Participants in the Serve to Preserve summit on global warming convened by Gov. Charlie Crist in Miami have been throwing around a lot of scary statistics about the environment. In the interest of helping everyone feel as terrified about the environment as I do, here are some stats to start your day:
- There is a 90 percent chance that heat-trapping pollution is the main factor in warming since 1950.
- The earth will warm an additional 4-11 degrees F during the 21st century if energy production remains fossil-fuel intensive (best estimate is 7 degrees).
- The earth will warm an additional 3-8 degrees F during this century if emissions follow a mid-range forecast (best estimate 5 degrees)
- Sea levels will rise seven to 23 inches during the 21st century, assuming no acceleration of ice flow in Greenland and Antarctica, but could rise 20 to 55 inches in this century if other bad stuff happens
- Greenland and Antarctica are discharging 90 cubic miles of water per year
- We have released a trillion tons of carbon into the atmosphere in the past 150 years; if we don’t change our ways, we’ll put another trillion tons of carbon into the atmosphere in the next 20 years
Happy Friday!
