Greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow in 2012
Why Has It Been So Cold This Spring?
Although spring has arrived, it may not feel that way for many in the United States and Canada who have had to put up with unusually cold temperatures.Last month was a chilly one, ranking as the second-coldest March in the continental United States since 2000, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The average temperature across the United States this March was also 13 degrees Fahrenheit (7.2 degrees Celsius) lower than in March 2012, and a late-winter blizzard broke snowfall records in many areas.
So, why has it been so cold?
The culprit is a stubborn, stationary mass of warm air over Greenland and the North Atlantic that has blocked the normal flow of air from west to east and south to north, said Greg Carbin, a meteorologist with the NWS' Storm Prediction Center. This flow of air, known as the jet stream, usually brings more warm air from the South as the Northern Hemisphere begins to heat up in the spring.
Obstinate air masses
This March, however, the mass of warm air — a high-pressure system that repels incoming weather systems — has redirected air currents and created a pattern of winds coming from the Northwest, blasting the eastern two-thirds of the United States with Arctic air, Carbin said.
"This obstinate mass of warm air over Greenland has redirected air currents like a rock in a stream," Carbin said.
However, the spring season hasn't been cold everywhere. In fact, the southwestern United States has been warmer than average, as the region has been unaffected by the blocking system in the North Atlantic, said Bob Henson, a meteorologist and science writer with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
Due, in part, to the cold, there have been fewer than 20 tornadoes in the United States this March, Carbin said. On average, March will see 76 twisters across the United States. Tornadoes depend on warm, moist air, which was scarce this past March, Carbin added. [Infographic: Tornado! How, When & Where Twisters Form]
Climate change?
Some research has suggested a link between a retreat of Arctic sea ice in a warming world and these high-pressure blocking systems, Carbin said.
As cold as March seemed, it was only the 59th coldest March since 1871, according to the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang blog. In other words, the month's frigid temperatures do not disprove the observation that the world is heating up — and climate change could be playing a role in the development of the high-pressure system that has fueled the unusually cool month, Carbin said.
This March’s temperatures contrasted sharply with those seen in March 2012, which was the warmest March on record. In 2012, a mass of hot air developed over the middle of the country, causing unusually high temperatures and fueling an outbreak of tornadoes.
"They were almost like — no pun intended — polar opposites," Henson said.
The cold will not stick around forever, though, Carbin said. the high-pressure blocking system over Greenland is already beginning to weaken and looks likely to dissipate by the beginning of next week (April 7). This will bring temperatures back into the average range, he said — which means it may finally start to feel like spring.
Ecology and ecological problems
The object of the ecology is to study the connection between the plants and animals with their physical and biological environment. Ecology has with time developed as the separate science resulting in more than just a branch of biology. To completely understand the ecology we first have to set the difference between physical and biological environment.
Term "physical environment" consists of light and heat, atmosphere, water, wind, oxygen, carbon monoxide and soil's ingredients, while biological environment consists of plants and animals. The goal of ecology is not just the study of the different living organisms, but also of environment where these organisms live, and all factors that might have influence or which have influenced on life of living organisms in their natural environment. From its goal it can be clearly seen that ecology is very complex and comprehensive scientific discipline. Since ecology is very complex discipline it requires some other fields of science like hydrology, climatology, oceanography, chemistry, geology, etc, to be completely understandable and comprehensible.
The biggest pollutions on our planet are the result of fossil fuels use. Modern society is simply unthinkable without gasoline, oil, and coal, as they are dominating industrial world. The governments of rich states instead turning to alternative energy resources like wind energy, sun energy and geothermal energy are still more focused on decreasing the pollution caused by the use of fossil fuels rather than search for acceptable alternatives. Also, alternative energy resources are only used in rich countries in order to decrease the pollution in their own lands. To make things even worse, rich countries, more often than not, transfer their own dirty industries to poor countries that do not have nor the appropriate knowledge nor the means to even think about ecology, and are pretty much dependent on these obsolete technologies. People still do not have so much needed ecological conscience and do not see that they are only ones responsible for salvation of our planet. It is probably too painful to admit our own mistakes and try to fix them before it is too late. Some small steps have been already done but it will take much more these steps on global level in order to make the difference.
Poor countries will be a difficult task though. It is very difficult, if not impossible to expect developed ecological conscience from population of poor countries as long as their primary goal is how to survive. In situations like this ecology is probably last thing they think of, and this has to change. However this condition will not end if rich countries will continue to solve only their own ecological problems ignoring terrible condition in poor countries. In fact, one gigantic global action is the thing we need to solve ecological problems because individual actions do not have enough impact to be sufficient on global level. To succeed, we do not need some extreme strategy to return the world in the time before James Watt and the first industrial revolution, giving away all the benefits of modern technology. On the contrary, our modern technologies should be used on the way that would enable peaceful coexistence between ecology and industry, in which the emphasis should be primarily set on the use of energy resources that have the lowest negative impact on the environment. These renewable energy resources are for instance wind, water and sun.
Current modern technologies could be wisely used to prevent ecological disasters, endangering of animal species, and to entire development of ecosystem, and all we have to do is to turn technologies in these directions. Humanity must become now more than ever before dedicated to preservation of their natural habitats. And we have only one natural habitat and this is our planet Earth. Earth has lately become surrounded with so many different ecological problems, of which some (like global warming) threaten with future catastrophic consequences.
Ecological problems also require appropriate legislative support that should ban modern technologies that have negative impact on environment, and only allow those technologies that do not have, or have only minimum of negative impact on the environment. Passive observation is not sufficient, especially now when we have become witnesses of so many ecological disasters.
Greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow in 2012
Greenhouse gas emissions are set for another rise in 2012. According to a Global Carbon Project, the greenhouse gas emissions will reach a record high of 35.6 billion tonnes at the end of 2012, accounting for a 2.6% increase when compared to previous year.
This is yet another clear indicator that world leaders are pretty much useless when it comes to climate change - namely plenty of false promises and very little real-time action.
The numbers for greenhouse gas emissions are 58% above 1990 levels, and world looks to be heading straight ahead to an environmental disaster of massive proportions, the one that will likely make life very difficult for our future generations.
Carbon emission continue to grow
China and India are currently two of the world's fastest growing economies. Their rapid economic growth has been sadly closely accompanied by the growth in greenhouse gas emissions, with the emissions in China and India growing by 9.9 and 7.5% in 2011.
United States is still the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter per capita with 17.2 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2). China, for instance, has 6,6 tons of CO2 per capita while India has only 1.8 tons of CO2 per capita.
The widespread development of low carbon technologies and improved energy efficiency are still far from reality, meaning that greenhouse gas emissions will likely continue to grow further in years to come.
The climate change talks in Doha will likely have a disappointing end like this was the case with previous climate change conferences. The world leaders do not listen to scientific community because of different interests between the developed and developing countries.
Without the unity in global politics world doesn't stand the chance against climate change. Hopefully, world leaders will realize this before it's too late. Though as some say world could already be too late to do something about it.