We have all heard about climatic changes and each of these climatic changes causes changes in the earth, animal, vegetation, and quality of living. Every area of our life will be affected. Some of these changes are visible now and some are yet to be determined.

What we do know is that climatic changes will affect the food chain. In terms of agriculture many crops will become obsolete in certain areas of the world causing famines. However, many people scoff it off dissociating themselves with famines, droughts and the poor. Wealthier people do not foresee their life styles changing all that drastically, but global warming is just that, a global problem. Climatic changes do not distinguish between the rich and the poor, and will affect the cup of rice a day refugee as well as the wine connoisseur.

Global warming effects of climatic change will target light and dry wines. They will cease to exist on the market or be drastically changed in content and taste. Grapes are very sensitive to climate conditions. If the weather becomes too warm, the nature sugar content in grapes develop faster. Growers owning vineyards in California in the United States and France in Europe will be faced with a critical decision; to harvest the crops faster and therefore create a new flavor that will be so sickly sweet it will resemble the taste of jam, or leave the grapes on the vine longer risking a higher alcoholic content.

The climate changes have already hit the pinot grape. Imagine no more Pinot Noir? These thick-skinned grapes must grow in cooler temperatures. Growers in Oregon are seeing the affects of the sun on the pinot’s rich berry flavor.

The entire Bordeaux wine region of France may lose its lustrous qualities for producing this world famous wine. A life without Bordeaux might mean a life of boredom for some wine aficionados.

What is a good wine without a good dinner? However warming temperatures are depleting the wild Pacific salmon, and lobster populations. Escargot may become a thing of the past, and even your basic codfish dinner direct from the North Sea will become a distant memory. Many aquatic species are not adapting well to warmer waters.

While we whine about our wine around the Christmas tree to toast the festive occasion, we might have to whine about not having a traditional pine tree as well. Global warming effects are creating a breeding ground for pine bark beetles, which were once controlled by the frigid British Columbia weather. Now there populations are out of control, infesting the pine trees and killing them.

Wine is too rich for your taste you say, well how about some pretzels and beer? Your favorite bartender would offer you some complimentary mixed nuts but guess what, scientists are predicting a decline in walnut and California grown almonds. The crops are expected to yield a 20 percent decline in their harvest within the next four decades.

Somehow that refugee holding his daily ration of a cup of rice is not all that isolated after all. Food and beverage shortages affect all of us.

The cause of global warming is linked directly to greenhouse gas emissions, and these deadly gases stay within the earth’s atmosphere like a blanket of heat. The trapped gases are unable to escape into space therefore heating the planet and wrecking havoc along the way.

The first and most compelling effects of global warming is related to the rapid speed in which the surface of the Artic is changing: polar ice caps are melting at rapid speed, glaciers found in the far North and even in areas as far as Glacier National Park in Montana, USA are disappearing from the face of this earth.

There are several dangers related to the melting ice, all of which will have critical effects of their own. We are talking about 5,773,000 cubic miles of additional water from ice and snow running into to our natural waterways. With more water, rising sea level and riverbank flooding is inevitable. Tsunamis and massive flooding will continue to destroy coastal homes and riverfront hotels killing millions of animals and people alike.

The effects of this massive meltdown will produce ecosystem anomalies. Ice and snow is a product of freshwater, and when this fresh water reaches the salty Atlantic Ocean it will change the chemical balance, the ocean and seas will become less salty. This will affect marine life and cause cooler temperatures in the North Eastern parts of America and the Western part of Europe.

These effects of global warming will also change the land mass of the Artic, causing starvation and extinction of the animal life present, only the strongest of the species will survive.

The ice caps also keep the earth cooler by reflecting the sunrays back into space, once gone, the earth will be warmer, with only the oceans to reflect the sun, the earth will warm up because the oceans will also absorb the heat from the sun.

Other effects of global warming will include a rise in droughts and heat waves such as we have never seen before. While some areas, will be flooded and generally experience wetter conditions, other areas, such as Africa, will experience severe droughts. The water shortage in African countries is critical now and will get worse. It is predicted the Europe will also see droughts.

The incredible heat will give rise to more hurricanes. The cost of injury, property damage, food shortages, and diseases will be astronomical plaguing governments, medical establishments, insurance companies, and individuals alike. It is time to take the effects of global warming seriously, the clock is ticking and we are running out of time.

When you google the question what is global warming you will get a host of web definitions to explain what is global warming. Each definition will pretty much tell you the same thing, global warming is the earth’s temperature rising a few degrees each year; thus causing the earth to warm up.

From this definition given for what is global warming, inquiring minds would also want to know what effects global warming will have on our environment, assuming the earth is designed to remain at fairly the same temperature throughout time. However, the truth is the earth’s climate has been in constant flux for 5 billion years.

We do know that there was an ice age and there exists a theory that the ice age was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs, so we do know that climate changes affect both flora and fauna.

However since the ice age, the earth warmed up, and it has maintained a fairly regular global temperature since that time. New plant and animal life, including human being surfaced after the earth warmed up. At the current temperatures the earth is equipped to sustain life.

However the earth is off its natural course and is warming up much faster than it should; causing many scientists and environmentalists alarm. Global warming is a cause for concern because it can and will destroy the quality of life that humans, animals, insects, and plant life have known for centuries. Global warming if not eradicated can alter our genetic or physical make up or, in the worse cause scenario render our planet totally inhabitable.

Cases of animals losing their natural habitants, such as the artic polar bears, whose ice capped domains, are now dissolving into water, or sheep in Argentina becoming blind from the intense heat of the sun are being documented as we speak. Scientists are predicting that animals species will disappear along with the many insects that we know today, giving rise to whole new species of insects adaptable to the warmer conditions.

The danger does not stop there, more and more cases of skin cancer in humans is being reported and is believed to be a result of exposure to the sun’s intense rays. The situation is alarming but not irreparable at this point.

Thus when we ask the questions what is global warming, and what are the effects of global warming, we must also ask what caused global warming. When we know what caused the earth to warm up, we must also be prepared to reverse or at least slow down this deadly phenomenon.

According to a broader web definition that answers the question what is global warming, “ Global warming is the gradual increase in global temperatures caused by the emission of gases that trap the sun’s heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. …”
www.planningforpeople.ca/terms_and_definitions.asp”

Now that we know that gases cause it, we have investigated the type of gases and scientists have found that it is greenhouse gases that humans have released into the air. It goes without saying if we are the cause of the earth warming up, we must also provide the solution to fix or mend that damage as well.

Natural global warming causes

The earth was never designed to maintain the same climate and temperature. It goes through cycles and climate changes. These climate changes usually happens every 40,000 years or so. Climate change is very complicated but basically it is dependent upon the relationship between the earth and the sun.

Much information can be found on the earth’s axis, and how it tilts towards or away from the sun. If the earth did not tilt and remained in the same position, there would be no seasons. The weather would be constant depending on the relative distance the earth is away from the sun. Furthermore, there would be only day or only night depending again on the degree of the tilt.

The astronomer Milankovitch maintained that the earth tilts on its axis on an angle between 22.1° and 24.5°, each tilting enables summer to occur in one hemisphere and winter in the other. Seasons change as the earth’s tilt changes. When there is less of a tilt it will produce cooler summers and warmer winters but when the tilt is greater extreme weather conditions will prevail.

Besides the tilt of the axis that changes approximately every 41,000 years, the shape of the earth’s orbit around the sun will affect the climate as well. The perihelion is the point when the earth is nearest to the sun, while the aphelion is when the earth has a much larger orbit and it is farther away from the sun. These cycles occur on an average of every 90,000 – 100,000 years.

Another factor to the climate change is called procession and is the rotation (the circular movement of the earth axis making the axis appear like a spinning top). The procession occurs every 22,000 years or so and the greater or lesser intensity of the movement will cause seasons to slowly shift over time. This procession of the earth around the sun will shift entire seasons around. We know from the past that the northern hemisphere was once warmer, and the southern hemisphere colder.

Thereby in any discussion about global warming causes we must not negate the natural progression of the earth, its axis, tilt, orbital shape, and progression (rotation) in relation to the sun.

The site also provides videos and documentation from world experts who testify that the global warming hoax about anthropogenic activity contributing to greenhouse gas emissions is unfounded, the earth is merely warming up due to natural cycle changes that have been consistant throughout time. Human beings have very little to do with it. Australian geologists, Professor Bob Carter maintains that it isn’t man’s fault.

There are videos debunking the reports that the Artic is melting in epic proportion. These reports reveal that statistics are largely exaggerated. The loss of ice is less than 10% in 28 years.

Dr. Don J. Easterbrook, Professor Emeritus Geology, Western Washington University, whose specialty is artic glaciers, presents an excellent paper in favor of natural causes being linked to diminishing glaciers.

Tom Knutson, NOAA Research meteorologist, defends that the increasing number of hurricanes are not a result of global warming.

Other sites also allude to a global warming hoax.

Many of us have heard of the highly publicized global footprints. The United States is said to have the largest footprint on the planet, resulting in more greenhouse gas emissions than any other country on the face of this earth. The picture evokes images of a big black sooty footprint that has polluted the world with carbon dioxide emissions from coal, wood, oil, and gas consumptions. The picture makes you think of black soot and dirt polluting the air. The truth of the matter is that carbon dioxide is not visible. Humans exhale carbon dioxide and you will find much higher levels of carbon dioxide concentrations in any crowded lecture hall or busy convention center than you will find present in the earth’s atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide is vital to plant life, trees breathe in carbon dioxide, and carbon dioxide is necessary for plant growth. Reducing carbon dioxide emissions will lead to plant death. If carbon dioxide is so vital to life on earth, then how can it be considered a pollutant?

Various reports from NASA and other sources maintain that the earth is entering a natural cooling stage that will last for decades, if that is so, how can carbon dioxide be warming up the earth at the same time?

There is much evidence supporting the global warming hoax just as there is much evidence supporting the global warming claim, become an informed citizen and research both sides before forming your own opinion.

Scientists have been recording temperatures since 1850 and eight of the warmest temperature readings recorded in all this time was documented since 1998. The warmest year recorded in history was 2005. Scientists expect that even though the average temperature has increased at a rate of 1 percent per 100 years it can accelerate to 2 to 6 percent over the next 100 hundred years. Though this percentage increase may seem minimal, keep in mind that the during the last ice age, when most of North America was covered in glaciers, the earth was only 7 degrees colder than it is today. Any global warming climate change can cause drastic consequences that we are yet to become aware of.

With climate changes come changes in the environment, animal, insect, plant and human life. One of the biggest challenges for scientists today is to find out what causes global warming and to combat its deadly consequences.

One view for what causes global warming is that it is just a natural phenomenon as seen after the ice age when the world warmed up. However, even more scientists feel that human intervention has played a large part in what causes global warming.

The greenhouse effect is one of the major theories today for what causes global warming. Scientists believe that gases are trapped within the earth’s atmosphere and do not release into outer space. These gases act like a blanket covering the earth and thus cause the atmosphere to remain bogged down with hot air. The greenhouse analogy is used because the hot air is trapped within the atmosphere in much the same way as hot air is captured by the sun through a glass dome and trapped in a greenhouse. Though the temperature may be cold outside of the greenhouse plants can grow inside the greenhouse because it is hot. The hot air cannot escape.

The gases in the earth’s atmosphere act like the panes of glass in the greenhouse, they serve like a blanket above the atmosphere, and as the suns rays enter the earth’s atmosphere it does penetrate through the blanket of gases to absorb in the atmosphere as energy for the earth, land, water, biosphere, etc, but when this energy is absorbed, some of it will escape and return to space. The earth was designed in this fashion to normally contain some of the gases in its atmosphere to keep the earth relatively warm and sustainable for plant and animal life. If all the gases were to escape back into space the earth would be about sixty degrees (Fahrenheit) colder than what it is right now.

The problem with the greenhouse effect is that even though the earth was designed to release some of the gases back into outer space after they were absorbed as energy on earth, these very gases are not able to once again penetrate through the earth’s atmosphere to release into outer space. The earth may not enter another ice age but it may in time become too hot to sustain life.

Nobel prize winner, and scientist Mario Molina said, “ Long before we run out of oil, we will run out of atmosphere”. It is a scary thought, but what is also scary is the fact that the mosquito will strive in these temperatures. The rise of Malaria, Dengue Fever and Chikungunya will spread through Africa and the tropics like wild fire.

According to the World Health Organization, not only Africa but also poorer countries such as India in Asia will be severely affected but insect disease and death.

However, they will not stop there, as the temperatures and sea level continues to rise, and more and more areas of the globe become wetter and hotter, these insects will strive, they will grow and prosper and they will spread! In fact they will be much healthier than the human race.

Temporary occurrences such as El Nino local weather patterns have contributed to outbreaks of malaria in the tropics, and as the climate warms up more and more El Nino type weather patterns will occur facilitating the spread of the disease to more regional areas and thus larger human populations will be affected by global warming disease related epidemics.

We know that malaria is associated with warmer climates, but according to Khasnis and Nettleman,

http://ncsp.vanetwork.org/UserFiles/File/PDFs/Resource%20Center/Human%20Health/CC_infectious_disease.pd

during different periods of the earth’s history, outbreaks have occurred in Europe, during the Little Age Ice, and North America at other periods of time were affected as far north as the Artic Circle!

According to Khasnis and Nettleman, this would point to the fact that malaria-carrying mosquitoes are less affected by cooler weather than they are affected by the drug treatments and other precautions available in wealthier northern countries. However, even these drugs and our ability to contain or eradicate the disease is wearing thin. These mosquitoes are becoming drug-resistant; they are most likely mutating in order to survive.

Poor water conditions such as dirty or standing water is the main cause of mosquito infestations even in northern countries. However deforestation, and agricultural methods and migrating populations will impact the spread of malaria and other insect transmitted diseases.

As humans become affected by global warming those that can migrate to better climates will and in turn introduce infectious diseases into their new cooler countries and climates. Clean water and water shortages, famine, crop failure, are likely to spread the vector-borne diseases: Malaria, Dengue Fever, Chikungunya, encephalitis viruses causing, cholera, and typhoid plagues

Dengue Fever is common to South America especially in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The mosquito inhabits urban populations and breeds in standing water found in old cans etc, much the same way as the mosquito population in North America survives. As the climate warms these Dengue fever carrying mosquitoes can migrate northward as well. We now have seen incidence of Dengue Fever along the Mexican US border.

North America is already infiltrated with mosquitoes carrying the West Nile Virus. Again stagnant water is a main breeding ground for the Culex mosquito, the carrier of Arboviral Encephalides. They are also found in heavily wooded areas, and golf courses. This disease will affect both the human and animal population. Lyme Disease (Borrelia Burgdorferi) carried by deer infected with ticks can transfer to humans as well.

In the end, it is hard to predict the exact impact these diseases plaguing humans affected by global warming will be since it is all contingent upon governments, and the medical community’s ability to research, prevent, treat and adapt.

Global warming graphs and charts are a great way to visualize the effects of global warming upon the planet. Without even digging into the facts and data available on the subject, global warming graphs and charts will give you an instant picture of what is going on. With the evidence blatantly portrayed it is hard not to realize the magnitude of the problem at hand.

Global warming graphs chart weather patterns across the globe much in the same way that your local television weather station charts the weather patterns for your local area. They can are colorful to demonstrate differences and can either be static like a picture in a book or they can be rather fluid showing moving patterns in action crossing a television, or computer screen.

Interested individuals can google global warming graphs and charts to get an idea of what is going on. There are various types of global warming graphs and charts available, like pie charts, bar charts, line graphs, thermal imaging maps and more.

Bear in mind that any global warming graph that you are viewing portrays just one viewpoint or one slice of the total picture happening. For example, a global warming graph reflecting where there are high emissions of carbon dioxide in the state of California is not showing the total picture of high emissions in the United States, the Northern Hemisphere, nor the world. Neither is this location specific graph showing the temperature fluctuations in California as it pertains to global warming. By contrast global warming graphs created to show the correlation between greenhouse gas emissions and the rise in temperature, graph two separate lines one for emissions and one for temperature and then demonstrate the relationship between the two occurrences.

Besides charting location, the global warming graphs that you are looking at might be charting the global warming patterns over a period of 400 years or a single month of carbon dioxide readings in a single area.

Though global warming graphs cannot point to a solution to the problem, they can indicate what areas need more work, or how effective a certain solution to greenhouse emissions have been.

Some charts will even include man made as well as natural global warming causes.

Using global warming graphs and charts can provide a lot of information at a glance; indicate problems areas of the globe, and point to areas that need immediate attention.

At home simple ways to prevent global warming like reducing your thermostat in the winter by two degrees, is hardly noticeable and will make a big impact in a collaborative effort to reduce electricity and carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions. If your home is drafty you are using much more energy to heat your home than is needed. Make your home warmer by sealing off all drafts coming from windows and doors with plastic and or weather stripping. Turn down the thermostat when you leave the house for long periods of time, and close off rooms that are not being used to save on fuel costs and electricity bills.

Ways of saving money is foremost on the minds of most residents these days, and simply turning down the thermostat on your water heater will help you do it. Most people tend to keep the water heater too high, but by setting the thermostat to 110 – 120 Fahrenheit will save the average consumer up to 3 to 5 percent on their energy consumption.

One of the easiest ways to prevent global warming and save on electricity is to change the type of light bulbs that you use. According to The Union of Concerned Scientists, changing from incandescent to florescent light bulbs will stop 90 billion future pounds of carbon dioxide emissions released into the earth’s atmosphere.

You would be surprised to know that much energy consumption is due to what is known as “phantom loads.” Phantom loads are the electricity absorbed by different appliances, electrical and electronic products even when not being used. For example your common DVD player has a built in light that will remain on even if your DVD player is not in use. Simply having machines plugged in will keep the current running. These phantom loads from various sources account for about 11 percent of residential consumption. Unplug as many things that you can think of, that do not need to be constantly in use such as your toaster, computer and peripherals (printer, scanner, photo copying machine), even the power surge protectors, DVD recorder, air conditioners, and more.

Your local electric company, government office or even the Internet will provide you with many other ways to prevent global warming and save money in the process.