Kiwi Aardvark - How big is Global Warming?

Many people are very worried about global warming. They think that global warming is a big threat to the planet, including all humans, animals, and plants. But is this level of worry justified? This book will help you to answer that question.

The average amount of global warming for the entire Earth is about 1.1 degreesCelsius of warming since 1880. But this amount of warming applies to the average of both the Oceans and the Land. The average amount of warming for just the Land (where most people live) is currently about 1.8 degrees Celsius, since 1880.

However, the Northern Hemisphere Land has warmed more than the Southern Hemisphere Land. The Northern Hemisphere Land has warmed by about 2.0 degrees Celsius since 1880, while the Southern Hemisphere Land has warmed by about 1.5 degrees Celsius since 1880.

This book divides the Earth into 14 regions, and then looks at how much warming has occurred in each region. Seven regions have warmed by less than the average, and seven regions have warmed by more than the average. What about where you live? Have you experienced less or more warming than the average amount?

Here is a map showing the 14 regions.

Figure 1. The 14 regions

The 14 regions looked at are:

• Southeast Asia
• Australia
• America
• Africa
• New Zealand
• Central America
• South Asia
• East Asia
• South America
• Central Asia
• Middle East
• Europe
• Canada
• Russia

The average amount of warming on just the Land (where most people live) is
currently about 1.8 degrees Celsius, since 1880.

The regions which have warmed by less than the average amount of warming are:

These regions don't need to worry about warming as much as the regions which have had more than the average amount of warming.

Southeast Asia has only had just over half of the average amount of warming.

The average amount of warming on just the Land (where most people live) is
currently about 1.8 degrees Celsius, since 1880.

The regions which have warmed by more than the average amount of warming are:

Russia, Canada, and Europe have had about 50% more warming than the average amount of warming.

Russia, Canada, and Europe have had about 2.5 times as much warming as Eastern Asia.

An important question to ask is, should the regions which have had more warming than average since 1880 be more worried about global warming.

And should the regions which have had less warming than average since 1880 be less worried about global warming.

These questions can not be answered by just looking at the temperature change since 1880. Because we also need to consider whether these regions were actually hot or cold regions to begin with. For example, Russia, which has had more warming since 1880 than any other region, is actually the coldest region. They will probably be happy to have some warming.

This map shows that many of the regions with the most warming since 1880 (for example, East Asia, Central Asia, Europe, Canada, and Russia) are cold regions (they have cold actual average temperatures).

Figure 2. Actual average temperatures

Cold regions will probably welcome some global warming, because it will make them more like "average" countries.

This map shows that many of the regions with the most warming since 1880 (for
example, East Asia, Central Asia, Europe, Canada, and Russia) have cold actual
winter temperatures.

Figure 3. Actual winter temperatures

Most of the locations north of the Tropic of Cancer go below zero degrees Celsius every year in winter (they freeze, the purple colour on the map). Global warming will make their winters less severe.

Cold regions will probably welcome some global warming, because it will make them more like "average" countries.

Is 1.0 degrees Celsius of warming bad?

Is 2.0 degrees Celsius of warming bad?

Is 3.0 degrees Celsius of warming bad?

Does it matter whether the region was hot or cold before the warming began?

It is difficult to know how bad global warming will be, because we dont have many other examples of warming to compare global warming to.

But there are other types of warming that we can compare global warming to. This book will look at 3 other examples of warming. These are

• seasonal warming (winter to summer)

• the actual temperature in different cities

• the distance to move to reverse global warming

Seasonal warming is an example of warming that people experience every year. This is the warming that occurs when going from winter to summer, over a 6 month period. Most locations on the Earth warm by between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius when they change from winter to summer.

Figure 4. Winter/Summer temperature difference

Some locations even change by as much as 70 to 80 degrees Celsius when they change from winter to summer.

Most locations have a temperature increase of 20 to 30 degrees Celsius between winter and summer, and dont have any serious problems from this amount of warming. In fact, most people prefer summer (warmer temperatures) to winter (colder temperatures). But people are very worried about a small increase from global warming (another 0.5 or 1.0 degrees Celsius).