Team Charter
Mission: To use our voices, our votes and our collective power to push for policies and practices that will reduce greenhouse gases to a level consistent with life thriving on our Planet.
Objective: Learn the scientific facts relative to global warming and climate change, how to communicate those facts to others, and to work both individually and collectively on actions that will mitigate the Climate Crisis.
Tactics:
- Partner with other related organizations such as Elders Climate Action, the Climate Reality Project, and others;
- Keep up to date on the latest information by subscribing to Bill’s Climate Newsletter (weekly), ECA NorCal biweekly update, ECA National monthly newsletter and events,
- Take Climate Reality training with Climate Reality Project
- Use our unique position of power as Elders to influence national policies on pro-climate legislation
- Vote pro-climate in November, encourage others to do so as well
- Communicate climate reality to friends, relatives, neighbors, everyone you come in contact with. (Now is not the time to be shy).
- Communicate your feelings about climate change to your local legislators, find out where they stand, encourage them to enact and support pro-climate legislation
Important Climate Issues:
- Tipping Points
In a series of 5 short documentaries narrated by Richard Gere , you will learn how what we are doing by continuing to burn fossil fuels and putting huge amounts of green house gasses into the atmosphere, will cause feedback loops that can result in runaway, irreversible climate change. Basically, the type of feedback loop that is being discussed is the additional global warming that is caused by the warming itself. For example, the hotter it gets, the more permafrost melts, thus releasing more CO2 and Methane into the atmosphere, which in turn increases the heat of the Planet even more. Warming causing more warming. If left unchecked, these feedback loops can spiral out of control and lead to catastrophic climate change.
Four feedback loops in particular can have significant impact on the Planet: Deforestation, Melting of Permafrost, Melting Sea Ice, and Atmospheric Changes. Any of these can cause serious problems. All four of them would be catastrophic. In our geologic history, there have been significant changes due to natural causes that resulted in Snowball Earth, where the entire Planet was covered in ice, to the age of the dinosaurs where these reptiles roamed the regions where the poles now sit. These kinds of catastrophic changes take millions of years to correct. The changes we are seeing now are not caused by nature, but by human activity. Since the advent of the industrial revolution, we have seen parts per million of CO 2 in the atmosphere go from 280 to over 400, after remaining fairly steady for the prior million years. Geologically, Earth should be in a cooling phase right now, but due to human activity, the global temperature has risen by over 1 degree celsius and heading for two.
One degree doesn’t sound like much, but think of it like this; if the temperature is slightly below 32 degrees, you have ice. Slightly about 32 degrees, you have water. The tipping point is roughly 1/4 of one percent, and yet the difference this makes on the Planet is huge. What can be done? Climate policy must be set to avoid these tipping points before it is too late.
The permafrost is already melting, deforestation is happening unchecked, sea ice is melting and atmospheric changes are causing extreme weather events all over the Planet. The tell tale signs are there for all to see. Why are we not seeing? Will we be like the frogs who sat in slightly warming water until the water became so hot that they all died before they realized what was happening? I think we are smarter than frogs, but you couldn’t tell by our lack of reaction to climate change. A big part of the problem for humans is that the fossil fuel industry is spending many millions of dollars to spread doubt as to the severity of the problem. So I will provide you with science based facts about what is really happening and what we need to do to stop it, and in all cases, reverse it. We have the know-how and technology to stop these destructive feedback loops. What we need are policies and leaders to make it happen.
That is where we come in, to provide example to our friends and relatives, to vote for leaders who will forward the cause and require legislation to make sure these “tipping points” are never reached. As one scientist concludes at the end of the introduction, “I am not worried about the Planet, I am worried about us”. And I am worried about … Our Children, Grandchildren, All Future Generations and All Life.
- Feedback Loops – Albedo Effect – Loss of Reflectivity
Probably one of the most dangerous, and most little known, impacts of the global warming is what is called the Albedo effect, or loss of earth’s reflectivity. Much of the sunlight that hits the Earth is absorbed by the Earth, but much of it is reflected back into space as well, thus keeping the Planet from getting too warm. You have probably experienced the Albedo effect if you have gone skiing, or visited the high mountains in the winter. The glare of the sunlight off the snow can be pretty intense. In fact, sun and ice reflect around 85% of the sunlight that hits it. What is happening is that the Arctic is warming at 2 to 3 times the rate as the rest of the Planet, and thus, much of the Arctic sea ice is melting and turning into open ocean.
Ocean absorbs about 90% of the sunlight that hits it. So we are replacing the best reflector, sea ice, with the worst absorber, open ocean. The feedback loop looks like this: Ocean warms — more sea ice melts — more exposed ocean — more sunlight absorbed — ocean warms more — etc, etc, etc.
Another self perpetuating feedback loop. Another related effect is that warmer oceans evaporate more, putting more water vapor and CO 2 into the atmosphere, both greenhouse gasses that cause more warming. We have also witnessed the impact of warmer oceans on hurricanes. Last year was by far the worst hurricane season on record.
The volume of ice around the world has decreased by an astounding 75% in the last 40 years! The impact of this on global warming is estimated to be around 25% increase. But if you add in the loss of snow and ice on land as well, this adds up to approximately 40% loss of reflectivity. According to scientists, we could lose Arctic sea ice completely by the end of this century. The Arctic sea ice has existed for the past two and one half million years. If this tipping point is reached, it would take thousands of years to recover.
If this isn’t bad enough, consider that the Arctic warming is impacting weather patterns around the world, resulting in warmer temperatures there as well. The cooling air in the jet stream won’t be quite as cool. The solution is simple – Stop adding fossil fuel emissions to the atmosphere! The feedback loop is quite simple: More fossil fuel emissions — global temperature rises —— more snow and Ice melt === decreases reflectivity (ALBEDO EFFECT) — causing global temperatures to rise — etc, etc.
Cutting emissions will stop rising temperatures, which will stop melting land and sea ice, which will increase reflectivity, and lower the overall temperature of the Planet. But the longer we wait, the harder it gets and the longer it takes to recover. These feedback loops are self perpetuating, and won’t fix themselves. It’s time to act NOW! The Planet will continue to exist just fine, albeit, a lot warmer, like in the time of the dinosaurs. The problem is that we, humans, may not exist, nor many off the species that now exist with us. We have total control over this. We can act, and save ourselves and our fellow species, or we can sit back and let this happen to us. I for one am unwilling to sit back. I want a safe and healthy future as I know you do too. Let’s make it happen, for ourselves, Our Children, our Grandchildren, all Future Generations and all Life.
- Feedback Loops-Part 3-Melting Permafrost
In the first two parts I talked about the danger of self-perpetuating feedback loops in general , and last week, the Albedo effect in which the Earth loses some it’s reflectivity from melting sea ice and sends less heat from the Sun back into space, thus warming the Planet even more. Today, I would like to address the problem of the melting PERMAFROST. Over millennia, billions of tons of biological material were frozen under an icy cover in the North we call Permafrost. When the permafrost melts, the biological remains become exposed to microbes that consume this material and in the process, release Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Methane (CH4). Today, Permafrost contains twice as much CO2 in the ground as there is CO2 in the atmosphere right now. If this CO2 is released, the consequences could be devastating.
The problem is that the Permafrost is melting. The feedback loop looks something like this: Fossil fuel emissions = rising global temperature = permafrost thawing = microbes eat biomass remains (decomposing material) = release of more CO2 and CH4 = rising global temperatures = etc., etc. etc. in a self-perpetuating feedback loop. The carbon dioxide is bad enough, but the Methane is 30 times more potent than CO2 in terms of trapping heat in the Atmosphere. The release of that much Methane can cause catastrophic damage by the end of this century. If you haven’t watched Leonardo di Capri’s film “Ice on Fire”, please do so because they demonstrate the Methane problem by drilling a hole in the ice and lighting the escaping Methane gas (hence, ice on fire). It’s kind of scary.
Another feedback loop caused by rising temperatures has to do with plant life that normally does not grow in the far north. As the Planet warms, more plants and trees are migrating North. This biological material provides even more food for the microbes, thus triggering an additional feedback loop as follows: Fossil fuel emissions = rising global temperatures = more plant growth in the North = more food choice for the microbes = more Methane released = rising global temperatures = etc, etc, etc., in another self-perpetuating feedback loop.
All of the feedback loops mentioned are the result of the burning of fossil fuels, which is the primary cause of global warming. This dangerous series of feedback loops can be avoided, but four necessary steps must be taken: Cut fossil fuel emissions, stop deforestation, remove carbon from the atmosphere, and re-green the Earth (plant more trees). This will require the will of the people like us to vote in the kind of political leadership that will take on this problem and collaborate with other countries around the world. It seems as if the current administration is moving in the right direction, but it is up to us to continue to put pressure on our local legislators to support the administration in the effort. We all have a roll to play for the benefit of .. Our Children, Grandchildren, All Future Generations and All Life.