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More on the impact of global warming (fwd)



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 03 Nov 96 17:44:27 EST
From: Patricia Dines <73652.1202@compuserve.com>
To: BlindCopyReceiver:  ;
Subject: More on the impact of global warming

More on the down-to-earth impact of global warming... Including from pesticides,
toxics, and pollution - and impacting our ability to grow food naturally, etc.
... For your info - P.Dines

--- FORWARD ---

From: INTERNET:sf.moderator@sfsierra.sierraclub.org
To: sc-action@igc.apc.org
To: Patricia Dines, 73652,1202
Date: Fri, Nov 1, 1996, 8:56 PM
Subject: SC-Action #302 - Toxics And Our Kids

<snip>

EXTREME WEATHER MAY INDICATE GLOBAL WARMING

The New York Times reported yesterday (Oct 29) that a change in 
the jet stream may be responsible for the chaotic weather that 
mid-atlantic and northeast states have experienced in recent 
years.  Scientists are now studying whether global warming caused 
the jet stream shift.

The jet stream, the current of air that runs west to east in our 
upper atmosphere, has shifted in recent years, scientists say.  
It now flows further south and east over the United States than 
ever before.

The shift has increased the severity and reduced the frequency of 
storms the northeast experiences.  The blizzards of 1993 and 
1996, the torrential rain storms earlier this year, and the 
massive "Halloween Northeaster" of 1991 may all have been at 
least in part related to this shift in the jet stream.

This is in keeping with the predictions scientists have made 
about the results of global warming.  Dr. Tom Karl, Senior 
Scientist at the National Climate Data Center, has reported that 
the number of extreme weather events, rainstorms and blizzards 
that produce large amounts of precipitation (over 2 inches) in 24 
hours, has increased dramatically in recent years.  This research 
has led him to conclude that global warming has begun.

Even notable climate change skeptics are admitting the 
possibility of a human influence on the jet stream.  In a major 
shift Dr. Robert E. Davis, a global warming dissenter at the 
University of Virginia, was quoted by the New York Times as 
saying "the bottom line is we just don't know" when asked whether 
or not global warming was behind the shift.  In the past Dr. 
Davis has argued that the majority of the world's climate 
scientists are wrong in saying that climate change is occuring, 
and that global warming is just a myth.

WILDLIFE THREATENED AS WORLD WARMS II: WHOOPING CRANES

Last week (10/21-10/25) we reported on the impacts of global 
warming on migratory birds.  As the climate changes droughts 
occur more frequently in areas such as the US Sourhwest.  Also, 
red tides -- algal blooms -- are linked to warming waters. 
Today's Greenwire carries a story on the endangered whooping 
crane and how it will face some of those hazards during it's 
winter migration. 

At a time when the crane's population is making a modest 
comeback, many could face starvation.  The Aransas National 
Wildlife refuge in Texas, where 158 of the rare birds spent the 
winter of 1995, has suffered from a combination of drought and 
red tides that have drastically cut the available food supply.  
An extremely dry  year has reduced the population of blue crabs, 
their favorite winter food source.  A recent bloom of the algae 
that causes red tides may have contaminated many of the bird's 
other food sources, and could make many of the cranes sick.  As 
the process of global warming continues, more and more of the 
world's wildlife could become extinct.