How does climate Change affect ME?

Effects are sometimes monthly, more ofter yearly or longer - you might not notice day-by-day: look at your memory scrapbook

Oceans

Effects of Warming
- Sea levels rise (heated water expands, melting ice adds)
- Shorline erosion; loss of coastal land and wetlands
- Coastal flooding - more often, higher, people move from the coastline, hurricanes damage more coasts
- Salt poisoning inland waterExpands water, causes
- elimination of flood insurance
- Changes range of species (lobster move north, etc.); drive some species to extinctions
- Kills coral reefs (Great Barrier reef, Australia)
Acidifying (oceans absorb a lot of CO2 - the absorption is a reaction that creates acid)
- Effects: Reduces the amount of carbonate, a key building block of living things in the ocean. This makes it more difficult for marine organisms, such as coral and some plankton, to form their shells and skeletons, and existing shells may begin to dissolve.
- Data: Ocean pH measurement trends
  https://ocean.si.edu/conservation/acidification/ocean-acidification-graph
Examples:
- Florida
  Data: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/king-tides-cause-flooding-florida-fall-2017
- Disappearing islands in the Pacific
- Hurricane Sally (2020)
Articles: New York Times Louisiana section 24Feb18, Everglades (ScienceNews 18Aug18 p.19),

Lakes

Level Decreasing/Dams - climate change droughts coupled with overuse
- Data: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/world-vanishing-lakes-180949645/
Warming faster than oceans
Dying: Aral Sea, Lake Chad, Lake Urmia, Lake Poopo
Toxic algae: Data: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/hab/

Ice

Melting
- Cause: Absorbs heat from the air - exposed dirt absorbs, while clean ice reflects
- Effect: Rising sea levels
- Data: https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/arctic-sea-ice/
- One of many examples: Glacier National Park (created 1920 150 glaciers; 2018 26 glaciers)

Temperature Changes

Average Warming - too hot to live? Summers must be spent inside with air conditioning - if you're not poor...

Weather Changes

More variable
- Causes: Heating of land and atmosphere drives storms northward, provides more energy
- Effects: More frequent storms, more extreme
- Data: [In progress]
More extreme
- Causes: More heat in the air and water drives more storms and more extreme storms
- Effects: Significant increase in weather deaths, large economic losses
- Data: [In progress]
- Hurricanes
- Tornados
- Droughts
- Flooding - Multiple "100 year" and "500 year" floods in a 10 year span

Drought

Causes:
- Major changes in rainfall patterns and frequency
- Heat dries up lakes and plants
Effects:
- Depopulation
- Fires
  - California fires now year-round, much more intense - 2020!!! NYT 28Jul18 p.A10
  - Greece, Jul18

Excessive Heat

Plants

Lung Disease
- Effects: Lung cancer, emphysema
- Causes: Air Pollution
  - Heat caused - ozone and related on hot days
  - Car caused - diesel particulates, NOx
  - Thermal inversions capture pollution locally
  - Fire caused pollution
General Health - Heat and Extreme Weather Stress!
- Effects: Lowered resistance to disease
Poor people bear by far the greatest burden - no way to adapt

Last updated: October 2021