The recent news that Lake Mead has a 50-50 chance of going dry in the next 13 years was scary enough, but there doesn’t seem to be any shortage of ominous Earth news these days. Based on recent research, here are some of the odds we’re facing:
Amount of coral reefs that will be in ocean waters too acidic for them to survive by 2050: 98 percent
Increase in number of days with conditions favorable for severe storms by 2100: 100 percent
Odds that inland regions of Australia could see temperature increases of more than 4 degrees Centigrade if carbon dioxide emissions remain high: 20 to 50 percent
Number of additional people at risk of hunger due to climate change by 2050: 132 million
Amount by which wheat production in Bangladesh might decrease by 2050 due to climate change: one third
Amount of Asian biodiversity at risk because of climate change: half
Chance that the Atlantic Ocean’s “conveyor belt” that keeps weather mild in Europe could shut down sometime this century if no changes are made to climate policy: 45 percent
Chance that the Atlantic Ocean’s “conveyor belt” that keeps weather mild in Europe could shut down over the next 200 years if no changes are made to climate policy: 70 percent
Shirley Siluk Gregory
Shirley Siluk Gregory, a transplanted Chicagoan now living in Northwest Florida, represents the progressive half of Green Options' Red, Green and Blue segment. She holds a bachelor's degree in Geological Sciences from Northwestern University but graduated in 1984, just when the market for geologists was flatter than the Florida landscape. Just as well, though: she had little interest in spending her life either in a laboratory or, heaven forbid, an oil field. So, of course, she went into journalism. After extremely low-paying but fun and educational stints at several suburban Chicago weeklies and dailies, Shirley and her then-boyfriend/now-husband Scott found themselves displaced by a media buyout and spending the next several years working as freelancers. Among their credits: The Chicago Tribune, a publication for the manufactured-housing industry, and Web Hosting Magazine, a now-defunct publication that came and went with the dotcom era. Shirley's always been concerned about nature and conservation (and an avid pack-rat, as her family can attest to), but became even more rabidly interested in the environment primarily due to two factors: the growing signs that global warming was real and threatening, and the birth of her son, Noah, in 2003. Suddenly, the prospect of a world that might not be quite as habitable in 40 or 50 years took on a whole new, and personal, meaning. Living where she lives now also helped light the fire of Shirley's environmental awareness: her hometown was severely damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and beaten up again by Hurricane Dennis in 2005. That, and the fact that she and her family were vacationing in New Orleans until the day before Katrina -- and spent 12 hours driving home for a trip that normally takes 3 -- has made Shirley deeply appreciate how fragile our lifestyles are, and how dependent they are on sound management of natural resources and sustainable living practices. That's why she's become a passionate reader and writer about all things green and sustainable.