The extension of the CLAMER project to include respondents in the Republic of Ireland was co-sponsored by the Marine Institute, the Environment Protection Agency and the Heritage Council of Ireland.
...This brochure summarises the results of the recent EU-funded CLAMER Survey on public awareness of climate change impacts on marine and coastal environments. In identifying specific Irish concerns, and comparing them with corresponding European views, we can learn a lot about Irish perspectives, awareness and concerns. This in turn can guide the regulatory authorities and research community in communicating more effectively with the public about coping with climate change.
This book sheds light on how global warming has caused the ongoing environmental disaster in the Arctic, namely its melting. This development, if left unabated, will have a major negative ...environmental impact, not only on the Arctic itself, but on the entire planet, including the worsening of global warming and rising sea levels. The latter is a major threat to all island countries and all countries having coastlines with open seas with major environmental, social, economic, political and military/security implications. The Arctic melting is bringing about challenges while opening doors for certain opportunities. These are the accessibility of the region's large oil, gas and coal reserves and minerals, including rare earth elements. They are in demand both in the Arctic littoral states (Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Norway, Russia and USA) and the Greater Arctic countries (Iceland, Finland and Sweden) as well as in other parts of the world. In particular, major oil and gas importers (China, India, Japan and South Korea) are interested in the Arctic energy resources, the main non-regional countries with a capability to engage in the region. The obvious importance of the regional energy and mineral resources makes the division of the region among the regional countries crucial. The melting of the Arctic ice will also lead to the availability for at least a few months a year of a Northern Sea Route and a Northwest Passage connecting Europe to North America and the North-Eastern part of Asia. The importance of these northern routes and the Arctic mineral and energy resources is contributing to a growing military presence of mainly the USA and Russia in this region, which could lead to an arms race. This book offers invaluable insights on the issues that have grave implications for energy security and geopolitics in the arctic.
The paper reviews the climatic changes that took place during the Quaternary, in particular those of the Holocene, including the historical time. It is claimed that a rapid (even exponential) ...increase in the content of man-made greenhouse gases (of which CO^sub 2^ is the most important) in the atmosphere may have grave consequences for human society, such as a rise in the see level, desertification processes on a large scale, with ensuing water shortages, biological mass extinctions, many more violent meteorological phenomena, etc. A large group of scientists claimed that mathematical-statistical models predicted tremely alarming worldwide events and proceeded to popularize such consequences of global warming, emphasizing their catastrophic impact upon planet Earth and, especially, upon human society. Strong measures to counteract these man-made climatic changes were recommended. It is concluded that skepticism is a healthy scientific position and that alarmist and confrontational view points are not helpful in an ongoing discussion and, thus, a moderate and reasonable approach is recommended.
The World's Beaches Orrin H. Pilkey, William J. Neal, James Andrew Graham Cooper, Joseph T. Kelley
2011
eBook
Take this book to the beach; it will open up a whole new world. Illustrated throughout with color photographs, maps, and graphics, it explores one of the planet's most dynamic environments—from ...tourist beaches to Arctic beaches strewn with ice chunks to steaming hot tropical shores. The World's Beaches tells how beaches work, explains why they vary so much, and shows how dramatic changes can occur on them in a matter of hours. It discusses tides, waves, and wind; the patterns of dunes, washover fans, and wrack lines; and the shape of berms, bars, shell lags, cusps, ripples, and blisters. What is the world's longest beach? Why do some beaches sing when you walk on them? Why do some have dark rings on their surface and tiny holes scattered far and wide? This fascinating, comprehensive guide also considers the future of beaches, and explains how extensively people have affected them—from coastal engineering to pollution, oil spills, and rising sea levels.
Low carbon, high growth Torre, Augusto de la; Fajnzylber, Pablo; Nash, John D
2009, 2009-01-01
Book
Odprti dostop
Based on analysis of recent data on the
evolution of global temperatures, snow and ice covers, and
sea level rise, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) has recently declared that ..."warming of
the climate system is unequivocal." Global surface
temperatures, in particular, have increased during the past
50 years at twice the speed observed during the first half
of the 20th century. The IPCC has also concluded that with
95 percent certainty the main drivers of the observed
changes in the global climate have been anthropogenic
increases in greenhouse gases (GHG). While the greenhouse
effect is a natural process without which the planet would
probably be too cold to support life, most of the increase
in the overall concentration of GHGs observed since the
industrial revolution has been the result of human
activities, namely the burning of fossil fuels, changes in
land use (conversion of forests into agricultural land), and
agriculture (the use of nitrogen fertilizers and live stock
related methane emissions).
Driving into the Flood Armony, Ariel C; Portes, Alejandro
Global Edge,
09/2018
Book Chapter
This chapter considers the problems of traffic congestion and rising sea levels plaguing Miami. Traffic congestion has become the major immediate problem in Miami, and the urgency to alleviate it is ...heard daily and at all levels of government and citizen groups. The root causes of the problem are sustained population growth and endless high-rise construction in the condominium canyons of Miami Beach, downtown Miami, and other areas. Rising sea levels also represent an existential threat. Aside from the limestone underneath, the area is bound by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Florida Bay to the south, and the Everglades to the west. There is nowhere to run. The chapter discusses the four solutions proposed so far to this looming threat: denial, technology, infrastructure above the sea, and exodus.
Introduction
Saving the Wild South,
10/2021
Book Chapter
We live in a moment when the southeastern United States, one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, is on the edge of redefinition. In only a few decades, we stand to lose a number of the ...natural features that have been a source of our identity and good fortune as a region and a people. Already, many of the South’s most unusual wild plants have been reduced to small, disconnected patches of land where they can thrive undisturbed. With the effects of global temperature change and rising sea levels, they may yet be lost. This book tells the stories of a dozen such plants, already recognized as threatened or endangered by climate change, commercial development, poaching, and plant blindness.
Depuis que la planète existe, avec ou sans humains, elle est confrontée à des bouleversements. La Terre a subi des bouleversements ayant entrainé de grandes perturbations de la vie et même des ...extinctions de masse. Cependant, l’Homme est, jusqu’à présent, le seul organisme vivant qui modifie de façon conséquente l’environnement et accélère les modifications du climat. Nos activités, à partir de l’ère industrielle, ont entraîné une augmentation rapide des concentrations mondiales de gaz à effet de serre (GES) tels que le dioxyde de carbone, le méthane et le protoxyde d’azote, responsables du réchauffement. De ce fait, l’Homme est un accélérateur du changement climatique et c’est pourquoi la période actuelle s’appelle l’anthropocène. Le dernier rapport du GIEC (2023) précise que les impacts du changement climatique vont s’accentuer au fur et à mesure du réchauffement mondial. Cela concerne : les extrêmes de températures, l’intensité des précipitations, la sévérité des sécheresses, l’augmentation en fréquence et intensité des évènements climatiques rares, l’accélération de la fonte du permafrost, de la glace de mer en Arctique, des glaciers de montagne et des calottes glaciaires du Groenland et de l’Antarctique. L’ensemble de la planète est concernée par ces modifications du climat dont l’Océan, qui est un régulateur du climat, absorbe la chaleur et une partie du CO2 présent dans l’atmosphère. Mais les émissions de GES entraînent des changements conséquents sur son fonctionnement : réchauffement, acidification, désoxygénation, perturbation de la circulation thermohaline, etc. Ces modifications provoquent un lot de catastrophes impactant l’ensemble des populations : submersion marine, « hammam » équatorial, salinisation des sols, baisse des ressources, disette, voire famine, augmentation des germes et agents pathogènes, réfugiés climatiques, déstabilisation économique, sociale, politique. S’il existe des mesures d’adaptation pouvant réduire les risques pour les populations et les écosystèmes – systèmes d’alerte précoce, amélioration de l’irrigation, agro-écologie, solutions fondées sur la nature, il est indispensable, comme le recommande le GIEC, de s’attaquer aux causes, c’est-à-dire de réduire drastiquement les émissions de GES : « pour limiter le réchauffement à 1,5°C, d’ici à 2050 ».
Since the planet exists, with or without humans, it has faced upheavals, and has undergone disruptions resulting in major disturbances to life and even mass extinctions. However, humans are, so far, the only living organism significantly altering the environment and accelerating climate change. Our activities, since the industrial era, have led to a rapid increase in global concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, responsible for warming. Humans are thus the accelerators of climate change which is why the current period is called the Anthropocene. The latest IPCC report (2023) specifies that the environmental impacts of climate change will increase as global warming progresses. This includes extreme temperatures, precipitation intensity, severity of droughts, increased frequency and intensity of rare climatic events, accelerated melting of permafrost, of Arctic sea ice, of mountain glaciers and of Greenland and Antarctic ice cap. The entire planet is affected by these climate changes, including the Ocean, which is a climate regulator, absorbing heat and part of the CO2 present in the atmosphere. But GHG emissions lead to significant changes in Ocean functioning: warming, acidification, deoxygenation, disruption of thermohaline circulation… These changes cause a series of disasters impacting all populations: marine flooding, equatorial “hammam”, soil salinization, decrease in resources, poor food supply or even famine, increased germs and pathogens, climatic refugees, economic, social and political destabilization. If adaptation measures exist and may reduce the risks for populations and ecosystems, such as early warning systems, improved irrigation, agro-ecology, nature-based solutions, it is however essential, as recommended by the IPCC, to tackle the root causes, i.e. to drastically reduce GHG emissions: “to limit warming to 1.5°C, by 2050”.
