MooreTurf Blog

Volume II of the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) has just recently been released. This is critical reading for anyone concerned about the future of our planet and the future of humanity. Here is a link to Chapter 1: Overview. Volume I, Climate Science Special Report (CSSR) was published in 2017 and provides the scientific basis for the observed and projected risks and impacts of climate change now and in the coming years as discussed in Volume II. A summary of the CSSR is provided in Chapter 2 of Volume II.

Key Message #1 from Volume II:

Global climate is changing rapidly compared to the pace of natural variations in climate that have occurred throughout Earth’s history. Global average temperature has increased by about 1.8°F from 1901 to 2016, and observational evidence does not support any credible natural explanations for this amount of warming; instead, the evidence consistently points to human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse or heat-trapping gases, as the dominant cause.

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Excellent story in the NY Times about the world-wide collapse of insect populations, why it is occurring (hint: climate change, pesticides, loss of habitat), and why it is of critical importance to human populations.

One of the arguments made by global-warming deniers is that, yes, maybe atmospheric CO₂ concentrations are rising, and yes, maybe those concentrations are contributing to warming of the planet, but there are many other possible sources of the additional CO₂ and therefore there is much uncertainty about how much burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) has contributed to the increases. Not true. Scientists have, in fact, developed a means to discriminate CO₂ sources using carbon isotopes ...

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Scientific American article and video (click full screen to better view).

According to the California Resources Board, greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution in the state fell below 1990 levels for the first time since emissions peaked in 2004. Even better, as the above graph indicates, this accomplishment was achieved right along with steady growth in GDP and population. This appears, at least in California, to be the exact opposite of the negative economic consequences climate change deniers predict will be associated with efforts to reduce GHG emissions.