The Reality Of Climate Change Today
Our
biggest water reservoirs are dwindling.
Abstract
art at Burning Man? Nope, these are empty boat slips protruding from
an abandoned dock at Nevada's Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
Lake Mead is North America's largest man-made reservoir, storing
water for millions of people across seven states. Well, it used to
anyway.
Lake
Mead, Nevada
Thanks
to 14 years of drought fueled by climate change, and increased demand
from cities, agriculture, and the oil and gas industry, Lake Mead is
drying up.
California
is losing the battle against the drought too.
This
is bad news for people who grow things. And people who eat them.
California
supplies almost 100 percent of America’s carrots, avocados,
strawberries, almonds, grapes, etc. Lots of livestock, too. But
because of the drought, California’s topsoil moisture and subsoil
moisture reserves are nearly depleted and the state’s rangeland and
pastures were rated 70% very poor to poor on July 27. As a result,
food prices are on the rise.
If you've never thought about climate change as a threat to food security, it’s time to start.
If you've never thought about climate change as a threat to food security, it’s time to start.
Planet
Earth has a fever, and we’re going to need more than cowbell to
cure it.
Rising
global temperatures are melting the world's glaciers and ice sheets
at an alarming rate.
Arctic
ice also stores a ton of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that’s
bad for human health. Without the glaciers and polar ice caps, we’re
like a bologna sandwich in a cooler with no ice on a hot summer
day--headed for the trashcan.
A
hotter, more toxic atmosphere
isn't the only negative consequence of melting Arctic ice.
As
the glaciers and ice sheets turn from solid to liquid, sea levels are
rising. This means things that didn't used to be underwater--like
island nations and beachfront properties--are getting wet. Recently,
every rainy season in the San Blas Islands brings massive flooding as
a result of rising ocean levels caused by global warming. In the
foreground, a traffic sign reading "Slow Down" is partially
submerged.
And
what if polar ice melts completely, as many scientists say it will if
we can’t stop climate change?
Well,
the sea will swell by approximately 216 feet, many island nations
will be completely swallowed up, and North America will get a new
coastline.
While
the oceans are swelling, they’re also warming up and becoming more
acidic.
Ocean
acidification is the direct result of rising carbon dioxide levels in
the atmosphere from fossil fuels. When CO2 dissolves in water,
carbonic acid is formed. This acid decreases the ability of many
marine organisms (like the coral above) to build and maintain their
shells and skeletal structures.
Scientists
say the warmer, toxic nature of the ocean could be what's causing
massive fish die-offs around the world.
Thousands
of dead fish wash up along boat slips at the Marina Del Rey, Calif.
on Monday, May 19, 2014.
Masses
of fish turn up dead in a marina in Pultneyville, New York on
Saturday May 17th, 2014.
Dead
fish float on the surface of the Maninjau Lake, Indonesia in March
2014.
Warmer
waters also give rise to other nasty stuff, like algae blooms.
The
recent toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie forced over 500,000 people to
go without water.
Scientists
say that the bloom was caused by heavy rainfall that washed larger
than normal amounts of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and other
pollutants into the lake. As climate change progresses, severe
precipitation, in places that don’t usually get lots of rain will
become more common. This puts every single lake, river, and stream in
jeopardy of the same algae bloom that recently devastated the Great
Lakes region.
Speaking
of extreme weather, it’s not only rainfall that’s becoming
sporadic and weird.
This
rare December 2013 snowfall in Jerusalem was the cities heaviest
since 1953.
We're
seeing more super typhoons...
Residents
walk on a road littered with debris after Super Typhoon Haiyan
battered Tacloban city in central Philippines. More than 10,000 dead
in what weather experts called one of the strongest storms in
recorded history.
Uncontrollable
wildfires…
Firefighters
from Stockton, Calif., put out flames off of Hidden Valley Rd. while
fighting a wildfire, Friday, May 3, 2013 in Hidden Valley, Calif.
Choking
dust storms…
A
dust storm called a haboob—which is Arabic for "violent
wind"—slams Phoenix, Arizona.
'Biblical'
floods
A
raging waterfall destroys a bridge along Highway 34 toward Estes
Park, Colorado, as flooding devastates the Front Range and thousands
were forced to evacuate, on September 13, 2013.
And
violent hurricanes...
Cars
lie half-submerged in a flooded parking lot after Hurricane Sandy hit
New York
So
what should smart, concerned humans like you and I DO in the face of
all this impending doom?
First,
let's start talking about climate change like the serious,
life-threatening topic that it is.
Let’s
start acting like we care about what kind of planet we’re leaving
to our kids. Perhaps most importantly let’s start holding lawmakers
responsible, and demand decisions that will help us survive and
thrive in the decades to come.
After
all...
And
what we thought could never happen in our life is already starting to
happen and is beginning to get out of control.