NEWS

Climate change will collapse Earth ecosystem

07/02/2008

Recent editorials about global warming continue to miss the point.

Most editorial comments, as to the urgency of this issue, tend to reflect a bias as to its impact on their personal agenda. There is worldwide consensus that the Earth’s temperature is increasing. The real problem is the time frame in which all of this is happening.

A one degree temperature change normally has happened in 10,000 year increments during the past two million years. Recently, the Earth’s temperature has increased one degree since 1900. This is too rapid a change for nature’s system to absorb. Nature is responding with earthquakes, tornadoes, typhoons, hurricanes and volcanic eruptions with increasing frequency and intensity. This temperature increase is warming the waters and changing the time cycles for plants and insects. This combination is pushing 5,000 species a year to extinction.

An ecosystem, like a jigsaw puzzle, requires all the pieces to make it complete. In this case the puzzle pieces are parts of the food chain. As pieces start to disappear, the remaining pieces expand their range in search of food. Eventually, the whole ecosystem collapses.

Only mankind can make the changes needed, and we need to start immediately. According to Jim Hansen, chief climatologist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Institute for Space Studies, we need to take corrective action in the next 10 to 15 years to slow the speed of change. According to Hansen, 80 percent of the current destruction is because of coal burning.

Former Federal Reserve Chief Paul Volcker suggests if nothing is done, the world economies will collapse in the same time frame as the ecosystem. While reducing emissions, we can perfect alternative, renewable energy sources. With some discomfort, this problem could be solvable.

Precious time is being wasted. Legislative action is required.

Michael D. Hohn