Earth Grows Much Darker (CommonDreams.org) "Defying expectation and easy explanation, hundreds of instruments around the world recorded a drop in sunshine reaching the surface of Earth, as much as 10 percent from the late 1950's to the early 90's, or 2 percent to 3 percent a decade. In some regions like Asia, the United States and Europe, the drop was even steeper. In Hong Kong, sunlight decreased 37 percent." 04-06 Fossil Fuels Cause Global Warming and Global Dimming (GlobalIssues.org) "Two effects of fossil fuel productions are: * Greenhouse gases that cause global warming * By-products which are pollutants that cause global dimming" 04-06 Global Dimming Is Masking Global Warming (BBC News) "We are all seeing rather less of the Sun. Scientists looking at five decades of sunlight measurements have reached the disturbing conclusion that the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth's surface has been gradually falling. Paradoxically, the decline in sunlight may mean that global warming is a far greater threat to society than previously thought." 04-06 Global Dimming: Description (Guardian) "In 1985, a geography researcher called Atsumu Ohmura at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology got the shock of his life. As part of his studies into climate and atmospheric radiation, Ohmura was checking levels of sunlight recorded around Europe when he made an astonishing discovery. It was too dark." 04-06 Global Dimming: Description (Wikipedia.org) "Global dimming is a term describing the gradual reduction in the amount of global hemispherical irradiance (or total solar irradiance) at the Earth's surface since the 1950s. The effect varies by location but worldwide it is of the order of a 5% reduction over the three decades 1960-1990; the trend has reversed during the past decade. Global dimming creates a cooling effect that may have led scientists to underestimate the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming." "Some scientists now consider that the effects of global dimming have masked the effect of global warming to some extent and that resolving global dimming may therefore lead to increases in predictions of future temperature rise." 04-06 Global Dimming: Evidence (PBS.org) "In the early 21st century, it's become clear that air pollution can significantly reduce the amount of sunlight reaching Earth, lower temperatures, and mask the warming effects of greenhouse gases. Climate researcher James Hansen estimates that "global dimming" is cooling our planet by more than a degree Celsius (1.8°F) and fears that as we cut back on pollution, global warming may escalate to a point of no return." 04-06

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