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Are Rising Sea levels The Real Danger Of Global Warming?

I think that one of the reasons that global warming is not perceived as a serious problem by many people, is that they just do not believe warnings of mass extinction by the more alarmists among us.

Even though mass extinction has happened in the past, and is indeed going on right now, lets talk about a more probable event.

CO2 levels are rising

In 2009, the CO2 global average concentration in Earth’s atmosphere was about 0.0387% by volume, or 387 parts per million by volume (ppmv).

This is 103 ppmv (36%) above the 1832 levels of 284 ppmv. I found an interesting video that shows what this actually looks like. Watch the video below

Antarctic cores indicate that atmospheric CO2 levels were about 260 – 280 ppmv immediately before industrial emissions began, and did not vary much from this level during the preceding 10,000 years.

In simple terms after being stable for 10,000 years there has been a dramatic rise in CO2 levels in the last 170 years. And the rise has been accelerating the closer we get to present day.

It can be directly linked to the industrial revolution and the subsequent use of fossil fuels. As the world grows more populated and more countries become industrialized the level will make an even sharper rise.

Studies show that present carbon dioxide levels are higher now than at any time during the past 20 million years. A very interesting fact that is that CO2 levels are believed to have been much higher than now, if you go back even farther, and life was still thriving. True, but unfortunately we are not dinosaurs.

CO2 And Rising Temperatures

The earths climate does show many periods of fluctuating temperatures and science has confirmed the link between rising temperatures and CO2 levels. Here is an equation to remember, more CO2 = higher temperatures, higher temperatures means more glaciers melting.

There is also an interesting study that suggests that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is becoming unstable. Read more here:  The Discovery Of Global Warming.

The oceans have already risen 10 or 20 centimeters in the 20th century, about ten times as fast as the average sea-level rise in previous millennium although the main causes are still being debated.

One contribution to the sea-level rise was entirely clear. Water expands when heated. The consequences may seem obvious, but amid all the talk of melting glaciers, for decades nobody seems to have given a thought to other simple effects.

Finally in 1982 two groups separately calculated that the global warming observed since the mid-19th century must have raised the sea level significantly by plain thermal expansion of the upper ocean layers.

But a thermal expansion could not account for all of the observed rise. The scientists figured the rest came from melting glaciers, most of the world’s small mountain glaciers are in fact shrinking.

A lot of people are tired of hearing about the human race going extinct, I have my doubts, but consider this, since the end of the Ice Age, earth’s temperature has risen approximately 16 degrees and sea levels have risen an incredible total of 300 feet!

It does not take much imagination to connect the melting of the glaciers that covered a significant part of the earth, and the rise in sea levels.

Worse, new evidence suggested that the warming was itself starting to cause changes that would generate still more warming, resulting in more ice melt, and even higher sea levels.

Even now there are signs that disintegrating ice sheets could raise sea levels faster than most scientists had expected.

Mass Chaos

Forget about extinction here is one aspect of global warming to take seriously, sea levels are rising and will continue to rise. The sea levels alone are cause for alarm.

The last time the planet was just slightly warmer than now, the sea level was roughly 5 meters ( a little over 16 feet) higher. That height submerged coastlines where many millions of people now live, including cities like New York City and a huge part of states like Florida, and the coastlines in between.

Most of us have lived in relative comfort in this country, and it can be hard to imagine that the life we live, and the environment we currently live in could drastically change in a matter of decades or even years.

But what do you think will happen to our society when large portions of the most heavily populated areas of this country and indeed the world are under several feet of water?

Chaos, tens of millions of people displaced, vital financial and industrial institutions in ruin, personally I do not want to see it or be a part of it, but is anyone listening?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Study: Earth’s polar ice sheets vulnerable to even moderate global warming (scienceblog.com)
• Study suggests greater sea level rise from warming (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Rising CO2 will cause catastrophic sea level rise finds Antarctic study (telegraph.co.uk)

Home Solar Power

Using home solar power systems will help the problem of decreasing oil supplies. This country is facing a serious two headed energy crisis.

First off is the use of fossil fuels. The problem with this is the ever increasing prices, and the dependence on having to get these resources from overseas suppliers that can shut off the supply at any time.

Will Oil Run Dry?

Contrary to popular belief there are tremendous petroleum resources still available in this country, like oil shale and oil sands for instance. That being said, the process of extracting usable oil products from these resources is extremely complicated and very expensive.

So while oil is probably not going to suddenly run dry, decreasing supplies of relatively cheap oil only means increasing prices of the harder to get resources.

For families already struggling to get by this is not a good prospect, and for those that think this is in the future, you only need to look back a short time to when oil prices took a huge jump. And this is just the beginning, ever higher rising prices are inevitable.

Pollution And Oil

The second problem and the one that is considered the worse of the two is pollution. Bad air quality and the threat of global warming is real and it is not going to go away as long as the burning of fossil fuels continue to add to the problem.

This country has been dependent on this form of energy for the last 150 years. Initially people were not aware of the consequences, but we now are beginning to realize what they are.

Unfortunately this form of power is deeply entrenched and will be around for a long time. Additionally the government has been slow to react and make any changes, even with the knowledge of increasing pollution. That means it is has been left up to the individual person to act.

The Abundance Of Solar Energy

The sun’s energy or solar energy is the most abundant form of energy available on earth, it is time to take advantage of it. What most people do not realize is that switching to solar power has now became affordable to everyone. There are three options:

• Build Your Own. Solar cells have became quite inexpensive lately, using these and materials that are readily available at your own local home store you can make your own home solar power system. These home solar systems are not only cheap to build, they are very reliable, low on maintenance, and are a great investment for your homes power supply. With a good manual they are surprisingly easy to build.

• Purchase A Kit. Everything you need delivered to your home. Like homemade project, only much easier to put together, as all the measuring and cutting has been done for you. They are also very reliable, low on maintenance, and easy to assemble, but do cost substantially more than a do it yourself project.

• Professional Installation. Sit back and let a reputable company do all the work. More and more home solar power companies are converting homes to solar energy. The cost associated with this plan is quite high, but if you can afford the cost it is a great option.

With decreasing oil supplies and increasing pollution, the time has come to not only help the environment but to reduce, or even end your monthly power bills. Convert to home solar power today.

Modern Power Plants

Most power in this country is produced by electric generating turbines. In 1831 Michael Faraday discovered that if an an electric conductor, like a copper wire, is moved through a magnetic field, electric current will flow through the conductor.

The modern power plant generators are based on this very principal, although on a much larger scale. To turn these massive machines, the most often used method is to turn water into steam, pressurize the steam, and run it over the blades of a turbine causing it to spin.

Electric Power Sources

The current figures for electric power sources as of Aug 2009 (from d.o.e. website) is as follows:

* Coal-fired plants 45.4%
* Nuclear plants 21.0%
* Natural gas-fired plants 20.7%
* Hydroelectric power 7.5%
* Alternative sources (geothermal, solar, and wind) 4.2%
* Other fossil fuels 1.2%

Coal-fired Plants

The water for the turbines is heated by burning coal, and it is a particularly dirty source of energy. This method releases around 40% of the total U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, about 50% of total particle pollution, and large amounts of other pollutants.

When the Clean Air Act of the 1970s was passed, Congress “grandfathered” in older power plants making them exempt from modern regulations. As a result, today most existing power plants use coal, and are between 30-50 years old and are up to 10 times dirtier than new power plants.

These plants have been around a long time and will continue to be around a long time. With the growing threat of global warming people are just starting to realize the hidden cost of coal fired electricity.

Natural Gas-Fired Plants

Cleaner than coal fired plants releasing about half the amount of carbon dioxide. Natural gas fired plants may replace a lot of the coal fired plants when they finally get too old. Better than coal, yet still a big polluter.

Nuclear Plants

Nuclear power has major drawbacks like nuclear waste, and the ability to release lethal radiation into the atmosphere. Nuclear reactors have been around for 60 years and these potentially lethal drawbacks have yet to be solved. Does not seem to be the answer to our energy problems at this time.

Hydroelectric Power

A popular method to produce electricity. A dam is built, water and gravity do the rest. This is a great method with no pollution, and is a good source of energy. There will not be many more dams built however, you can only build so many. Great power source without the ability to grow.

Alternative Sources

Free power and non polluting. Geothermal is not practical for most people. Wind power is being used by many people who have the room and live in the right location. Home solar power can be used almost anywhere and is very useful for powering individual households.

So why is its use growing so slowly? There is a very large group of people who want to eliminate their power bill and help the environment, but until recently the prohibitive start up costs have not made this possible.

Less Expensive Alternatives

Today more and more people are discovering that they can buy a kit and install it themselves, or do the whole project themselves and build their own homemade solar panels. This can be done using readily available materials, and can be done for a fraction of the cost of kits or professional installation.

Reducing pollution and cutting your power bill through home solar or wind electrical generation is the wave of the future, and the way to go today.