Concerns about global warming and climate change have spurred an eco-movement in the past few decades, but experts say not enough is being done to prevent what could become a global disaster. Lack of education, government policy, and reluctance to change technology have only added to the problem.
"The rate of this climate change exceeds any in history. In the last several decades, humans have become so technologically advanced, so abruptly, that animals and plants can't evolve quickly enough to keep up," said Elizabeth Chrisfield of the Climate Reality Project during a recent stop at the Union County Public Library. Chrisfield travels around Pennsylvania lecturing on the realities of climate change.
"It's not change that I fear, it's fast change," she added.
Meanwhile, a widespread denial may inhibit any meaningful steps to slow climate change, according to Edward Perry, a retired aquatic biologist formerly with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and an advocate on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation's global warming campaign, who also spoke at the library's event.
"While we debate about weather or not climate change is real, we are going to end up performing the experiment on ourselves," Perry said.
Christopher Burke, an environmental geologist and former energy advisor to then-California Gov. Jerry Brown Jr., agrees that global warming is one of the most unique problems that mankind has ever faced.
"Things like war, poverty and famine are regional problems. Climate change is a global issue. It won't be solved until all of humanity begins working together," he said.
Burke explained that global warming is causing exponential, slow increases over time. However, as the problem continues, the change will become more abrupt.
"Climate change is algorithmic, not additional. Instead of slowly adding to the change over time, the change is becoming multiplied upon itself," Burke said.
"It's like boiling a pot of water. It takes a long time for the water to get heated up, but once it does, it doesn't take very long at all for it to come to a rolling boil," he added.
"Some of it remains unpredictable, but for the most part we're talking about sequential climate deterioration. It's a degenerative disease like cancer or heart failure," Burke said.
Burke predicts, if nothing significant changes, within 20 to 40 years, Pennsylvania's climate will be similar to what South Carolina now experiences. He adds that Florida will be half under water within 40 to 50 years.
"Think about Florida, how close to sea level everything sits. It would really only take a few extra feet of water to completely wipe out places like Louisianna and South Florida," Burke said.
The effects of global warming can be seen primarily in weather patterns. Burke explained weather as the result of moisture in the atmosphere heating and cooling.
"The planet is heating up, but it's not going to necessarily heat evenly," Burke said.
"For example, while the lower 48 states had relatively mild precipitation this past winter, Anchorage, Alaska, set new records for snowfall," he said.
Six years ago, Burke was teaching environmental science to advanced high school seniors. He said that overcoming student's disbelief about global warming was frustrating; people ignore the science in favor of popular opinion.
He is "amazed" at how little has changed in the past six years.
"We've gone backward in terms of awareness, and that gets to me because awareness is the first step to action," he said.
Chrisfield agrees.
When asked about the validity of man-made global warming, she responded: "It isn't debatable any more."
"We've known that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas since the 1800's. We can't get ahead with people questioning the validity of climate change," Chrisfield added.
Another critical issue caused by global warming is a rise in ocean acidity. Ocean water becomes more acidic when it absorbs carbon dioxide through the atmosphere.
"The acidification of the ocean is having very large effects on man; things that are currently happening will only get worse over time," Burke said.
"For example, there are many types of shellfish that can't survive in the ocean any more because the acidity of the water is breaking down their shells," he said.
Increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is also causing higher temperatures which are melting the ice caps and raising sea levels.
According to Chrisfield, a sea level rise of one meter would displace about 100 million people. A rise of 10 meters would displace more than 25 percent of the United States population.
"So many cities are based long the coast line," Chrisfield said.
When discussing climate change and America's perception of it, one of the topics that repeatedly flows into the conversation is the Kyoto Protocol. The protocol is a national environmental treaty aimed at lowering carbon emissions per country. It has been signed and ratified by most major industrialized countries - with the exception of the United States.
"The United States public, in my view, is doing the world a great disservice by not recognizing the science of global warming," Burke said.
"Most other countries have a higher percentage of the population acknowledging that global warming is a problem and there's a need for change. I don't want the U.S. to become the country that holds the rest of the world back. In order to effect change we need unified action," he said.
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