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Climate Change
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warns that climate change is real. In the past one hundred years, the average temperature of the Earth has risen 1.4 F. Scientists read evidence in tree rings, ancient coral, and bubbles trapped in ice cores; they have concluded the Earth is warmer than it has been for at least a millennium (Pearce, 2006). More dramatic climate change is predicted for the next hundred years, when temperatures are expected to rise another 2 to 11.5 F. Even a rise in temperature of just a few degrees can mean large and potentially dangerous shifts in weather and climate ("Climate change basics," 2012).
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) defines climate change as "a study dealing with variations in climate on many different time scales from decades to millions of years, and the possible causes of such variations" ("Artic climatology and meteorology," n.d.). When climate change is discussed in the media, the term usually refers to the significant change that has been seen over the last century -- a very short period of time in the history...
It is not just the collective imagination. The Earth has warmed rapidly in the past thirty years, when natural temperature modulators such as solar cycles and volcanoes should have cooled the planet (Pearce, 2006). Climate change has brought about more frequent and severe heat waves. Changes in rainfall have meant more rainfall in some areas. In the fall of 2011, parts of Vermont were ravaged by the effects of Hurricane Irene. Vermonters tend to take blizzards, wind storms and torrential rains in stride. Writer David Goodman observed, "It's all part of the rhythm of the seasons in these small towns that cling to the flanks of the northern mountains and valleys" (Goodman, 2011). One does not think of a hurricane striking a landlocked state, but damages were estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars after whole towns were flooded, homes were washed away, and bridges and riverbanks collapsed. Changes…
References
"Artic climatology and meteorology." (n.d.). National Snow and Ice Data Center. University of Colorado. Retrieved from http://nsidc.org/arcticmet/glossary/climate_change.html
Caldeira, K. (2012). The great climate experiment. Scientific American Sep2012, pp. 78-63.
"Climate change basics." (2012). United States Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/basics/.
Goodman, D. (2011). The flood. Yankee 75(6), pp. 16-20.
Pearce, F. (2006). Introduction: Climate change. New Scientist. Retrieved from http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9903-instant-expert-climate-change.html
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