Revolution #014, September 18, 2005, posted at revcom.us
As Hurricane Katrina pounded and devastated the Gulf Coast, many people wondered if global warming had anything to do with this disaster. Because of wide variation in weather, it’s difficult to determine whether any one storm—or series of storms and other extreme weather events in a particular place over a period of time—is definitely the result of global warming. But there is a well-known link between global weather and the production and intensity of storms. And scientists say that a warming globe will increase the severity of storms and other weather extremes.
Whatever role global warming played in relation to Katrina, this problem poses an acute danger for the planet. At the beginning of the 21st century, there are huge concentrations of wealth and productive forces and unprecedented technology and scientific know-how. But all this is monopolized by a handful who use it to amass more profit and power at the expense of people’s lives. And this blind pursuit of profit by imperialism is causing immense damage to the planet’s environment and ecosystems.
Nowhere does the danger stand out more sharply than in relation to global warming.
Global warming is caused by the massive burning of fossil fuels (like oil and coal) and wood, as well as deforestation that result in the release of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and other “greenhouse gases.”
The U.S. is the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases. With 4% of the world’s population, the U.S. produces a quarter of the world’s CO2. But despite the horrible threat to humanity from even existing levels of greenhouse gas emissions, the Bush regime intends to vastly expand the burning of fossil fuels and is actively opposing a scientific approach to this planetary problem.
A 2001 study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that without major reduction of greenhouse gases, the earth will warm 2.5-10.4 degrees Fahrenheit (1.4-5.8 Celsius) between 1990 and 2100. Other scientific studies predict that the global warming trend may be even higher—as much as 19.7 degrees F.
Global warming is already causing alarming environmental changes. To name a few: Glaciers and ice sheets are melting. Island nations and coastal villages are being worn away through rising sea levels and storm surges. The ranges of many plant and animal species are shifting northward and to higher altitudes.
Scientific research reveals that global warming is likely causing more extreme weather. A 2003 study by the World Meterological Organization said, “New record [weather] events occur every year somewhere in the globe, but in recent years the number of such extremes have been increasing.” A recent study in the scientific journal Nature found a 50% increase in strength of hurricanes in the world and linked this to global warming.
The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) released in Nov. 2004 said that the Arctic region is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world. Over the past 30 years, annual sea-ice has decreased by 8%—equal to an area larger than Texas and Arizona combined. The study predicts that at least half of the summer sea ice in the Arctic, as well as a big part of the Greenland ice sheet (world’s second largest), will melt by the end of the century.
Scientists differ on the pace of these changes. One NASA climate scientist predicts the Greenland ice sheet could begin to disintegrate within decades if greenhouse emissions aren’t controlled. Others say this would take longer. The melting of the whole sheet would raise the sea level by 23 feet and cause catastrophic flooding worldwide, affecting hundreds of millions of people. Large parts of low-lying countries like Bangladesh and many major cities could end up under water.
Even limited rises in sea level are already causing and will cause more flooding and even total inundation of island nations and coastal areas where millions of people live worldwide.
For example, the island nation of Tuvalu in the south Pacific, home to 11,000 people, is threatened with decimation from rising seas and increasing storm surges. People living on the island are being moved bit by bit to New Zealand.
The melting of ice sheets and glaciers in the north are not only effects of global warming—they can also further accelerate global warming and other climate changes.
One example is the “albedo effect.” Snow and ice reflect the sun’s heat much more than water. So as ice sheets and snow melt and turn into water on a large scale, the energy from the sun is more readily absorbed, further heating the oceans and earth.
Also, ice in permanent sheets pushes out the salt from its structure over years, and the salty water sinks into the ocean. This sinking of salty water in the Arctic is a main source of “thermohaline circulation”—a process that is responsible for a global conveyor belt in the oceans whereby warmer waters from the equator flow northward and moderate climates. Massive melting of ice sheets can slow or stop thermohaline circulation, causing rapid and unpredictable climate changes.
The warming in the Arctic is already affecting the people and animal and plant life in the region. The Inuit people are now seeing, for the first time, southerly species (like robins) that they have never even had names for in their language.
Many animal and plant species are able to survive in their ecosystems only within a narrow range of temperatures. So with global climate change, the phenomena of major and unpredictable changes in the range and survivability of species will spread to other regions.
The more scientists learn about the real evidence and dangers of global warming, the more they are sounding the alarm about the need to act immediately. The evidence is clear that global warming is accelerating, with potentially catastrophic effects to ecosystems and humanity on a world scale. The environmental future of our planet is hanging in the balance—and the system of capitalism that is at the root of these developments is fundamentally incapable of dealing with this threat to humanity.
(For a good discussion of the science of global warming and climate change, see a three-part series in the New Yorker magazine by Elizabeth Kolbert titled “The a Climate of Man” pt1, pt2, pt3)