Climate Letter #969

A close look at a planet with a serious trend of warming.  One chart gives the raw data for what is happening to air temperatures.  Another shows that the amount of incoming sunshine cannot be blamed.  The third, and most compelling, shows the steady buildup of heat content in the oceans, which could not happen without the increasing blanket thrown over them by greenhouse gases.  That is the source of the ongoing destabilization of ice sheets and the killing of corals, and it is going to keep rising for many years to come.  Heat that is trapped in the oceans does not escape except by eventually finding its way back to the surface and passing through the atmosphere on its way to outer space.

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Here is a nine-minute TED talk that clearly describes the process and consequences of ocean acidification.  This “evil twin of climate change” is the other reason for putting a quick end to unnatural emissions of carbon dioxide.

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Africa, with population swelling, is running out of quality farmland.  Climate change is one of the more important factors causing the decline.  This superb article from the NY Times provides a vivid illustration of the consequences when too many unsustainable activities.come together in a climax.  There will be many loud calls for help that the outside world will find hard to ignore.

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The “Anthropocene” is about the extraordinary transformation of the Earth’s surface.  One way or another, it is happening all over the world.  This post is about a study that places a close spotlight on what this has meant for the landscapes of England.  “These changes taken together are now virtually omnipresent as the mark of the English Anthropocene. They are only a small part of the Anthropocene changes that have taken place globally. But, to see them on one’s own doorstep brings home the sheer scale of these planetary changes — and the realisation that geological change does not recognise national boundaries.”

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