Dennis:

There are times when I no longer enjoy reading my newspaper after I get home
from work (a ritual of unwinding for years) because I seldom can read
anything that features Dubya or the current administration without getting
mad. Sometimes the last thing I want it is to read about environmental
issues on Tweeters (my birdy escape from the rest of the world), yet I know
we all need to be reminded of our responsibilities to learn the truth and
demand accountability from elected officials.
*Thanks for the posting. *

Ruth Taylor
Seattle/Ballard
rutht at seanet.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Paulson <dpaulson at ups.edu>
To: dpaulson at mail.ups.edu <dpaulson at mail.ups.edu>
Date: Thursday, July 03, 2003 5:35 PM
Subject: Fwd: Extreme Weather


>Sorry for some cross-posting, but this is important information to
>disseminate. It clearly shows the Bush Administration's refrain of
>"more research is necessary" as nothing other than stonewalling.
>
>>Published on Thursday, July 3, 2003 by the lndependent/UK
>>
>>Reaping the Whirlwind
>>Extreme Weather Prompts Unprecedented Global Warming Alert
>>
>>In an astonishing announcement on global warming and extreme weather,
>>the World Meteorological Organization signaled last night that the
>>world's weather is going haywire.
>>
>>In a startling report, the WMO, which normally produces detailed
>>scientific reports and staid statistics at the year's end, highlighted
>>record extremes in weather and climate occurring all over the world in
>>recent weeks, from Switzerland's hottest-ever June to a record month
>>for tornadoes in the United States - and linked them to climate change.
>>
>>The unprecedented warning takes its force and significance from the
>>fact that it is not coming from Greenpeace or Friends of the Earth, but
>>from an impeccably respected UN Organization that is not given to
>>hyperbole (though environmentalists will seize on it to claim that the
>>direst warnings of climate change are being borne out).
>>
>>The Geneva-based body, to which the weather services of 185 countries
>>contribute, takes the view that events this year in Europe, America and
>>Asia are so remarkable that the world needs to be made aware of it
>>immediately.
>>
>>The extreme weather it documents, such as record high and low
>>temperatures, record rainfall and record storms in different parts of
>>the world, is consistent with predictions of global warming.
>>Supercomputer models show that, as the atmosphere warms, the climate
>>not only becomes hotter but much more unstable. "Recent scientific
>>assessments indicate that, as the global temperatures continue to warm
>>due to climate change, the number and intensity of extreme events might
>>increase," the WMO said, giving a striking series of examples.
>>
>>In southern France, record temperatures were recorded in June, rising
>>above 40C in places - temperatures of 5C to 7C above the average.
>>
>>In Switzerland, it was the hottest June in at least 250 years,
>>environmental historians said. In Geneva, since 29 May, daytime
>>temperatures have not fallen below 25C, making it the hottest June
>>recorded.
>>
>>In the United States, there were 562 May tornadoes, which caused 41
>>deaths. This set a record for any month. The previous record was 399 in
>>June 1992.
>>
>>In India, this year's pre-monsoon heatwave brought peak temperatures of
>>45C - 2C to 5C above the norm. At least 1,400 people died in India due
>>to the hot weather. In Sri Lanka, heavy rainfall from Tropical Cyclone
>>01B exacerbated wet conditions, resulting in flooding and landslides
>>and killing at least 300 people. The infrastructure and economy of
>>south-west Sri Lanka was heavily damaged. A reduction of 20-30 per cent
>>is expected in the output of low-grown tea in the next three months.
>>
>>Last month was also the hottest in England and Wales since 1976, with
>>average temperatures of 16C. The WMO said: "These record extreme events
>>(high temperatures, low temperatures and high rainfall amounts and
>>droughts) all go into calculating the monthly and annual averages,
>>which, for temperatures, have been gradually increasing over the past
>>100 years.
>>
>>"New record extreme events occur every year somewhere in the globe, but
>>in recent years the number of such extremes have been increasing.
>>
>>"According to recent climate-change scientific assessment reports of
>>the joint WMO/United Nations Environmental Program Intergovernmental
>>Panel on Climate Change, the global average surface temperature has
>>increased since 1861. Over the 20th century the increase has been
>>around 0.6C.
>>
>>"New analyses of proxy data for the northern hemisphere indicate that
>>the increase in temperature in the 20th century is likely to have been
>>the largest in any century during the past 1,000 years."
>>
>>While the trend towards warmer temperatures has been uneven over the
>>past century, the trend since 1976 is roughly three times that for the
>>whole period.
>>
>>Global average land and sea surface temperatures in May 2003 were the
>>second highest since records began in 1880. Considering land
>>temperatures only, last May was the warmest on record.
>>
>>It is possible that 2003 will be the hottest year ever recorded. The 10
>>hottest years in the 143-year-old global temperature record have now
>>all been since 1990, with the three hottest being 1998, 2002 and 2001.
>>
>>The unstable world of climate change has long been a prediction. Now,
>>the WMO says, it is a reality.
>>
>>http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0703-05.htm
>>http://www.wmo.ch/web/Press/Press695.doc
>
>
>