Global Warming 101 | EarthLab.com

Learn how to recycle all your household goods, from clothing to motor oil to appliances.

NASA warming scientist: 'This is the last chance'

Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world's only hope is drastic action.

James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long passed the "dangerous level" for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs to get back to 1988 levels. He said Earth's atmosphere can only stay this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises.

REPORT: City Residents Produce Less Carbon

WASHINGTON - While cities are hot spots for global warming, people living in them turn out to be greener than their country cousins.

Each resident of the largest 100 largest metropolitans areas is responsible on average for 2.47 tons of carbon dioxide in energy consumption each year, 14% below the 2.87 ton U.S. average, researchers at the Brookings Institution say in a report being released Thursday.

2007 Second Warmest Year On Record

WASHINGTON, DC - "With the record for 2007 now complete, it is clear that temperatures around the world are continuing their upward climb", writes Frances Moore in a recent Earth Policy Institute release, "2007 Second Warmest Year on Record". "The global average in 2007 was 14.73 degrees Celsius (58.5 degrees Fahrenheit)-the second warmest year on record, only 0.03 degrees Celsius behind the 2005 maximum. Looking at the northern hemisphere alone, 2007 temperatures averaged 15.04 degrees Celsius (59.1 degrees Fahrenheit)-easily the hottest year in the northern half of the globe since the record began in 1880."

Ocean Fertilization 'Fix' For Global Warming Discredited By Research

Research performed at Stanford and Oregon State Universities suggests that ocean fertilization may not be an effective method of reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a major contributor to global warming. Ocean fertilization, the process of adding iron or other nutrients to the ocean to cause large algal blooms, has been proposed as a possible solution to global warming because the growing algae absorb carbon dioxide as they grow.

Earth's Vital Signs are Weak

There's lots of talk about going green but we are falling short on taking action. The Worldwatch Institute recently published its 176-page report Vital Signs 2007-2008 on energy consumption and the state of the world. This independent research tracked 44 worldwide trends in the areas of food, agricultural resources, energy and climate, global economy, resource economics, environment, conflict and peace, communications and transportation. The results were disturbing.

More Than 25% of U.S. Birds Threatened: Report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than a quarter of all U.S. bird species are vulnerable to extinction, according to a comprehensive list compiled by two conservation groups released on Wednesday. Global warming may be partially to blame.

Your Frequently Asked Questions

What is a carbon footprint?
A carbon footprint is simply a shorthand indicator of how much carbon dioxide is being produced and released by a person or group of people. It is usually expressed as a number in terms of weight, and assumes for a period of time … usually about a year.

GHG, CFL's, C02, CER....get the ABC's of Global Warming in the Glossary section of EarthLab.

Climate Change Disaster is Upon Us, Warns UN

A record number of floods, droughts and storms around the world this year amount to a climate change "mega disaster", the United Nation's emergency relief coordinator, Sir John Holmes, has warned.

Sir John, a British diplomat who is also known as the UN's under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said dire predictions about the impact of global warming on humanity were already coming true. "We are seeing the effects of climate change. Any year can be a freak but the pattern looks pretty clear to be honest. That's why we're trying ... to say, of course you've got to deal with mitigation of emissions, but this is here and now, this is with us already," he said.

A Primer: Global Warming & Climate Change

What's all the fuss about? Doesn't climate naturally change over time? Haven't there been natural cycles when Earth's temperature has risen and fallen? Yes, that's true; scientists who specialize in the study of Earth's climate in ancient times tell us that climate change in earlier periods was related to changes in the tilt of Earth in space and its path around the sun. Many thousands of years before the last ice age, the temperature on Earth increased by a few degrees, and the sea levels rose by some fifteen or twenty feet. Some well-meaning skeptics insist on contradicting the warnings of those of us who blame the activities of human beings for contributing to the crisis in global warming and climate change. They believe that we're simply entering another natural cycle of change.

African Farmers Urged To Change Ways Because Weather Is Changing

A few decades ago, corn farmers here in Zambia's rural southern province could predict when the annual rains would begin almost to the day. Now, October often stretches into November, and November into December, before the rain comes. The rainy season in this largely poor southern African nation, a study shows, has been getting shorter, more intense and more erratic, especially over the last 20 years, symptoms of the longer-term climatic changes occurring across Africa. When the Live Earth global series of concerts kicked off this past Saturday, part of the focus will be on Africa, likely to be hit particularly hard by climate change, even though it is the lowest emitter of greenhouse gases. One of the eight concerts planned to raise awareness about the issue is in the South African metropolis of Johannesburg.

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Of the $1,900 per year an average household spends on utility bills, half pays for heating and cooling. Depending on where you live, replacing your old heating and cooling equipment with ENERGY STAR qualified equipment and properly sealing your ducts can cut your energy bill by about $180 (nearly 10%).

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