14 DAY TRIAL // Throughout 2010, more and more data on global warming and climate change have emerged than were available for other years or even decades. The image they paint is bleak, and stands in stark contrast with global warming deniers' position that humans are not causing the warming.
On the contrary, all evidence would seem to point to the opposite conclusions, that we were indeed responsible for the changes our planet is currently going through.
A new report by the Met Office shows now that the world has been experiencing a lot more warming in the past decade than it did the one before that. Scientists also found some errors in the way temperatures were measures in the 2000s, which further increased the difference.
At this point, the sheer amount of datasets, studies and researches showing a clear link between human activities such as greenhouse gas emissions and pollution and a rising average temperature are overwhelming.
Most likely, deniers will never be able to see past their selfish interests and plain ignorance, and will continue to cite obscure references which argue that climate change is not our fault.
But, hopefully, does who have not yet decided will start listening to reason, and begin looking over the data so that they can decide for themselves.
A good point to start is analyzing what happened this year alone, in other words the most important news in climate science that were published to date, as compiled by PlanetSave.
One study demonstrated that the 40 percent of oceanic phytoplankton that is currently missing from the waters was destroyed by changing sea temperatures, which reached higher levels than first thought.
Another work showed that huge arctic shelfs in the east Siberian Arctic had destabilizing methane accumulations, that were beginning to vent the dangerous GHG into the atmosphere. Methane is 300 times more potent in warming the atmosphere than CO2.
Researchers found that the oceans are getting more acidic about 10 times faster than they did 55 million years ago. At that time, a massive extinction of marine species took place. This is where we're heading.
Despite accusations that the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had forged its prediction data, another study showed that sea levels may in fact rise by 6 feet until 2011, three times faster than the IPCC estimates.
The Royal Society published a study showing that species decline and loss of biodiversity were more acute now than at any point in history still inscribed in the fossil record.
Also in 2010, analysis from the NCAR revealed that, even if the world practices a moderate-emissions-level path, the Earth will still be faced with devastating droughts.
To top it all, this year was the warmest on record until now. While some temperatures can be attributed to natural variations, claiming that this eliminates global warming from the argument is stupid at best.
The sooner people realize that each can make a difference, the sooner we can get to work on fixing things. Delaying this will only lead to long-lasting damages, that could go beyond a tipping point, or a point of no return.