Anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is the top environmental issue in contemporary society. To say that almost complete destruction of the earth's ecosystem is a predicted near-term outcome of AGW is not an exaggeration. I know it sounds radical, so I have kept track of many specific predictions since November of 2007 in order to present it all in one package. It is the "big list" of bad things that will be (or have been) caused by AGW. Today I have a couple stories but no update to the list because these are repeats. Already on the list is "devastation of the world's forests", so this study indicating a higher death rate of trees in U.S. forests will not make the list. It is just too redundant. Likewise, bigger ocean dead zones because of lack of oxygen, is already on the list as "more ocean deserts". So here is the current list:
Cocoa production could decline, too many males in some fish and reptile species, Reindeer could become endangered, bigger waves along the Oregon coast, crabgrass will take over your lawn, migratory fish populations will decline, jumbo squid will move slower and starve, ski areas will go out of business, an increase in tick-borne disease epidemics, soil will become less fertile, global forests (including cool weather trees) will be devastated, tiger attacks on humans will increase, tropical and mountain animal species will go extinct, a dirty dozen of diseases will spread, less bright Fall foliage, the weather will be harder to predict, large animal species could go extinct, power blackouts, more flooded subways, Mountain snowmelt will occur up to 2 months earlier, more bee colony collapse disorder and other multiple infectious disease outbreaks, 1 in 8 bird species could go extinct – including long distance migratory song birds, eucalyptus leaves will become less nutritious and Koala bears will die, the 2008 tropical storm disaster in Myanmar, Tropical bugs will not reproduce, toxic chemicals will pour out of glaciers, more deadly algae blooms, more poverty, a massive increase in volcanic activity, new disease outbreaks from previously frozen corpses, irreversible water circulation alteration in Lake Tahoe, dramatically decreased rice production, fewer flowers in the Rocky Mountains, transportation system will be ruined, air pollution related deaths will increase, tropical fish could go deaf, more “ocean deserts”, more tundra wildfires, collapsing oceanic food webs, sharks devastating Antarctic sea life, the drying up of Lake Mead by 2021, plant-devouring insect invasions, poor food quality, increased human mortality, more solastalgia/mental illness, more wars, the past 1993 conflict in Somalia, more intense heat waves, more heat deaths, more hurricanes, less hurricanes, more intense and bigger hurricanes, a longer hurricane season, more stormy and severe weather, rising oceans, more acidic oceans, California wildfires, more droughts, more floods, future disastrous declines in food production, coral reefs (hard and soft) bleaching and dying, enormous extinctions of plant and animal species (including – Kangaroos, Caribou, Polar bears, Narwhals, Butterfly fish, Lemmings, Isle Royale Moose, Walruses, Penguins, King Penguins, Australian Bats), massive loss of fish in the Bering Sea, the earth literally being torn apart, Amazon deforestation, a bigger ozone hole, a smaller ozone hole, less fresh water, more obesity, more hunger, more asthma, more allergies, more infectious disease, more kidney stones…more to come)
Sorry about the small font, but the list has gotten so long that I have to shrink it so it doesn't take up several pages. Also, the list would be a lot better if everything was linked back to the original article. Sorry about that limitation. You can find the original articles by googling terms (like "tropical fish deaf global warming") or by going back through past blog posts where each item was linked. There is a record.
So if all of these things are guaranteed to happen then we are up a creek without a paddle. People are going to die in mass numbers very soon. Judging by the actions of most people, there seems to be some concern, but not the panic as you would expect from reading the list. Some people are panicked and they are in positions to do something ab0ut it (whether or not it is all true or not). As the rhetoric gets hotter more "solutions" are proposed – some of them very dramatic. There is a possibility of serious side effects from efforts to combat global warming. I have briefly mentioned these possibilties in the past and it is time to go over them again with a new administration in the U.S. and potential new legislation and regulations. My fear is that there will be an over-reach and people will suffer, not because of AGW but because of unintended consequences.
…to be continued on Wednesday
Have a good Monday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.
Posted under Uncategorized
This post was written by jloew on January 26, 2009
Hello Heat wave! It was absolutely gorgeous day outside. Temperatures rose to the mid 30′s for most of us even some 40′s were reported. I went out and hit the slopes early this morning and for the first time I was not cold. I hope you were able to get out and enjoy the temperatures because they will not be lasting long, only 24 hours longer… Take a look at temperatures at 5pm today! It almost felt like spring….One of the reasons we were warm was the winds coming out of the southwest. If you look at the image below a surface plot you can see a few weather related observations.
