Global warming wipes island off Sunderbans map

sirensongs

__________________
"Why do people go to India to find themselves? India is where you go to lose yourself."
Feringhee: The India Diaries

New-South-Welshman

...and it's going to happen more with India and China with growing economies. They will be more energy consuming, therefore more pollution. *sigh*

__________________
Mr. Burns "Non-violence never solved anything!"

steven_ber

Forgive my ignorance, but isn't 'Global Warming' a political opinion?

An Independent newspaper might have called it Climate Change.

__________________
.
How to get helpful replies to your transport/Itinerary questions.



Train information.

SANJAY_DEL

The "developed" world that contributes to all of it, carries on nochantly, and a bit of climate change in India is blamed for all the worries of the world. Why?

steven_ber

I've never heard of India being blamed.

Some people say that when the economies of India and China grow, this could make the problem worse.

But that's assuming people believe the causes of the problem.

We've come a long way since the Ice Age, and only now are we blaming mankind for the temperature changes.

If only that caveman didn't want to experience the 'Lynx effect'.

Nick-H

It, like many scientific 'truths', is a theory.

If you happen to own oilfields, then it's political.

Otherwise, I don't think there are too many doubts about it, are there?

Certainly there are doubts about how much, how fast, what the major causes, etc, etc.

The Independent newspaper seems to call it Global Warming

__________________
.


Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

Casey

I think "Global Warming" may be a bit of misnomer. I think that climate change more accurately reflects what may be happening. The polical part is the arguement over what is causing the changes. In one week during January,here in Ottawa, we experienced +16 and -19. Believe me, this makes dressing for the walk to work in the morning really difficult.

capt_mahajan

USA with 5% of the worlds population consumes 23% of its energy.

No, this is not a US bashing exercise, though I could get into the Kyoto protocol.

I give the statistics only to show what will happen to the world if China and India consume energy at even half those levels.

Over the last few years, I have often felt at sea that the typhoons and hurricanes were bigger, the storms stronger... for the season, ie... my experience is anectodal and not substantiated by any scientific study that I know of, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was true.

Nature has a funny way of fighting back.

__________________
.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed. How do you know when push comes to shove?
Indiamike moderating team ..ich bin ein oneliner

tacita

no scientist worth her salt would call a phenomenon like global warming anything but a "theory." that being said, in lay vernacular and for all practical purposes, global warming is a fact, as much so as the "theory" of evolution. (although i may get some flack from creationist members now, i fear).

i'm not familiar with the sunderbans situation, but this is a phenomenon that will occur globally. in fact, in a lawsuit my office recently brought against the US government, one of our co-plaintiffs was the people of the island of tuvalu, whose culture will literally be submerged and lost forever as the ocean rises. yes, we have moved out of the last ice age naturally. since the industrial revolution, however, and the increasing emission of green-house gases, we have unnaturally accelerated the process. polar bears are drowning trying to swim to floes and the polar ice cap is breaking up at a terrifying speed. no respectable scientist seriously disputes this "theory" any longer.

interestingly, however, a recent study found that while in the scientific literature, there is virtual unanimity, the MEDIA presented global warming as still in dispute roughly 50% of the time. often, the sources for these articles are the producers of greenhouse gases or government offices protecting those interests. for those interested in a clear and compelling presentation of the scientific research to date, i heartily recommend seeing al gore's film "an inconvenient truth." once characterized as a sort of flaky green tree-hugger, he has proven he was waaaaaay out front on this issue, ahead of his time.

india and china are not being blamed. the US continues to be the largest producer of greenhouse gases. but china, in particular, is using fossil fuels to support it's sustain and foster it's quickly expanding economy, as is india, though to a lessser degree. still, the growth and emissions rates from these countries are alarming. i've met with chinese environmental lawyers anxious to follow the US-model in tightening environmental regulations, but you can well imagine how much more difficult those challenges are there.

i'm not a scientist, i'm only an environmental lawyer. but i work in the public sector. we stand to profit nothing other than (hopefully), a reduction in emissions from my own country's greenhouse gas producers from this litigation. the courts don't want to touch it because of the political and policy implications, but i think it's merely a matter of time.

__________________
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. ~Helen Keller

Digital Drifter

bias meter: 100% for Global Warming

The reason why the term is used and is actually relevant is that, all measurements made (directly and indirectly) show that, in the 100 years or so, human activity has contributed to a significant warming of the planet.

What used to take a few hundred millennium, going by the ice samples drilled in the poles, now seems to have happened within tens of decades. The only suspect is human 'activity' of all forms, all industrial in nature.

Now, the term global warming comes from the fact, the earth is getting warmer year by year. Due to above mentioned activity. What's worse is that, it's accelerating in a +ve feedback cycle.

To quote a classic example

Ice sheets in the poles; large sheets are melting.Less Ice is formed because the exposed ocean(black in colour) absorbs heat rather than reflecting the sun's rays as in the white ice of the fields. This warmer water further reduces ice formation, increasing the break up of the ice sheets next season. Waters rise....

S**t happens.

One sad effect of all these are that, native indigeneous people are losing their ability to predict their yearly events. The Maoris, aborigines,American Indians(or what's left of them)

__________________
Click here for the Indiamike train guide in PDF

just_an_old_boy

DD,

Due to various reasons I've spent a big part of my life (18 years) in Delhi. As a kid when my Dad was posted in Air HQ and now as a professional for last 10-11 years. I believe the wind patterns have changed here.

Over the years I've noticed the following changes, starting from spring season.

1. March-April-May: The sandstorm originating from Thar desert due to incoming cooler North-Western winds mixing with hot desert atomspere is getting rare year by year. In fact last year I noticed only one.
These evening storms used to cool down Delhi in olden times. As a kid I remember, it used to soak up humidity and bring down temp. around 20 -22 degress Cel.

2. June-July-August: Monsoon wind pattern has become wierd. Earlier the rains used to start on dot as predicted by the Met department. Nowadays, the Met deptt. routinely change their forecast.
Bigger surprise is the quality of the rainfall. As kid, the rainfalls used to be mild showers every 2-3 days interspered over the season, something like I saw in continental Europe and coastal Australia. It used to be pleasant.
But, now (last 3-4 years) it rains 8-10 times in total during the entire season. But when it rains, it pours like the tropical rains, flooding streets, brings building collapses. Delhi was not bulit for such kind of rains. In my childhood I never saw school closed due to heavy rains (regular feature in our coastal cities), but last year we had 'unofficial day off' twice in our office due to messed up traffic in the rains.

3. Sept-Oct-Nov: Now the summers extend well upto the Sept. end. Earlier there used to be cooling effect of the monsoon, so the Sept. despite being stuffy, never had the midsummer feel.
Also the returning monsoon used to take effect by this time going right upto early Nov.
Anybody seen a good rain in Sept-Oct-Nov during last 2-3 years (save a occasional drizzle)? The returning monsoon seems stuff of history now.
As kids we used to take our light woollen wears along for night outs during Dusshera/Durga Puja to roam around Ramlila plays or Puja pandals. Now a visit to Puja pandal (last year) at 10 p.m. had me drowning in sweat.

4. Dec-Jan-Feb: The winters come late. The standards date to switchover to winter uniforms was Nov 15. It used to be in effect upto Mar 15. I guess the dates remain, but kids now treat it as a punishment. Sure the peak Delhi winter is harsh, but it now stays around for only 7-10 days.

Whoah! That was a long post. Are we seeing a climate change?

capt_mahajan

In my opinion, yes.

I am also amazed at how humid Delhi has become, from after summer right till August, or maybe even later.

But then, when I was a child, you drove out 30km from Delhi and saw fields under cultivation just off the highway.

Today, you could drive out maybe 200 and not see many.

edit: I prefer the term "Climate Change" instead of Global Warming, because it is more accurate.

jyotirmoy

Having lived in Delhi for more tha 3 decades I totally agree with just an old boy. This year winter seems to be normal so far.

TulsaisntFar

"USA with 5% of the worlds population consumes 23% of its energy.

No, this is not a US bashing exercise, though I could get into the Kyoto protocol.

I give the statistics only to show what will happen to the world if China and India consume energy at even half those levels."






This is a very true statement. Although, because a certain amount of energy is consumed doesnt mean that is pollutes as much. We have the highest expectations for car emissions in the world. Many cars, especially from Europe cannot be imported to the United States because they wont meet smog expectations. The United States has also has saved more acres of it's wilderness than any other country. A hummer SUV, for example, doesnt pollute the air as much as a rickshaw using leaded petrol, sometimes i cant even see if im 10 feet behind one.

According to the BBC:
China's breakneck economic growth and soaring energy demand has caused it to suffer from some major pollution problems.

At the moment about two-thirds of the country's power comes from coal and coal products - the cheapest and dirtiest forms of energy.


This exacts a very real human toll - official figures say 400,000 Chinese citizens die a year from diseases related to air pollution, and, according to the World Bank, 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China.


The moral of the story:
The United States shouldnt be using so much energy, especially since our self-perceived standard of living is far beyond whats needed. But this doesnt lead to pollution. That doesnt mean we dont pollute or in some circumstances that we've polluted a lot. But i have to take my car in every 2 years to make sure it doesnt pollute. Some countries must pollute to stablize a "competing economy" and its a current fact of life.

As for global warming...it's certainly not a truth yet that it's from humans but only time will tell. Also, the Kyoto protocol was enacted by the UN, not the US.

jyotirmoy

Delhi is the only city in the world where all public transport including autorickshas run on CNG.