For those who don’t believe in Climate Change, read no further. If you do and don’t live in a cave, then you hear almost daily about record breaking storms, rising temperatures, wildfires, droughts, worries about water shortages and sea level rise. For most folks, they are concerned about keeping food on the table, a house over their heads and making sure their children have an opportunity for a better life. Climate change takes a back seat and hopefully some smart people will find a way to take care of it. Problem is, there is no silver bullet and it is going to take a lot of sacrifice by everyone to change our lifestyles, rich or poor, to come into harmony with the available resources.
The thing that keeps me up at night (and has for the last 15yrs) is the carbon sink that is known as the permafrost that occupies a large portion of the northern hemisphere (mostly up in Canada, Alaska, Russia and Scandinavia). It holds enough frozen organic matter that if it melts, it will release 2-3x the amount of greenhouse gas (mostly in the form of methane) than all human activity has to date. Today’s 415 ppm (go to resources page and click on climate.nasa.gov) will go over 1200 ppm and we are just along for the ride. This is referred to as the ‘tipping point’ where global warming can’t be stopped and things get bad, very bad. Will we become a Venus or Mars? Probably not, but it is not going to be much fun. Frankly, I worry we may already be tipping at 415 ppm but probably need another ten years before we know.
Meanwhile, keep an eye on the Resources page for more info and do what you can to reduce your carbon footprint.
SZ