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Scientific Basis
Of Climate
Change
The environmental
problems of the 21st century are increasingly recognized as
global issues. The impacts that humans, especially those in
industrialized countries, have on their local, national, and
international environments can no longer be ignored.
Activities from fossil fuel burning to deforestation result in
increased greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide and
methane.
These gasses become
trapped in the stratosphere (glossary) which acts as our tiny
planet's energy sink, or escape valve.
When these
greenhouse gasses accumulate they allow light to pass through
to Earth where it warms the planet and cycles back to the
stratosphere to leave, where it gets trapped. Instead of
escaping, it re-circulates, warming the Earth.
Accumulation
of GHGs in the atmospheric window has critical impacts,
because all life on Earth depends on using it as a release for
energy. That is why Climate Action Network has organized a
diversified network of over 285 Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGOs) that represent both big and small interests, concerns
of both the industrialized North and industrializing South to
collaboratively push for strong international regulation of
greenhouse gas (GHG) emission.
Links and References
The Office of Global
Programs (OGP) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration sponsors scientific research on climate
variability and predictability. Researchers coordinate
activities that jointly contribute to improved predictions and
assessments of climate variability over time. To get up to
date information on scientific findings regarding climate
change visit:
http://www.ogp.noaa.gov/
Carbon Dioxide
Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) responds to data and
information requests from users from all over the world
who are concerned with the greenhouse effect and global
climate change.
http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/cdiac/
The EPA tells us
the rate at which GHGs are being emitted and what sources
they are emanating from.
http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/emissions/
Environmental
Defense's fact sheet entitled: Global Warming: The History
of an International Scientific Consensus is an invaluable
source of information on the evidence of climate change
find it at:
http://www.environmentaldefense.org/pubs/FactSheets/d_GWFact.html
More
background information on the science of climate change can be
obtained from the info kit on climate change from the
United Nations Foundation on Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC)
secretariat.
http://www.unep.ch/iuc/submenu/infokit/faccont1.htm
Basic information on
the science of climate change from the Intergovernmental
Planel on Climate Change IPCC web site, in a clear and
manageable format is available from
http://www.gcrio.org/ipcc/qa/cover.html
Greenpeace
includes information from frequently asked questions to
specific information on desertification and coral reefs.
http://www.greenpeace.org/~climate/science/index.htmlreenpeace
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