I use Google Alerts to keep up on news stories about climate change and global warming. While I have no intention of posting these reports regularly (its a cheesy way to build blog content, IMHO. Hear me, Fast Company?), today’s list struck me as interesting. See if you notice a pattern (sorry, I can’t figure out how to get them to wrap but the links do work):

Global warming could wreak havoc in China
China Daily - China
Global warming could have a major effect on the health of the Chinese … the country’s agriculture, according to a National Assessment Report on Climate Change. …

Court must conclude that global warming gases are a real danger
Arizona Daily Star - Tucson,AZ,USA
… welfare to include harmful effects on the Earth’s climate. … that it "disagrees" with their use to combat global warming. … Act, it can ask Congress to change it. …
See all stories on this topic

Lock ‘em up — ignitions, that is
Anchorage Daily News - Anchorage,AK,USA
… global warming went from controversial to conventional for much of the corporate world. … A growing list of blue chips are formally including climate change …

Interview: Christian Scientist on Global Warming
Christian Post - USA
… CP: What are some suggestions you have for reducing global warming? … now coming to recognize that this is probably the biggest factor governing climate change. …

‘Wales could be plunged into another ice age,’ claims glacier …
ic Wales - United Kingdom
… wander around, mankind is accelerating the process of climate change and it … a major upheaval and we do something about our carbon emissions and global warming. …

Climate change at crisis level
San Jose Mercury News - CA, USA
… all of us — government, business, individuals — to aggressively attack global warming. … trading scheme, the structure is in place for positive change. …

Greening of the Earth (Observations - Asia
CO2 Science Magazine - Tempe,AZ,USA
… headline-grabbing predictions of catastrophic CO2-induced global warming and the … estimates of the economic impact of predicted climate change on agriculture in …

Time to act on climate change
The Daily Yomiuri - Osaka,Japan
… At present, both global warming and the emission of greenhouse gases are … Europe, the United States and many other countries, climate change has become one of …

Yes, the pattern I see is the international range of very real local problems outlined. As Paul Hawken notes in his Worldchanging post, we’re in a period of intense acceleration with the next decade bringing rapid and cascading change worldwide. I like his idea of somehow building an action network although my experience with not for profits makes me think it would be like hearding a bunch of very deliberate and contentious cats…

There is now a global network of satellite environmental information called GEONETCast. Access is free and it is a resource for all kinds of projects worldwide. This is over my head so I’ve included a description from their site in this post:

“GEONETCast is a global network of satellite based data dissemination systems providing environmental data to a world-wide user community. The current partners within the GEONETCast initiative include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and EUMETSAT, as well as many prospective data provider partners.

Aim of GEONETCast
GEONETCast is a milestone in the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) that is being coordinated by the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO), and is designed to put a vast range of essential environmental data at the fingertips of users around the globe. This user-driven, user-friendly and low-cost information dissemination service aims to provide global information as a basis for sound decision-making in a number of critical areas, including public health, energy, agriculture, weather, water, climate, natural disasters and ecosystems. Accessing and sharing such a range of vital data will yield societal benefits through improved human health and well-being, environment management and economic growth.
Within the existing framework, GEONETCast is already partially realising this goal with environmental data exchange and data delivery available in Europe, Africa and the Americas. An additional data exchanged is now being established covering the Asia Pacific region.

The following products and services are being made available to the GEONETCast user community:
Meteosat image data
GOES East and West image data
FY-2 image data
Land and Ocean Sea Ice Satellite Application Facility (SAF) products
EUMETSAT meteorological products
NOAA-NESDIS meteorological products
NOAA-NESDIS Ocean colour and sea surface temperature products
VEGETATION products from VITO
MODIS Ocean colour products
In-situ and observational data”

This past week we had record temperatures three days in a row, hitting 70 yesterday. Two of the previous highs were the same days last year, the other was in 1998. Having sunny 70 degree days in upstate NY in December is not normal, at least it wasn’t normal ten years ago. Hey, I’m not complaining- it could be cold and wet.
So, is warmer better? Some of the climate ’scientists’ on the denial side actually make the argument that warming will improve things, implying that everyone will enjoy balmy days and have palm trees lining their streets regardless of where they live. Let’s look at the reality of even a few degrees of average temperature rise:
- If you live in the southwest you’re living in a time bomb, an artificial environment created by draining underground lakes to water lawns and golf courses. These aquifers are nearing depletion. Take a look at Lake Powell. It has lost 1/4 of its water due to fatally flawed calculations of average river flow in the Colorado. Warmer temps means you’ll see a reversion to the deathly desert climate that your region had before the influx of AC and water that doesn’t naturally exist in the region. Add the fact that snowmelt is decreasing and we’ll probably see an exodus out of the area.
- Now let’s take a look at the forests of northwestern Canada. They’re dying, killed by insects that have migrated northwards because temperatures, which kept them at bay, have risen. The trees have no natural defenses against these bugs and there is nothing we can do to stop the die-off. There are already thousands of acres of standing dead forests. Those forest were major carbon sinks, now lost forever.
- A little further north to Alaska. Villages built on permafrost are no longer habitable as the solid ground is now semi-liquid. It is not uncommon in major cities to see collapsing houses.
- Take a look at the ski resort operators. They are lobbying congress for permission to move higher into the mountains as the snow no longer falls in the lower elevations where their lifts start. Entire regions of the Alps no longer have glaciers and skiable slopes.
- Deniers are reassured by our mild hurricane season this year. Only one problem- if you look at super storms from a global perspective there’s no let up at all. Typhoons (the name for Pacific hurricanes) have had a terrible season with 5 category 3 or greater storms. This week a typhoon in the Phillippines killed at least 600 people.
- OK all you retired seniors, let’s travel to Florida. Everyone’s breathing easier after that mild season. My question is, how many times are we going to repair storm damaged houses and use federal funds to rebuild million dollar beachfront homes before someone wises up and says that’s enough? My guess is the next hurricane season with two major landfalls will probably do it. Take note- there’s a reason no one is doing much about rebuilding after Katrina. I suspect our wonderful Homeland Security folks don’t really think its a great idea.
- There are going to be 100 million more Americans on the planet by 2050. That’s a one third increase in 40 years. Where will they live? What water will they drink? Can we continue to eat food that is shipped 1000 miles on average from grower to consumer? Can we add 20 million more gas-guzzing vehicles to our already strained highways?
This stuff isn’t speculation, it’s reality. Warming isn’t better. If the Gulf Stream fails as some models predict, Europe will enter an ice age. Disease will run rampant and huge areas of Africa and India will experience droughts that last for years.
So what are we doing about it? Absolutely nothing, nada. The recent climate change summit yielded no initiatives with every attempt to do something concrete stonewalled by US and Chinese representatives. We’ve had to go to the Supreme Court to get the EPA to enforce pollution guidelines for cars and power plants. This is the same Court that elected Bush and the same judges are waffling on taking action.

That’s enough. I’m going to grab a cup of coffee and go catch some rays out on the deck. Life is good here in globally warmed Rochester, NY.

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.