As an independent Australian researcher and scientist I have recently turned my attention to investigating and bringing out the truth about Global Warming. What I found shocked me. Climate change is happening now and there is no escaping it.

“Much more likely than not, global warming is upon us. It is prudent to expect that weather patterns will change and the seas will rise, in an ever worsening pattern, through our lifetimes and on into our grandchildren’s…Nearly everyone in the world will need to adjust. Citizens will need reliable information. So it is an important job, in some ways our top priority, to improve the communication of knowledge”. - Prof. Spencer Weart

The fact is we aren’t being told the whole truth about global warming. For a start, our best climate scientists are being muzzled, harassed and forbidden from talking to the press about the things they know but dare not say. On top of that, fossil fuel companies have been avidly campaigning to spread misinformation and confusion about climate change and global warming…. After all, the last thing they want is control or limitation over their industry…

Yet, nearly every week now a shocking climate catastrophe hits the news… Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, mega-droughts in Australia, the Asian tsunami, laval mud oozing uncontrollably out of the ground in Indonesia, stunning melting of sea ice in the Arctic, the collapse of massive ice shelves in Antarctica, floating icebergs off New Zealand’s coast, accelerating glaciers in Greenland, and only this month, the earthquake off Japan measuring a massive 8.1 on the Richter Scale they are all (yes, even the seismic activity) signs of spiraling climate change… and, we ain’t seen nothing yet!

Truth is, climate change is not some far-way problem that our kids will have to deal with, as scientists at first thought it would be. Information that has only come to light in the last few years strongly suggests that it could get a lot worse very, very quickly. It could even be bad enough to threaten our food and water supplies, and is a looming threat to low-lying, heavily populated coastlines around the world….

Already we are seeing South Pacific islands submerging under the onslaught of rising seas levels.

Every day climate extremes are being recorded around the world that dramatically exceed official predictions. Groundbreaking research continues to uncover fundamental truths about climate that have yet to be incorporated into climate models and predictions. While many official scenarios still assume that changes will unfold in a gradual, linear fashion, newly understood climate forces have the potential to create rapidly accelerating, exponential shifts.

And fresh evidence about Earth’s climate past has only recently revealed that centuries of slow, creeping variations in our planet’s climate history have been punctuated by stunningly rapid change. No longer is climate seen as an inherently stable system that gradually shifts from one state to another. Our climate system has shown that it is capable of responding to relatively small upsets with radical instability and upheaval. Could it be possible that it is happening again? My research suggests that it is.

“Large, abrupt and widespread climate changes with major impacts have occurred repeatedly in the past, when the earth system was forced across thresholds. Although abrupt climate change can occur for many reasons, it is conceivable that human forcing of climate change is increasing the probability of large, abrupt events.” - Prof. R. B. Alley

But scientists have been a bit late to wake up. It was not until 2005 that the phrase ‘tipping point’ appeared in publications on climate, implying that it could change not only rapidly, but irreversibly. Such tipping points indicate a threshold of change beyond which the system loses its stability and transforms spontaneously into a radically new state….cold to hot, warm to freezing, wet to dry, calm to chaotic. It is now understood that even small creeping changes…like current global warming… can induce sudden, irreversible flips from one climate state to another.

We are now seeing possible tipping points in the melting of polar ice caps, and the thawing of tundra, both of which contribute to the warming that triggered them, and dramatically accelerating global warming further. In this way, rather than steady, gradual changes, what we could be facing is an abrupt rearrangement of our climate.

A report by the U.S. National Research Council first suggested in 2002 that abrupt and potentially catastrophic climate changes are not only possible but likely in the future.

“The world is teetering on the brink of abrupt climate change: a change that will be so rapid and

unexpected that human and natural systems will have difficulty adapting to it “

- National Research Council.

The real question is what does it mean for our future?

It is no longer easy to deny that the climate is changing. The risk is that it may change quicker than we can fully understand or accept it. Trouble is we can’t really afford not to act now… We could easily be caught unprepared for this.

Right now in Australia, for example, we are heading into yet another El Nino event, of continuing drought conditions and extreme heat. El Nino events are becoming progressively more frequent and more intense with climate change, and are tipped to become the new “normal” climate for countries bordering the south Pacific. So we can anticipate tightening water resources and widespread failure of food crops in Australia. We will be forced to rethink the way we use…and waste… many essential resources that we have, until now, taken for granted.

My research into the latest facts on climate change reveal that this just one small aspect of the monumental climate shocks that are on the cards. Others who know, like me, are alarmed at what lies ahead. Unfortunately we missed the opportunity to avert this crisis with minor tweeks to our lifestyle and behavior, like changing light bulbs or catching the bus now and then. This late in the day we should be seriously preparing for the shocks ahead, because time is running out.

We need to rethink the way we live our lives if we want to have any future at all.

This is a volatile world. If climate shifted abruptly in the past, not just once, but repeatedly, it’s inevitable it will happen again. The question is, when?

I expect that this article has raised a lot more questions than it has answered. If you’d like to know more, you can get in-depth information and regular updates at www.WakeUp2GlobalWarming.org

What is global warming? Global warming is when the temperature of the planet starts to rise causing the icecaps to melt, resulting in the ocean levels rising. You might be wondering how this can affect the average person. Global warming might be seen by many as something that does not need to be overly concerned about. In truth, it really is something that people should be concerned about. With the temperature of earth rising, the icecaps melt and the stores of fresh water mix with the salt water. If there is one thing the human population does not want to be short of, it is fresh water.

Global warming is what contributes to the growth of deserts as more moisture evaporates into the air from the heat. In many places drought is becoming a major problem and this can lead to poor crop yield and an increase in the chance of having fires. Extreme flooding is also believed to be contributed to by global warming as the weather patterns change. As the temperature becomes warmer, it disrupts regular storm patterns and can lead to worse storms that lead to more tornados, hurricanes and floods.

What ways can you stop global warming? Whether you are a business or an individual, you can become someone who does not contribute to the problem. Here are some tips:

•Replace all incandescent light bulbs with florescent lights that use less electricity.

•Try to minimize the number of times the furnace turns on, maybe even turn it down a bit.

•Use appliances that are energy efficient; they don’t use as much electricity as the common ones.

•Don’t leave things on standby. When finished with a machine turn it off.

•Turn off lights when the room is not in use.

•Replace single pane windows with double pane.

While many of these suggestions are often associated with homes, they can also be used by businesses who wish to help stop global warming. These are only a few of the many things a person or business can do. To find out more ways you can be more environmentally friendly, you can go onto the internet, find books in libraries or stores, or you can even bring in a professional who can help you find ways to be a part of the solution. At first, it might seem like it is very expensive, and it is at first, but you help stop global warming and over time it can actually help to save yourself, or your business money.

It’s not just the planet that’s hotting up, it’s the whole debate about global warming. Especially now that we can see and feel its effects every day. Yet you’ve probably noticed that when it comes to taking action, the focus always seems to be on what each of us can do personally. We the people must use energy-saving light bulbs, fly less, recycle, use green energy, take our appliances off standby, and so on. But perhaps, like me, these entreaties leave you feeling a bit ripped off. Perhaps you, too, are wondering what part business, industry and governments have to play? It’s certainly true that there are things individual citizens can and must do, but surely really significant reductions ultimately depend on tough, international legislative action. After all, if personal responsibility were all that has ever been necessary to solve problems, why were political systems and governments invented in the first place? Once we’ve taken individual action, is that it? Or is there more to be done? What really seems to be needed is a way of acting collectively to ensure that governments around the world start co-operating to solve global warming instead of talking more hot air while the planet burns.

In his film, An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore rightly points out that collective action depends on political will, but this, he says, is in short supply. Right again! The reasons for its scarcity, he suggests, are that it’s simply not in the short-term interests of the main polluting nations and their industries to take substantive action. So far so good, but the cartoon image he uses to hammer his point home is an unfortunate one: a pair of scales with gold bars on one side and the entire planet on the other. Gore uses this to demonstrate the absurdity of those who see economic prosperity and a healthy planet as an either/or choice: after all, what value could gold bars have if there’s no habitable planet in which to enjoy them? It’s plainly ridiculous, and so too, suggests Gore, is the reluctance of some to give up the gold bars.

But rather than ridicule those who fear for their short-term interests, shouldn’t we be trying to look at what may be their perfectly legitimate point, and trying to understand the forces that keep it relevant? Gore may have faced the inconvenient truth of global warming, but he is yet to face a second inconvenient truth: that stiff action on the part of the rich countries WILL have adverse economic effects, at least in the short term. And if global warming is dealt with in isolation, those costs WILL fall heaviest on the USA and on other big polluters. To deny the barrier to action that these short-term costs and disincentives represent, as Gore seems to, is to fall into the same trap as those who deny global warming itself.

I laughed along with everyone else when I saw the gold vs earth cartoon, but making fun of those who are wary of economic backlash is hardly likely to elicit the consensus Gore seeks. It also seems like a cheap shot when you keep in mind that had Gore actually become President in 2000, he would inescapably have joined the ranks of those he’s poking fun at. The president of the U.S. has only four years before facing another election, so Gore’s popularity and tenure in office would have been directly influenced by his corporate funders and their support for short-term gains to the US economy.

Today, there may only be few people who still cling to denying global warming. But knowledge and acceptance can’t effect change by themselves. What is urgently needed is a means to unlock the short-term barriers and disincentives that prevent decisive collective action - nationally and internationally. Make no mistake: in today’s globalised and largely borderless world, capital and jobs generally move to wherever in the world environmental and social costs are lowest and profits therefore highest. Any government moving first to significantly increase environmental costs or regulations in a bid to reduce emissions would definitely see investment and jobs moving elsewhere, thus making the nation uncompetitive. That’s why nothing changes except the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere just keeps on rising. Prime Minister Tony Blair at least seemed to recognise these realities when he pointed out that “The blunt truth about the politics of climate change is that no country will want to sacrifice its economy in order to meet this challenge”.[i]

Unlike Gore, Blair clearly recognises this second inconvenient truth and he should not be blamed for stating it. But his statement only holds true IF nations fail to act together. This is the barrier that keeps the gold bars firmly on one side of the scales. However, if all nations co-operated, the necessary regulations could be implemented without any nation fearing capital or employment flight because there would be no low-cost haven for them to run to. Corporations, too, would have nothing to fear because all corporations would be subject to the same additional costs, so maintaining their relative competitiveness and their relative profitability. Think about that for a minute.

But there is a further problem: the biggest polluter, the USA, would have the biggest adjustment cost, so it has the least incentive to sign up to any cooperative agreement. This is why the Kyoto Protocol is not supported by the USA and Australia, another big polluter. It is also why the provisions of the Kyoto agreement are so mild and relatively ineffectual. Because if the nations supporting Kyoto agreed to tougher, more significant curbs, the costs involved would make them uncompetitive with nations, such as the USA and Australia, who refuse to participate.

The net result is a recipe for missed targets and an intergovernmental dead-lock of a kind which raises the third, final and most important inconvenient truth; this time one that concerns not so much governments or businesses but each of us as individual citizens. It’s a truth which all citizens around the world must urgently take on board: that we can no longer abdicate responsibility for taking collective action to politicians and governments alone. If free-riding governments are to be compelled to co-operate, then it must be citizens who force them to do so. We have no choice but to take the initiative, and stop assuming that politicians are in the driving seat of the global economy. It’s time to grab hold of the steering wheel and find a way of driving our politicians and governments toward co-operation. What’s needed is a method of achieving cooperation which removes the barriers and objections, takes away the fears of being uncompetitive, and replaces those fears with an enthusiasm for shared problem-solving.

When Al Gore became fully aware of the dangers of global warming, he travelled far and wide to gain a deeper understanding of the science and its real-world effects, and justifiably so (although I do hope he planted plenty of trees to personally offset his carbon emissions). But Gore and the rest of us have so far failed to embark on another, far more urgent line of enquiry. If we genuinely wish to solve global warming and other global problems, we need to gain a deeper understanding of the barriers to collective government action under globalisation. For the deeper truth is that global warming and many other global “problems” are not the real problems at all. They are merely symptoms, albeit terrifying ones, of our failure as a global human society to co-operate. Until we understand the dynamics of co-operation and how to achieve it, and what we as citizens can do to unblock the barriers to it, international inaction, missed targets and deepening chaos will continue and global warming may well destroy human civilisation.

The Simultaneous Policy, a global citizen’s initiative, claims to have begun this vital journey and to offer a plausible and effective way that citizens can use their right to vote in a new way that drives the politicians of all parties and nations to collectively implement the measures we so desperately need. It seems that political representatives would find it a welcome relief to be freed from the restrictions that keep them beholden to big business interests and confined to wholly inadequate policies dictated by the need to keep their nations “internationally competitive”. This is reflected in the fact that already politicians from opposing sides of the spectrum - nationally and internationally - are pledging their support for the Simultaneous Policy as a result of voter pressure and/or enlightened social responsibility. Check it out for yourself at www.simpol.org - as Noam Chomsky commented, “Can it work? It’s certainly worth a serious try!”

Have you ever listened to discussions and read articles about global warming and wondered why the resource person or the writer appears so emphatic and urgent in their call for fighting it? Well that is because global warming is an urgent problem that needs immediate action and resolution before it gets worse and could spell the end of human life and civilization as we see it today.

Broadly speaking, global warming is the steady increase of the atmosphere’s and ocean’s average temperature. And before you go saying ‘Big deal’ to yourself and scoff at the near-catastrophic predictions made by scientists and advocates, consider first some of the expected effects of global warming to our environment and to our very lives.

One of the most pronounced effects of global warming would be glacial retreat, in which glaciers in the Arctic region may be steadily melting. This translates to elevation of sea levels all over the world, raising concerns over obliteration of small islands and even countries. Global warming is also attributed to influence precipitation, leading to the possibility of increased flooding in some parts of the world and increased drought elsewhere. What’s scary about these projected changes is the complete inability of man to counteract and prevent them once these events start happening.

But then again, global warming effects are not solely manifested in the environment. Consider the effect of increased drought and flooding to food supply, and ultimately, to food consumption. Agriculture is one large sector expecting to bear the worst of the brunt of global warming, with lesser and lesser produce and crops expected to be harvested in the next decade or so. Now that is really scary, considering we all get a large portion of our food supply from farms.

Weather experts are also predicting extreme weather events due to global warming, ranging from severe snowstorms to intense cyclones and hurricanes in tropical areas.

The increase in the average temperature of oceans in our planet also means dwindling in the supply of our other food source. The rest of the world might not come to realize how fragile most of the sea organisms are and expected changes in temperature would bring about extinction to most of them. Carbon dioxide, the main culprit of global warming, is also expected to acidify ocean waters, leading to more extinction and disruption of the food web.

It is also worth considering the impact of global warming on human health as well. With increasing surface temperature, heat waves are expected to occur more frequently, possibly endangering children and the elderly. Many pathogens proliferate much faster in warm environment. Increasing atmospheric temperature could very well mean faster proliferation of these pathogens that would cause numerous diseases and illnesses to humans. There is also expected spread of fatal tropical diseases as the world becomes warmer and warmer, placing those living in temperate regions at higher risks.

The mentioned risks and dangers are but overviews of the complexity and gravity of the problem that is global warming. A lot of resources and references have been published and produced on the subject matter and it’s time people should sit up and make effort to learn more. With increasing knowledge and understanding, the fight against global warming would no longer seem to be overwhelming and insurmountable. And as cliché as it may sound, this is one fight nobody can ever win alone, so concerted efforts are certainly needed and cooperation from all sectors would be very much welcome.

The problem with the true believer is that an issue becomes black and white. There is no room for discussion. The true believer is right and if you do not agree with him/her, you are dead wrong. The fact is the true believer is not satisfied just with the knowledge that they are right. They need you to acknowledge that they are right as well. They need to convert you. There can be no dissension. There can be no discourse. Facts do not really matter if they do not fit into the true believer’s argument.

In extreme and violent terms we have seen this behavior manifest itself throughout history. The Crusades and the misguided horrors of Nazi Germany in the Second World War are examples. Today the violent true believer mentality can be seen in the extreme elements of Islam.The true believer mentality also exists in less dramatic and more subtle ways throughout our society. It can be seen in ethnic, racial or gender discrimination. It can be seen in religious intolerance. Unfortunately, it was also be seen in the United Nations sponsored climate change event in Bali in December 2007.

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) panel’s chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, said: Climate change imperils “the most precious treasures of our planet,” and the effects are “so severe and so sweeping that only urgent global action will do.

In fact, the United Nations reports that global warming is “unequivocal”. It estimates that as early as the year 2020 between 75 and 250 million people in Africa will suffer water shortages. It goes on to state that residents of Asia’s largest cities will be at great risk of river and coastal flooding. Europeans can expect extensive species loss. North Americans will experience longer and hotter heat waves and greater competition for water.

The world’s scientists have spoken clearly and with one voice,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “I expect the world’s policy makers to do the same.”

According to the United Nations true believers, global warming is “unequivocal” and the world scientists “have spoken clearly and with one voice”. There is no discussion. There is no dissent. All knowledgeable people now have been converted to this crusade. The reality, of course, is that global warming consensus is not the case in the scientific community.

Indeed for the Nobel winning United Nations panel (IPCC) and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore, fundamental problems with their global warming argument have already started to appear. As true believers in their global warming crusade, they will probably rationalize or ignore all facts that do not advance the cause. For the rest of us, as objective observers of the issue of global warming, the following facts should be carefully considered.

Global warming was supposed to cause frequent and violent hurricanes. The fact is that neither the intensity nor the frequency of hurricanes has increased. The 2007 season was the third quietest since 1966. In 2006 not a single hurricane made landfall in the U.S..

Since the mid 19th century, the mean global temperature has increased by 0.7 degrees Celsius. This slight warming is not unusual, and lies well within the range of natural variation. Carbon dioxide continues to increase in the atmosphere, but the mean planetary temperature hasn’t increased significantly now for the last nine years.

In fact , 2007 provides anecdotal evidence that the Earth is, in effect, cooling. Antarctica is getting colder. Snow fell for the first time in Buenos Aires since 1918. Australia had the coldest June in its history this year. It snowed in South Africa for the first time in 15 years. South America experienced one of its coldest winters in the last three decades.

The truth is that the entire southern hemisphere experienced bitter cold weather in 2007. In addition, the Canadian government has just warned that this winter is likely to be its coldest in at least 15 years. Already, this winter has been very cold in many other parts of the Northern Hemisphere as well.

We have heard about global warming causing the rapidly melting Arctic Ice Cap in the last several years. In fact, advocates of man made global warming point to the rapidly melting Arctic ice as a sign that global warming is occurring even faster than expected.

However, the facts as reported by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California last month indicate a quite different conclusion. The melting of the Arctic sea ice in this study has nothing to do with global warming. It was a natural phenomenon caused by unusual winds and atmospheric pressure.

The project studied trends in Arctic Sea Ice using satellite data , computer models and buoy observations of sea ice drift. The conclusion of the study was as follows: “The rapid decline in winter perennial ice the past two years was caused by unusual winds. Unusual atmospheric conditions set up wind patterns that compressed the sea ice, loaded it into the Transpolar Drift Stream, and then sped its flow out of the Arctic. When that sea ice reached lower latitudes, it rapidly melted in the warmer waters. The winds causing this trend in ice reduction were set up by an unusual pattern of atmospheric pressure that began at the beginning of this century”.

Global warming proponents have pointed out that records showed that 1998 was the hottest year on record in the United States. Several of the years surrounding 1998 were very warm and near the record as well. It certainly appeared that the climate was warming due to these historical records. However, it has just been discovered that the records were erroneous. A Canadian blogger named Steve McIntyre audited the NASA records and found errors. When he reported his findings to NASA scientists, they conducted a review that showed he was correct.

This led NASA to recently revise the data published on its website. The errors change the historical facts concerning the global warming argument. The hottest year in the United States is no longer 1998, but 1934. 2001 is no longer in the Top Ten. Instead, four of the top ten hottest years are in the 1930s.

Global warming is an issue that needs to be looked at objectively. It is an issue for rational discourse concerning science and facts. However, it has become a crusade for environmental true believers. Despite the United Nations rhetoric, scientists do not speak with “one voice” and man-made global warming is not “unequivocal”.

The danger in blindly following the United Nations global warming crusaders is that we become far removed from the facts of the issue. Indeed, these same United Nations true believers could one day be wearing winter coats in tropical Bali asking Gaia, (the goddess of nature), for increased global warming. Such perversity happens when an issue becomes a crusade.

Newspaper articles about global warming tell the story of the Earth’s climate and the diverse opinions and scientific discoveries surrounding the theory of global warming. From the Industrial Revolution to the Kyoto treaty and the advent of hybrid technology, the topic of global climate change has enthralled readers and sparked debate for centuries. Though many people argue over the theory’s validity, global warming is a subject that affects us all and newspapers chronicle its discovery and the debate surrounding the issue.

Since ancient times, people have believed that human activity could affect the environment. The discovery of past ice ages shows that Earth’s climate is in constant flux and that throughout history, scientists have searched for the cause of these changes. Though scientists discovered the greenhouse effect in the late 19th century, the theory of global warming wasn’t accepted as a scientifically proven fact until 1992 when the United Nations held a Conference on Environment and Development. Today, global warming is a widely accepted reality and speculation about its effects range from the hysteria to the acceptance. Newspapers chronicle the slowly changing climate and the actions that have affected that change. The Global Warming Archive provides access to thousands of articles on the environment and the scientists who documented its change.

From developing nations to industrial countries, global climate affects everyone and newspaper articles tell the story of nature’s dramatic impact on history. NewspaperARCHIVE.com, the largest newspaper database available online, has provided a free archive on the history of global warming granting access to thousands of original newspaper articles. The archive includes articles on the early discoveries of scientists, the development of technology, pollution, the greenhouse effect and global summits and treaties dedicated to the topic of global warming. Click on the timeline above to view newspapers in chronological order or begin searching newspaper articles with your own key words.

I wonder what Al Gore will do when he finally realizes that the global warming hype is just that? I wonder if Barack Obama will wise up the global warming implications as well. Heavy snow and record low temperatures are being seen around the globe and it’s not just because it’s winter, nor because we just crossed the winter solstice.

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is going to wreck havoc with Al’s theory as well as cause mjor problems for California in the ensuing years. PDO is a long-lived El Niño-like pattern of Pacific climate variability. While the two climate oscillations have similar spatial climate fingerprints, they have very  a different behavior in time. Fisheries scientist Steven Hare coined the term “Pacific Decadal Oscillation” (PDO) in 1996 while researching connections between Alaska salmon production cycles and Pacific climate.

Here’s what non-biased climatologists see.

The alleged global warming is in for about 30 years of cooling according to NASA, one of the leading global warming theory advocates. Who’s a person to believe? NASA has confirmed that a developing natural climate pattern will likely result in much colder temperatures, according to Marc Shepherd, writing in the April 30 American Thinker. He adds that NASA was also quick to point out that such natural phenomena should not confuse the issue of manmade greenhouse gas induced global warming which apparently will be going on behind the scenes while our teeth are chattering from a decade and a half long cold spell.

A cool-water anomaly known as La Niña occupied the tropical Pacific Ocean throughout 2007 and early 2008. In April 2008, scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that while the La Niña was weakening, the Pacific decadal Oscillation – a larger-scale, Slower-cycling ocean pattern – had shifted to its cool phase.” Will Al Gore believe this?

This shift in the PDO, which could last for 20 or 30 years, can have significant implications for global climate, affecting Pacific and Atlantic hurricane activity, droughts and flooding around the Pacific basin, the productivity of marine ecosystems and global land temperature patterns. Look out California agriculture. The wine industry, fruits and nut growers will be hit with a shorter growing season and more threats of frost, among other things. 

In 1905, the PDO switched to a warm phase, in 1946, PDO switched to a cool phase, and in 1977, PDO switched to a warm phase again. Now they tell us! Says NASA: “Natural, large-scale climate patterns like the PDO and El Niño-La Niña are superimposed on global warming caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases and landscape changes like deforestation. According to Josh Willis, JPL oceanographer and climate scientist, ‘These natural climate phenomena can sometimes hide global warming caused by human activities. Or they can have the opposite effect of accentuating it.’”

In other words, CO2 is secretly warming the planet. Or maybe not. Maybe it’s due to things in the universe since ALL of the planets in our solar system are warming up. Global warming? Maybe, but not of the genre that Al Gore speaks.

When someone forms an opinion in their heart, the head always finds a way. When you form a judgment, you put a person at the mercy of that judgment- from yourself. Psychologists can affirm behaviorial habits and models, but how much of what people believe today about global warming, is in fact true? How much is being driven by hype?

So, can we use a walrus as evidence?

In what some scientists see as another alarming consequence of global warming, thousands of Pacific walruses above the Arctic Circle were killed in stampedes earlier this year after the disappearance of sea ice caused them to crowd onto the shoreline in extraordinary numbers. The deaths took place during the late summer and fall on the Russian side of the Bering Strait, which separates Alaska from Russia.

“It was a pretty sobering year- tough on walruses,” said Joel Garlach-Miller, a walrus expert for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Unlike seals, walruses cannot swim indefinitely. The giant, tusked mammals typically clamber onto the sea ice to rest, or haul themselves onto land. But ice disappeared in the Chukchi Sea this year because of warm summer weather, ocean currents and persistent eastern winds, Garlach-Miller said.

Do we blame carbon emissions, too many cars, or too much smoke-stack pollution?

As a result, walruses came ashore earlier and stayed longer, congregating in extremely high numbers. Walruses are vulnerable to stampedes when they gather in such large numbers. Evidence of global warming? YES if you’re a global warming proponent. NO if you’re not a global warming fan.

As winter grips the Northern Hemisphere and record cold snaps blanket the region in snow and ice, it’s difficult to imagine a phenomenon such as global warming. Of course, even as temperatures plunge north of the Equator, Australia is engulfed in a drought with catastrophic wildfires sweeping across the continent. Environmentalists place the blame squarely on global warming caused by greenhouse gases and increased emissions associated with humans. Global warming is the excuse for any number of unexplained phenomenon in the environment. Species extinction, climate change, shrinking polar ice caps are all blamed on global warming by environmentalists misquoting scientists who use anecdotal and sloppy research.

The fact is global warming is occurring; however no one is quite sure shy. Whether the mild temperature increase is a direct effect of humans is highly doubtful. The reason is not enough evidence exists to support any one theory over the other. Average temperatures are increasing by less than one degree per decade. This increase could be a cycle the planet has gone through several times in its four billion year history. Fossil records indicate tropical plants and climates in areas that now are buried under snow and ice for nine months out of the year. A miniature ice age occurred around medieval times, which some postulate is one of the causes of what is called the Dark Ages. The geological record indicates many ice ages have occurred and that they do happen with some frequency. If scientists are basing their theories on recorded temperatures, then they will find temperatures are increasing. Consistent recorded temperatures only go back just over one hundred years. Future scientists will more than likely record a decline in average temperatures and give environmentalists an excuse to blame global freezing.

It’s hard to focus on era’s lasting hundreds of years when faced with the immediate threats that are blamed on global warming. Increased iceberg activity can impact shipping lanes, which can affect delivery of food and goods around the world. Decreased habitat and changes in the environment kill off species, thousands of insects and reptiles that haven’t been discovered yet, or the more visible victims, like polar bears, which look cute and cuddly, but are actually pure predators. Environmentalists have championed global climate change as the cause for cannibalistic behavior among the bear population. It’s a great method of generating publicity despite the falsehood it promotes. Bears will eat bears because they are carnivorous, not because of climate change. No one has demonstrated that seal populations, a source of food for polar bears, has been affected yet. Environmentalists cling to the yet, because a worst-case scenario draws a lot of attention to the cause, which is combating global warming.

Global warming is not a hoax and the environmental impact is quite serious. But blaming humans for the phenomenon is incorrect. However, no matter what the cause, the effects on global warming will need to be addressed and only humans can correct it. Through conservation efforts, and an increased movement toward renewable energy sources, global climate change can be slowed or averted.

For more information on global warming, visit http://www.earthclimatechallenge.com.

A common mistake made by people who have a limited understanding about global warming will often loosely refer to the problem as either climate change or global warming. While the two have much to do with each other, they are two separate things that are related to the same cause, which is carbon dioxide put into the atmosphere by human activity. Global warming is referring to the rise in the average global temperature. It is this rise in temperature that causes the climate changes being seen around the world.

It may seem like it isn’t a big deal, but this really is something people should be concerned about. Global warming has been proven to be greatly caused by the greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide that people are putting into the air through their daily activities. These emissions are caused by cars, airplanes, factories, businesses, or anything else that burns fossil fuels. While there are other greenhouse gases put into the air, carbon is what makes up the largest contributor from human activities. Many don’t realize that global warming affects everyone, perhaps not in the most obvious way every day, but it does affect everyone. Global warming is what is causing the earth to warm, which, as mentioned before, causes the major climate changes that are being seen. What are some of these major climate changes and what does this have to do with people? Floods, severe hurricanes, odd weather patterns such as abnormally cold or warm winters; all of these are products of global warming.

Food and resources come from the natural world and if global warming causes severe drought (which it is in many places around the world), the crop yield will be much lower and money is lost. Not to mention that it’s less food available to people. Global warming is also what is warming the polar ice caps and drying up other fresh water resources. Life needs fresh water and without it, life tends to die.

It is something that people can change if they can take responsibility over it. It is possible to slow and stop the global warming, making the world a healthier place with the necessary resources available. It means that the burning of fossil fuels has to stop. Using energy sources that don’t require the burning of fossil fuels is what is needed. The sun and wind are both excellent examples of the tireless sources of energy available to humans. Saving water and producing less waste is also needed to reduce the carbon emissions. As more people turn to alternatives instead of burning fossil fuels, global warming could be stopped, which in turn would stop causing the major climate changes that have been the cause of such devastation in recent years.