Effects of Global Warming

     Now that I have looked over the causes of global warming I wanted to take a look at some of the consequences or effects of global warming on our environment and world.  First off, global warming is a context hazard because it is very chronic and arises from global environmental change.  The effects of global warming are sometimes sudden and you can see it actually happening around you, but other changes you will be able to see down the road but not right away. 
     One of the effects from global warming is the obvious, that the planet is litterally cooking itself in an oven that we created from Co2 pollution entering our atmosphere.  This causes worldwide melting of ice and glaciers that have been there for countless years which in turn will destroy certain species such as penguins.  With the glaciers and all the ice melting you will have a rise in ocean levels.  It is hard sometimes for people to see how pollution and sea levels rising but if you think about it.  Pollution is putting Co2 in our atmosphere which is in turn making the world a much hotter place; and followed by that you will have glaciers melting causing sea levels to rise.  Another effect of global warming is that certian insects are not dying of like they should, and when that happens you run the higher chance of diseases spreading or complete loss of certian types of plants that those insects feed off of.  Alot of people can see this effect right now when scientists talk about the increases in hurricane and storm strengths. 
     One of the biggest concerns that should be talked about alot more than the attention it is getting rigt now is the lack of fresh water that will be available for so many people when all of this ice continues to melt away.  These are very serious things that need to be looked at and people are just not aware of what they are doing to the environment.  They either are unaware or just don't care.   sooner or later these consequences will sneak up on us.

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-effects/

Causes of Global Warming

     I wanted to look at the causes of global warming because people are talking about it all the time.  I wanted to actually take a little look at it to see the relationships between what causes global warming and what the effects are/are going to be now and in the future. 
     Scientists have studied global warming for many years now and they have looked at tons of different natural cycles and events that can influence climate change and they all seem to agree upon one thing; that those natural cycles do not explain global warming by themselves.  All scientists agree that you can't attempt to describe climate change without looking at greenhouse gases.  Most greenhouse gases come from the combustion of fossil fuels in cars along with factories and electricity production.  The one gas most responsible for global warming though is Co2 followed by methane from landfills, nitrous oxide from fertilizers, regrigeration gases, and than the loss of forests that would normally store Co2.  What essentially happens is that you have all these gases that are stuck inside our layer and they are trapping all the heat that is trying to exit earth, causing the earth to be much warmer.  Since 1990, yarly emmissions have gone up 20 percent at 6 billion metric tons. 

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-causes

Wildfires In Washington State

     According to Science Daily, the summer of 2012 is known as the summer of devastating western fires.  Lately, Washington has been hit the hardests with such fires.  The biggest fire that is currently happening in Washington is the Wenatchee Complex fire that started by a lightening stricke on September 9th and as of September 21, it has destroyed more than 39,000 acres and was only 22 percent contained.  This fire has multiple different fires burning as well which makes it very hard to contain all of them especially whe the terrain in some areas makes menuevering very difficult. 
     One thing that I caught onto while reading the post about the fire was the overal knowledge that they had about wildfires in general.  I feel like this area has a pretty good understanding of fires because they have had so many; and it is always a good ting to be informed about potential disasters that could happen.  They were talking about how a fires strength and uncontrollable behavior can happen in whats called an inversion; which is when smoke and warm gasses ris untill the temperature equals that of the surrounding air, than the smoke will eventually flatten out horizontally which in turn causes surface winds and eratic fire behavior.  I feel like this is good information to have because the more you know about a fire the better off you are in combating it. 
     Wildfires can be classified as a Biological Natural Disaster under the Natural Hazards events; but I wanted to look at relating the fires happening in Washington State to te common characteristics of environmental hazards that we talked about in class.  The origins of all of the fires currently happening are very clear because for a majority of them they started with a lightening strike.  The warning time was obviously very limited because they started just like that.  The direct losses are very clear to see because you can see all the wildlife and acres being destroyed right in front of your eyes.  Also, human exposure is involuntary because they were living in the area but did not expect all those fires to be happening, and this disaster, such as in any wildfire will justify an immediate response to try and control the fire. It is good that we have a knowledge base about fires but my hopes are that in the near future we can come up with better ways to combat them before they destory so many acres of land.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120921142832.htm

Isaac's Floods, Ranchers Try Coping

     Hurricane Isaac came ashore as a category one storm with surges and monsoon like rains reaching all the way up to twelve feet; overpowering the old, poorly sturctured levees along the Mississippi Delta.
     The level of human impact equals out to an enormous loss.  Not only were seven people killed in the flooding of Isaac's aftermath, but 400 head of cattle along with other natural wildlife perished as well.  Hurricane Isaac took some of the best cattle land along the Mississippi river delta and turned into a swamp land of nothing. Many people think that loosing cattle is not that big of a deal, but when you are a rancher and that is how you make your living it is astronomical.  With 400 head of cattle killed it equals out to roughly 400,000 $ lost; and that does not include the costs of mending fences or restoring pastures.  Ranchers in the area said that it could not have come at a worse time because they will now need to sell a majority of the remaining cattle but the market for that is terrible due to the cattle being sold off already because of the drought the United States is in. 
      Alot of measures could have been done to better prepare for the flooding of Isaac on an individual scale.  One could have been to gather your herd in a concentrated area to keep accountability of them all; but when you take a step back and look at it, it is clear to see the main prevention strategy that failed.  The prevention strategy that failed were the levees that broke along the Delta that protected farm country south of New Orleans.  The levees that failed were build in the 60's and 70's and were clearly not up-to-date. 
     Now that the damage is said and done, the army corps of engineers will be working with local authoriteis to build the levees back up again.  In my mind it is crazy how action, initiative, and planning always seems to take place after a disaster strikes but not before.

http://www.weather.com/news/isaac-ranch-herd-losses-20120911

Severe Drought 2012

       According to the United States National Climate Center, the first eght months of 2012 were the hottest ever recorded in the United States.  Not only were the first eight months the hottest, but the 2012 summer was the third hottest summer since 1895 when records started being kept. There is obviously not alot that people can do to prevent a drought from happening in a certain area but when you take a step back and look at the long term damage that human polution can cause on global warming it is a very big deal.  People say that the world is heating up due in part to human pollution and maybe this last year was a sign that we need to start doing something about it. 
      When a severedrought strikes the level of human impact can be small in some areas for certain people, but astronomical for others.  For example, my parents and I live in Wisconsin and raise beef cattle to sell for meat.  Well, in order to raise cattle, or any herd animal for that matter, you need to feed them.  With the drought that occurred there was little to no grass for them to consume which means they need more hay or corn to eat, but with no rain the outcome of the crop was terrible.  On a field of hay my parents recieved half the amount of bails they normally would on a regular year which means they had to buy from other people; or purchase other land just to survive the winter feeding months that are comming shortly. 
      According to this article, the record highs andlows every year agerage out t about 1-1, one record high for every record low.  This year the average was 10-1, but in some areas like Ohio had 49 record highs for every one record low.  I personally think the world is trying to tell us something about human pollution and the impacts it is having on the world, hopefully people will realize and take more caution.

 Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48975387/ns/us_news-environment/