Global Warming: Horoscope for the Year 3000

        As has been emphasized by media all over today, global warming is an increasingly worrying dilemma that must be acted upon soon... Or else.  Scientists predict that even if we stop producing excess carbon dioxide by 2100, the long term effects of the numerous harmful pollutants will not fade away so soon.  "Even if humans were to stop emitting excess carbon dioxide — or if they figured out a way to completely capture it — the effects of global warming would continue to accumulate."  Some carbon dioxide lingers in the atmosphere long after it has been released (sometimes up to 1,000 years), causing further damage to the natural environment.  The fact that land warms and cools comparably faster than water contributes to the aftereffects of our pollution.  They could cause the West Antarctic ice sheet to collapse, which in turn would cause sea levels to rise approximately thirteen feet. This would obviously cause various problems from decreasing land mass to even more drastic climate changes.  The most ongoing change would occur in the Southern hemisphere due to the prevalence of water.  The oceans would heat up considerably, and then stay that way for a while because of the slowly cooling nature of water.  Meanwhile, the Northern hemisphere would cool quickly and reverse the effects of global warming.  However, the simultaneous cooling of the Northern hemisphere and warming of the Southern hemisphere would impact the intertropical convergence zone.  This zone is the place that trade winds meet, causing thunderstorms and cloud coverage.  It would move southward which would mean that 30% of precipitation in North Africa would be lost and the predicted drying would continue.  All of these long term effects are only a snippet of what may very well happen in the future. And remember, these changes are predicted for if we stop emitting too much carbon dioxide in 2100.  If we don't, the changes will surely be even more hazardous and drastic. Obviously, we all must work hard to reduce our carbon footprint or the ramifications will be nature's revenge. 


The article I used was from here.  The picture I used can be found here. 


~Starflower794!