Climate Crisis: Louisiana, Bill Nye, & Record Temperatures
Think It’s Hot Now? Just Wait
July wasn’t just hot - it was the hottest month ever recorded, according to NASA. And this year is likely to be the hottest year on record.
Fourteen of the 15 hottest years have occurred since 2000, as heat waves have become more frequent, more intense and longer lasting. A study in the journal Nature Climate Change last year found that three of every four daily heat extremes can be tied to global warming.
This map provides a glimpse of our future if nothing is done to slow climate change. By the end of the century, the number of 100-degree days will skyrocket, making working or playing outdoors unbearable, and sometimes deadly. The effects on our health, air quality, food and water supplies will get only worse if we don’t drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions right away.
These calculations by Climate Central are based on projections by the World Climate Research Programme that assume that greenhouse gas emission trends will continue unabated through 2100. Daily maximum values for the average of the years 1991 to 2010 are based on meteorological data compiled by Ed Maurer at Santa Clara University.
Heidi Cullen is the chief scientist for Climate Central, an environmental research group, and the author of “The Weather of the Future.”
Graphics by Tim Wallace and Bill Marsh
NYT Source
Bill Nye: Climate change is reason for Louisiana floods
. @BillNye: Louisiana's eroding coastline "is a result of climate change, it's only going to get worse" https://t.co/wkzL5hAWJl
- New Day (@NewDay) August 23, 2016
As Louisiana tries to dry out and start rebuilding after last week's catastrophic flooding, Bill Nye has an ominous message: It's going to happen again.
"This is a result of climate change," Nye told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day" Tuesday. "It's only going to get worse."
The unprecedented floods damaged more than 60,000 homes and killed 13 people. But because the flooding was caused by smaller individual storms, it didn't attract the attention and response that larger storms -- such as hurricanes Sandy, Katrina or Rita -- garnered.
Nye said due to the effects of climate change, the region will be hit again by these smaller storms and suffer more catastrophic floods.
"As the ocean gets warmer, which it is getting, it expands," he explained. "And then as the sea surface is warmer, more water evaporates. And so it's very reasonable that these storms are connected to these big effects."
Lost lives and damaged homes won't be the only tragic effects, either. The storms will be just as devastating in the long-term.
"What will probably happen is people will move," Nye said.
If enough people leave, the population loss would be a huge detriment to Louisiana's economy. It took more than five years for the state's population to return to the level it was before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
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DO NOT READ THE TWITTER COMMENTS UNLESS YOU WANT TO GO TO JAIL TODAY.
CNN Article Source
The Solutions Project is a group that is pushing for 100% renewable energy. Check them out. Think about your own carbon footprint and what you can do to step up your game-- from recycling & composting to buying electric vehicles or installing solar.
July wasn’t just hot - it was the hottest month ever recorded, according to NASA. And this year is likely to be the hottest year on record.
Fourteen of the 15 hottest years have occurred since 2000, as heat waves have become more frequent, more intense and longer lasting. A study in the journal Nature Climate Change last year found that three of every four daily heat extremes can be tied to global warming.
This map provides a glimpse of our future if nothing is done to slow climate change. By the end of the century, the number of 100-degree days will skyrocket, making working or playing outdoors unbearable, and sometimes deadly. The effects on our health, air quality, food and water supplies will get only worse if we don’t drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions right away.
These calculations by Climate Central are based on projections by the World Climate Research Programme that assume that greenhouse gas emission trends will continue unabated through 2100. Daily maximum values for the average of the years 1991 to 2010 are based on meteorological data compiled by Ed Maurer at Santa Clara University.
Heidi Cullen is the chief scientist for Climate Central, an environmental research group, and the author of “The Weather of the Future.”
Graphics by Tim Wallace and Bill Marsh
NYT Source
Bill Nye: Climate change is reason for Louisiana floods
. @BillNye: Louisiana's eroding coastline "is a result of climate change, it's only going to get worse" https://t.co/wkzL5hAWJl
- New Day (@NewDay) August 23, 2016
As Louisiana tries to dry out and start rebuilding after last week's catastrophic flooding, Bill Nye has an ominous message: It's going to happen again.
"This is a result of climate change," Nye told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day" Tuesday. "It's only going to get worse."
The unprecedented floods damaged more than 60,000 homes and killed 13 people. But because the flooding was caused by smaller individual storms, it didn't attract the attention and response that larger storms -- such as hurricanes Sandy, Katrina or Rita -- garnered.
Nye said due to the effects of climate change, the region will be hit again by these smaller storms and suffer more catastrophic floods.
"As the ocean gets warmer, which it is getting, it expands," he explained. "And then as the sea surface is warmer, more water evaporates. And so it's very reasonable that these storms are connected to these big effects."
Lost lives and damaged homes won't be the only tragic effects, either. The storms will be just as devastating in the long-term.
"What will probably happen is people will move," Nye said.
If enough people leave, the population loss would be a huge detriment to Louisiana's economy. It took more than five years for the state's population to return to the level it was before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Tweet Source
DO NOT READ THE TWITTER COMMENTS UNLESS YOU WANT TO GO TO JAIL TODAY.
CNN Article Source
The Solutions Project is a group that is pushing for 100% renewable energy. Check them out. Think about your own carbon footprint and what you can do to step up your game-- from recycling & composting to buying electric vehicles or installing solar.