One Degree Fahrenheit

by Gregory Allen Butler

One degree Fahrenheit seems so little yet it means so much. When the water is at 211 degress, it needs to rise just one more degree to boil, produce steam, and power a locomotive. That is the subject of this free, four minute inspiring movie called 212° The Extra Degree. It might give you the inspiration you need to reach success as you strive for your goals in 2007. Again, it's free--and very uplifting.

But if an extra degree can make such a difference in your personal life as you strive towards your goals, what about the impact of one degree on our planet in regards to global warming? If we can increase our effectiveness as human beings can we also rise up to meet the challenge of saving Mother Earth? We have to reduce Earth's average surface temperature one degree Fahrenheit. If we can achieve that goal of one degree we can reverse the havoc caused by global warming.

That one degree increase in the last century is the number one contributing factor in the doubling in number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes in the last 30 years. With the increase in temperature of one degree, malaria has spread to higher altitudes in places like the Colombian Andes, 7,000 feet above sea level, according to the World Health Organization.

What else? According to the Geophysical Research Letters, the flow of ice from glaciers in Greenland has more than doubled over the past decade. And according to Nature, at least 279 species of plants and animals are already responding to global warming, moving closer to the poles.

But what if this trend continues, and our global temperature rises another degree? Here's what you can expect. The World Health Organization predicts that deaths from global warming would double in the next 25 years - to 300,000 people a year. The Washington Post published a "Debate on Climate Shifts to Issue Irreparable Change," stating that global sea levels could rise by more than 20 feet with the loss of shelf ice in Greenland and Antarctica, devastating coastal areas worldwide. One degree is all it will take.

We can expect more heat waves, more droughts, and wildfires. And more than a million species worldwide could be driven to extinction by 2050, according to David Bjerklie in his Time Magazine article, "Feeding the Heat," published on March 26, 2006.

How long can we refuse to look at creative solutions to this global problem? How much longer will the United States put more CO2 into the atmosphere than the rest of the world combined and continue in its refusal to sign the Kyoto Accord?

Any ideas on how to cool this planet by one degree Fahrenheit? Your comments are eagerly anticipated.