In Perspective - Carbon Dioxide - Part 2

Over the last two weeks I have had a lively discussion about CO2 via email with a local reader. What has been unfortunate is that the reader was confused between the political rhetoric and the science behind climate change. Even today as the temperature drops into the single digits it might be hard to see climate change. But climate change is not about a single day or week or about a single town or area. It is a global phenomenon that impacts some areas more than others much like it is the weather impacting some areas more than others. There are a couple of points that need to be made here. The effected areas are expanding and it the trend is continuing to rise. Climate change is a long term event and can not be discussed just as what is happening today but over a year and a decade.

I try to write from a local perspective, how things affect us here. How is it that Fulton, NY receives so much snow in the midst of climate change? Well, the waters of the Great lakes are not freezing over as quickly as in the past. The open lake water allows for the “lake effect” snow. At the beginning of the year there was an article (Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies) that pointed out that Adirondack lake ice has been thinning over the last three decades. While the warming of the air is the major focus in climate change discussion, the warming of the rivers, lakes and oceans is more of a concern. On January 10, there was an article about the Persian Gulf warming about 1.3 degrees F. every decade for the last 30 years. The Goddard Institute for Space Studies published data showing that the ocean temperatures around the world, in 2009, were the warmest since measuring started in 1880 (http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/).

So to put this in perspective, it takes .018 btu to raise one cubic foot of air 1 degree F. While it will take well more than 10 btu to warm the same amount of water. Everyone knows that 70% of the earth is made up of water and it takes a thousand times more energy to warm water as to warm air. So the oceans are the real heat sink in the climate change discussion. They are also the largest factor that influences weather around the world.

Another issue that relates to the oceans is that CO2 reacts in water and creates carbonic acid and is called ocean acidification. The ph level of our water sources is becoming more acidic. This is different from acid rain but has a similar effect. Marine biologists have discovered that acidification has affected coral reefs as well as crustaceans and molluscs.

One of the issues that the reader also brought up was the liberal conspiracy that is perpetuating a hoax on the American public. In Australia, where climate change is setting records almost weekly, it is the conservatives that trying to do something about climate change. But it is even more diverse than that. China has passed major legislation on climate change. Russia has published major studies on the impacts of climate change. African nations are crying foul as their countries are suffering wildfires and drought that are unprecedented. South America has also seen drought and forest fires. Every continent on the planet have seen glaciers shrink over the last 50 years. If it is a liberal conspiracy, it is very widespread, but where are the documents and conspirators?