References
Miami, Florida is the number one city in the world, in terms of assets, that is at risk from impacts associated with sea level rise and number nine in the world in terms of population at risk.
Assets at Risk, Nichols et al. 2007, OECD
110 million tons of manmade global warming pollution is released into the atmosphere every 24 hours and is building up and trapping heat.
The main source and cause of the rising global temperatures we see today is the result of the burning of fossil fuels.
On a global basis, more than 90% of all the extra heat energy trapped by our atmosphere in going into the oceans.
L.Cheng, K.E. Trenberth, et al., “Improved estimates of ocean heat content from 1960 to 2015.” Science Advances. 10 March 2017.
The extra heat being trapped in our atmosphere is changing our precipitation patterns causing extreme flooding and drought in places around the world.
Marvel, Kate and Celine Bon ls, “Identifying external influences on global precipitation”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 11 November, 2013.
Higher temperatures have a direct effect on the incidence and severity of wildfires.
NOAA, USFS-Climate Central,
Barbero, R.; Abatzoglou, J.T.; Larkin, N.K.; Kolden, C.A.; Stocks, B. 2015. Climate change presents increased potential for very large fires in the contiguous United States. International Journal of Wildland Fire.
In 2016 extreme weather catastrophes, such as extreme temperatures, droughts, fires, floods, mudslides and storms, caused $175 billion in losses.
Data: Insurance Information Institute, January 2017.
Heat stress is beginning to decrease crop yields from rice, corn and soybeans and exposure to higher levels of CO2 is decreasing the nutrient content of many staple crops such as rice, wheat and soy.
U.S. Department of Defense, 2014 Climate Change Adaptation RoadmapTeixeira, Edmar I., Guenther Fischer, Harrij Van Velthuizen, Christof Walter, and Frank Ewert. “Global Hot-spots of Heat Stress on Agricultural Crops Due to Climate Change.” Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 170 (March 15, 2013): 206-15. Web. 7 July 2017.
As our world gets warmer and wetter, the range of tropical diseases expands, meaning there are more places for tropical diseases to take root. Tropical diseases include, West Nile Virus, Chikungunya, Chagas Disease, Dengue Fever and Zika Virus
Jr., Donald G. McNeil. “U.S. Becomes More Vulnerable to Tropical Diseases Like Zika.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 04 Jan. 2016. Web. 18 July 2017.
Climate change, along with other factors such as habitat loss, is contributing to the worst extinction event since the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
Stern, Nicholas. The Economics of Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Ceballos, Gerardo, Paul R. Ehrlich, and Rodolfo Dirzo. “Biological Annihilation via the Ongoing Sixth Mass Extinction Signaled by Vertebrate Population Losses and Declines.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2017): n. pag. Web. 18 July 2017. Source
Globally, wind could supply our electricity consumption needs 40 times over.
Earth Policy Institute/BNEF
Every hour the Earth gets as much energy from the sun as we need to run the entire global economy for a year.
Science in Society,
Lu X, McElroy MB and Kiviluoma J. Global potential for wind- electrical system in 2008, generated electricity. PNAS 2009,106, 10933-8, Source
The Paris Climate Accord is an agreement between most every country in the nation to phase down greenhouse gas pollution to net zero emissions as early in the second half of this century as possible.
United Nations: Treaty Collection. 12 December, 2015. www.treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails. aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVII-7-d&chapter=27&clang=_en