The Albany Times Union has a great article on the local effects of our warmer winters (or had- I can’t find the article anymore!Our local newspaper web sites are so awful…). We’re 4.5 degrees F warmer on average in the last 4 decades, we have 20% less days with snow cover which increases warming as there is less snow to reflect the sun’s rays. The results are detailed here:

Hurt:

Dairy cows give less milk in hot weather

Maple sugaring trees cannot thrive

Air conditioning costs increase

Apple orchards develop less fruit without winter cold (they need 87 days of below freezing to set buds)

Corn at risk from pests is no longer killed by cold

Helped:

Wine grapes thrive in vineyards (especially vinifera, the grapes grown in the finest wine regions but problematic in NY. We could be the next Napa the way things are going)

Lilacs and other spring plants will flower earlier

Poison ivy, oak and hickory trees spread north with warmer climate

Bald eagle hatchlings’ survival increases

Heating costs decrease

SOURCE: Reports presented at Hudson Valley Climate Change Conference conducted in December by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Here’s something to raise the hackles: According to the Observer Guardian in the UK (how come this received zero US coverage? Conspiracy theorists arise!), the Pentagon issued a report in 2004 predicting worldide chaos by 2020 as rising populations create shortages of water and food. It is a dire prediction, but not surprising from military scenario planners who have to accomodate any reasonable future problem.
This report was suppressed by the Bush administration. While some accuse them of burying their heads in the sand with denial, I believe they are simply hiding the truth so they don’t have to deal with it while in office. It doesn’t hurt that their friends in the oil business are reaping record profits in the meantime.

Worldchanging is a website dedicated to personal action and it is now a comprehensive book on the subject. As the effects of climate change and global warming accelerate, it is easy to wonder how any of us as individuals can do anything about it that really makes a difference. Worldchanging is about personal action and how small actions, when aggregated across millions of people, can change things.

This may very well be a handbook for our future.

Al Gores grounndbreaking documentary, An Inconvenient Truth , is now available on DVD. If you haven’t seen it, I strongly recommend you ignore everything you may or may not think about Gore and buy the DVD. Watch it with your family and talk about it. Pass a copy on to a teacher, a friend, a co-worker. Everyone needs to see this film and respond to it on their own personal level. While it should be pretty obvious what my stance on climate change is, I’m not going to tell you how to think- just watch the flick, keep an open mind and you may find yourself becoming more than a little alarmed.
In the short time since the theatrical release a lot of what were informed predictions in the film have taken place. Gore covers these changes in the interview included on the DVD.
Last week a major summit on climate change was held in Africa, a continent already experiencing drought and starvation linked to global warming. Virtually nothing was accomplished as enegry-hogging, CO2 spewing nations like the US and China blocked every move to decide on anything.
We don’t have time to spend years debating this subject. As the movie clearly shows, something momentous is happening right now and its accelerating. Watch it, talk about it, share it- it’s your duty as a creature on this planet.