Global Warming

The people over at ecogeek.org have put together a list to counter all those folks out there who think that Global Warming just means it's getting warmer and what could be so bad about that, as winter is such a drag. They have put together a list of 4 scary surprises about global warming and it's devastating affects. Here are my two favorites:

1. Global Fish Kill
   One of the oft-overlooked, but possibly most devastating consequences of global warming is the acidification of the oceans. Oceans suck up huge amounts of CO2. And as the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere increases, so does the amount absorbed by the world's oceans. Unfortunately, when the CO2 enters the water, it creates carbonic acid. So, over the last hundred years or so, the acidity of the ocean has increased so much that it is literally eroding the shells of mollusks. Unfortunately, these mollusks are the base of many marine ecosystems, important to everything from salmon to sperm whales. The possibilities of an oceanic mass-extinction are on the rise.
2. Global Hunger
   There is a massive amount of infrastructure in place to create the world's food. And that infrastructure depends on a fairly stable climate. We expect the rain to fall where and when it has always fallen, we expect the thaw to come where and when italways has. But global warming does more than change the temperature, it changes the climate. Projections show more rain in dry areas and less rain in wet areas, the result of which could be the need to completely re-create much of our farming infrastructure. In the meantime, while that infrastructure is being created, we should expect that a lot of people will be very hungry.