Global Warming

The Earth is Trapping Twice the Heat of Only 15 years Ago

The planet is trapping roughly double the amount of heat in the atmosphere than it did nearly 15 years ago, according to an alarming new analysis from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The study, published this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that what’s known as the Earth’s energy imbalance — the difference between how much of the sun’s energy the planet absorbs and how much energy is radiated back into space — approximately doubled from 2005 to 2019. The result was “striking,” the research team wrote.

Life on Earth couldn’t exist without the sun’s energy, but it matters how much of that energy is radiated back into space. It’s a delicate balance that determines the planet’s climate.

In addition to higher global temperatures, the most obvious effect of a positive imbalance is that we’re going to be seeing shifts in atmospheric circulations including more extreme events like droughts and severe storms.

Climate Change is Killing the Pacific Island Nation of Kiribati

Kiribati is an independent island nation in Oceania with a population of 117,606 people living among its twenty inhabitable islands. Kiribati has few natural resources and relies heavily on imports from other countries. It is one of the world’s poorest nations with a GDP of around $195 million.

The greatest risk Kiribati faces is rising sea and water levels. The people of Kiribati have migrated inland but this has not prevented large-scale devastation every time a flood occurs. While Kiribati is responsible for only 0.0002% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, it is paying the highest price for the effects of climate change. Two of the nation’s islands have already been destroyed by the ocean.

As ocean walls are continually destroyed and rebuilt, the people of the island are forced to make difficult decisions daily, whether it is rebuilding a school, hospital, or the sea wall. In most cases, rebuilding the sea wall takes precedence. Crops are continuously destroyed, and barren forests stripped of lush greenery and crops remain graveyards, awaiting the next flood. The flat island atolls indicate that people’s only option to escape is to migrate further inland, and they will continue to do so until there is no land left.

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