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Environment Continues on Downward Spiral
The world has been through some drastic changes since the Kyoto agreement in 1997, and none of them have been for the better.
Over a decade has passed and it seems the most people have been capable of is studying and talking, but not much doing. Yes, there have been conferences, protests, demonstrations and some off-the-wall actions by organizations and the like; but what of the politics and science? For all the research done and meetings held, look at the good it has [not] done:
- All of the oceans have risen by 1.5 inches.
- Droughts and wildfires have worsened on a global scale.
- Glaciers and sea ice have been melting at alarming rates.
- More species are severely threatened now due to climate change than previously anticipated.
- Temperatures have risen more in the past 12 years than in the decades that led up to 1997.
Image source: thecriticalthinker.wordpress.com
One of the biggest reasons for all of this is: since the Kyoto agreement, CO2 levels have gone up by at least 6.5 percent. Big deal, you say? Yes, it actually is. Carbon emissions created by the burning of fossil fuels have gone up 31% since 1997. China’s are the worst, having more than doubled in the past 10 years, while the US has gone up 3.7 percent. This is a big problem because the effects from all the emissions are happening quicker and hitting the Earth harder than scientists previously expected. According to Andrew Weaver, a climate scientist of the University of Victoria:
“We’ve come from a time in 1997, where this was some abstract problem working its way around scientific circles, to now when the problem is in everyone’s face.”
Another big indicator of the heightened problems the world faces would be ice (or lack thereof). I know we certainly don’t see the cold winters that we used to where I live. The snow doesn’t last as long as it used to, and mid-winter temperatures have sometimes reached those we would normally have in late spring. Of course, that is only my personal experience, but you may want to also consider these things that happened since 1997:
- The amount of sea ice that was lost is equivalent to the size of Alaska (the largest US state).
- Ice shelves that have broken off the Antarctic Peninsula add up to the size of Delaware.
- Greenland lost more than 1.5 trillion tons of ice and is melting at twice the speed it did 7 years ago.
- Glaciers are shrinking three times faster than they did in the 1970s.
And where does all that melted ice go? To the oceans, which are also going through some rough times. Water absorbs carbon dioxide. This causes the water to become more acidic. More acidic water means more harm to the ocean food chain, including coral and plankton.
The good bit of news is, because of the obvious harm climate change is having on the environment and the species of the world, scientists have a greater interest in studying them now. More importantly, they are placing greater focus on saving animals and plants from extinction.
It certainly is a good thing that scientists are taking the situation more seriously than they did 12 years ago. However, serious actions still need to be taken and decisions need to be made on the next steps to take through this environmental crisis. Time is no longer running out, it has run out, and the world is slipping away right before our eyes.
By Heidi Marshall
Tags: climate change, cop15, environmental crisis, global warming, kyoto
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