Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone
Field of reference: Ecology
Description: Studies about warming as presented to the US congress. Results: Earth is warming. Humans have impact on it.
"The Earth is warming. Weather station records and ship-based observations indicate that global mean surface air temperature increased about 0.7 degrees F (0.4 degrees C) since the early 1970’s. Although the magnitude of warming varies locally, the warming trend is spatially widespread and is consistent with an array of other evidence (melting glaciers, sea level rise, extended growing seasons, and changes in the geographical distributions of plant and animal species). The IPCC has estimated that, by 2100, global surface temperatures will be from 2.5 to 10.4 degrees F (1.4 to 5.8 degrees C) above 1990 levels." he ocean, which represents the largest reservoir of heat in the climate system, has warmed by about 0.12 degrees F (0.06 degrees C) averaged over the layer extending from the surface down to 750 feet, since 1993. Recent studies have shown that the observed heat storage in the oceans is consistent with expected impacts of a human-enhanced greenhouse effect. Increased ocean heat content accounts for most of the planetary energy imbalance (i.e., when the Earth absorbs more energy from the Sun than it emits back to space) simulated by climate models with mid-range climate sensitivity."
"Laboratory measurements of gases trapped in dated ice cores have shown that for hundreds of thousands of years, changes in temperature have closely tracked atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Burning fossil fuel for energy, industrial processes, and transportation releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now at its highest level in 400,000 years and continues to rise." "It is important to recognize, that while future climate change and its impacts are inherently uncertain, they are far from unknown. The combined effects of ice melting and sea water expansion from ocean warming will likely cause the global average sea-level to rise by between 0.1 and 0.9 meters between 1990 and 2100. In the Arctic regions, where temperatures have risen more than the global average, the landscape and ecosystems are being altered rapidly."
| שייך לנושאים: 1-13 - חינוך אינטגרלי, -מקורות מדעיים, משבר, 2. לראשונה גלובלי |
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World Wildlife Foundation
Field of reference: Biology, Ecology
Description: Rivers are drying out- freshwater crisis.
"Rivers on every continent are drying out, threatening severe water shortages, according to the WWF report, World's Top Rivers at Risk (March, 2007).
Five of the ten rivers listed in the report are in Asia. They are the Yangtze, Mekong, Salween, Ganges and Indus. Europe’s Danube, the Americas’ La Plata and Rio Grande/Rio Bravo, Africa’s Nile-Lake Victoria and Australia’s Murray-Darling also make the list.
“All the rivers in the report symbolize the current freshwater crisis, which we have been signaling for years," says WWF Global Freshwater Programme Director Jamie Pittock."
| שייך לנושאים: 1-13 - חינוך אינטגרלי, -מקורות מדעיים, משבר, 2. לראשונה גלובלי |
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Dr. Ransom A. Myers, Dr. Boris Worm
Field of reference: Biology
Description: Data about over-fishing influencing the ecosystem. Published in Nature journal.
"Industrialized fisheries typically reduced community biomass by 80% within 15 years of exploitation. Compensatory increases in fast-growing species were observed, but often reversed within a decade. Using a meta-analytic approach, we estimate that large predatory fish biomass today is only about 10% of pre-industrial levels. We conclude that declines of large predators in coastal regions5 have extended throughout the global ocean, with potentially serious consequences for ecosystems."
| שייך לנושאים: 1-13 - חינוך אינטגרלי, -מקורות מדעיים, משבר, 2. לראשונה גלובלי |
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Dr. James Lovelock
Field of reference: Ecology
Description: Humanity is on the verge of collapsing the eco-system, and then following it in collapse
"Most people are aware that human behavior is damaging the environment. This damage has now become dangerous - In many areas we are approaching the tipping point that will lead to collapse of ecosystems. Most importantly, since humans evolved from Nature, we thus depend upon Nature for survival, as it is the source of all our food, air and water. If the natural systems that support life on earth collapse then humanity is going to collapse."
| שייך לנושאים: 1-13 - חינוך אינטגרלי, -מקורות מדעיים, משבר, 2. לראשונה גלובלי |
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Dr. Nouriel Roubini
Field of reference: Economics
“I’m very concerned of things getting out of control,” "The European debt crisis could have consequences that would be “worse” than the collapse of Lehman Brothers, he said."
| שייך לנושאים: 1-13 - חינוך אינטגרלי, -מקורות מדעיים, משבר, 2. לראשונה גלובלי |
| להשאיר תגובה | |