Oklahoma’s climate started about 1.6 billion years ago. Before this Oklahoma was at the bottom of the ocean and had yet to rise with tectonic plate shifting. Around 600 million years ago Oklahoma had another rift displacement and volcanoes were occurring across the southern portion of the state. At 300 million years ago another tectonic rift took place in Southwest Oklahoma and this developed the Arbuckle, Ouachita, and Wichita Mountains.
The Meers fault was formed about 2000 to 2900 years ago. This fault caused the soil to rise and can still be found in its place at the Meer’s Fault today. It is an attraction in Oklahoma even today. At about this same time, the Anadarko Basin formed which was 15 kilometers deep.
The Antlers Oklahoma mean annual temperature of R^2= 0.0189 is a very weak sign of temperature change across Southeast Oklahoma. This could be why the state has chosen not to move on any climate change sweeping agendas. Maybe they are waiting on the smoking gun as people say in this part of the world to take action. In any case, this can be an argument for at least Southeast Oklahoma for a case of no climate change mass structures by the state.
Carbon dioxide is a forcing agent produced by factories around the world and is part of the greenhouse gasses that keep the earth warmer than it should be. Being trapped in earth’s atmosphere carbon dioxide produces 2.5 watts per square meter of heat. Carbon dioxide takes a long time to deplete from the atmosphere. Why is this so important? It is similar to putting bricks into a fire and then after the fire goes out the bricks continue to give warmth. After so much fossil fuels have been burned into the atmosphere this is the same reaction that is occurring and why the earth continues its warming. Scientists hope to slow down global warming by reducing the amount of fossil fuels burned into the atmosphere. This can be done by making electric cars and switching to solar, and wind power. Carbon dioxide is running about 414 parts per million. The last time this occurred was 3 million years ago and then the sea level was much higher than it is today upon the earth. Temperatures then were 2 to 3 degrees Celsius higher than the pre-industrial era. Carbon dioxide absorbs less heat per molecule than methane or nitrous oxide. Some measures could reduce global warming effects across the atmosphere that as releasing sulphur that would produce a similar volcano eruption and limiting the amount of sunlight in the atmosphere. In doing so this would cool down the earth even with such problems as greenhouse gasses some climate scientists believe.]
Methane is a greenhouse gas that can absorb far more heat than carbon dioxide. Even though methane is found in very small quantities in the atmosphere it can produce a huge impact on global warming. Where oxygen is lacking and organic material decays methane can be found. Burning of forests and vegetation. Methane does not live long in the atmosphere and takes about a decade to deplete. Methane has a far much less life-cycle than carbon dioxide. As the climate warms because of greenhouse gasses so will the amount of Methane rise in the atmosphere. Wetlands produce Methane and this could indicate that as the warming continues through greenhouse gasses more Methane will be emitted from the wetlands into the atmosphere. Lowering of permafrost in the Arctic could increase methane in the atmosphere as well.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a radiative forcing known as a greenhouse gas located within the earth’s atmosphere. This greenhouse gas traps heat within the atmosphere. It is developed during farming and manufacturing processes. Also, the treatment of wastewater produces emissions of nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide is located within seven percent of the earth’s atmosphere composition and is a natural gas. Nitrous oxide (N2O) has three hundred more times the potential of global warming impacts than Carbon Dioxide (CO2). N2O is also used in dental offices and is called laughing gas. Nitrous oxide is a major player in the depletion of the ozone layer. Through farming nitrous oxide is released into the atmosphere; when there are droughts this release becomes more abundant as farmers try to overcompensate for the loss of rain. In turn this overcompensating produces more of a global warming threat through the release of this chemical compound.
Fluorinated gasses are the most powerful and longest-lasting greenhouse gasses produced by human activities. If the EPA did not have such good control on these gas emissions companies across the United States would be releasing 25,000 metric tons per year of fluorinated gasses. Hydrofluorocarbons are used as refrigerants, foam-blowing agents, aerosol propellants, solvents, and fire suppressants. The rest of the fluorinated gas comes from manufacturing processes and electrical transmission equipment.
An example of positive feedback would be ice on Greenland. When ice melts it causes the underlying grass and soil to heat up. In turn, this produces a warming effect across the earth. This positive feedback helps in the current situation across the world in global warming through ice shelf melting. Another example of positive feedback is carbon release. As the permafrost in the Tundra begins to thaw it releases enhanced amounts of carbon from the ice age 650,000 years ago. This release produces a chemical effect and methane is developed and released into the atmosphere. As the release of carbon continues it causes elevated temperature rise and therefore more melting of the polar ice caps.
Climate change across Oklahoma and the changes to natural resources must first be looked at through the development of stronger tornadoes in the atmosphere. Farmers enhance their fields in droughts by putting down fertilizer to overcome the risk of losing their farms. In doing so they increase climate change through this process.
In Oklahoma climate change is affecting natural resources by changing crop cycles through droughts. From 2011 into 2012 Oklahoma had a horrendous drought that took a lot of crops from farmers who depend on this for their money supply. More droughts in the future are likely as the climate continues to upend natural resources across Oklahoma. Severe weather events are produced by climate change through nitrous oxide released by farmers to overcompensate for the loss of crops. This is in hopes of finding a way to bring back the land from such drought conditions. However, the fertilizer can get caught in the latent heat updraft of a severe storm and produce major tornadoes. Loss of water is another factor of climate change in Oklahoma. With The droughts that have come and will come, a reduction of water usage is demanded to keep things ahead in the local community.
Wheat production will likely be an economic situation of climate change. Droughts from the coming global warming heating will produce tremendous crop culling. This will not ONLY impact the state’s farmers but also the consumers as well.
Less water across Oklahoma means more risk of waterborne illness setting up in the water tanks across the state. Reduction of water would have to be mandated and when water goes up most everything else will rise too.
Food prices and gasoline will be on the rise as climate change increases. This will cause people to not drive anymore and stay closer to home. The electric bills will be so high some will try to skate without paying them. Riots over water are another scenario that could ensue and maybe as far as state-to-state wars in courts to try and win water rights. This could end up spilling into actual state-to-state wars with the military involved if things aren’t fixed in the future.
Political actions that can be talked about in Oklahoma that could help with climate change is the regulation of fertilizer farmers use on their crops. This fertilizer will enhance the ground and help grow crops after a drought. However, if too much fertilizer is used then nitrous oxide will be pulled up into isolated severe storms and enhance tornado production through the latent heat section of the updraft. This would be quite a feat to introduce such legislation into Oklahoma as they do not currently adhere to any climate change regulations. The more climate continues to change the hotter it will get and more farmers will continue to try and make their soils come back with more and more fertilizer. This will only exacerbate the situation of latent heat ingested fertilizer into storms.
Talking to people about climate change might be the best way to get their attention instead of doing protests. Protests sometimes lead to widespread riots and this does not help a cause when it comes to climate change. Word of mouth through scientific knowledge can overcome a block that normally would not be removed.
Water treatment plants should be looked into to make sure they are not dumping waste into rivers. This could be a major pollution aspect from nitrous oxide. Coal-fired power plants should continue to run as they are to the best of their ability by filtering out much of the sulfur dioxide that can produce pollution in the atmosphere.
Since Oklahoma is a state that passes on climate change it would be very hard to push any real political or activism against climate change within the state. However, there have been more wind farms showing up in the state and this is a good sign that Oklahoma is coming around at least when it comes to natural energy.
Oklahoma’s future outlooks indicate the summers will become hotter and the land drier than it is today. People will be in search of water which will become scarce. Tornadoes and other severe weather phenomena will be on the increase because of these warmer temperatures. Summer highs with humidity will make it almost unbearable to live in Oklahoma in the future. Stronger hurricanes from the Gulf of Mexico will be able to move further inland and it wouldn’t be out of the question to still see a category two as it reached Oklahoma. These types of events will cause people in the state to move to other regions of the country and try for a better life with fewer weather problems. Insurance carriers will raise rates so high Oklahomans can’t afford to pay them. The state will become bankrupt from trying to overcome the situation of global warming.
Oklahoma started at the bottom of the ocean and then developed through millions of years of volcanic and rift tectonic plate shifts to produce mountains and prairies as it is today. However, through global warming, the state will endure times of drought and tremendous severe weather phenomena. Oklahoma passes on much of its climate change to keep jobs in the state. Word of mouth might be the best way to speak with people in Oklahoma instead of protests or riots about climate change. In the end, if global warming does produce the effects scientists say will happen the state will go bankrupt from the extreme weather and droughts that will destroy its economy.
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