Global Warming Will Dramatically Alter U.S. Northeast

[tex-wyo-dem]

Global Warming Will Dramatically Alter U.S. Northeast

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, October 4, 2006 (ENS) - Global warming will cause major changes to the climate of the U.S. Northeast if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced, scientists said today. Warmer annual temperatures, less snow, more frequent droughts and more extreme rainstorms are expected if current warming trends continue, the scientists said in a new study, and time is running out for action to avoid such changes to the climate.

The Northeast's climate is already changing, the report said, as spring is arriving sooner, summers are hotter and winters are warmer and less snowy.

Annual temperatures across the nine states of the Northeast have risen more than 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1970. Winter temperatures, however, have risen much faster - about 3.8 degrees since 1970.

All these changes could accelerate without action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the report's authors warn.

"The very notion of the Northeast as we know it is at stake," said Dr. Cameron Wake, a research professor at the University of New Hampshire's Climate Change Research Center and co-author of the report. "The near-term emissions choices we make in the Northeast and throughout the world will help determine the climate and quality of life our children and grandchildren experience."

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http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2006/2006-10-04-03.asp

[dipsydoodle]

1. That's quite apart

from it being submerged. It facinates me that so few attach much importance to this issue.

[ramapo]

2. Some submersion too

Having lived in the Northeast for my entire 51 years, I can report that the climate has already definitely changed as suggested in the report. Higher temperatures and more extreme rainstorms have been apparant for some years. The heat island effect has certainly contributed to higher temperatures.

Large areas of the coastline, Long Island, and NYC face long term trouble from rising sea level as the climate really heats up.

The vast majority of people are either oblivious or just don't believe such a thing can happen in the forseeable future.

[phantom power]

3. My dad likes to say "The North-East will rise again!"

He says this because of the oncoming water problems. I've been somewhat skeptical, for exactly the reasons in this report. The gloomy reality is that what is coming is worse than a zero-sum game. The total carrying capacity of earth's land is going to decrease, and it looks like it will be by quite a lot.

[Ezlivin]

4. 1.5 degree rise. Ooooooh, I'm worried.

That's what my Repub friend likes to say. He pooh-poohs global warming and says that a degree or two can't matter since he can't feel the difference.

The only example I could think of is the last straw that breaks the camel's back; sure, it doesn't weigh much, but it's the tipping point that matters.

This is what we get from our public education system. People don't appreciate the difference between linear and logarithmic systems.

[hunter]

5. It's actually a system with two stable points -- Ice Age and Desert.

Ice Age is the more bio-productive of the two. Modern man is a creature of the ice age world. Desert world will not be kind to us.