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Human Impacts on Climate« Thread Started on May 22, 2004, 11

Daily newsbrief journal for May 2004, also see http://www.usdemocrats.com/brief for a global 100-page perpetual brief and follow twitter @usdemocrats


Human Impacts on Climate« Thread Started on May 22, 2004, 11

Postby admin » Thu Jan 26, 2012 7:48 am

Human Impacts on Climate« Thread Started on May 22, 2004, 11:35pm »--------------------------------------------------------------------------------talk.politics.misc, 15:47:46 12/17/03 Wed From: pope_about_town at Xyahoo.com Subject: Human Impacts on Climate - American Geophysical Union (AGU) This is the only article in this thread View: Original Format Newsgroups: alt.current-events.wtc.bush-knew, alt.impeach.bush, alt.politics, alt.politics.bush, alt.politics.liberalism, alt.society.liberalism, talk.politics.misc, alt.fan.rush-limbaughDate: 2003-12-17 04:25:50 PST American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2000 Florida Avenue N.W.Washington, DC 20009-1277 USA http://www.agu.org/ Human Impacts on ClimateAdopted by Council December, 2003Human activities are increasingly altering the Earth's climate. Theseeffects add to natural influences that have been present over Earth'shistory. Scientific evidence strongly indicates that naturalinfluences cannot explain the rapid increase in global near-surfacetemperatures observed during the second half of the 20th century.Human impacts on the climate system include increasing concentrationsof atmospheric greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide,chlorofluorocarbons and their substitutes, methane, nitrous oxide,etc.), air pollution, increasing concentrations of airborne particles,and land alteration. A particular concern is that atmospheric levelsof carbon dioxide may be rising faster than at any time in Earth'shistory, except possibly following rare events like impacts from largeextraterrestrial objects.Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have increased since themid-1700s through fossil fuel burning and changes in land use, withmore than 80% of this increase occurring since 1900. Moreover,research indicates that increased levels of carbon dioxide will remainin the atmosphere for hundreds to thousands of years. It is virtuallycertain that increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxideand other greenhouse gases will cause global surface climate to bewarmer.The complexity of the climate system makes it difficult to predictsome aspects of human-induced climate change: exactly how fast it willoccur, exactly how much it will change, and exactly where thosechanges will take place. In contrast, scientists are confident inother predictions. Mid-continent warming will be greater than over theoceans, and there will be greater warming at higher latitudes. Somepolar and glacial ice will melt, and the oceans will warm; botheffects will contribute to higher sea levels. The hydrologic cyclewill change and intensify, leading to changes in water supply as wellas flood and drought patterns. There will be considerable regionalvariations in the resulting impacts.Scientists' understanding of the fundamental processes responsible forglobal climate change has greatly improved during the last decade,including better representation of carbon, water, and otherbiogeochemical cycles in climate models. Yet, model projections offuture global warming vary, because of differing estimates ofpopulation growth, economic activity, greenhouse gas emission rates,changes in atmospheric particulate concentrations and their effects,and also because of uncertainties in climate models. Actions thatdecrease emissions of some air pollutants will reduce their climateeffects in the short term. Even so, the impacts of increasinggreenhouse gas concentrations would remain.The 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change statesas an objective the "...stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrationsin the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerousanthropogenic interference with the climate system." AGU believes thatno single threshold level of greenhouse gas concentrations in theatmosphere exists at which the beginning of dangerous anthropogenicinterference with the climate system can be defined. Some impacts havealready occurred, and for increasing concentrations there will beincreasing impacts. The unprecedented increases in greenhouse gasconcentrations, together with other human influences on climate overthe past century and those anticipated for the future, constitute areal basis for concern.Enhanced national and international research and other efforts areneeded to support climate related policy decisions. These includefundamental climate research, improved observations and modeling,increased computational capability, and very importantly, education ofthe next generation of climate scientists. AGU encourages scientistsworldwide to participate in climate research, education, scientificassessments, and policy discussions. AGU also urges that thescientific basis for policy discussions and decision-making be basedupon objective assessment of peer-reviewed research results.Science provides society with information useful in dealing withnatural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and drought, whichimproves our ability to predict and prepare for their adverse effects.While human-induced climate change is unique in its global scale andlong lifetime, AGU believes that science should play the same role indealing with climate change. AGU is committed to improving thecommunication of scientific information to governments and privateorganizations so that their decisions on climate issues will be basedon the best science.The global climate is changing and human activities are contributingto that change. Scientific research is required to improve our abilityto predict climate change and its impacts on countries and regionsaround the globe. Scientific research provides a basis for mitigatingthe harmful effects of global climate change through decreased humaninfluences (e.g., slowing greenhouse gas emissions, improving landmanagement practices), technological advancement (e.g., removingcarbon from the atmosphere), and finding ways for communities to adaptand become resilient to extreme events.
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