Totally agree. But it has to start somewhere and the Paris agreement was a starting point.
This was about Pruitt and his quest to dismantle the EPA's science with his non-science. You moved the goal post to climate change.
We have shown that these standards work. Atmospheric mercury has leveled off and we just need to move carefully from here.
Obviously the Republicans and this admin are proposing changes to the EPA to conform to their political ideas so that goes both ways. Her lack of experience with public schools may keep her from being confirmed, simply being an advocate for charter schools is not good enough.
You know, I can accept that. I can accept that we should strive for a cleaner planet. I can not accept forcing on our citizens unreasonable govt regulations while the other countries do nothing, making our products more expensive. Just like the CAFE standards that are not reasonable. Let Americans decide what they want to buy. It is making vehicles less safe.We have shown that these standards work. Atmospheric mercury has leveled off and we just need to move carefully from here.
Evidence-based decision making. No reason to not do it, in fact it's dangerous to not do it.
That's all very interesting and hopefully the next person that the admin nominates will be better qualified to take on those issues.
I thought the poll was too good not to post and knew that a few heads would explode here. ROLO knows that he's a nut and I've not needed to remind him of the fact as long as he stays on the other board.
She's simply unqualified to hold the position imo and that of others. You can't just hand out vouchers to everyone. This is not my area but I'd expect that some reform of public schools needs to take place and she didn't seem to have much experience with them so she didn't seem like a likely choice to oversee something like that.
Yep.......shows she cares more for those Strawberry pickers in Watsonville than WV coal miners and their families.
How many EO's did President Obama to deal with the volcanos and massive ocean venting problem taking place. I also did not see any that would deal with the everyday traffic issue around the country. He would DO NOTHING to affect his voting blocs in any cities. Yet he had no such compassion for Mr. Miner in Logan County WV.Ever heard of volcanoes? They have traced the timing of massive eruptions and shown the link with the disappearance of the ice age.
When and how did the ice age end? Could another one start?Ever heard of volcanoes? They have traced the timing of massive eruptions and shown the link with the disappearance of the ice age.
is 14,161 feet high!
receives from the Sun
. The amount of sunlight that reaches Earth can vary quite a lot, mainly due to three factors: 
Ever heard of volcanoes? They have traced the timing of massive eruptions and shown the link with the disappearance of the ice age.
When and how did the ice age end? Could another one start?
Chase H., Grade 3
Name:
Ro Kinzler
Job Title:
Director, National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology
Known For:
Ro is a geologist. She is also the director of the department at the Museum that created OLogy!
Cool Fact:
Ro has trekked up and down the glacier-covered summit of Mount Shasta three times. This dormant volcano
Dear Chase,
I like how your question addresses both the past and the future of ice ages.
We are probably living in an ice age right now! But Earth's climate doesn't stay cold during the entire ice age.
It turns out that we are most likely in an "ice age" now. So, in fact, the last ice age hasn't ended yet!
Scientists call this ice age the Pleistocene Ice Age. It has been going on since about 2.5 million years ago (and some think that it's actually part of an even longer ice age that started as many as 40 million years ago).
The curious thing about ice ages is that the temperature of Earth's atmosphere doesn't stay cold the entire time. Instead, the climate flip-flops between what scientists call "glacial periods" and "interglacial periods."
Glacial periods last tens of thousands of years. Temperatures are much colder, and ice covers more of the planet.
On the other hand, interglacial periods last only a few thousand years and the climate conditions are similar to those on Earth today. We are in an interglacial period right now. It began at the end of the last glacial period, about 10,000 years ago.
The variation of sunlight reaching Earth is one cause of ice ages.
Scientists are still working to understand what causes ice ages. One important factor is the amount of light Earth
- how much Earth is tilted relative to the Sun
- whether Earth wobbles a lot or a little as it spins on its axis (kind of like how a toy top can wobble a lot or a little as it spins)
- the shape of Earth's orbit as it goes around the Sun (whether it is shaped more like a circle or more like an ellipse or oval)
Over thousands of years, the amount of sunshine reaching Earth changes by quite a lot, particularly in the northern latitudes, the area near and around the North Pole. When less sunlight reaches the northern latitudes, temperatures drop and more water freezes into ice, starting an ice age. When more sunlight reaches the northern latitudes, temperatures rise, ice sheets melt, and the ice age ends. But there are many other factors. So if you became a climate scientist one day, you could make your own discoveries!
Ice cores are cylinders of ice drilled through the thick sheets of Greenland and Antarctica.
To find out more about Earth's climate in the past, scientists study ice cores. These samples tell us that during the current ice age, climate on Earth has flip-flopped between glacial and interglacial periods at least 17 times!
So it is very likely that Earth will turn cold again, possibly within the next several thousand years. But, we have to keep in mind that human activities today are impacting climate on a global scale. So when we predict future climate changes, including the next glacial period, we need to consider the changes that humans are causing.
Keep on asking questions! There's still much we don't know about the past and future of our planet.
- Find out What is an Ice Core? in this Science Bulletins interactive.
- Tropical glacier ice is melting because of global warming. Watch a Glacier Melt!
Researchers have largely put to rest a long debate on the underlying mechanism that has caused periodic ice ages on Earth for the past 2.5 million years – they are ultimately linked to slight shifts in solar radiation caused by predictable changes in Earth's rotation and axis.Ever heard of volcanoes? They have traced the timing of massive eruptions and shown the link with the disappearance of the ice age.
Climate talks are complex and opaque, operating with their own language and process, so it’s important to cut through the terminology and look at what is actually under discussion. Conventional wisdom holds that negotiators are hashing out a fair allocation of the deep emissions cuts all countries would need to make to limit warming. That image bears little resemblance to reality.
