The Science Behind Global Warming

One of our church members is Jeff Wardeska who is the chair of the Chemistry Department at ETSU. He is going to be leading the adult forum on Sunday. The topic is global warming. Here is a synopsis on the adult forum blog:

This coming Sunday, January 17, Jeff Wardeska will present an overview of some of the factual-based findings that give rise to the concept of global warming. Here's his synopsis:

"Global Warming or climate change has become a topic of great concern in recent years. Everyone (almost) agrees the earth is the warmest it has been in many years and that since the mid 1800’s our increasing use of fossil fuels is causing the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to rise. Carbon dioxide is a product of the combustion of all carbon based fuels, for example, natural gas is methane and burning methane produces water and carbon dioxide according to the equation

CH4 + 2 O2 -> CO2 + 2 H2O

There are many other factors which affect the climate and there is some legitimate disagreement about how strong the link is between levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and recent atmospheric warming.

Most of the evidence for global warming comes from scientists who work under the umbrella of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). The IPCC, in addition to publishing their research in main-line scientific journals, issues comprehensive reports approximately every 6 years, the latest being in 2007.

Our increasing reliance on fossil fuels and the continuing build-up of carbon dioxide has implications beyond global warming, affecting the environment and the oceans (ocean acidification). We will also examine some predictions for the future resulting from these trends.

Jeff is trained in inorganic chemistry and is professor and chair of the department of Chemistry at ETSU. Please join us for an informative and entertaining discussion. You'll be very welcome. As always, wonderful childcare is provided.

The adult forum is one of the best ways to get a college education without paying. Join us every Sunday morning at 9:45 at your favorite progressive church in the woods.