Whenever global warming comes up in our house, my wife chuckles a bit. It is not her "that's ridiculous" laugh. Instead it is that uncomfortable laugh. The kind you might exhibit if you saw the bumper sticker, "You toucha my car, I puncha you face," funny in a scary, uncomfortable way.
Since I am a "natural" teacher, anything I read is fair game for the dinner table so she and my children have become my students on the subject of global warming. As I read, I pass on what I learn. Now, she and my 13-year-old triplets know more about global warming than George Bush, Dick Cheney, and all the oil executives combined.
In the spirit of my dinner table, I have compiled some facts on global warming from my reading and web surfing and presented them in a Harpers Index format. I hope they make you laugh in a scary, uncomfortable way.
More below the fold:
Source for all non-hyperlinked items:
The Weather Makers: How man is changing the climate and what it means for life on earth by Tim Flannery. All other sources are appropriately hyperlinked. Some items required calculations. I do not think I made any errors but corrections are welcome.
Days earlier spring arrives for each decade since 1950: 2.3
Days earlier spring arrives compared to 1950: 11.5
Year the journal
Nature reported on the Golden Toad as the first victim of Global Warming: 1999
Years the Golden Toad had been extinct when the article published: 10
Pounds of carbon dioxide created by burning 1 gallon of gasoline:
20
Cubic feet occupied by 20 pounds of carbon dioxide at room temperature and pressure: 172
Cubic feet of passenger volume of the 2007 Toyota Camry:
97
Number of miles required for a 2006 hummer to produce its weight in Carbon Dioxide:
5120
Number of countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol:
153
Number of countries that have not:
7
Rank of the US in world carbon dioxide production:
1
Percentage of world total carbon dioxide production produced by the US:
24.3
Pre-industrial parts per million of atmospheric carbon dioxide: 280
2004 parts per million of atmospheric carbon dioxide: 380
Increase in parts per million per year of atmospheric carbon dioxide since 1990: 2.54
Cubic kilometers of Greenland ice melt per year:
249
Cubic kilometers of Mississippi River flow per year:
529
Millimeters of ocean level increase contributed by Greenland's ice melt per year:
5.7
Feet of potential increase in ocean depth due to Greenland Ice Melt:
23
My new business in its very early stages...
New England Breeze
Saving the planet should be a breeze