Global warming march

[2pints-mate 0]

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article331083.ece

 

I ended up being involved in the London one (pretty much by accident - didn't even know what it was at first....long story), lots of peeps concerned about the environment - like a big party it was. Apparently 10,000 or so.

[IwateKen 0]

I wonder if there was one in Japan...?

[ncorrenti 0]

"Scientists are broadly agreed that rich countries have to reduce their emissions by a massive 80 per cent by 2050 if there is to be any hope of stopping climate change escalating out of control."

 

Wow, that seems like a pretty far-fetched target when you consider that our energy usage is only going to increase in coming years. Unfortunately, unless we all switch to hydrogen powered cars and turn off our airconditioning, developed countries are going to switch to nuclear power.

[soubriquet 0]

Here's something from the Torygraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/01/nclim01.xml

 

"Global warming 'will bring cooler climate for UK' By Roger Highfield, Science Editor and Charles Clover, Environment Editor.

 

Average temperatures in Britain are expected to fall significantly within a decade because the warm Atlantic current that maintains Europe's mild climate has slowed down by 30 per cent.

 

The discovery has alarmed scientists because ancient climate records show that northern air temperatures can drop by up to 10C within decades of the circulation slowing, or even stopping, because of the vast amounts of heat energy transported by ocean currents.

 

An average temperature drop of a degree or two within decades would herald more extreme winters, notably in Scotland, said Dr Meric Srokosz, scientific co-ordinator of the Natural Environment Research Council's Rapid Climate Change Thematic Programme.

 

The changes already occurring have been found as a result of efforts to follow up computer predictions of global warming. They have confirmed a predicted slowing of ocean circulation, a team from the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, reports today in the journal Nature.

 

Prof Harry Bryden, Dr Stuart Cunningham and University of Southampton research student Hannah Longworth have been researching the flow of the Atlantic across latitude 25 degrees north, from the Bahamas to Africa - comparing measurements across the ocean taken in 2004 with records from 1957, 1981, 1992 and 1998.

 

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, is the most important in the ocean and carries vast amount of heat in warm upper waters into northern latitudes and returns cold deep waters southward across the equator.

 

The massive system includes the Gulf Stream and, overall, carries heat northward out of the tropics into the northern Atlantic, warming the atmosphere and helping to provide northern Europe with a moderate climate.

 

Although the Gulf Stream has remained unchanged, the system of currents that returns cooler waters to more southerly latitudes has weakened around a third since 1992. Prof Bryden said: "In previous studies over the last 50 years the overturning circulation and heat transport across 25°N were reasonably constant. We were surprised that the circulation in 2004 was so different."

 

One reason the Atlantic currents that transport heat northwards from the Equator - around 1.3 petawatts, that's 1,300,000,000,000,000 watts - are changing is that flows from northern rivers into the Arctic Ocean have increased as a result of man-made warming, scientists from the Meteorological Office's Hadley Centre will tell climate talks in Montreal this week.

 

The flows of the six largest Eurasian rivers which flow north through Russia into the Arctic Ocean have increased since the 1960s.

 

Fresh water is lighter than salt water and sinks less even when it is cold, so the downward currents of cold water from melting ice in the North Atlantic are weaker.

 

Richard Betts, of the Hadley Centre, said: "We were worried about ice melt from Greenland - and we still are - but now we are also concerned about the increased river flows into the Arctic Ocean.

 

"Because climate change is increasing rainfall and snowfall it is leading to more river flow into the Arctic," he said.

 

"The Gulf Stream relies on the sinking of water in the North Atlantic. If the water is less salty it sinks less."

 

The changes in the Atlantic currents would cause average temperatures over Britain to fall by up to 6C in as little as 20 years."

[ProbablyaCrazyPerson 2]

Aside - Good for the ski resorts in Scotland then.