GLOBAL WARMING

INTRODUCTION
Global warming is a gradual process of heating of earths surface and whole
environment including oceans, ice caps, etc. The global rise in atmospheric temperature
has been clearly noticed in the recent years. According to the Environmental Protection
Agency, in the past century there is increase in the earths surface average temperature
by around 1.4 degree Fahrenheit (means 0.8 degrees Celsius). It has also been estimated
that global temperature may increase by another 2 to 11.5 degrees F in the next century.
GLOBAL WARMING AND ITS IMPACTS ON CLIMATE OF INDIA
Global warming is for real. Every scientist knows that now, and we are on our way to the
destruction of every species on earth, if we don't pay attention and reverse our course.
-

Theodore C. Sorensen

Global warming is the talk of the town in this century, with its detrimental effects
already being brought to limelight by the recurring events of massive floods, annihilating
droughts and ravaging cyclones throughout the globe. The average global temperatures are
higher than they have ever been during the past millennium, and the levels of CO2 in the
atmosphere have crossed all previous records. A scrutiny of the past records of 100 years
indicates that India figures in the first 10 in the world in terms of fatalities and economic losses
in a variety of climatic disasters.
Before embarking on a detailed analysis of Global warming and its impacts on Indian
climate, we should first know what climate, green house effect and global warming actually
mean.

CLIMATE
The climate is defined as the general or average weather conditions of a certain region,
including temperature, rainfall, and wind. The earths climate is most affected by latitude, the
tilt of the Earth's axis, the movements of the Earth's wind belts, and the difference in
temperatures of land and sea, and topography. Human activity, especially relating to actions
relating to the depletion of the ozone layer, is also an important factor. The climate system is a
complex, interactive system consisting of the atmosphere, land surface, snow and ice, oceans and
other bodies of water, and living things.

CAUSES OF GLOBAL WARMING

There are many causes of the global warming, some are natural causes and some
are human made causes. The most important cause of global warming is greenhouse
gases which are generated by some natural processes as well as human activities. The
increase in the level of green house gases has been seen in the 20 th century because of
the

increasing

population,

economy

and

use

of

energy.

Increasing

demand

of

industrialization in the modern world to fulfill almost each need is causing the release of
variety of green house gases through many industrial processes in the atmosphere.
The release of carbon dioxide (CO2) and sulphur dioxide (SO2) gas has been
increased in the recent years by 10-fold. The release of carbon dioxide gas varies
according to the natural and industrial processes including photosynthesis and oxidation
cycles. Methane is another green house gas release in the atmosphere by the anaerobic
decomposition of organic materials. Other greenhouse gases are like oxides of nitrogen
(nitrous

oxide),

halocarbons,

chlorofluorocarbons

(CFCs),

chlorine

and

bromine

compounds, etc. Such green house gases get collected to the atmosphere and disturb the
radiative balance of atmosphere. They have capability to absorb heat radiations and cause
warming of the earth surface.

Another cause of global warming is ozone depletion means declination of ozone

layer over Antarctica. Ozone layer is declining day by day by increasing release of
chlorofluorocarbon

gas.

It

is

human

generated

cause

of

global

warming.

Chlorofluorocarbon gas is used at many places as aerosol propellants in the industrial

cleaning fluids and in the refrigerators, the gradual release of which causes declination to
the ozone layer in the atmosphere.
Ozone layer causes protection to the earth surface by inhibiting the harmful sun
rays to coming to the earth. However, gradually declining ozone layer is the big
indication of increasing global warming of the earth surface. Harmful ultraviolet sun rays
are entering to the biosphere and get absorbed by the green houses gases which
ultimately increase the global warming. According to the statistics, it has been estimated
that the size of ozone hole has been twice the size of Antarctica (more than 25 million
km2) by 2000. There is no any clear trend of ozone layer declination in the winter or
summer seasons.
Presence of various aerosols in the atmosphere is also causing earths surface
temperature to increase. Atmospheric aerosols are fully capable to scatter (causes cooling
to the planet) and absorb (makes air warm) the solar and infrared radiations. They are
also capable to change the microphysical and chemical properties of the clouds and
possibly their lifetime and extent. The increasing amount of aerosols in the atmosphere is
because of human contribution. Dust is produced by agriculture, organic droplets and
soot particles are produced by biomass burning, and aerosols are produced by the
industrial processes through the burning of wide variety of products in the manufacturing
process. Various emissions by means of transport generate different pollutants which get
converted to the aerosols through many chemical reactions in the atmosphere.

EFFECT OF GLOBAL WARMING ON THE EARTHS CLIMATE

The effects of global warming have been very clear in the recent years because
of increasing sources of global warming. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, it has
been recorded that there were 150 glaciers located in the Montanas Glacier National

Park however because of increasing effect of global warming, only 25 glaciers are left.
Huge level climate changes are making hurricanes more dangerous and powerful. Natural
storms are getting so strong by taking energy from temperature difference (of cold upper
atmosphere and warm Tropical Ocean). Year 2012 has been recorded as hottest year
since 1895 and year 2013 together with 2003 as the warmest year since 1880.
Global warming causes lot of climate changes in the atmosphere such as
increasing summer season, decreasing winter season, increasing temperature, changes in
air circulation patterns, jet stream, rain without season, melting ice caps, declining ozone
layer, occurrence of heavy storms, cyclones, flood, drought, and so many effects.
Detailed researches of climatic events of the past 150 years have revealed that the
temperatures have risen all over the globe, with the warming occurring in two phases. The first
phase was from 1919 to 1940, with an average temperature gain of 0.35C, and the second phase
was from 1970 to the present, exhibiting temperature gains of 0.55C. Records show that the past
25 years have been the warmest time of the past 5 centuries. The global warming has resulted in
the warming of the oceans, rising of the sea levels, melting of glaciers, and diminished snow
cover in the Northern Hemisphere.

GREEN HOUSE EFFECT

Green House effect is the phenomenon whereby the earth's atmosphere traps solar
radiation, and is mediated by the presence in the atmosphere of gases such as carbon dioxide,
water vapor, and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through, but absorb the heat
radiated back from the earth's surface. Thus the Green house gases (GHGs) provide a blanketing
effect in the lower strata of the earths atmosphere, and this blanketing effect is being enhanced
because of the human activities like burning of fossil fuels etc.

GREENHOUSE GASES
The most significant greenhouse gas is actually water vapor, not something
produced directly by humankind in significant amounts. However, even slight increases in
atmospheric levels of

carbon dioxide (CO2) can cause a substantial increase in

temperature.
There are two reasons:
First, although the concentrations of these gases are not nearly as large as that of
oxygen and nitrogen (the main constituents of the atmosphere), neither oxygen or
nitrogen are greenhouse gases. This is because neither has more than two atoms per
molecule (i.e. their molecular forms are O2 and N2, respectively), and so they lack the
internal vibrational modes that molecules with more than two atoms have. Both water
and CO2, for example, have these "internal vibrational modes", and these vibrational
modes can absorb and reradiate infrared radiation, which causes the greenhouse effect.
Secondly,

CO2 tends to remain in the atmosphere for a very long time (time

scales in the hundreds of years). Water vapor, on the other hand, can easily condense or
evaporate, depending on local conditions. Water vapor levels therefore tend to adjust
quickly to the prevailing conditions, such that the energy flows from the Sun and reradiation from the Earth achieve a balance. CO 2 tends to remain fairly constant and
therefore behave as a controlling factor, rather than a reacting factor. More CO 2 means
that the balance occurs at higher temperatures and water vapor levels.

IMPACTS OF GLOBAL WARMING ON THE CLIMATE OF INDIA

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PROFILE OF INDIA

India, the second most populous country of the world with a population over 1.2 billion,
is a large country in South Asia. India lies to the north of the equator between 6 44' and 35 30'
north latitude and 68 7' and 97 25' east longitude. It shares a coast line of 7517 km with the

Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. It has land boundaries with Pakistan,
China, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and Bangladesh.
The Indian economy is considered as one of the fastest growing major economies.
However, the country is plagued by the climatic disasters that continue to wreak havoc on its
economy. As a result, in spite of the leaping economical progress, the majority of the people of
India continue to live in poverty, with malnutrition and diseases corroding the society.

CLIMATE OF INDIA
Being such a huge country, India exhibits a wide diversity of temperatures; from the
freezing cold winters in the Himalayas to the scorching heat of the Thar Desert. The above two
regions play a very significant role in controlling the weather of India, making it warmer than to
be expected with its latitude. The Himalayas participate in this warming by preventing the cold
winds from blowing in, and the Thar desert attracts the summer monsoon winds, which are
responsible for making the majority of the monsoon season of India. However, the majority of
the regions can be considered climatically tropical.

MONSOON SEASON IN INDIA

The climate of India is dominated by the monsoon season, which is the most important
season of India, providing 80% of the annual rainfall. The season extends from June to
September with an average annual rainfall between 7501,500 mm across the region. The
monsoon of India is regarded as the most productive wet season on the earth.

SOLUTIONS OF GLOBAL WARMING

Many awareness programmes and programmes to reduce global warming have been run
and implemented by the government agencies, business leaders, private sectors, NGOs,
etc. Some of the damages through global warming cannot be returned by the solution

(like melting of ice caps). However, we should not get back and try everyones best to
reduce the effects of global warming by reducing the human causes of global warming.
We should try to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and adopt
some climate changes which are already happening for years. Instead of using electrical
energy we should try using clean energy or energy produced by solar system, wind and
geothermal. Reducing the level of coal and oil burning, use of transportation means, use
of electrical devices, etc may reduce the global warming to a great level.

INCREASED THE ATMOSPHERE'S CO2 CONCENTRATION

Human beings have increased the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere by about
thirty percent, which is an extremely significant increase, even on inter-glacial timescales.
It is believed that human beings are responsible for this because the increase is almost
perfectly correlated with increases in fossil fuel combustion, and also due other evidence,
such as changes in the ratios of different carbon isotopes in atmospheric CO 2 that are
consistent with "anthropogenic" (human caused) emissions. The simple fact is, that under
"business as usual" conditions, we'll soon reach carbon dioxide concentrations that haven't
been seen on Earth in the last 50 million years.
Combustion of Fossil Fuels, for electricity generation, transportation, and heating,
and also the manufacture of cement, all result in the total worldwide emission of about
22 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year. About a third of this
comes from electricity generation, and another third from transportation, and a third from
all other sources.
This enormous input of CO 2 is causing the atmospheric levels of CO 2 to rise
dramatically. The following graph shows the CO 2 levels over the past 160 thousand
years (the upper curve, with units indicated on the right hand side of the graph). The
current level, and projected increase over the next hundred years if we do not curb
emissions, are also shown (the part of the curve which goes way up high, to the right
of the current level, is the projected CO2 rise). The projected increase in CO 2 is very
startling and disturbing.

Temperature Changing

As everyone has heard from the media, recent years have consistently been the
warmest in hundreds and possibly thousands of years. But that might be a temporary
fluctuation, right? To see that it probably isn't, the next graph shows the average
temperature in the Northern Hemisphere as determined from many sources, carefully
combined, such as tree rings, corals, human records, etc.

These graphs show a very discernable warming trend, starting in about 1900. It
might seem a bit surprising that warming started as early as 1900. How is this possible?
The reason is that the increase in carbon dioxide actually began in 1800, following the
deforestation of much of Northeastern American and other forested parts of the world.
The sharp upswing in emissions during the industrial revolution further added to this,
leading to a significantly increased carbon dioxide level even by 1900.
Thus, we see that Global Warming is not something far off in the future - in fact it
predates almost every living human being today.
Temperature increase is caused by anthropogenic emissions
Computer models strongly suggest that this is the case. The following graphs show that
1) If only natural fluctuations are included in the models (such as the slight increase in
solar output that occurred in the first half of the 20th century), then the large warming
in the 20th century is not reproduced. 2) If only anthropogenic carbon emissions are
included, then the large warming is reproduced, but some of the variations, such as the

cooling period in the 1950s, is not reproduced (this cooling trend was thought to be
caused by sulfur dioxide emissions from dirty power plants). 3) When both natural and
anthropogenic emissions of all types are included, then the temperature evolution of the
20th century is well reproduced.

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)

In 1998, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established

by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), in recognition of the threat that global warming presents to the
world.

The IPCC is open to all members of the UNEP and WMO and consists of
several thousand of the most authoritative scientists in the world on climate change. The
role of the IPCC is to assess the scientific, technical and socio-economic information

relevant for the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change. It does not
carry out new research nor does it monitor climate related data. It bases its assessment
mainly on published and peer reviewed scientific technical literature.
The

IPCC

has

completed

two

assessment

reports,

developed

methodology

guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories, special reports and technical papers.
Results of the first assessment (1990--1994): confirmed scientific basis for global
warming but concluded that ``nothing to be said for certain yet''. The second assessment
(1995), concluded that `` ...the balance suggests a discernable human influence on global
climate'', and concluded that, as predicted by climate models, global temperature will
likely rise by about 1-3.5 Celsius by the year 2100. The next report, in 2000, suggested,
that the climate might warm by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 100
years, which would bring us back to a climate not seen since the age of the dinosaurs.
The most recent report, in 2001, concluded that "There is new and stronger evidence
that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human
activities".
Due to these assessments, debate has now shifted away from whether or not
global warming is going to occur to, instead, how much, how soon, and with what
impacts.

GLOBAL WARMING IMPACTS

Many of the following "harbingers" and "fingerprints" are now well under way:
Rising Seas--- inundation of fresh water marshlands (the everglades), low-lying cities, and
islands with seawater.
Changes in rainfall patterns --- droughts and fires in some areas, flooding in other areas.
See the section above on the recent droughts, for example!
Increased likelihood of extreme events--- such as flooding, hurricanes, etc.

Melting of the ice caps --- loss of habitat near the poles. Polar bears are now thought
to be greatly endangered by the shortening of their feeding season due to dwindling ice
packs.
Melting glaciers - significant melting of old glaciers is already observed.
Widespread vanishing of animal populations --- following widespread habitat loss.
Spread of disease --- migration of diseases such as malaria to new, now warmer, regions.
Bleaching of Coral Reefs due to warming seas and acidification due to carbonic acid
formation --- One third of coral reefs now appear to have been severely damaged by
warming seas.
Loss of Plankton due to warming seas --- The enormous (900 mile long) Aleution island
ecosystems of orcas (killer whales), sea lions, sea otters, sea urchins, kelp beds, and fish
populations, appears to have collapsed due to loss of plankton, leading to loss of sea
lions, leading orcas to eat too many sea otters, leading to urchin explosions, leading to
loss of kelp beds and their associated fish populations.

REDUCE EMISSIONS
In reality, we will need to work on all fronts - 10% here, 5% here, etc, and
work to phase in new technologies, such as hydrogen technology, as quickly as possible.
To satisfy the Kyoto protocol, developed countries would be required to cut back their
emissions by a total of 5.2 % between 2008 and 2012 from 1990 levels. Specifically,
the US would have to reduce its presently projected 2010 annual emissions by 400
million tons of CO2 . One should keep in mind though, that even Kyoto would only go
a little ways towards solving the problem. In reality, much more needs to be done.

The most promising sector for near term reductions is widely thought to be coalfired electricity. Wind power, for example, can make substantial cuts in these emissions
in the near term, as can energy efficiency, and also the increased use of high efficiency
natural gas generation.
The potential impact of efficiency should not be underestimated: A 1991 report to
Congress by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Policy Implications of Greenhouse
Warming, found that the U.S. could reduce current emissions by 50 percent at zero cost
to the economy as a result of full use of cost-effective efficiency improvements.

DISCUSSING GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

Here is a useful list of facts and ideas:
Given the strong scientific consensus, the onus should now be on the producers of CO 2
emissions to show that there is not a problem, if they still even attempt to make that
claim. Its time to acknowledge that we are, at very least, conducting a very dangerous
experiment with Earth's climate.
A direct look at the data itself is very convincing and hard to argue with. Ask a
skeptical person to look at the data above. The implications are obvious.
The recent, record-breaking warm years are unprecedented and statistically significant. It
is a fact that they are very statistically unlikely to be a fluctuation (and now we can
point to specific side effects from those warm temperatures that appear to have induced
recent worldwide drought).
Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, whether or not you believe in global warming per
se, the fact remains that the carbon dioxide levels are rising dramatically --- there is no
debate about this. If we continue to use fossil fuels in the way we presently do, then
the amount of carbon we will release will soon exceed the amount of carbon in the
living biosphere. This is bound to have very serious, very negative effects, some of

which, such as lowering the pH of the ocean such that coral cannot grow, are already
well known.
Response of Government: Develop "Carbon Sequestration" Technology
Many government agencies around the world are very interested in maintaining fossil
fuel use, especially coal. It should be noted that US energy use, which is enormous, is
increasing, not decreasing. Furthermore, we are not going to run out of coal in the near
term (oil may begin to run low sometime after 2010). Methods for reducing carbon
emission levels while still burning coal are now investigation by government and
industry, as we now discuss.
We believe that a major increase in renewable energy use should be achieved to help
offset global warming. While there are some US government programs aimed in this
direction, there is simply not enough money being spent yet to achieve this goal in a
timely manner. A primary goal of many new programs is not to increase renewables, but
rather, is to find ways to capture the extra CO2 from electricity generation plants and
"sequester" it in the ground, the ocean, or by having plants and soil organisms absorb
more of it from the air.
Possible Problems with Carbon "Sequestration"
One of the Carbon sequestration approaches under investigation is the possibility of
depositing CO2 extracted from emission streams in large pools on the Ocean bottom. It is
possible that such pools will not be stable, and may either erupt to the surface, or
diffuse into the ocean and alter the oceans pH.
Another scheme under investigation is the idea of stimulating phytoplankton growth on
the ocean surface by dusting the surface with iron (the limiting nutrient). This will cause
an increased uptake of carbon by the plankton, part of which will find its way to the
ocean bottom. Fishing companies are considering using this to increase fish harvests
while simultaneously getting credit for carbon sequestration. Serious ecological disruptions
could occur, however, especially if this approach is conducted on a sufficiently large
scale.

Another idea is to stimulate Earth's terrestrial ecosystems to take up more carbon

dioxide. While the impacts here are more difficult to ascertain, an important point to
note is that these systems are not thought to be able to completely absorb all the extra
CO2 . At best, they may be sufficient to help the US stabilize carbon emission rates for
a few decades, but even if this is achieved, stabilization of rates are not likely to return
the Earth to pre-industrial carbon levels. Worse, biological feedbacks to global warming,
such as forest fires, drying soils, rotting permafrost, etc, may actually greatly accelerate
carbon emissions, i.e. we may experience massive carbon de-sequestration.
Another major approach under consideration is to pump CO 2 into old oil and gas
wells. While seemingly attractive, it must be kept in mind that for this to be truly
effective, it would have to be done on a world wide scale, include many sources of CO2
, including many sources which are presently small and widely distributed (such as car
emissions, and not just coal plant emissions). All of this CO 2 would need to be
captured, transported, injected into old wells, and then the wells would need to be sealed
and monitored. It is not clear that this would be affordable at all, and that there would
be adequate capacity or assurance that CO2 would not leak out in massive quantities.
In the worst case scenario, carbon sequestration efforts may simply fail, but also
end up being a political tool that is used to seriously delay a transition to renewable
energy sources, and also possibly create many new environmental problems problems
while prolonging old ones.
In the best case scenario, given the truly enormous amount of CO 2 we are
presently emitting, some sequestration approaches may serve as a useful bridge to
curbing emissions while the transition to renewables is being made.

SEA-LEVEL RISE
Global warming has a few major effects on the oceans. As water gets warmer, it
expands. And as glaciers and ice caps in places like Greenland and Antarctica melt, they
add water to the ocean. That all causes sea levels to go up.
Global average sea levels have risen roughly 19 centimeters (7.5 inches) since the 19th
century, after 2,000 years of relatively little change. The rate of sea-level rise has
continued to increase in recent decades:

Exactly how high sea levels will rise in the future depends on how greenhouse gas
emissions rise and how the world warms. This IPCC chart shows future projections
under a low-emissions scenario (in blue) and a high-emissions scenario (in red):

Low emissions: We've already warmed the planet enough to heat and expand the oceans
and lock in some melting of land ice. So even if we do reduce emissions, we can still
expect some additional sea-level rise in the decades ahead possibly half a meter (1.6
feet) by the end of the century, and continuing thereafter.
High emissions: If greenhouse gas emissions keep growing, however, sea-level rise gets
even more drastic. The IPCC is currently predicting up to 1 meter of sea-level rise (3.3
feet) by century's end if emissions keep growing unchecked. And the oceans would
continue to rise for centuries thereafter.
Effects: Rising sea levels are expected to increase the risk of flooding, storm surges, and
property damage in coastal cities and regions. One 2013 study inNature Climate Change
estimated that average annual losses from flooding in the world's biggest coastal cities
could rise from $6 billion per year today to $1 trillion per year by 2050. Cities could
build flood defenses such as levees, pumps, and movable barriers, but at a cost of
tens of billions of dollars per year.
Uneven rise: Sea levels also won't rise evenly everywhere. In some regions the land is
actually sinking, due to sediment erosion or freshwater pumping. In other regions, strong

wind and ocean currents can warp the waters and affect local sea levels. The melting of
the giant ice caps will also have odd gravitational effects.
OCEAN ACIDIFICATION
When humans burn fossil fuels, the oceans absorb roughly one-third of that additional
carbon dioxide. This process staves off (some) global warming, but it also makes the
seas more acidic, as the carbon dissolves in water to form carbonic acid. That's ocean
acidification.
Since the Industrial Revolution, the oceans have become 30 percent more acidic (that is,
the pH of ocean surface water has dropped from roughly 8.18 to 8.07). And that process
is expected to continue if humans continue emitting greenhouse gases, with the rate of
change expected to be the fastest in 300 million years.

More acidic seawater can chew away at coral reefs and kill oysters by making it
harder for them to form protective shells. Acidification can also interfere with the food
supply for key species like Alaska's salmon. One study in the journal Climatic Change
estimated that the loss of mollusks alone could cost the world as much as $100 billion
per year by the end of the century.

Scientists are still trying to understand exactly how acidification will affect different
species and the marine food chain, both through lab experiments and by looking at past
acidification events. About 55 million years ago, during thePaleocene-Eocene Thermal
Maximum, the oceans became warmer and more acidic. As a result, coral reefs became
scarcer and the food chain had difficulty supporting larger predators.

PREVENTION OF GLOBAL WARMING

Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb
(cfl) CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about
300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.We recommend you purchase your CFL bulbs at
1000bulbs.com, they have great deals on both screw-in and plug-in light bulbs.
Install a programmable thermostat Programmable thermostats will automatically
lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They
can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.
Move your thermostat down 2 in winter and up 2 in summer Almost half of the
energy we use in our homes goes to heating and cooling. You could save about 2,000
pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.
Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner Cleaning a dirty air
filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases Look for the
Energy Star label on new appliances to choose the most energy efficient products
available.
Do not leave appliances on standby Use the on/off function on the machine
itself. A TV set thats switched on for 3 hours a day (the average time Europeans spend
watching TV) and in standby mode during the remaining 21 hours uses about 40% of its
energy in standby mode.

Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket Youll save 1,000 pounds of
carbon dioxide a year with this simple action. You can save another 550 pounds per year
by setting the thermostat no higher than 50C.
CONCLUSION
Human-induced
barometers

of

global

warming that

warming
theory

is

proponents

myth.
put

Not

forth

as

one

of

the

key

evidence

has

been

proven true. The temperature has not rapidly increased as claimed by global warming
proponents, but has either decreased or remained unchanged. Since predicting a
temperature rise of 6 F over the next century, the UN's IPCC has repeatedly
downgraded its projected temperature increases to as little as 1 F while satellite data
show a cooling of .02 F since 1979. Likewise, the arctic isn't warming as all the global
warming climate models predicted, but is instead cooling. The claim that the world's
glaciers are melting has also been proven to be untrue, as many glaciers are expanding
and others receding due to other natural causes. Dire predictions that warming would
cause a precipitous rise in the ocean by as much as 7 to 10 feet have also been proven
incorrect, forcing scientists to downgrade their predictions of sea level rising just 15
inches. Evidence offered by leading scientists indicate that the modest sea level increase
is more like 7 inches per century and demonstrates that the increase is due to nonclimatic forces that Man has no power to influence. Clearly, the preponderance of
evidence keeps building against the global warming theory, making the upcoming
conference in Buenos Aires quite unnecessary. This conference was meant to follow up
on the 1997 Kyoto Conference where the United States and numerous other nations
agreed to make major reductions in their CO2 emissions to counter unnatural warming.
The Clinton Administration hopes to use Buenos Aires as a forum to continue that
momentum in an attempt to resuscitate the Kyoto treaty in an unreceptive Congress. But
one has to ask: If the predictions offered by global warming proponents have been
proved so consistently wrong, why should we start believing them now? The answer is
that we shouldn't.