n The Arctic icecap is melting, and quickly. By summer’s end in 2007, a record-setting year, the northernmost continent, which moderates air and water temperatures for the whole planet, contained 25 percent less ice than the year before. As of this writ- ing, the 2010 melt was outpacing that of 2007.
n The Earth’s hydrological cycles are undergoing a dramatic shift. Because warm air holds more water vapor than cold, the general atmosphere is about 5 percent moister than it was 40 years ago. This means more evaporation, hence more drought, in arid areas. But on the rest of a planet, where
what goes up must come down— we’re witnessing extraordinary increases in flooding. This year, for ex- ample, we’ve seen record (and lethal) rainstorms in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Arkansas, just within the 1.5 per- cent of the planet’s surface comprised by the continental United States.
n Overall, temperatures are rising to near unbearable levels as that single degree average increase on the ther- mometer reverberates in savage heat waves. This past spring, India experi- enced weeks of record temperatures that beat anything recorded since the British started measuring them in the early 1800s. Early this summer, seven nations smashed all-time temperature records. In Burma, the mercury set a new all-time record for Southeast Asia, at 118 degrees. In June, Pakistan went on to establish a new benchmark for the highest temperature ever recorded at any time, anywhere in Asia, of 129 degrees.
All of this is due to a single de- gree of global temperature increase. The climatologists have warned us that if the United States, China and other countries don’t make a super-swift transition from the use of coal and oil, the world’s collective temperature will climb something like five degrees be- fore the century is out. If one degree melts the Arctic icecap, we don’t want to see what five degrees looks like. So, that’s the bad news. Here’s
the good news. PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT October 2010 29
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