Climate Change Disasters: Are These Events Of 'Global Weirding' Related To Global Warming? (PHOTOS)

From raging heat waves and wildfires to massive floods and building-swallowing sinkholes, 2010 is quickly becoming known as the year of 'global weirding.'

While scientists generally agree that no single event can specifically be tied to the increase of emissions in the atmosphere, it's hard to deny that changes are quickly happening on our planet, whether it be the largest ice island to break off from Arctic since 1962 or strange ocean events like thousands of dead fish washing ashore and breakouts of oyster herpes.

HuffPost's Ryan Grim and Lucia Graves recently tackled the issue, and discussed the strange occurrences happening worldwide with David Orr, a professor of environmental studies and politics at Oberlin College. Speaking on the dramatic climate records being set as of late, Orr said, "If you ask is this evidence of climate destabilization, the only scientific answer you can give is: It is consistent with what we can expect."

Here are some of the natural occurrences causing deadly catastrophes worldwide. Are they mere anomalies, or is this 'global weirding' going to become the norm?

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Heat Waves

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17 countries have experienced new record highs so far this year, according to The Guardian, and scientists have confirmed that 2010 is on track to be the hottest year ever recorded. Russia has suffered its hottest summer on record this year, with multiple days of Moscow temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Pakistan hit the highest temperature ever recorded in Asia on May 26 at 128.3 degrees Fahrenheit. The Eastern United States cooked in a stifling wave of heat, as well. The AP reports that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has long predicted heat waves to become more common and intense, and has already observed an increasing pattern since the 1950s.

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17 countries have experienced new record highs so far this year, according to The Guardian, and scientists have confirmed that 2010 is on track to be the hottest year ever recorded. Russia has suffered its hottest summer on record this year, with multiple days of Moscow temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Pakistan hit the highest temperature ever recorded in Asia on May 26 at 128.3 degrees Fahrenheit. The Eastern United States cooked in a stifling wave of heat, as well. The AP reports that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has long predicted heat waves to become more common and intense, and has already observed an increasing pattern since the 1950s.

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Comments

[terminalsigh]

05:25 PM on 09/03/2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw

[StephenBP]

08:36 AM on 09/03/2010

Don’t stop burning all the gas and gasoline and oil and coal that you possibly can! Otherwise, you are a socialists!

Burn, baby, burn!

[katiek2o]

03:24 PM on 09/02/2010

natural cycles.. we all have to have a bloody period and move on..

[wedgeworth1]

02:57 PM on 09/02/2010

When the 'empirical' evidence piles up, it's kinda hard to keep denying it...
It then becomes empirical knowledge.
Which is very closely related to the 'scientific method'.

[x2zero]

05:55 PM on 09/01/2010

Probably, but nobody knows for sure, if they tell you they do they're full of it.

[DocSkull]

08:09 AM on 09/02/2010

"Probably, but nobody knows for sure, if they tell you they do they're full of it."

How do you know nobody knows for sure?

[Polishmeknob]

03:32 PM on 08/31/2010

Talk about Russian wheat harvests affecting us: http://polishmeknob.blogspot.com/2010/08/go-buy-some-flour.html

[TYRANNASAURUS]

03:27 PM on 08/31/2010

Climate Change Disasters: Are These Events Of 'Global Weirding' Related To Global Warming?
THE REAL SHORT ANSWER IS YES.

[humaneisfact]

05:11 PM on 08/27/2010

wether you believe it or not-climate "change" is very evident.My heart bleeds for any oil rigs/ships that might be destroyed by that floating island of ice.;P

[Crawleykakes]

05:53 PM on 08/25/2010

It is God ( which is Nature ) cleaning up humanities mess. Well done God keep up the great work.

[yu vane]

04:50 AM on 08/25/2010

I really enjoy what you write here, very fresh and smart. One issue though, I’m running Firefox on Linux and some of your site structure are a little wonky. I realize it’s not a common setup, but it is still something to keep an eye on. Just giving you a heads up.http://mychinaviews.com/2010/08/henan-airlines-flight-crashes-in-yichun-with-96-aboard-42-bodies-found/

[blueskyseas]

06:48 PM on 08/20/2010

Instead of arguing opinions, I think we should go back to basic, high-school science. Record heat AGAIN!? We've pumped huge amounts of Co2 in the air since the industrial revolution began. Co2 traps sunlight, increases heat. If we lower what we emit, we suffer less over-heating. Emitting less Co2 would be a good thing. Yes, it's that simple.

For arguments sake say the planet is going through a natural warming cycle too. That makes it even more important not to ADD to the effect! Changing will cost some effort, but if we all start NOW maybe we won't have to suffer more in the future.

Even if you still don't believe in all the global warming climate change science stuff, you can still do some good things and get the benefit of less toxins in your air and soil. A better quality of life. And you won't have to regret the things you didn't do if the climate change thing turns out to be true, and human beings could have had a positive effect. Win-win.

Everyone can do something to help. So, excuse me while I email my representatives that green energy is an important economic engine, see what ideas they have to reduce Co2, replace my burned out light bulb with an LED light, raise my A/C thermostat one degree this week, plan my errands to save mileage...reduce, reuse,recycle...you get the idea, it's simple. So: why wouldn't you?

[BlackbirdHighway]

07:24 AM on 08/21/2010

Great little video showing the heat trapping effect of CO2.

To me, the skeptics have to first explain how CO2 is NOT warming the Earth, since it's heat trapping property has been known for a over a hundred years and can be very easily demonstrated. While they are are at it, satellites in space record a drop in the amount of infrared radiation coming from the Earth, at exactly the wavelengths that are absorbed by CO2.

Second, skeptics have to then explain what IS warming the Earth. The sun is at a low in both sunspots and energy output, yet the past 12 months have been the warmest since humans have been around. So it's not the sun.

Some claim the temperatures measurements are bad because of urban heat islands. The oceans are at record high temperatures. We don't have a bunch of urban centers in the middle of the ocean. Glaciers are melting and we don' have cities on glaciers either.

[BlackbirdHighway]

07:25 AM on 08/21/2010

The video:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8394168.stm

[dbmetzger]

12:39 PM on 08/20/2010

Rising Temperatures Mean Falling Plant Productivity Overall
An updated analysis based on NASA satellite data and published this week in the journal Science indicates that, as temperatures have continued to rise, the benefits to plants are now overwhelmed by longer and more frequent droughts. http://www.newslook.com/videos/243197-rising-temperatures-mean-falling-plant-productivity-overall?autoplay=true

[MattPatrick]

12:48 AM on 08/20/2010

The tenor of the climate denier arguments seem to center on cap and trade as a fleecing of foolish investors based on a cockamamie weather myth fictionalized by one internet inventing megalomaniac and his banking cronies.

Up in arms they are that the gubbamint might dare to cap CO2 emmissions on energy companies and monetize and trade carbon sequestration projects. Heavens to Murgatroid.

Why do they care SO MUCH if their kooky neighbors believe in a cockamamie weather myth? They are acting like noisy and strident Jehovah's Witnesses in a crusade to wipe out stupidity. As if.

Why do they care so much that the Gubbamint not have any policing authority on the world's biggest polluters? Hmm.

Why do they care if their neighbor invests in a tree planting boondoggle? So what? They didn't care when their old neighbor invested in a real estate boondoggle, and, they are, after all, not arguing the fact that trees actually do fix carbon in nature.

The only interests that care about the continued ability to off-gas massive amounts of CO2 are coal and oil interests. The only institution that can stop them from doing so is the government. They have a strong motivation to disempower the government and they are actively attempting to do so with very adept manipulation of the corporate and social media.

The only climate deniers are paid toadies for the oil and coal interests and those who believe polluting the air doesn't matter while they are alive.

[MattPatrick]

10:33 PM on 08/19/2010

If warmer temperatures continue, the NorthWest Passage will soon be an ice- free, shorter, and much more profitable shipping lane and also be open for oil, gas, and mineral exploitation.

If you're an oil man, warmer temperatures are good for business. The oil and coal energy regime releases CO2 and further warming and destabilization are already in the pipeline. All they have to do now is confuse enough people to do nothing about our collective energy matrix and so lock in dependence on fossil fuels.

Warmer temeratures are also a matter of oil corporation survival. The size of new oil field discoveries have been shrinking for decades. They must get to the unexplored regions of the planet.

So if you're an oil man, it's kind of a no-brainer to fund climate deniers and disinformation artists. There's nothing else to do that serves their interests as well.

It is a crime against humanity that untold millions will be displaced and starved to death as a consequence for short term profits.

[humaneisfact]

05:22 PM on 08/27/2010

great posts matt! heavens to murgatroid,indeed.The opening of the northwest passage and maybe even all of the arctic seems inevitable .Enter wars for land rights.

[Power2Truth]

03:21 PM on 08/19/2010

Just my opinion.

Big oil needs to be chopped up into bite size pieces.
(No more too big to fail, energy monopolies)
Their feet need to be held to fire for the environmental crimes committed for all these years all over the planet
They must be made to clean up their messes and restore the environments they devastated.
Oil as an energy source must be faded out a.s.a.p.
War, Hunger, Pollution, Poverty ……
Same with Coal and also Gas because of the fracing (hydro fractioning) polluting the water.
We can’t keep sucking stuff out of the earth to cater with outdated energy technology to an increasingly over populated world leaving carnage in our wake.

We’ve had the technology for while and need to implement it.
This will take a little time but…..
Putting oil people like the 2 Bushes in the Whitehouse has put us way behind.
Now we are wasting more time with Climate Hype.
This has to stop….and it will.
It detracts from pressing environmental issues, sucks the funding out of the above, and stupefies the people.

[DocSkull]

05:33 PM on 08/19/2010

In like of your other posts, this is clearly hyperbolic nonsense meant to make it seem as if the science of global warming is mere vigilantism. We'll still use fossil fuels, we'll just do it responsibly by managing CO2.

[DocSkull]

05:34 PM on 08/19/2010

* In the context of your other posts...