Global Warming Impact Defense

US Methane Levels High

Becky Oskin 13

Becky Oskin is a freelance science and medical writer in northern California. She writes feature articles,
press releases, patient information and more for consumer magazines, universities and corporate
clients. In years past, Becky was the science reporter at the Pasadena Star-News and a university
PIO.http://news.yahoo.com/us-methane-levels-higher-thought-170610432.html

A large part to gas wells and cow farms, the United States is spewing 50
percent more methane, a potent greenhouse gas, than previous estimates
have measured, according to a new study.

US spewing 50% more methane gas than previously

thought; makes earlier brink cards invalid
Becky Oskin 13

Becky Oskin is a freelance science and medical writer in northern California. She writes feature articles,
press releases, patient information and more for consumer magazines, universities and corporate
clients. In years past, Becky was the science reporter at the Pasadena Star-News and a university
PIO.http://news.yahoo.com/us-methane-levels-higher-thought-170610432.html

For the study, published Monday (Nov. 25) in the journal Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, researchers from universities and government
labs fanned out across the United States in 2007 and 2008 and measured
levels of methane gas in the air. Though methane breaks down in the
atmosphere after only 10 years, faster than carbon dioxide, it's about 30
times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat escaping the Earth
the greenhouse effect that leads to global warming

Greenhouse gas concentrations reach record high

Daniell Elliot 12
**ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND DEC. 5-6**The Total Port Arthur refinery is shown Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009
in Port Arthur, Texas. Over the past several years, Total Petrochemical's sprawling oil refinery in
southeast Texas has sprayed tons of sulfuric acid and carbon monoxide into the sky. The French
company's 62-year-old facility has also released cancer-causing benzene, regularly surpassed
allowable pollution limits, failed to report dozens of emissions and how much. Total is the most heavily
fined polluter in Texas in the 2009 fiscal year, according to the year-end report summarizing how
companies were punished in the state that produces the most industrial pollution. (AP Photo/David J.
Phillip)

As a result of this, our climate is changing, our weather is more extreme, ice
sheets and glaciers are melting and sea levels are rising," Jarraud added.
Methane in the atmosphere reached a new high in 2012, peaking at
about 1819 parts per billion. About 60 percent of methane is produced by
human activities, while the other 40 percent comes from natural sources.As
concerning as they are, these numbers do not paint the full picture of the
impact of greenhouse gases, because they only account for about half of the

Crossings Christian School 2013

Global Warming Impact Defense

greenhouse gases emitted. The other half ends up in the biosphere and the
oceans.

Greenhouse gas volumes reached new high in 2012 WMO

Tom Miles 12
http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/11/06/environment-greenhouse-idINDEE9A507520131106Thomas J.
Miles writes primarily in the areas of criminal justice and judicial behavior. His most recent articles on
criminal law are a study of judicial review of Title III wiretaps, entitled Racial Disparities in Wiretap
Applications before Federal Judges, Journal of Legal Studies (2013), and a study of the immigration
enforcement program Secure Communities, entitled Policing Immigration, University of Chicago Law
Review (2013) (co-authored with Professor Adam B. Cox). His most recent article on judicial behavior
is The Laws Delay: A Test of the Mechanisms of Judicial Peer Effects, Journal of Legal Analysis
(2012). He has also recently written two articles with Professors Steven Levitt and Andrew Rosenfield
on the legality of poker: Is Texas Hold Em a Game of Chance? A Legal and Economic Analysis,
Georgetown Law Journal (forthcoming 2013) and The Role of Skill versus Luck: Evidence from the
World Series of Poker, Journal of Sports Economics (2012). Miles currently teaches first-year criminal
law, federal criminal law, and securities regulation. He has previously taught tort law, economic
analysis of law, and empirical law & economics, and in 2009, he received the Graduating Students
Award for Teaching Excellence. Miles received a B.A. from Tufts University, a Ph.D. in economics from
the University of Chicago, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He was a law clerk to the Hon. Jay S.
Bybee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. From 2005 to 2013, Miles was an editor of the
Journal of Legal Studies.

"For all these major greenhouse gases the concentrations are reaching once
again record levels," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud told a news
conference in Geneva at which he presented the U.N. climate agency's
annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin .
Jarraud said the accelerating trend was driving climate change, making it
harder to keep global warming to within 2 degrees Celsius, a target agreed at
a Copenhagen summit in 2009.
"This year is worse than last year, 2011. 2011 was worse than 2010," he
said. "Every passing year makes the situation somewhat more difficult to
handle, it makes it more challenging to stay under this symbolic 2 degree
global average."

Crossings Christian School 2013