The Complete Idiot's Guide to 2012 - Dr. Synthia Andrews Nd [98]
We all remember the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, whose full damage has yet to be repaired. The annihilation from the tsunami of December 26, 2004, was caused by the second-largest earthquake ever recorded, at 9.3 on the Richter scale. Spring 2008 saw a cyclone ravage Myanmar and another devastating earthquake rip through parts of China. Many are wondering if the extremes in weather are part of global warming and how quickly it will get even worse.
Droughts
Global warming will precipitate worldwide droughts. The farming heartland of the United States will dry out more in summer. We have already begun to see the increase in drought throughout the world. In 1988, the United States suffered its worst heat wave and drought for 50 years. In 2003, extreme heat waves claimed an estimated 35,000 lives in Europe. In France alone, nearly 15,000 people died due to soaring temperatures, which reached a high of 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
2007 witnessed the harshest drought ever in the southeast United States, nearly closing nuclear power plants due to lack of water to cool the reactor cores. This is one example of how many of our modern technologies rely on sustained environmental processes, processes that we are undermining. Officials in the South were concerned that cities like Atlanta, Georgia, were only a few months from running out of drinking water. This extreme drought is entering its second year, and as of this writing, many Southern residents are still under mandatory water use restrictions. Frequent rain is doing little to restore the severely depleted water table.
Melting of the Ice Caps
Sea levels are already rising at a rate of one to two millimeters each year due to the melting of the polar ice caps. The oceans are predicted to rise by 39 inches and storm surges will breach landmasses, eroding the coastal lands of most countries. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) projects the United States landmass to lose 22,000 square miles. London and many other British coastal cities will be threatened also. It is now a national priority in England to strengthen Britain’s sea defenses.
Cosmic Caution
It has been pointed out by Associated Press writer Seth Borenstein that as the ice caps melt and the ocean waters rise, the Bushes’ Kennebunkport retreat in Maine and John Edwards’s Outer Banks estate will be gone. So, too, will the NASA shuttle launchpad in Florida.
Inland Flooding
In addition to the loss of coastal lands, there will be increased flooding in river estuaries such as in Bangladesh and the Nile Delta. Severe flooding is expected in London along the river Thames and in New York along the Hudson. The British government has made it a national-security priority to close down access from a North Sea surge along the river Thames through a system of barriers regulating water flow. It has already been put to the test in the past few years as sea levels have risen and storms have become more intense.
Weather Changes
The El Niño and La Niña weather patterns have always existed. What global warming and solar flares do is increase their frequency and intensity, as we already saw. The 1997 El Niño season caused huge problems all over the world, from droughts to floods. In general there has been an increase in the El Niño weather pattern not seen in the last 120 years of instrument observation.
Another impact you may not have thought of is the lack of snowfall in the mountains. Snow in the mountains feeds streams and rivers and keeps the valley soil fertile. The Northern Hemisphere annual snow cover extent has consistently remained below average since 1987, and has decreased by about 10 percent since 1966.
Social Changes
Here’s one to stop and make you think. The United Nations Disaster Preparedness scholars say that by as soon as 2010, 50 million people around the world could be driven from their homes by weather each year.