Thursday, September 04, 2003

Ask Matt Johnson about Global Warming I asked Dr. Matt Johnson, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark a bunch of questions about global warming so that I could share his answers here on this blog.  I will post a few of them on this page and link to the rest.  My questions are underlined.  His answers follow.   Is the earth's climate getting warmer?   Yes.  The 1990s were the warmest decade of any in the last 1000 years (www.ipcc.ch).      What effects have been seen so far?   Many effects have been documented, including: The global average temperature has increased by 1 degree F over the past 100 years. The oceans have risen by a half a foot over the past century, primarily due to warming of ocean water (thermal expansion). A widespread retreat of mountain glaciers in non-polar regions. Satellites show that Northern Hemisphere snow cover has decreased by 10 % since the late 1960s. At mid to high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, there has been a 2 to 4 % increase in heavy precipitation events (thunderstorms, large-scale storms) over the last 50 years. Increased rainfall in the tropics and decreased rainfall in the sub-tropics. Warm El-Nino episodes have been more frequent, persistent and intense since the mid-1970s, compared to the previous 100 years. The frequency and intensity of droughts in parts of Asia and Africa have increased in recent decades.   However, Some parts of the globe have not warmed in recent decades, mainly parts of the Southern Hemisphere oceans and Antarctica. No significant trends in Antarctic sea-ice are apparent. No systematic changes in the frequency of tornadoes, thunder days or hail events are evident in the limited areas that have been analysed. Read More 11:43:41 PM    comment []

I think we have to take our daughter out of Montessori school because we can't afford it and will really not be able to afford it in a few months when our son is old enough to attend.  This realization had a big effect on me.    It produces a sensation that I have never felt so strongly before that says, " We do not have enough " that is actually very energizing.  So we are cutting spending.  We cancled cable TV, stopped giving money to the church, cancled the newspaper.   And I'll be damned if I'm going to buy lunch somewhere or buy a book or a CD while we can't afford nursery school.  And there is a deeper feeling of rage in there that is tied in with the perception of not having enough and that is that my children are being systematically ripped off by the ballooning debt.  I enjoyed getting the $800 in the mail from the government last month, don't get me wrong.  We are using it to pay for the YMCA for a year, but I have a strange feeling of not belonging to the winning side any longer, a disbelief in the system that I have not really had before, in spite of my complaining.  Montesorri school?  No big deal.  We can live without that  Watching my kids grow up knowing they will pay for our current prosperity? Priceless. 6:37:02 PM    comment []