We were explaining the receding of the glaciers of Kilimanjaro ... The journalist asked: “and how does it affect Portugal?”. Well, the lack of water coming down the mountain may turn dry the Mara river and erase the big migration of the wild beast … and so much for the tourism … This would be just a minor collateral damage to the portuguese travel agencies.
We talked about the Theory of Caos (a butterfly in Japan …): as an integrated system, a problem on one area of the planet can have consequencies on the rest of the world. At this moment, the effects of global warming are permanently visible in high latitudes (near the poles) and altitudes (say, above 2.500 meters). In lower latitudes (closer to the tropics) those effects are seen as casual and violent phenomena, but their frequency and intensity is increasing at a scary rate! I am talking about hurricanes, snow and sand storms, floods, droughts …
In the past, China registered winds of 130km/h, once every 5 years. Nowadays, the same windstorms devastate Beijing 2 or 3 times a year. ‘Climate refugies’ is the new expression to designate people deslocated from their usual habitat due to its destruction by ‘natural’ causes. The number will reach 50 million refugies in 2011 (200M in 2080, according to the a Environment Defense Fund). The European Union already estimated the loss of millions of euros (65?) per year, due to direct effects of the global warming. Portugal could be one of the most affected countries (in domains such as water shortage, impact on coast lines, agriculture, forests …), as well as other coastal cities. A hurricane level 4 over New York could represent a 1 billion dolars loss to the city …
We talked about the Theory of Caos (a butterfly in Japan …): as an integrated system, a problem on one area of the planet can have consequencies on the rest of the world. At this moment, the effects of global warming are permanently visible in high latitudes (near the poles) and altitudes (say, above 2.500 meters). In lower latitudes (closer to the tropics) those effects are seen as casual and violent phenomena, but their frequency and intensity is increasing at a scary rate! I am talking about hurricanes, snow and sand storms, floods, droughts … 
In the past, China registered winds of 130km/h, once every 5 years. Nowadays, the same windstorms devastate Beijing 2 or 3 times a year. ‘Climate refugies’ is the new expression to designate people deslocated from their usual habitat due to its destruction by ‘natural’ causes. The number will reach 50 million refugies in 2011 (200M in 2080, according to the a Environment Defense Fund). The European Union already estimated the loss of millions of euros (65?) per year, due to direct effects of the global warming. Portugal could be one of the most affected countries (in domains such as water shortage, impact on coast lines, agriculture, forests …), as well as other coastal cities. A hurricane level 4 over New York could represent a 1 billion dolars loss to the city …
