Dec 04 2009

Climate Changes

Posted by: Kory Raftery

Several stories on the science and politics of global warming caught our attention this week:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Google CEO Eric Schmidt came together at Treasure Island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay to unveil a tool that they claim visually illustrates the impacts of global warming on the state of California. CalAdapt uses Google Earth to predict that global warming will reduce the snowpack in the Sierra Mountains, increase the likelihood of wildfires and put much of the San Francisco Giants energy conscious AT&T Park under five feet of water.

Developing countries may get a windfall of cash.  The Asian Development Bank (ADB) plans to channel around $700 million for expandable programs that mitigate global warming to its developing member countries. The money will be earmarked for climate investment and clean technology. The ADB recently announced Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States have already donated more than $6.1 billion to the bank for social and economic programs.

An Australian study links rising seawater temperature to aggressiveness in the feeding habits of fish leading one scientist to theorize about a surfer's greatest fear - that global warming could make sharks more hostile. Research conducted by the University of New South Wales found that just an uptick of two to three degrees caused some fish to be 30 times more aggressive than normal. One researcher said "he would be surprised" if it didn't crossover to sharks. "I would imagine it ought to affect sharks," said Dr. Peter Biro. "We think it is linked to the metabolism of the fishes and increases their need to feed."

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