 Melting the Maps Hina Keala English 100 Steven Gin

 Global warming climate change is the leading cause of the global ecological problems we face today.  a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants  Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.4°F over the past century, and is projected to rise another 2 to 11.5°F over the next hundred years.

History  Natural process that we sped up  Industrialization era  1997 addressed officially

Top effects  Sea level rising  Shrinking Glaciers  Coral Bleaching  Storms and Floods  Drought  Disease  Loss of Biodiversity  Destruction of Ecosystems

Closer to Home  Sunset Beach  Waves breaks to be different because of rising sea levels  Coral Bleaching

The Opposed  IPCC draws conclusions from Climate models with acknowledged weakness in cloud physics schemes.  There is a difference between correlation and causation. Just because the temperature were observed to rise around the start of the Industrial Revolution does not mean the Industrial Rev. caused the temperatures to increase.  Earth's climate has been both colder and warmer than today, and these periods are not explained by mechanisims that involve human influences.  Climate Science can not make a definative prediction yet, the computer climate models are still evolving to include all the feedback mechanisms.  Global temperatures are directly correlated with solar (sunspot) activity.

Facts and Predictions  By 2100, global average temperature is expected to warm at least twice as much as it has during the last 100 years  Northern areas are projected to become wetter, especially in the winter and spring. Southern areas, especially in the West, are projected to become drier.  The strength of the winds associated with tropical storms is likely to increase. The amount of precipitation falling in tropical storms is also likely to increase.  If atmospheric CO2 concentrations double, coral calcification rates are projected to decline by more than 30%.  2-foot rise in global sea level by 2100  2.3 feet at New York City  3.5 feet at Galveston, Texas