What independent evidence do we have that the 2012 prophecies are true? Are there scientifically established grounds to believe not only that an interesting conjunction will occur in the position of our planet at the end of 2012, but that this conjunction will signify an abrupt tipping point for humanity?
There is independent evidence of various kinds that the systems of life on this planet are approaching a critical stage. Most evidently, we see that weather patterns are turning extreme over the whole world. There are unprecedented droughts in China and Australia, floods in North America, and cyclones and devastating hurricanes impacting many tropical coastlines. There are threats to health appearing on a scale never before experienced: avian flu and “novel swine flu,” and malaria and other tropical diseases, some of which had been believed to be vanquished. Global warming creates a widespread and frequent incidence of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, as well as of water-borne diseases such as cholera.
The record shows temperatures fluctuating strongly. The average is rising: in the summer of 2003 temperature fluctuations averaged 2.3 degrees higher than in previous years. Globally, temperatures have risen over the past century by at least 0.74˚C, and the principal causes are still debated. More than likely, both human and natural processes conspire to produce the warming. It is known that greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere trap the sun’s rays and heat up the atmosphere. This is bound to be a factor in global warming, whether or not changes in the physical processes of the Sun contribute to the warming.
Global warming is also produced by natural causes. As well as the emission of CO2 and other greenhouses gases, also variations in the sun’s radiation and in sunspot activity, variations in the Earth’s orbit and spin, and volcanic geo-thermal activity affect and warm the planet’s troposphere and stratosphere.
In its 2007 Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) declared that the warming of the world’s climate is now “unequivocal.” This is a matter of observed fact. It comes to the fore in the increase of temperatures in the arctic, in the reduced size of icebergs and the melting of icecaps and glaciers, in the reduction of areas under permafrost, in changes in rainfall patterns, and in new wind formations, droughts, heat waves, tropical cyclones and other extreme weather patterns.
The consequences of global warming include widespread flooding due to tropical storms and the rise of sea levels. The melting of the Greenland icecap could alter the flow of the Gulf Stream and may deflect it before it reaches the European continent, dropping temperatures in England and the Nordic countries to levels typical of Labrador. If the West Antarctic ice sheet disintegrates during this century the level of the sea will rise by meters, not centimeters, and human settlements close to sea level will be inundated.
According to the Stern Review, commissioned by the British government in 2007, there is a 50 percent risk of global temperatures rising by more than a 5˚C by the year 2100. In a conservative formulation, this would create a “5 to 20 percent reduction in consumption levels” worldwide. But even a global temperature increase of 3°C would radically transform the flows and balances of the ecology on which animal, plant and human life is now vitally dependent.
We have no choice but to address the climate crisis as aggressively as possible, in every way possible. I urge you to support this effort in every way you can.
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Mother Earth is going to continue to change no matter what you do. Just attend the present moment. Do what you can. Your best is all that can ever be asked for. These facts are present, yes. But there is by far more data available and more going on than anyone can ever predict and the fact remains that computers are made by humans and subject to error and the influence of the views and attitudes of those interpreting the data. And the force that holds everything together is the only one that knows whats going on. It does a really good job all by itself. And our minds are linked with this force. Really. Try thinking positive and trusting this force to do what it does.
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