A talk by Rob Dunbar in Discovering ancient climates in oceans and ice

http://www.ted.com/talks/rob_dunbar.html

This talk of Rob Dunbar is all about the climate change that is happening to our world. In this talk he mentioned some of the causes and possible effects of global warming to our world but before he started he asked “Is CO₂ the cause of the warming”? Then he answered that it is the effect of the CO₂ that causes the warming of the planet. He showed the “Natural” Causes of climate change that affects us are the Air-Sea Interactions, Volcanic Aerosols and Dust, Ocean Circulation and Solar Output. He also showed the Human-induced causes like land use change, aerosols, and trace gasses (CO₂, CH₄, O₃, SO₂, NO_x). He had also gone to Antarctic to recover sediment that tells stories about climate change. He also mentioned that they had encountered waves up to 50 feet and during December 2007 they had made the world’s largest ice shelf and they drilled in the Ross Sea. They had drilled 900m of seawater and 1300m sediment and rock and it is the deepest borehole drilled. They had found out glacial sediments that are 12cm wide. All or large parts of the Ross ice Shelf melted and then formed anew ~35 times in the last 4 million years. It melted and formed again.

The effects of the climate change on organisms are Physiological sensitivities, Acidosis, reduced metabolism, Reduced Oxygen uptake, reduced reproductive success. Talking about the climate change there are many effects of this not just the ones stated earlier. If we would know all the causes and effects of this, maybe we will know what will we do and things that we must avoid. One of the major causes of climate change is the burning of plastics and many are still unaware that this is one of the causes of climate change. Another is the depletion of trees in mountains that causes landslides.

When we talk about climate change and global warming we always say that one way to prevent this is by planting trees, but do we do this? It is easy to say that we must plant trees but why can’t we do it? It is also important to learn many alternatives in lessening the effects of climate change. Another effect of climate change is that the sea level will rise and is happening now and it will seriously affect the low-lying islands and coasts within 20 to 30 years. According to the talk, in the year 2100, we may see 1 to 2 meters rise and under some scenarios it could be more meaning that these 1 to 2 meters can still rise up to greater than 2 meters. Rob Dunbar also mentioned the uplift of seas during the past years. An example of this is the Urvina Bay- 8 square kilometres of shallow marine coral terrace was lifted up out of the water by an earthquake in 1954. He also mentioned that if you will go near it you will see and 11 meter diamond coral head and have an estimated age of 400 years old.

There are so many effects of global warming and climate change. If we will not start doing something today, we might regret it someday. If we want to preserve our Mother Nature and mother earth, we must do something in order to save her. We must know our duties and responsibilities to take care of our environment.