ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE: DO WE NEED TO BUILD ANOTHER NOAH’S ARK?
Ever pondered about the increasing ferocity and abruptness with which hurricanes and twisters are forming over the US (and other places)? Their unexpectedly growing fury and the resultant tales of human agony.
Ever noticed the severity of snow storms (the recent one in China and the surrounding places) and rainfall( Mumbai, 26th July 2005 etc) in places where the entire living population has not experienced such abrupt severity?
Add to these the worrying levels of global warming and what we get may not be a natural progression of mother Earth’s climate, can it be God’s warning about a Doomsday?
How much of an adverse threat do these severe climate events of the current period (warm period) showing tendencies of abrupt onset and great persistence pose to our civilization?
So much for the question. Similar events have occurred in the past. Localized warmings as large as 16°C, occurred repeatedly during the slide into and climb out of the last ice age. Infact, it is believed that the ascension of human civilizations to its present glory happened after those extreme, global ice-age climate jumps. Abrupt climate changes are thus, not new for our planet since they have commonly occurred when the climate system was being forced to CHANGE rapidly. But what all of us need to be aware of is that greenhouse warming and other human alterations of the earth system may increase the possibility of large, abrupt, and unwelcome regional or global climatic events, for which most of us are not prepared. Climate models typically underestimate the size, speed, and extent of these changes, hence, future abrupt changes cannot be predicted with confidence.
Thus, the debate is not so much on whether Abrupt Climate Change is true or false or where are the evidences of Abrupt Climate Change, but how much each one of us (each reader) can contribute in mitigating its detrimental consequences by enhancing one’s awareness and sensitivity to a phenomena that has the potential to push us to the brink of building the modern day Noah’s Ark?
Published: February 07, 2008
|
Please Rate this Summary
: |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
Rating
:
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Thank you for your rating
|
Use this Summary
People who read this Summary also read: