Well, that is a very cute ant! However, I don't see the connection with global warming. Are you making a mockery of our children's future, or destruction thereof? It sounds to me like you are.
Now here is something from Physicians for Social Responsibility about global warming. These are all the doctors who are NOT in the whacko tax avoidance pseudo-science club. Even though they are in the elite and the highest tax brackets, they seem to actually care about something beyond their own wallets, which I find refreshing:
Facts About Climate Change
While the effects of global warming are difficult to predict with certainty, it is anticipated
that the balance of health impacts will be adverse. The majority of health scientists working in
the field agree on the following facts:
FACT: Man-made pollution has caused a massive buildup of greenhouse gases in
the earth's atmosphere.
Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 -- the principal greenhouse gas --
are now 30% above the pre-industrial level of 200 years ago. (IPCC,
Second Assessment Report)
Between 1990 and 1995, U.S. CO2 emissions grew by over 250 million
metric tons. (EIA, 1995 Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United
States)
FACT: As greenhouse gas pollution has increased, global temperatures have risen.
In the last one hundred years global average temperatures have risen by
approximately 1 degree Fahrenheit. (IPCC, Second Assessment Report)
The average temperatures for the first six years of the 1990s already
make this the warmest decade ever recorded. 1995 was the warmest year
on record, and despite brutal winter weather around the world, 1996
was the 6th warmest.
Unless greenhouse gas emissions are curbed, the Earth's mean
temperature is projected to rise by 2 to 6 F in the next century -- a rate
faster than any observed during the last 10,000 years. (IPCC, Second
Assessment Report)
FACT: Global warming poses a significant direct threat to human health.
Punishing heat waves, such as the 1995 event that killed over 700
people in Chicago alone, will become more common. As temperatures
rise, major cities around the world could experience thousands of
additional heat-related deaths annually. Studies indicate that by the
year 2020, global warming could cause up to a 145% rise in
heat-related mortality in New York City. (Kalkstein, et al.,
Environmental Health Perspectives #105, 1997)
FACT: Global warming may drastically expand the ranges of disease-carrying
insects, increasing the incidence of many "tropical" diseases.
Vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue hemorrhagic fever
are examples of diseases that are both sensitive to climate and that
disproportionately affect children. In the next century, global warming
may increase the global incidence of malaria by as much as 50 to 80
million additional cases each year. As much as 60% of the world's
population could be at risk of infection. (Martens, et al., Environmental
Health Perspectives, 1995)
FACT: Climate change may also lead to increased incidence of food- and
water-borne diseases.
Climate-related increases in sea surface temperature and sea levels can
lead to higher incidence of water-borne infectious and toxin-related
illnesses, such as cholera and shellfish poisoning; zooplankton which
can harbor Vibrio cholerae proliferate in warmer water temperatures,
and provide a potential environmental reservoir for cholera. Cholera
killed 120,000 people in 1995, mostly children. (Colwell, Science, 1996)
FACT: Effects of climate change on weather patterns may lead to additional
adverse human health impacts.
Regional climate stress on agriculture may result in up to 300 million
additional cases of malnutrition. The availability of fresh drinking
water may be threatened by extremes of the hydrologic cycle (floods and
droughts), which are projected to become more common. Diseases
associated with flooding, such as cryptosporidiosis, as well as diarrheal
diseases in developing countries where drought compromises personal
hygiene, could affect millions more people every year. (Climate Change
and Human Health, World Health Organization)
FACT: Climate change CAN BE STOPPED.
Global warming is a pollution problem, created by the burning of oil,
coal, and to a lesser extent, natural gas. By simply using the best
technology available today, we can take major steps to curb global
warming. Our cars and trucks, power plants, industries, and homes all
offer enormous room for improvement in reducing energy use and
increasing efficiency. Such measures would not only curb global
warming, but also offer enormous benefits to our economy and our
environment.
Unfortunately, voluntary measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
in industrialized countries have failed to produce significant progress.
Negotiations are now under way toward a binding international
agreement that would impose stronger obligations on the nations of the
world. Educating Congress and the Administration on the devastating
effects that climate change will have on human health and the
environment will be crucial to securing U.S. support for such an
agreement.
In the long term, measures such as switching to clean, renewable solar
and wind energy and abandoning polluting fossil fuels will allow us to
protect our children's future from global warming and protect our
environment and natural heritage from pollution and development.
We can stop global warming and protect our health and environment,
but we must begin today!
psrus.org |
