Expect more physical evidence and shocking scientific data to start popping up regarding increased greenhouse gases and above normal water levels which will prompt the  environment to beg us (especially as Americans) to change our ways. Additionally, there is a growing ground swell of institutions and organizations that are gathering data and presenting it in more digestible ways for all who are taking global warming seriously.  To top it off, research started as far back as ten years ago is now coming to fruition and the data is blatantly before us. Mother Nature will not be denied.

The evidence is anecdotal as well. Just last week my daughter and her dad were hiking in and around the trails of the Palisades next to the Hudson River as we have done many times over the past 18 years.  When they returned to the parking lot, the tide was coming in and the water was filling the parking lot in a way we have never before seen. Though there was not a cloud in the sky or even a passing boat, the entire lot and snack stand was being flooded by rushing water. Everyone in the area was in disbelief over what they were witnessing. Fluke or a sign of the times? 

Newly released research funded by NASA found that nitrogen trifluoride is packing a power punch in our atmosphere.  Until recently, nitrogen triflouride was considered an insignificant gas with low impact on global warming. However, now we are finding that it traps heat 17,000 times more efficiently than carbon dioxide and is increasing in our atmosphere by 11%. Yikes!  Because of its once believed lower global emissions, a few years back, nitrogen trifluoride replaced the highly publicized perfluorocarbons used in the manufacturing process of crystal flat screen tv's and microcircuits (in computer systems). We now know this is untrue.

No longer can we sit back and say global warming is not a problem.  How much more do we need as evidence; a global catastrophe of even a grander scale? By sea, our oceans are becoming so acidic that hundreds of animal species are becoming extinct yearly and a third of our fish have been wiped out. By land, the severity of our storms, the melting of the global glaciers and melting ice caps is downright frightening. I'd say that's quite enough physical evidence. 

As Americans, we need to ask manufacturers to revisit day to day operations, encourage and support new clean and environmentally friendly technology which can bring jobs back onto our own soil, and reevaluate our daily lifestyle in order to turn this around.  We can do with less, so what if we are being forced to do so? What a wonderful opportunity to take this financial crisis we're in and turn it around for good.   Together, let's take a stand and reflect on how each and every one of our actions affects the environment around us.  To refuse to do so is pure ignorance.
 
To increase your knowledge on this important issue please visit my sources:
NASA research: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/oct/HQ_08-268_Greenhouse_gas.html
American Geophyscial Union www.agu.org
Nitrogen trifluoride: http://www.livescience.com/environment/
Oceans: http://www.oceana.org/climate/impacts/acid-oceans/