As if the increased levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were not enough to worry anyone silly, climate models predict that even if another drop of fossil fuels were never burned again, things would continue getting worse for quite awhile before they got better.

This is due to the feedback effect that has already been observed in several places in the world. One prime example are the “drunken forests” of Siberia. Though the permafrost that these spruce trees grow upon is always in a state of flux, the rate of melting has increased dramatically in recent years, causing a great deal of damage in areas where people have built upon the permafrost.

More importantly, there’s a great deal of methane trapped in that permafrost, as it melts, this gas that’s known to be 45 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, is released into the atmosphere, making it melt even faster.

While the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by nearly twice since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the mid-18th century, the amount of methane in the atmosphere has increased by nearly twice that amount in the same time period.

This is a problem for the atmosphere, since this particular greenhouse gas just happens to be many times more efficient at trapping the sun’s long-wave radiation that’s responsible for planetary warming.

Landfills are just one service way that excess planetary methane is created. Though significant amounts are also caused by all the collected flatus of cows and volcanoes, landfill-generated methane is extremely powerful. It is, in fact, over 70 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. It is expected that methane released today will still be detectable in the atmosphere a century in the future.

Contaminated freshwater is a major concern for most cities, even in places where the municipal water supply is reused many many times before being discharged into the environment. This increases the level of contamination each time it passes through our homes and cities.

Conserving water also decreases the amount of energy used on pumping. It also decreases the reliance upon our source water, meaning lakes, streams and rivers. These can be pumped too low so that animals suffer or they can become polluted.

Laundry uses much of a household’s water intake, so it makes sense to look into water usage as the source becomes more limited due to climate change, also water supply and service is very costly. Some washing machines have been designed to use a fraction of the wash water since the 1970’s by recycling there gray-water from one load to another and only using fresh water to rinse.

It’s one thing to be getting accustomed to severe storms. It’s another to live outside the range of hurricanes and then wake up to a tropical storm bearing down on you. This is exactly how recent years have gone and you don’t know what could happen in the future as normal doesn’t apply anymore.

This was certainly true a few months ago when people didn’t think to have a tornado escape plan. Also you could say the same for Oregonians who are acquainted with the sort of dry seasons that Californians can now only dream about. Ask those people who wrecked their motors trying to avoid a blizzard in Los Angeles or the truckers that got stuck in mountains in early August through a complete white out. You’ll have to be prepared for this weather chaos as even more violent and dangerous weather all caused by human.

One of the major problems with climate change is the rise in sea levels, a total of 8 inches on a global average since the mid 19th century. Some nations could disappear if the trend continues, with places like the Maldives, Tuvalu and Kiribati becoming part of the ocean. If the rise continues then places like New Guinea and Papua New Guinea could be underwater by 2020.

The corals are now starting to disappear in the Pacific Islands due to the higher temperature.

There has been loads of good press about sustainable bio-fuels in the media, so is it any wonder that it’s taken a while to investigate the carbon emitted from these fuels.

Believe it or not the bads news is that some of these fuels are worse than actually burning oil. The government in the US has thrown it’s weight behind the ethanol blend before even checking whether it was actually better.

It depends a lot on the fuel and where it was grown, Brazil grows sugar cane that emits hardly any carbon, but the sugar cane grown in Florida is on a par with petrochemicals. Bio-fuel is being talked about as a cure for climate change when really in some cases this is not true at all.