Friday, April 24, 2015

Good morning,

The global warming debate continues. A new study has just come out indicating climate change isn't happening as fast as a lot of models have predicted, and may be a perfectly natural fluctuation.

And as I have said in Living Green several times before; so what?

Environmentalism is important because irresponsible industrialization is killing the planet, and it doesn't have anything to do with whether or not the planet will be 3 or 4 degrees warmer in 100 years.

Species are dying, oceans are dying, entire ecosystems are dying, and if we don't change the way we exploit our world and its resources, global warming will be the least of our problems.

But, in approaching any problem of this magnitude an open and honest study of the facts is essential, and the fact is, there are still a lot of questions about human generated climate change.

Thanks for reading,

Your Living Green editor

Email the Editor

***
Global warming hasn't happened as fast as expected, according to a new study based on 1,000 years of temperature records.

The research claims that natural variability in surface temperatures over the course of a decade can account for increases and dips in warming rates.

But it adds that these so-called 'climate wiggles' could also, in the future, cause our planet to warm up much faster than anticipated.

The study compared its results to the most severe emissions scenarios outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

'Based on our analysis, a middle-of-the-road warming scenario is more likely, at least for now,' said Patrick Brown, a doctoral student in climatology at Duke University. 'But this could change.'

The Duke-led study says that variability is caused by interactions between the ocean and atmosphere, and other natural factors.