scholarly journals O Paradoxo das Mudanças Climáticas no Brasil: Aquecimento ou Resfriamento? (The Paradox of Climate Change in Brazil: Heating or Cooling?)

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 307
Author(s):  
Virginia Mirtes De Alcântara Silva ◽  
Maria da Conceição Marcelino Patrício ◽  
Raimundo Mainar de Medeiros ◽  
Alexandra Lima Tavares

Este trabalho inicia-se em um breve relato sobre as mais diversas opiniões acerca das mudanças climáticas, enfocando os conceitos de diversos pesquisadores acerca da temática, tão controversa nos meios científicos quanto a nível internacional. Várias opiniões divergem sobre o que realmente originam as mudanças climáticas, a primeira seria que as mudanças climáticas decorrem de ações antropogênicas, provindos do uso de combustíveis fósseis e o crescimento da agricultura alterando na atmosfera um aumento de CO2, que conseqüentemente induziriam a elevação da temperatura, ou seja, ao aquecimento global, entretanto, existem argumentos que se contrapõem ao aquecimento global de longo prazo e defendem um resfriamento global gradativo, baseando-se que o clima sofre influência de forças como o sol e os seus ciclos e os oceanos que cobrem 71% da superfície e que são os grandes reservatórios de calor, e que as mudanças climáticas são de ordem natural, pois a interferência humana é insignificante e apenas traz mudanças a nível local. Essas divergências científicas necessitam de comprovações, pois precisamos entender as conseqüências reais desse processo. Se realmente estamos caminhando para um aquecimento ou resfriamento e se as mudanças climáticas são de ordem natural ou antropogênicas.Palavras- chave: Mudanças climáticas, Aquecimento global, Resfriamento global, Divergências científicas.  The paradox of Climate Change in Brazil: Heating or Cooling?  ABSTRACTThis work begins in a brief report on the diverse views on climate change, focusing on the concepts of various researchers on the theme, so controversial in scientific circles as internationally. Various opinions differ on what really causes climate change, the first climate change that would result from anthropogenic activities, stemming from the use of fossil fuels growth in agriculture and the changing atmosphere in a CO2 increase, which consequently leads to a rise in temperature, or global warming, however, there are arguments to oppose the long-term global warming and advocate a gradual global cooling, based on the climate is influenced by forces like the sun and its cycles and the oceans that cover 71 % of the surface and are the great reservoirs of heat, and that climate change is a natural one, because human interference is negligible and only brings changes at the local. These differences need scientific proof, because we need to understand the real consequences of this process. If we are really heading for a heating or cooling and climate change are of a natural or anthropogenic. Key words: Climate change, Global warming, Global cooling, Scientific differences.

Author(s):  
Keegan Cothern ◽  
Junichi Hasegawa

Climate research has been presented as a largely Anglophone and European affair, while other regional contributions and concerns have been left largely unexamined. An investigation of the Japan Meteorological Agency’s ‘Abnormal Weather Reports’ and related literature instead reveals the concerns of an island nation anxious about immediate weather abnormalities, causes of climate variability, and predicting the consequences of global warming within a geographically vulnerable Japan. Researchers initially focused on the topic of global cooling in the 1970s, sparking fears about Japan’s self-sustainability in the event of a long-term decline in temperatures. By the 1980s, though cooling fears persisted, focus also turned to how El Niño cycles provoked climatic variability, even as initial concern with global warming resulting from human activities, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and ozone depletion grew. Following the Kyoto Protocol’s recognition of anthropogenic climate change and creation of a global cooperative framework, research has begun to focus on the consequences of global warming in exacerbating Japan’s meteorological risks and on mitigating further anthropogenic temperature increases.


Author(s):  
Gennady V. Menzhulin ◽  
Sergey P. Savvateyev

The climate of a region is a representation of long-term weather conditions that prevail there. Over the millions of years of the existence of the atmosphere on the earth, the climate has changed all the time; ice ages have come and gone, and this has been the result of natural causes. Recently (on geological time scales) the human population has expanded—from half a billion in 1600, to 1 billion in 1800, to almost 3 billion in 1940, and it now stands at about 6 billion. The climate may well now be influenced not only as before by natural events but also by human activities. For example, we are producing vast amounts of carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels, and this is causing the temperature of the earth to rise significantly. If we argue that we should control our activities to preserve this planet as a habitable environment for future generations, we need to have some scientific knowledge of the effects of our present activities on climate. In recent years the evidence has been accumulating that on the time scale of decades there is global warming (i.e., the global annual mean surface temperature is increasing). There is also evidence accumulating that part of this increase is a consequence of human activities. The evidence is largely statistical. Within this trend there are bound to be temporal fluctuations and spatial variations. Moreover, in addition to the increase in temperature, it is reasonable to assume that there is, overall, an increase in evaporation of water from the surface of the earth and that there will be a consequent increase in precipitation. But within this overall scenario there are bound to be local variations; some areas may experience more precipitation, but some areas may experience less precipitation. The effect of climate change on the proneness to drought is therefore not uniform but can be expected to vary from place to place. Therefore, whether one is concerned with considering the relation between climate and proneness to drought from the historical evidence or whether one is trying to use models to predict the effect of future climatic conditions, it is necessary to consider the local spatial variations.


Author(s):  
Krishna Kulin Trivedi

Global Warming is a very serious issue. the term “Global Warming” means increase in global temperature mainly due to increase in greenhouse gases concentration due to the burning of fossil fuels in the atmosphere and is long term warming of the planet. The whole world fights against it. The global warming changes the climate and is caused by the human action. Global warming is a very major problem and with it the flood, droughts, melting of ice, storms and change in climate is likely to happen. Steps have to be taken to solve the global problem global warming for the better universal health and better environment for the whole world. Due to global warming there will be environmental disruption and change in climate which will be an irreversible situation. The global warming is caused by the human and their activities and thus it is the human who is the sufferer of climate change, thus we cant stop global warming but we can solve it by reducing and slowing down the greenhouse gas emissions and burning of fossil fuels for a better environment for ourselves and a sustainable environment for the future generations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Erik Lane

The implementation process of the global accord on climate change has to start now in order to be implementable. The decentralized process if implementation should take the lessons from the theory of policy implementation into account (Pressman & Wildavsky, 1984; Wildavsky, 1987). The dependency upon various forms of coal (wood, stone) and fossil fuels is so large in the Third World that only massive financial assistance from the First World can mean a difference for the COP21 objectives. And many advanced countries (except Uruguay) also need to make great changes to comply with COP21.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Homayoun Fathollahzadeh ◽  
Fabio Kaczala ◽  
Amit Bhatnagar ◽  
William Hogland

The main dilemma of contaminated sediments has been the proper management with reduced environmental footprints. Furthermore, by considering the fact that global warming and climate change may complicate the choice of management options, finding appropriate solutions become extremely critical. In the present work, mining of contaminated sediments to recover valuable constituents such as metals and nutrients is proposed as sustainable strategy, both through enhancing resilience of ecosystem and remediation. Contaminated sediments in the Oskarshamn harbor, southeast of Sweden were collected and analyzed through a modified sequential extraction in order to evaluate the feasibility of metals recovery. The results have shown that among different metals present in the sediments, Cu and Pb can be initially considered as economically feasible to recover. The shifting in the concept of dredging and further remediation of contaminated sediments towards sediment mining and recover of valuable metals can be considered in the near future as a sustainable strategy to tackle contaminated harbor/ports areas. However, it must be highlighted that short and long-term environmental impacts related to such activities should be addressed.


Author(s):  
Michael J. Branney ◽  
Jan Zalasiewicz

‘Volcanoes, climate, and the biosphere’ explores how volcanism has perturbed both climate and the complement of living organisms on Earth, both locally and globally. Volcanic outbursts, depending on their nature and scale, may cause global warming or global cooling. In the historical record, even geologically modest eruptions have had dramatic repercussions. Volcanoes can affect local weather. It is possible that climate change can, in turn, affect volcanism.


2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 239-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. McBean ◽  
H. Motiee

Abstract. In the threshold of the appearance of global warming from theory to reality, extensive research has focused on predicting the impact of potential climate change on water resources using results from Global Circulation Models (GCMs). This research carries this further by statistical analyses of long term meteorological and hydrological data. Seventy years of historical trends in precipitation, temperature, and streamflows in the Great Lakes of North America are developed using long term regression analyses and Mann-Kendall statistics. The results generated by the two statistical procedures are in agreement and demonstrate that many of these variables are experiencing statistically significant increases over a seven-decade period. The trend lines of streamflows in the three rivers of St. Clair, Niagara and St. Lawrence, and precipitation levels over four of the five Great Lakes, show statistically significant increases in flows and precipitation. Further, precipitation rates as predicted using fitted regression lines are compared with scenarios from GCMs and demonstrate similar forecast predictions for Lake Superior. Trend projections from historical data are higher than GCM predictions for Lakes Michigan/Huron. Significant variability in predictions, as developed from alternative GCMs, is noted. Given the general agreement as derived from very different procedures, predictions extrapolated from historical trends and from GCMs, there is evidence that hydrologic changes particularly for the precipitation in the Great Lakes Basin may be demonstrating influences arising from global warming and climate change.


2009 ◽  
Vol 85 (5) ◽  
pp. 710-714
Author(s):  
Winifred B Kessler

This paper revisits 3 broad predictions about forestry’s future presented by the author in 1993: the growing importance of products that come from forests, forests increasingly valued for more than the sum of their products and uses, and better appreciation of forests as complex ecological systems controlled by forces larger than humans. These predictions have played out in more dramatic ways than initially envisioned, driven in part by 3 emergent forces: the energy crisis, the ascension of new economic superpowers, and climate change. Examples of these trends and relationships are examined from Canadian and United States contexts. Key words: ecosystem services, forests and climate change, forests and global warming, forest biofuels, forest management trends, sustainable forestry


2000 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. W. Cutforth

Long-term weather data were analyzed to study annual as well as seasonal climate change within an approximately 15 000-km2 area in the semiarid prairie near Swift Current, SK. The climate of the study region has changed over the past 50 yr. Annually, average maximum (Tmx) and minimum (Tmn) air temperatures have increased – rainfall amounts and the number of rainfall events (≥0.5 mm) have increased since the late 1960s-early 1970s; incoming solar energy has decreased, and wind speed has decreased since the early 1970s. Seasonally, for January through April (JFMA), both Tmx and Tmn have increased, the number of rainfall events has increased since the early 1970s, snowfall amounts and the number of snowfall events (≥0.5 cm) have decreased; the number of precipitation events (≥0.5 mm) has decreased, incoming solar energy has decreased, and wind speed has decreased since the early 1970s. For May through August (MJJA), Tmn has increased, incoming solar energy has decreased, and wind speed has decreased since the mid-1970s. For September through December (SOND), the number of rainfall events has increased since the early 1970s and wind speed has decreased. Since 1950, JFMA has become drier and, relative to JFMA, SOND has become wetter. Generally, JFMA has experienced the largest change in climate, whereas SOND has experienced the least climate change. Precipitation amounts and events were negatively correlated with increasing Tmx, suggesting a future decrease in precipitation amounts for southwestern Saskatchewan if global warming continues. Key words: Climate change, semiarid prairie, temperature, precipitation, wind, solar energy


2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-271
Author(s):  
John David Lewis

Claims that a man-made global warming catastrophe is imminent have two major aspects: the scientific support offered for the claims, and the political proposals brought forth in response to the claims. The central questions are whether non-scientists should accept the claims themselves as true, and whether they should support the political proposals attached to them. Predictions of a coming disaster are shown to be a-historical in both the long term and the short term, to involve shifting predictions that are contrary to evidence, and to be opposed by many scientists. The political proposals to alleviate this alleged problem—especially plans by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—are shown to offer no alternative to fossil fuels, and to portend a major economic decline and permanent losses of liberty. The anthropogenic global warming claims are largely motivated not by science, but by a desire for socialist intervention on a national and a global scale. Neither the claims to an impending climate catastrophe nor the political proposals attached to those claims should be accepted.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document