CNBC mini documentary 20 minutes long

Why am I writing about climate change when Earth Day was just a couple of weeks ago? Because everyday should be a day when we take care of the only option we have for living in the universe. There is no “Planet B” option where we can step into a spaceship and be to a new home in a couple of days. There is no new world for us to easily explore and conquer. This is it.

Just last week the new “normal” temperatures for the US were calculated. The average normal temperature for the US went from 52.2 degrees F for the period 1970 to 2000 to 53.2 degrees F for the period 1990 to 2020. That is a full degree in 20 years and is a huge leap. 

Normal temperatures are calculated every ten years by taking the high and low readings for the previous 30 years and crunching them to take the wobble out of weather stats. Thirty years of data should create a fairly stable set of “normals.” 

What better day to comment on the health of our Mother Earth than Mother’s Day? The report on Mother Earth is not good. We have seen more and more symptoms in the past few years. Bigger storms, longer droughts, huge wild fires, much more extreme temperatures and continuing ice melting that is causing seas and oceans to rise.

From globalchange.gov we get this 3000 foot view:   

“Thousands of studies conducted by researchers around the world have documented increases in temperature at Earth’s surface, as well as in the atmosphere and oceans. Many other aspects of global climate are changing as well. High temperature extremes and heavy precipitation events are increasing, glaciers and snow cover are shrinking, and sea ice is retreating. Seas are warming, rising, and becoming more acidic, and flooding is become more frequent along the U.S. coastline. Growing seasons are longer, and large wildfires occur more frequently. Many species are moving to new locations, and changes in the seasonal timing of important biological events are occurring in response to climate change.

These trends are all consistent with a warming world and are expected to continue.

Many lines of evidence demonstrate that human activities, especially emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation, and land-use change, are primarily responsible for the climate changes observed in the industrial era, especially over the last six decades. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, the largest contributor to human-caused warming, has increased by about 40% over the industrial era. This change has intensified the natural greenhouse effect, driving an increase in global surface temperatures and other widespread changes in Earth’s climate that are unprecedented in the history of modern civilization.

Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities will continue to affect Earth’s climate for decades and even centuries. Humans are adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere at a rate far greater than it is removed by natural processes, creating a long-lived reservoir of the gas in the atmosphere and oceans that is driving the climate to a warmer and warmer state.

Beyond the next few decades, how much the climate changes will depend primarily on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere; how much of those greenhouse gases are absorbed by the ocean, the biosphere, and other sinks; and how sensitive Earth’s climate is to those emissions.”

As we have witnessed in the past few years we are are seeing extreme weather grow more extreme. Australia has been recording temps in the 120 degree F range for the past half a dozen summers. Greenland continues to shed massive glaciers. Fires in the US west have charred millions of acres. Hundreds are dying as temps hit over 100 degrees F on continental Europe.

One good sign is that we now have a President and an Administration that is committed to actually reverse climate change. President Biden is not just making campaign speeches. He is making commitments through proposed programs with actual money budgeted to make such programs happen. As he does this millions of jobs will be created!

This is what the country needs!