The possibility of global temperatures rising 10 degrees during the next century could mean growing concerns and shorter tempers.

Scientists from 99 countries recently joined together in Shanghai, China, to work out negotiations left up in the air last November. Their focus: finding ways to reduce greenhouse gases.

John Houghton, co-chairman of the Shanghai meeting, told the Chicago Sun-Times that the level of carbon dioxide will be higher in the next century than it has been for 420,000 years.

David Changnon, an NIU associate geography professor, said the report shows that increasing carbon dioxide will cause warmer temperatures. The scientists’ predictions were based mainly on models.

“What this report does is show how science is continually predicting changes and what we’ve learned,” Chagnon said. “My view is this report is these scientists’ best attempt to understand what is going to happen based on models. Given what we know, their predictions are probably quite accurate.”

One major effect of rising temperatures is a possible increase of hostility in people. Dr. Craig A. Anderson, a psychologist at Iowa State University, wrote in his article in Current Directions in Psychological Science” that people become less calm and more testy as it gets hotter.

“The biological events that take place are not well understood,” Anderson said. “Simply put, we know that people are more irritable when they become physically uncomfortable. This holds true especially if the person does not realize the source of discomfort, like sitting in a hot car during a traffic jam.”

Changnon agreed.

“If you just think about how people act during the summer when the temperatures are higher and how people act, it’s just a natural reaction,” he said.

One explanation of Anderson’s theory is that the area of the brain that controls body temperature regulation is very near to the emotional center.

“How these areas interact is not well understood and therefore needs to be researched,” Anderson said.

Changnon said more local research may need to be done.

“I think more and more people want to know what’s going to happen specifically near them,” he said. “We have to pause and think about how we have to say ‘How are these changes going to affect Illinois and us regionally?’ For example, Lake Michigan has gone down in recent years because of the warmer temperatures.”

Lake levels decreasing as a result of global warming is startling because locally, water supplies come mainly from Lake Michigan, Changnon said.

“If it continues to get warmer, the lake level may decrease,” he said. “The things that feed the lake are rainfall and snow, and there hasn’t been much of either in the past few years.”

Slight rises in temperatures have been locally recorded, he said.

“We have to look at the impact, and we have to be worried about the frequency of weather events creating huge economic impacts,” he said. “There’s the idea that temperatures could change five to 10 degrees. If you look at the last 100 years, temperatures have increased in Chicago about three degrees, and that’s due to the urbanization.”

The easiest solution is the most obvious one, Changnon said — reducing the carbon dioxide.

“We should be able to produce less carbon dioxide,” he said. “That’s a good goal to set, but unfortunately, people aren’t willing to give up their luxuries.”