Rising sea level floats all boats!

Love the Chesapeake Bay? Great! Because there will be more of it! Nearly 200 square miles on the Maryland coast alone!

A 3-foot increase in the Chesapeake water level later this century will be a boon to the oystering industry, says a new report on climate change commissioned by Maryland governor Martin O’Malley.

The report was also good news for those who will be retiring near the end of this century. There won’t be a need to relocate to Tampa for retirement, far away from grand kids and bridge buddies; Maryland’s climate should mirror that of the popular retirement destination by 2100, according to the report.

With a temperature bump of up to 9 degrees, summer-long heat waves and a projected 24 days over the 100 degree mark, happy days are on the way for ice cream truck drivers.

But as usual, some nay-sayers couldn’t help but look at the report from a bleak angle. Asked about her opinion of the report, Madeline Sampson, a local systems analyst responded, “Um, half of Annapolis is going to be underwater.”

Glass-half-empty types aside, Maryland stands to benefit immensely from the human-induced alterations to the subtly balanced equilibrium of Maryland’s natural climate and coastline.

Sales of sand, sand bags, shovels and flood insurance are expected to rise steadily over the coming years, good news in these times of economic uncertainty.

Asked for his opinion of the report, local houseboat retailer Joel Hardiman replied, “This is really great news. All those folks who get flooded out are going to want houseboats. And I’m their man.”

Marine sports enthusiasts rejoiced as well. “I live most of my life on the water, so this will make my drive to the coast shorter,” remarked Sam Masterson, a Bowie resident.

The full report is due to be released in coming weeks. While local lawmakers in the pocket of Big Dry Land may react with measures aimed at slowing the progress of the expanding Chesapeake, national legislators are thankfully expected to supersede any such measures by maintaining the status quo. Continue reading

8 tornadoes in VA – signs of global warming?

tornadoesEight tornadoes blew through Virginia on April 28, leaving 145 families homeless and 200 injured. The Washington Post reported that cost estimates could top more than $21 million. See a moving picture gallery of the tornado here>>

The storm, despite the fact that it was confined to a few neighborhoods, put the city at a standstill. The most severe tornado ran along a 10 mile path that reached a quarter mile wide, demolishing houses, stacking cars on top of another and literally stripping the roof off a shopping center. Families were denied entrance to their homes as the rain damaged what was left of their belongings. This was a sudden and astonishing tragedy that, though it took no lives, will take considerable effort to recover from.

One of the tornadoes, in Suffolk, was rated “Severe” intensity. There have only been 9 other tornadoes of this intensity in this region since 1966, 42 years. 2008 has already set early tornado season records. 232 tornadoes were reported in the US in February, beating a previous record set in 1972 at 83.

Tragedies like this force us to ask ourselves what could have been done to prevent the damages this stormed caused and are we prepared to deal with future extreme weather events? These are difficult questions to consider, but we may have to consider them more if global warming continues unabated. A recent study by the NASA Goddard Institute shows that our area can expect stronger wind events because of a warming climate. “In the warmer climate simulation there is a small class of the most extreme storms with both strong updrafts and strong horizontal winds at higher levels that occur more often, and thus the model suggests that the most violent severe storms and tornadoes may become more common with warming.” Continue reading

Activists Line Annapolis Sidewalks in Chalk, Show 20 Feet of Sea Level Rise

floodannapolisCoalition members got to Annapolis early Monday morning to draw a line along the streets of Annapolis showing how twenty feet of sea level rise would affect the city. There was a good showing of press, with 3 TV cameras and a couple of photographers. People walking across the line on the sidewalk would read the paper explaining what the line represented. At one point a family walking by said “It is great what you are doing, STOP GLOBAL WARMING!”

Click here to watch a video from Monday’s demonstration>>

This is part of our ramped-up efforts to get the Global Warming Solutions Bill passed in the Senate and the House. Monday afternoon the Senate passed the bill with an amendment that would greatly weaken the power of the Maryland Department of the Environment to regulate global warming emissions.

Cindy Schwartz of MD LCV told the press, “Maryland elected officials have an enormous opportunity

Southern California's Climate Refugees

wildfires
Between 1970 and 2003, the average length of the active wildfire season (from the start of the first reported fire to the day the last reported fire is controlled) increased by 64 percent, or 78 days. Wildfires between 1987 and 2003 burned for an average of 37.1 days before being controlled

Dispatch from a land on fire

The following post was written by my dad, Paul Douglass, who is on vacation in Coronado, a town in Southern California…

The wildfires that sweep through Southern California this week, blackening over 400,000 acres and displacing a half a million residents from their homes, may be cited correctly as evidence of global warming, all right. But the well-organized response to the disaster by local authorities, firefighters, volunteers, and ordinary citizens in San Diego County may signal that people here have crossed a milestone in their thinking about climate change. plane_wildfire

San Diegans remember the Cedar Fire that devastated the county only three years ago. San Diegans know that more fire-related disasters are sure to be coming their way living in this arid corner of the country because they know what climate change is likely to mean for them. The increasingly frequent wildfires in recent years seemed to have taught San Diegans to be prepared when the next fires hit.

They were prepared this time. Fortunately for my wife and me, we were staying at a house on the beach in Coronado, a quiet village located on the narrow finger of sand that forms San Diego Harbor, when the fires raged in the hills to the east. Watching the local TV stations’ non-stop coverage of efforts by firefighters and air tankers to stave off the advancing walls of fire burning everything in its path only a few miles away was surreal.

Comparisons of the response to the wildfires with Katrina by the media were inevitable. By all accounts San Diegans did a superlative job of dealing with the thousands of evacuees, saving homes, providing supplies to those in need, even arranging live entertainment for the kids at the county’s central relief station, Qualcom Stadium, home of the San Diego Chargers. Continue reading

Ducks in Chesapeake Bay threatened by global warming

Over the past quarter century, billions of dollars have been invested in restoring the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These major investments could be lost due to global warming.

The National Wildlife Federation, which has been doing some great work reaching out to non-traditional constituents such as hunters and anglers, just released a new report on how global warming is impacting–and will impact–the Chesapeake Bay. It focuses specifically on how global warming will affect duck and other wildlife populations in the Bay.

Chesapeake Bay ducks

The report comes as attention on global warming, and its local effects, reaches new heights. Only a week before the report’s release, a key Senate committee called a hearing with MD. Gov. O’Malley and VA. Gov. Kaine on how global warming is likely to impact the Bay. NWF’s report focuses on how continuing coastal development and global warming’s devastating effects have begun threatening the Bay and its wildlife at an unprecedented level.

Take action on NWF’s website and urge your representatives to protect the Chesapeake’s ducks by supporting strong global warming legislation.
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Northwest Passage in the Arctic is open for the first time EVER in recorded history!

The European Space Agency has published satellite images that show that the Northwest Passage in the Arctic is now open for the first time EVER in recorded history. This is due to the unprecedented Arctic melting this year- the current extent is 1 million kilometers below the previous minimum set in 2005. Though the U.N. Panel on Climate Change has predicted that the Arctic may have complete summer melt by 2070, other more recent credible estimates are much sooner- the National Snow and Ice Data Center, recognized as a top authority in Arctic measurements, recently predicted this could occur as early as 2020. The Northwest passage is the shortest sea route between Asia and Europe and has massive trade potential. We have also heard about the implications of all of the oil reserves predicted to be in this area. There are already fears that the opening of this region could cause a cold war between the US and other polar nations, particularly Canada. The President Bush claims that this passage is International Waters, contrary to Canada’s claims. Canada is beefing up military in this region to claim the ownership of the passage and protect its borders from people/drugs/weapons smuggling. And the plight of the polar bears? Let’s not go there. Folks, you can’t debate this. It’s real. Let’s do something about climate change NOW.

Image Credit: European Space Agency: “Envisat ASAR mosaic of the Arctic Ocean for early September 2007, clearly showing the most direct route of the Northwest Pssage open (orange line) and the Northeast passage only partially blocked (blue line). The dark gray colour represents the ice-free areas, while green represents areas with sea ice. “

cross-posted at http://www.local-warming.blogspot.com/

Ice the size of Florida melts – in a week

As we have often said, there are few better barometers of the advance of global warming than the condition of our polar ice caps.

And once again today, we are confronted with dramatic news that ice is melting – and global warming advancing – much faster than previously thought. As was reported today, the summer ice pack in the Arctic – air conditioner to the planet and home of the majestic polar bear and other equally stunning animals – reached a new record low, smashing the old record set in 2005. Incredibly enough, 69,000 square miles of ice – roughly the same size as the state of Florida – has melted… in just the past seven days!

The news by itself is alarming enough. It’s also disturbing to note the mainstream media’s seeming inability to follow the news on this critical issue, since the possibility of an summer ice-free Arctic by 2020 was already predicted in a report by the National Snow and Ice Data Center this past May. Equally disturbing is the idea that nations are now fighting over the “fabled” Northwest Passage through the Arctic that is suddenly opening up, as opposed to redoubling (or quadrupling) their efforts to make sure that climate change is halted and reversed, Northwest Passage be damned.

As the article notes, this dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice will spell doom for the polar bear and other inhabitants of the Arctic, and it will also likely have a dramatic effect on weather patterns for the rest of the planet. It’s not just the polar bears that are threatened with extinction anymore. In the words of Rob Watson, “people see an endangered species every day now when they look in the mirror.”

There is still time left to act, but it is running out. Thanks for joining the Chesapeake Climate Action Network in our campaign to fight global warming. And in particular, please consider joining us as we stand up and speak out for the polar bears in our Third Annual Polar Bear Plunge on December 8th. Check it out, and sign up, at www.keepwintercold.org

Trees and Global Warming: In defense of trees

The popularity of trees is taking a hit in the land of carbon dioxide equivalents; trees uptake carbon while alive but can be chopped down. It is hard to figure out how much carbon a tree is removing when it is newly planted and has a high chance of mortality. Add to that that fact that some scientists say that the dark color of trees in the North makes it so they absorb the rays of the sun and cancel out the positive effect of absorbing Carbon Dioxide and releasing water vapor (Brahic, C. 2006. Location is key for trees to fight global warming. New Scientist, December 15, 2006. http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn10811-location-is-key-for-trees-to-fight-globalwarming.html. [you need a subscription to read this article]). I have friends in forestry and they asked me to share information with them that I find about trees and global warming, so this post is for them.

Let’s talk for a moment about why trees are crucial to protecting us from global warming. Eric Carlson of Carbonfund shared 8/16 (in the comments of the ClimateProgress blog) this food for thought:

But consider this: Trees are the only carbon offset that actually reduce CO2 emissions in the atmosphere today and from the last half century or longer. Renewables and efficiency reduce the need for future emissions (also critical) but trees serve important social and environmental needs, reduce CO2 today and BUY us time to get to a clean tech future. Also, if deforestation accounts for about 20% of climate change, as many experts agree, reforestation is absolutely a part of the solution. And certified offsets are the same whether they come from wind or trees (which is why certifications are so important). Many of our supporters prefer trees and, given their importance, we give them the choice of which type of offsets they want to support. I absolutely understand people who prefer renewables or efficiency, but I also understand why some people would choose trees and they too are providing an important part of the solution.

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