What’s with the freezing temperatures?
“We are witnessing the severe impacts of climate change throughout the world. Every credible scientific source is telling us that these impacts will only get worse if we do not address climate change and it also tells us that our window of time for addressing it is closing very soon…We need to dramatically increase our ambitions.” — Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
What happened to Global Warming?
World weather has gone topsy-turvy. In America, people literally freeze to death in their garages; in Australia, it is so hot that roads are melting, smoke from fires started by lightning strikes block the sun, hundreds of thousands of fish are dying of heat stroke and a lack of oxygen in the water, and peaches are literally cooking on the tree.
If you understand what Global Warming is, it makes perfect sense to expect severe changes in local weather conditions.
People may be confused thinking that Global Warming means that the weather is going to warm up everywhere around the world.
In fact, this misunderstanding is exactly why scientists stopped talking about Global Warming and began to refer to “Climate Change.”
So where did Global Warming come from and why was it necessary to go from talking about Global Warming to talking about Climate Change?
Scientists noticed that the world was, on average, getting hotter, hence the name Global Warming. But pretty soon it was clear that warming up the world as a whole had lots of different consequences – including polar vortexes.
Scientists thought about the issue some and recognized the problem. Because all systems in the global climate system are connected, adding heat energy causes the global climate as a whole to change.
Here’s the problem. The global climate is a system that includes not only your local weather, but the weather of every place in the world, the oceans, the forests, the cities and the farmlands of the world, too.
All of them are linked in a single, huge and extremely complex system that is the “climate” in “climate change.” Global climate is controlled by the connected system of sun, earth and oceans, wind, rain and snow, forests, deserts and savannas.
Source: My Free School Tanzania
Because all systems in the global climate system are connected, adding heat energy causes the global climate as a whole to change.
Heat is energy and when you add energy to any system changes occur.
A warmer atmosphere melts glaciers and mountain snow packs, the Polar ice cap, and the great ice shield jutting off of Antarctica, resulting in rising sea levels.
Water heats more rapidly than ice. When the ocean heats up, more water evaporates into clouds.
Where storms like hurricanes and typhoons are forming, the result is more energy-intensive storms.
The deep freeze that gripped much of the United States and Canada in late January 2019 has been blamed on a polar vortex.
How could this be? Some atmospheric scientists believe that the rapidly warming Arctic disrupted both the stratospheric polar vortex and the jet stream (or tropospheric polar vortex) big determinants of our climate and weather conditions – such as Niagara Falls freezing.
Weather patterns are being impacted all around the world. While America may be experiencing discomfort and disruption due to freezing temperatures, Australia is suffering through freakish, scorching heat waves.
If it is any relief, America, while you are freezing, Australia is roasting. Don’t feel any better? You shouldn’t. Just wait until summer. Global Warming and and the resulting Climate Change are not going away. No magic is going to save you from a lot of discomfort to come.
Global warming is having a domino effect on our climate system and the dominos are falling faster and faster.
Celebrating International Women’s Day
March 8th is International Women’s Day. The theme for the 2019 celebration is #BalanceforBetter.
UN Sustainable Goal 5 states “Providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large. “
One group Drawdown.org is diligently working towards solutions for Global Warming. They explain how important Women’s Equality is, and show the correlation of how women can have a huge impact on helping to reverse global warming. Watch the video and see if you agree:
This is How Empowering Girls Can Help Stop Global Warming
On a personal note…
Warm Heart is celebrating International Women’s Day with a fundraiser for our Girl’s Higher Education Fund. Please, can you contribute $10 to our campaign?
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