Global Warming

So on the first day of Spring, I took my dog for a walk. It was a pleasant stroll through the streets of my neighborhood, and at 7 in the evening, the sun had not yet set. Now, normally this should conjure pictures of flowers in gardens and a warm spring evening. However, on the first day of Spring, it was frickin’ 25 degrees out and I had to wear my snow pants and winter coat to keep from freezing.

Now, normally, you don’t hear anyone complaining about global warming on a day like this. But actually, this is my little tirade against global warming. Using a purely yin/yang, black/white, up/down, preserving the cosmic balance of the universe argument (as well as Newton’s Third Law of Motion, which states that “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”), I contend that these colder, longer-lasting winters are the effect of global warming.

We all know that global warming is causing temperatures to be higher in the summer time, raising them at an unusually rapid rate (please don’t ask me for facts or numbers to back up any of my arguments; you’re already on the web). This leads to melting of polar ice caps. This, in turn, leads to more precipitation and less protection of the world’s water supply, thus lowering the overall oceanic temperature (or something like that).

Here’s how I understand it. Please correct me or clarify if I am wrong. According to the Ocean and Climate Change Institute, there’s an entity called the Ocean Conveyor of which the Gulf Stream is a part, and it’s the general flow of oceanic water. The heat from the sun at the equator warms the ocean surface and leads to evaporation in the tropics, so that the ocean there is saltier. The Conveyor carries this dense, salty water up the East Coast of the US and east to Europe. This warms the water, and thus the atmosphere, up north, by about 5 degrees Celsius. Occasionally, though, this Conveyor slows or stops for whatever reason, leading to cooler temperatures. Now, cold water is denser than warm water, and salty water is denser than fresh water. When warm, salty water releases heat into the atmosphere, the colder, salty water sinks to the ocean floor. That sinking then draws more warm, salty water from the tropics (think osmosis, where a dense concentration of salt will travel to a sparsely concentrated section of water to equalize and “spread out”), and the conveyor continues. But if the cold, salty waters didn’t sink, the conveyor would stop (as it apparently has in the past, leading to cold winters and widespread droughts).

So what would cause the cold, salty waters in the North Atlantic to stop sinking? Apparently, melting glaciers, providing a top layer of cold, fresh water, would essentially redirect the salty, tropical waters, bypassing the Northern Atlantic altogether, because the waters would stop sinking. There are a couple of animations on the site that actually help illustrate this point.

The slowing down or stopping of the Ocean Conveyor could lead to drastic climate changes in a matter of decades. It could lead to droughts, famine, and mass migration, not to mention an incredible increase in the value of The North Face stock (assuming they’re publicly traded). Basically, life, as we know it, would be over. To those who like cold weather, and for those into snow carving, this could be seen as a good thing. But for those of us who are tired of our sweaters and are ready to wear short sleeves and heck, just a lighter jacket for a change, I’m not too keen on stopping this Ocean Conveyor.

So let’s put down those aerosol cans, let’s start using public transportation, and by golly, let’s stop eating all those bean burritos (eliminate emissions, get it? Sorry. Just checking to see if you were still reading.) Let’s get politically involved. Let’s encourage our leaders to make environmentally responsible decisions (as soon as we figure out what those are). And for that matter, let’s figure out what those are.

So who’s with me? What’s it going to take to get our butts off the couch and turn off the television and get involved? What’s going to turn our apathy into a path to salvation? Where are all those optimistic, go-getting, recent college graduates who still believe they can change the world? We need you now. We’re too, well, apathetic and lazy to do anything to save our world. It’s up to you. We believe in you. While you still have student loans and the belief that you will go far, push yourself the extra mile and create those online petitions that you can email to us and we’ll sign. Before you have kids to feed and change and get to bed, spend your free time stuffing envelopes that we promise we’ll look at before tossing them into the recycle bin.

Yeah, that’s the sad truth. I am moved by this knowledge. And gosh, I wished I were moved enough to actually be physically moved into doing something. Sure, I’ll try to make better decisions to better help the environment and prevent global warming. I’ll look for a car with better gas mileage. I’ll consider carpooling (but doesn’t the fact that we only drive a mile to school and three miles to work count for something?). We don’t have central air conditioning. I recycle. I turn out the lights when I’m not in a room, and we have been switching to compact fluorescent bulbs.

I do the little things, but I’m still quite dependent on energy. Heck, just because of rising costs I’m trying to conserve. And that’s just it. It has to hit the wallets for people to make changes. And despite my youthful optimism and gung-ho attitudes about the way life “ought” to be, the reality of life and my decisions have tempered me. I dare say I’m growing soft, but perhaps I’m just growing apathetic. I vote my conscience, but I don’t get more involved than that. I have not rallied behind a candidate or gotten involved with a particular issue. My moral outrage at the state of the world today has led me to bitch to my friends a little, but that’s it. I need to believe in something, but my singularity of focus seems as far gone as my twenties (not that far, but well, gone nonetheless).

So while Spring may be taking its own sweet time reaching Cleveland, I hope you’re warm where you are. And if it’s not warm yet, don’t crank up the heat; wear that sweater while you can and use a blanket.