New York Climate Rescue

Climate Change or "Global Warming" - The Basics
Global Warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, which release so-called greenhouse gases (GHGs), mostly carbon dioxide (CO2). The key greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydroflourocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexaflouride (SF6, used as an insulating gas, but is thousands of times more powerful as a GHG than CO2.) Look below for more information on greenhouse gases, the greenhouse effect and Earth's climate past, present and future.
		"We think global warming is a myth...it's just a hoax dreamt up by environmental extremists to scare people in giving them money!" Click here if you agree.


Sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs) - "Carbon Pollution"
A. B. C. D. E. A: Burning coal and other fossil fuels to generate electricity. B: Combustion in Industry, such as flaring waste gas in oil production. C: Burning gasoline in cars and other modes of transport such as airplanes or boats. D: Diesel use in trucking, or fuel oil in boilers. E: Methane emissions from billions of cattle world-wide. Yup - cow farts! (Seriously.) Also industrial gases such as hydroflourocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexaflouride can be powerful GHGs. Deforestation also plays a role by eliminating the world's "carbon sinks" - ecosystems that absorb CO2.	Watch a cool flash video on global warming narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio.	Watch a NASA video on melting polar icecaps:

	Boiling Point: How Big Oil and Coal, Journalists, and Activists Have Fueled the Climate Crisis-- and What We Can Do to Avert Disaster. By Ross Gelbspan Read Al Gore's review in the NY Times	See presentations on how global warming will effect the health of New Yorkers: The Earth Institute at Columbia University
The Green House Effect
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The Earth's Climate History
The chart below shows the historical correlation between CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere and global average temperature. With CO2 concentrations at 180 parts per million (ppm) global average temperature has been about 15 degrees Fahrenheit (6-7°C) cooler than today. These periods represent the ice ages. At 280ppm, temperatures have been more temperate, such as the warmer period experienced over the last 10,000 years. But now CO2 concentrations are at 380ppm (see Fig.4 above) and rising rapidly! This means warmer times ahead as we burn more fossil fuels and thereby emit more CO2.
Fig.5
The Earth's Climate: The Present
Here's a close up of the past 50 years of atmospheric CO2 measurements. This shows the rapid increase in CO2 from human sources building up in the atmosphere.

What Our Climate Future looks like....

Melting polar Icecaps: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2003/1023esuice.html#addlinfo