Global Warming

Roger Munns asked:


After two decades of growing visitor numbers, Andorra has been increasing her visitor numbers to over ten million a year for ski holidays and happily investing for the future to ensure she remains as one of Europe’s top ski destinations but that came to a screeching halt earlier this year when the one thing a ski destination really needs didn’t arrive - snow.

The Andorra authorities are hoping that the lack of snow which kept so many regular visitors as well as new ones away this year is a one off, and that snow in November will mean a normal level of bookings for the new season.

But if this year is a sign of things to come for the European ski industry as a result of global warming, Andorra is considering a future with little snow, and having to diversify.

Andorra is a tax free country, and benefits from high employment in the financial services and banking sectors, but reports from the country suggest that revenue raising via a new corporate tax is being considered.

But according to a local on-line travel guide for Andorra this is unlikely.

Introducing a corporation tax could be counter-productive as a revenue raiser, they say, adding that Andorra is along with Monaco Europe’s most complete tax haven, and it would give high net worth individuals who would be looking for residency in Andorra and spending money in the country second thoughts. The Andorra authorities know that they can’t start introducing personal income tax because that really would kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Take away Andorra’s ski industry and the country is in trouble - take away her tax haven status too and it would decimate her economy.

New Investment

Andorra has invested heavily in new infrastructure and facilities for the ski tourist in recent years, which would make a second successive poor season particularly hard to bear.

This year Andorra opened a new family friendly ski park in Arinsal, moving away further still from her old image of a cheap and cheerful ski holiday for 18-30 year olds to one that caters well for all.

The snow park includes a conveyor belt and a game zone, designed to give children confidence before they ski and use the chair lifts.

Well known ski villages in Andorra include Soldeu, Ordino as well as Arinsal.

Other new developments in Andorra for the 2007 ski season included a 540 space underground car park in La Massana close to the cable car, and an extension of the beginners area in Arinsal.

Commenting on the new facilities, the travel guide for Andorra claims that should the snow levels return to normal it will allow Andorra to compete with other ski areas in Europe for years to come.



Christian

Craig Travis asked:


Executive search and staffing firm Sequence Systems LLC has launched new, cutting edge initiatives aimed at supporting their client’s efforts in providing innovation and excellence in environmental consulting.

The science behind climate change and global warming has presented a compelling case that emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are inducing changes in the climate throughout the world.

Like Al Gore’s The Climate Project, Sequence is helping to raise the awareness of our clients and fellow citizens about this crisis and informing them about potential solutions so that all of us, together, can preserve the climate balance on which our planet depends.

To ensure a sustainable future, there is a great need to understand climate change and to manage greenhouse gas emissions in ways that protects the planet from further degradation and change while promoting economic growth, he added.

As the climate change debate and private sector market solutions have been evolving,

Sequence has already been on the forefront working with clients throughout the country to expand their staff expertise in this arena, and to provide strategic advice and implementation support for programs that protect the stratospheric ozone layer, as required under the Montreal Protocol.

We understand the vital need today for highly trained personnel who can prepare innovative climate change technical and policy analyses, in identifying viable market solutions and the capability to build real world management tools to effectively combat climate change and global warming.

Sequence is leading the way with initiatives such as searching and placing personnel to assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent basis the latest scientific, technical and socio-economic literature related to the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change, its observed and projected impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation. Today, they are actively recruiting candidates for these vital jobs and resumes may be submitted online: www.sequencestaffing.com.

Sequence, a premier executive search and staffing firm for the environmental, construction and light industrial industries, is dedicated to supporting the core industries responsible for building and maintaining the nation’s infrastructure, natural resources and environment by recruiting and placing field, management and executive-level personnel in temporary, temp-to-permanent and direct-hire positions. For more information, go to: www.sequencestaffing.com.



Alyssa

Mervyn Rees asked:


(c) 2008 Mervyn Rees

The average temperature of the earth has increased by about 0.6 degrees centigrade over the last 100 years. Because of the affect of global warming, scientists estimate that the temperature will continue to increase by about 0.3 degrees centigrade per decade - that’s 3 degrees over a 100 year period.

Some areas are expected to warm up much faster than others, and some areas are actually expected to cool down, but the affect of this, they say, will be floods becoming more extreme and occurring more frequently.

The reason why we’re told we can expect more frequent and more devastating floods is because:

a) As the sea heats up the water will expand leading to a rise in the sea level.

b) The ice caps will melt leading to more water in the sea.

Will this really happen? Prediction can never tell us anything with 100% certainty, but in this case there’s a very strong possibility that floods will become both more frequent and more devastating as recent events have shown.

The signs are that there is change, radical in places, new weather patterns affecting us all too some degree wherever we are.

“Better go and find our Water Wings ” (Joke)!

Human Extinction

Could humans be moving towards the end of their time on earth?

As per Professor Michael Boulter, a UK Palaeontologist from the University of East London, large mammals—including humansare showing signs of imminent extinction.

So far, large mammals have become extinct at a much faster rate than one would have predicted if humans hadn’t made their mark on the planet by burning fossil fuels.

His theory is that life on Earth needs to be culled from time to time, with the last cull being the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and by messing with the environment, we’ve sped up the move towards the next big cull.

The human race, he says, will die out “soon”. Don’t panic just yet though, in geological terms, “soon” can mean millions of years.

Is this Fact or Fiction? Who will be around to give us the answer, and need we really worry?

Life Adapts

Greenhouse gas emissions are expected to increase the temperature in the world by between 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. That sounds like a lot… but it happens over the next 100 years!

Over the past century humans have adapted to a variety of changes in our environment, and if you were to take some turn of the century homesteaders and plunk them down in a car in the middle of New York, they wouldn’t last more than two minutes! But gradual changes in our environment are much easier to adapt to. We simply expect things to happen quicker than our forefathers did. While a 2.5 to 10 degree rise in the next year might be hard to take, spread over time we will barely notice the change. Ever see the movie Jurassic Park? It may have been a fictional movie, but it wasn’t fair in one concept: Life will find a way to survive in spite of the environment.



Jada

Donald W asked:


I’m writing a paper on the negative effects of global warming on the atmosphere, humans, animals, and the environment (sea, land, trees, air, etc.), and I need to know what effects global warming makes on the atmosphere.

Walter

marriedinwesternmass asked:


NEw Years eve and all the celebrating in Times Square is just adding to Global Warming(or is it). So where is Al Gore and Johny Depp to condemn it.

Sam

Raptor Baby asked:


This question is in R&S because according to the Pastafarians there is a relationship between pirates and global warming.

Marvin

Aaron W asked:


Jello has a point that things tend to get attributed to global warming after they happen. A few years back there was flooding in California and it was attributed to global warming and there were warnings that it was likely to get worse. Now there is a drought in California and it’s attributed to global warming and it’s likely to get worse. And I read that there is flooding and forest fires in different parts of Australia and they are both due to global warming…

Looking to the *future* what can we expect from global warming and where in the next few months?
“More extreme weather” is a bit broad. What more specific predictions are on offer?

Cody

Hannah B asked:


OK, I’m a libertarian, and I do believe that global warming is occurring. But the vast majority of solutions I’ve seen proposed are either a wealth redistribution scheme (the US and other “rich” countries give loads of money to poorer, and often terrifyingly corrupt, countries so they can develop greener industries), or limit individual or corporate rights (the government taxing “bad” cars, foods, or actions to control behavior).

So is there a solution to the global warming problem that doesn’t involve government mucking around in people’s lives, raising taxes, or restricting what companies can and can’t do?

Chelsea

Mike Hirn asked:


Global warming is discussed in two main types of books. Some authors downplay the issue and insist there is no problem. Others speak of the compelling evidence, dangerous consequences, and solutions. Reading books with more than one viewpoint on the subject gives a balanced perspective.

Probably the most well-known book on global warming is Al Gore’s book AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH: THE PLANETARY EMERGENCY OF GLOBAL WARMING AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT. Gore’s book shows reasons why people need to save the earth from the hazards of climatic change. It also implores world leaders to stand up and take heed of the warnings of an environment in crisis.

An opposing viewpoint is presented in a book titled UNSTOPPABLE GLOBAL WARMING: EVERY 1500 YEARS. The book, written by Dennis T. Avery and S. Fred Singer, is an argument that global warming is a cyclical event that has happened gradually and systematically throughout history. Scientific data backs up their claims and demonstrates why no one, in the authors’ opinions, should be concerned about global warming.

However, compelling scientific facts do exist that support the claims of the dangers caused by climatic changes. A book called GLOBAL WARMING: THE COMPLETE BRIEFING tells facts and theories about the foundations of a hotter climate. In it, the future of the world and ways to help minimize the problem are outlined.

Children can learn about the subject by reading a book called THIS IS MY PLANET: THE KIDS’ GUIDE TO GLOBAL WARMING. Jan Thornhill, the author or the book, gives startling facts about the quickly occurring changes in our environment and tells how it is happening. Catering to the younger audience, though, she is careful to sprinkle the book with a lot of hope and ways for children to help improve the situation.

THE DOWN TO EARTH GUIDE TO GLOBAL WARMING, by Laurie David and Cambria Gordon, is a book that uses humor to discuss a serious subject. It not only has facts about the genesis of extreme warming, but it is full of vivid pictures. It is another book aimed at elementary-age children, and it tells ways for kids to fight the problem in every area of their lives.

A fun and interesting book is THE LIVE EARTH GLOBAL WARMING SURVIVAL HANDBOOK: 77 ESSENTIAL SKILLS TO STOP CLIMATE CHANGE. David de Rothschild, the author, constructed the book to be a tongue-in-cheek survival guide for a hotter planet. At the same time, it offers important information about ways to improve the environment. It is a companion book to the Live Earth Concerts that took place around the world during a 24-hour period in July of 2007.

It is easy to find books about what is perhaps the most important environmental issue of the current century. Many are aimed at the children who are next to inherit the earth. Some focus heavily on scientific data. Others rely on humor to spread their message. Some are even a simple call to arms to anyone willing to help curb global warming. It is a subject worth studying, and there are plenty of books available to the earnest pupil.



Gilberto

Randall E asked:


Will the environmental movement’s “boy who cried wolf” problem have been greatly exacerbated by the global warming scare?

Larissa