Global Warming and Climate Change Explained

Question:

Write an essay on Impact of Climate Change and Global Warming?

The twin environmental challenges are the global warming and the climate change which has gained popularity and public disclosure. The discussions on environmental issues of global warming and the climate changes stir up passionate responses and stern debate between environmentalists as they pose different kinds of threat that these two concepts have on the living beings and the society as a whole (Global warming ‘confirmed’, 2011). Global warming can be defined as the phenomenon where the average surface temperature has been increasing over more than one decade. The climate change is an extension to the global warming phenomenon which will be discussed in this paper. There are many dimensions to the explanations of the global warming and the climate change and the threats that they impose on the human society, living beings, and on the environment (Huntingford, 2013). The main aim of this paper is to provide an outline to the impacts of the global warming and climate changes on the environment.

Global warming is defined as the slow and steady increase in the surface temperature of the Earth. Temperatures are 0.74 degree Celsius more than the temperatures that were 150 years ago. The major cause of the global warming is the rise in the atmospheric carbon dioxide. Global warming and climate change that is associated with each other. The climate change is defined as the changes in the attributes of climate which include not only the surface temperatures but also precipitation patterns, winds, ocean currents, and other aspects of the Earth’s climate. Global warming and the climate change refer to an increase in the global temperature. It is the natural incidents and the human activities that lead to the increase in the average global temperature. The increase in the carbon dioxide is termed as greenhouse gases. A warming earth would lead to a situation where the climatic conditions changes affecting the weather in various ways (Kendall, 2014). The US agency, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) identified seven indicators that identify the climatic changes which are increase in the tropospheric temperature; increase in the land temperature and over the oceans temperature along with the increase in the sea surface temperature. There are two other indicators of atmospheric climatic changes like the melt down of the snow covered mountains and the glaciers. This results in the increase in the sea level which has negative impact on the coastal areas. Also the climatic changes are indicated by the rise in the humidity level and rise in the ocean heat content which is followed by the melting of the sea ice (Lane, 2014). The direct consequences of the global warming are the greenhouse effect, the sun and the dust and the dirt. In the next section the impact of the global warming and the climate change are discussed below:

Global warming is believed to have devastating and costly impact on the communities, health and the climate of the Earth (Matawal and Maton, 2013). The reduction of the global warming emissions can be reduced only when the humans would take immediate actions to mitigate it. Otherwise it would continue to damage the entire planet. Some of the impacts of the global warming are discussed below:

Indicators of Climatic Changes

Sea Level Rise- The increase in the surface temperature has melted the snow capped mountains and the glaciers which increases the sea level. On an average the sea level has risen eight inches which is quite fast on the US East Coast and Gulf of Mexico. This has impacted the life and property on the coastal areas as there is a high risk of flood to the low level communities and thus, the flood insurance system has been encouraged in these areas.

Increase in the wildfire- The rise in the land temperature has increased the wildfires which is quite common in the Western US. The higher spring and summer temperatures have resulted in the hotter forests which remained dry for longer periods of time. The wildfires destroy wildlife and other exotic vegetation. Some of the animal in this case might be on the verge of extinction and wildfires would worsen the situation and disturb the ecological balance .

Intense heat waves- with the intensification of the global warming, the dangerous hot weather is occurring frequently which causes serious health problems like heat stroke, heat exhaustion and aggravating some of the medical conditions.

Landmarks at risk- the global warming have caused two extreme natural disaster; floods and wildfires which when spread results in destruction of life as well as property. This destruction had put many iconic and historic sites and monuments at risks from the cases in Ellis Island to the everglades with California’s Cesar Chavez National Monument.

Forest death in Rocky mountains- It has been recorded that there were 10 millions of trees have died over the 15 years in the Rocky Mountains. This killed many animals, plants, tree killing insects and exerted a stress from the heat and drought.

Health impacts- The rise in the temperature has caused climatic changes which impacted the health of the humans. The rise in the temperature increased the air pollution which causes spread of allergens, insect borne diseases, dangerous heat waves and strong rainstorms and flooding. All of these problems create risks to public health like respiratory problems, health problems related to allergies etc .

Increase in extreme weather events- The global warming has caused changes in the weather conditions and caused extreme weather events like heat waves, coastal flooding, extreme precipitation conditions and severe conditions of drought. Powerful hurricanes are responsible for global warming which again causes damage to the life and property.

Pressure on the ground water- Increase in the global warming causes severe changes in the climates which causes drought resulting in dry conditions exerting pressure in the groundwater supplies as the water requirements increases as precipitation fails to replenish it .

Risk to food supply- the increase in the temperature caused climatic changes which includes the frequent heat waves, heavy precipitation and severe droughts. This affected the crop production and also meat production. Thus, global warming causes potential disruption to food supplies.

Destruction of Coral reefs- the global warming caused a rise in the ocean temperature which imposes long term irreversible damage to the coral reefs

Impact of Global Warming and Climate Change

If the challenges of the global warming and the climate changes are not acted upon then there it will continue to damage the environment and human lives.

Mitigation- In this, actions must be taken to reduce the greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and boost the capability of the carbon sinks to take in GHGs from the atmospheres. This is done by the activities like energy conservation, using energy efficiently, using efficient use carbon energy technologies such as the renewable energy, nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage and enhancing carbon sinks by encouraging reforestation .

Adaptation- Another step that can be taken by the human is to increase the adaptive capacity which will enhance the ability of the humans and the environment to adjust to climate changes so that the damages are controlled and prevented. In this regard, the environmental association and public statistics have realized the risks of climate changes by endorsing adaptation to changes in the infrastructural needs and reduction of emissions.

Climate engineering- This type of mechanism leads to the intentional transformation of the climate. The climate engineering includes solar radiation management and carbon dioxide removal. It has also been criticized on the grounds that the climate engineering methods are ineffective and do not have the ability to stop the climate change .

Conclusion & recommendations:

The global warming and the climate changes had been adversely affecting the environment and the human lives. The main cause of the global warming is the human activities which is caused due to the emission of harmful gases like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide etc. the emission have occurred from vehicles, factories etc. which increased the global temperature causing global warming, ozone depletion and the climate change. The changes have impacted the environment by causing floods in the coastal areas due to glacier melt, drought and wildfires due to the increase in the land surface. The global warming has also caused severe coral reef damage. Some of the recommended strategy includes:

• Proper financing of the emission reduction strategy must be incorporated like in the case of the Lima Climate Conference where much has been talked about the plans to reduce harmful green house gas emission but there was no emphasis on the financing techniques.
   
• Solar radiation management must be incorporated to mitigate the global warming impacts.
   
• Rainwater harvesting is important as increase in the temperature is depleting the ground water.
   
• Wildfires must also be managed to stop the extinction of exotic plants and animals.
   
• Lastly, it is the control of the adverse human activities like judicious use of energy, less emission of harmful gases and reduction in air and water pollution.

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Matawal, D. and Maton, D. (2013). Climate Change and Global Warming: Signs, Impact and Solutions.IJESD, pp.62-66.

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