BY JANANI SRIRAMAN
Climate change refers to the change in the environmental conditions of the earth. This happens due to many internal and external factors. Climate change has become a global concern over the last few decades. Global warming describes the current rise in the average temperature of Earth’s air and oceans. Global warming is often described as the most recent example of climate change. Earth’s climate has changed many times. Our planet has gone through multiple ice ages, in which ice sheets and glaciers covered large portions of the Earth. It has also gone through warm periods when temperatures were higher than they are today.
Past changes in Earth’s temperature happened very slowly, over hundreds of thousands of years. However, the recent warming trend is happening much faster than it ever has. Natural cycles of warming and cooling are not enough to explain the amount of warming we have experienced in such a short time—only human activities can account for it.
The Greenhouse Effect
Human activities contribute to global warming by increasing the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect happens when certain gases—known as greenhouse gases—collect in Earth’s atmosphere. These gases, which occur naturally in the atmosphere, include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide, and fluorinated gases sometimes known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
Most of the carbon dioxide that people put into the atmosphere comes from burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas. Cars, trucks, trains, and planes all burn fossil fuels. Many electric power plants also burn fossil fuels. Another way people release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is by cutting down forests.
This happens for two reasons. Decaying plant material, including trees, releases tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Living trees absorb carbon dioxide. By diminishing the number of trees to absorb carbon dioxide, the gas remains in the atmosphere.
“Climate change is sometimes misunderstood as being about changes in the weather. In reality, it is about changes in our very way of life.”
Paul Polman
Sea Level Will Rise 1-8 feet by 2100
Global sea level has risen about 8 inches since reliable record-keeping began in 1880. By 2100, scientists project that it will rise at least another foot (0.3 meters ), but possibly as high as 8 feet , if we continue carbon emissions at our current rate. Sea level is rising because of added water from melting land ice and the expansion of seawater as it warms. Even small sea level changes can cause increased flooding, because storm surge and high tides combine with sea level rise and sinking of land along coastlines to amplify flooding in some regions.
Satellite views of Louisiana’s growing Wax Lake Delta.
Hurricanes will become stronger and more intense
Scientists project that hurricane-associated storm intensity and rainfall rates will increase as the climate continues to warm.
Hurricane Florence churning over the Atlantic, as captured by astronauts on the International Space Station.
More Droughts and Heat Waves
Droughts in the Southwest and heat waves are projected to become more intense, and cold waves less intense and less frequent. All seasons are projected to continue to get hotter. By the end of this century, if we continue emitting greenhouse gases at our current rate, extreme heat events that used to occur only once in 20 years are expected to occur every year.
Drying up of Cerro Prieto reservoir, Mexico.
Vanishing Great Salt Lake, Utah.
Longer Wildfire Season
Warming temperatures have made the wildfire season longer and more severe in the West, and deepening drought in the region has added to the risk of fires. Scientists estimate that human-caused climate change has already doubled the area of forest burned in recent decades. By around 2050, the amount of land consumed by wildfires in Western states is projected to further increase by two to six times.
Gender reveal party sparked huge El Dorado Wildfire which has burned 7,050 acres in California.
Arctic Is Very Likely to Become Ice-Free
Sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean is expected to continue decreasing, and the Arctic Ocean will very likely become ice free in the near future if current projections hold, this change is expected to occur before mid-century.
Northwestern Glacier melt, Alaska-Winter to early summer.
Ice Melt Accelerates in Southern Greenland.
Ocean Acidification
Ocean acidification is the process in which sea water becomes more acidic because of the excess carbon dioxide (CO2) it is absorbing from the atmosphere. This phenomenon, which is impacting every ocean on Earth , is a direct consequence of the burning of fossil fuels and the resulting carbon pollution.
Our oceans support an abundance of life with an average pH level of 8.1, making seawater slightly basic. But experts estimate that over the course of the 21st century, the pH of ocean water could dip down to 7.8. That may sound like a small change, but the last time the ocean pH was this low was some 14 to 17 million years ago, when the Earth was a very different place. The pH scale is an inverse of hydrogen ion concentration, so more hydrogen ions translates to higher acidity and a lower pH . If the pH gets too low, shells and skeletons can even begin to dissolve.
Changes in ocean chemistry can affect the behaviour of non-calcifying organisms as well. The ability of some fish, like clownfish, to detect predators is decreased in more acidic waters.
Impacts on marine life
Ocean acidification has been called the “evil twin of global warming” and “the other CO2 problem”. Coral reefs also suffer the consequences. For example, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has shown a 14 percent decline in calcification since 1990. Coral reefs are an essential part of marine ecosystems, providing shelter for 25 percent of marine species. These structures also protect coastal communities from erosion and storm surge.
Coral bleaching
When the Reef’s waters stay too hot for too long, the coral becomes stressed and expel the colourful marine algae living inside their tissues, called zooxanthellae. When corals get stressed, from things such as heat or pollution, they react by expelling this algae, leaving a white skeleton behind. This is known as ‘coral bleaching’. A healthy Reef can recover from coral bleaching, but it needs time and the right conditions. Coral reefs take around a decade to fully recover. If we take climate leadership then our coral reefs, and the thousands of species that rely on them (which includes us), can rebuild and thrive for generations to come.
Coral Bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef
“We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it.”
Barack Obama, Former US President
Climate crisis Solutions
The climate crisis has put all of us on the Titanic – we are, quite literally, sinking. The climate crisis is the iceberg we have now hit. The ship is now holed, and the poorest countries in the global south are literally having their third-class berths flooded and possessions destroyed. As stated earlier, it might be challenging but it is not entirely impossible. With real leadership we can stop carbon pollution and allow our earth to recover and rebuild. individuals and governments, both have to take steps towards achieving it. We must begin with the reduction of greenhouse gas.
Furthermore, they need to monitor the consumption of gasoline. Switch to a hybrid car and reduce the release of carbon dioxide .Limit the use of electricity which will prevent the release of carbon dioxide. We must transition to renewable energy today. On the government’s part, they must regulate industrial waste and ban them from emitting harmful gases in the air. Deforestation must be stopped immediately and planting of trees must be encouraged.
In short, all of us must realise the fact that we are travelling towards the end of the earth in the name of “advanced development”.
The present generation must take up the responsibility of stopping global warming in order to prevent the suffering of future generations. Therefore, every little step, no matter how small, carries a lot of weight and is quite significant in stopping global warming.
“Climate change is real. It is happening right now, it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”
Leonardo Di Caprio, Actor & Environmentalist
Location on the cover: Eidfjord, Norway.
-JANANI SRIRAMAN
From IT-B.
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