Our Changing Planet

OCEA 80BProfessors Sharon Stammerjohn &

Andy MooreOcean Sciences Department

• We live in a time of recent unprecedented change in the Earth climate.

Global Average Temperature derived from theinstrumental record

Proxy of derived global average temperature and the instrumental record

“Climate Hockey Stick”(Michael Mann, Penn State)

•Hockey stick questioned by Canadian mining engineers•Some to-ing and fro-ing in the scientific literature•Michael Mann testifies before the US Senate•Special US Congress subcommittee convened•US Academy of Sciences weighs in and supports Mann’s original results

Land clearing in N.Am began.

Glacial Retreat in Europe

Chamonix, 1850

Chamonix 1856-1933Chamonix 1966

Chamonix today

Arctic Sea-Ice Extent- end of summer

The Northwest Passage

Climate Model Predictions

5/5/06

What of the future?

Economic Growth

• Booming economies in India and China – more affluent middle-class.

• Combined populations of China and India ~2.4 billion people (www.cia.gov)

• World population ~ 6.5 billion people (www.cia.gov)

• Global Carbon emissions have increased 19% since 1990.

• China’ emissions have increased 47%.• In 2006, carbon emissions in China exceeded

those of the United States.

Carbon Emissions by China

Mitigation: Kyoto Protocol

• U.S has never ratified Kyoto protocol.

“One planet, one experiment” – Edward O’Wilson

“The future depends on what we do in the present”- Mahatma Gandhi