the most recent year for which data are available, global emissions from land use change were estimated at 1.2 billion tons of carbon. The vast majority of these emissions were from deforestation in the tropics; Indonesia and Brazil alone represent over 60 percent of land use change emissions.

More than half of the carbon dioxide emitted annually is absorbed by oceans, soils, and trees. The rapid rate at which carbon dioxide is pouring into the atmosphere is overwhelming these natural systems, posing a particular threat to ocean ecosystems. The large amounts of dissolved CO2 alter ocean chemistry, making seawater more acidic, which makes it more difficult for organisms such as reef-building corals or shellfish to form their skeletons or shells. The world’s oceans are now more acidic than they have been at any time in the past 20 million years. Experts have estimated that if CO2 emissions continue to rise on their long-term trajectory, coral reefs around the world may be dying off by 2050.

Recent research has also indicated that the oceans’ capacity to absorb carbon dioxide may be unable to keep up with the rising level of emissions. The CO2-absorption ability of both the Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica, and the North Atlantic Ocean has decreased in recent decades.

The carbon dioxide that is not absorbed by these natural sinks remains in the atmosphere, where it traps heat. The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which stood between 260 and 285 parts per million (ppm) from the beginning of agriculture until the Industrial Revolution, has risen rapidly in the last two-and-a-half centuries, to over 387 ppm today. The last time carbon dioxide levels were this high was roughly 15 million years ago, when sea level was 25–40 meters (80–130 feet) higher and global temperatures were 3–6 degrees Celsius (5–11 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer.

The increase in atmospheric CO2 has driven a rapid rise in global temperature: each decade over the past half-century has been hotter than the last. Responses to these rising temperatures have already been documented in melting glaciers and ice sheets, shifting weather patterns, and changes in the timing of seasonal events.

While much of the global emissions drop in 2009 was due to declining fossil fuel use associated with the recession, the past year also saw strong growth in the use of renewable energy. Installed wind capacity alone grew by over 30 percent worldwide. In the United States, where coal use dropped by more than 13 percent from 2007 to 2009, over 200 new wind farms came online during the same period, adding more than 18,000 megawatts of capacity. With hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus funds allocated for clean energy and energy efficiency projects worldwide, this growth will continue in the years ahead.

However, evidence is mounting that faster, more substantial action is needed.

cont.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/EnvironmentalHealth/25052

Report from the AMA and APHA regarding the corrolation between climate change and health.

So, why is climate change not related to our healthcare bills? Once again, it comes down to environmental policy being the crux of health, food and economic policy. If you are going to continue to allow this destruction and pollution of the environment and our ecosystems, there is no such thing as an adequate healthcare policy.

http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520269095

More about their book.

Yes, if only we could have a climate that never changed...!!!
More anti-CO2 rubbish, and nothing more than promotion for their book. Still, some people will buy it and believe every word, meanwhile the rest of the world gets on with life in an ever-changing climate, and one of the best climates this planet has seen - long may it continue - but indications are that things will cool down again, then I wonder who will be complaining about the slight increase in temperatures we saw last century?

But WE can and should, and that is the point of this. It isn't only the oil companies, it is the banks and the organizations they support along with politicians and governments that have deliberately ignored this and used this for their own profit. They want the Arctic to melt so they can drill it for its resources not caring that it is a false choice.They want severe weather and climate to hit the poor in order to be able to move in their biopirated "drought tolerant" GM crops that will do nothing but subjugate farmers to more biological pollution and poverty while making them profit. And remember, this isn't only about climate but pollution. Disease and hunger will now only be increased with the effects of climate change, and the agricultural sector is already feeling this through erosion, water evaporation, more carbon escaping to the atmosphere and drought as well as floods. Pakistan, Russia, Australia, Columbia, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Thailand, China, the horn of Africa, the US Midwest... the list grows longer of areas suffering form crop failure due to extreme drought, desertification, flood, heatwaves, rainfall pattern changes, cooler temperatures in areas not used to them, lack of monsoon, and stronger rainfalls. As Dr. Gleick stated, it is not the frequency but intensity that is now the danger. Look at the torrents of toxic water now heading towards the Gulf of Mexico filled with rains that are 600 times normal and melting snows that signify an oversaturation of a hydrologic cycle now being affected by a changing atmosphere and wind patterns due to melting ice, glaciers, ocean acidification and ocean currents. People think terrorism is a threat? Well, it may well be, but let us not get so wrapped up this political season in the politician's boogey men that we forget the real threat.

The ownership class owns the oil companies and colude to own everything. Money is just one tool to them. All they want is a world they do not have to share. So they donot care much for human survival. To selfish to be anything but short sighted and uncareing.

As long as the oil companies can keep making Billions in profits........they won't ever give a damn about pollution, greenhouse gases and climate changes.