Climate Change Science and impacts

Greenhouse gases (GHG):

Are a type of gas that either occurs naturally in the atmosphere or by human actions and activities - this type of gas absorbs heat in the atmosphere, while others result from human activities, being able to stay in the atmosphere for an amount of years, ranging from decades to hundreds and thousands of years.

They are named that way because they contribute to the so-called Greenhouse Effect by which infra-red radiation (itself sunlight striking the Earth and reflected at longer wavelengths) is absorbed by molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere, functioning like a insulator that helps to trap the sun's rays. The reality is that without this heat-trapping properties life on earth would not be possible. Although, too much of that and life will perish as well. GHG includes carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons, nitrous oxide, ozone, and even water vapor.

Prior to the start of the Industrial Revolution, the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were about 280 parts per million by volume (ppmv), while current levels are about 370 ppmv. The main reason to this is the combustion of fossil fuels, including the coal-burning power plants, automobile exhausts, factory smokestacks, etc.

The global warming is really happening and like the majority of the scientific experts think, it is caused essentially by the actions of men. Although there might exist some natural causes or just a natural and a chronically climate change process of the planet, humanity still have a great responsibility on it. Extreme environmental conditions will become more often as the issue of climate warming still keeps unsolved.

This baneful climate change can still be avoided to get worst and even corrected, but to do so we need to realise that immediate action is needed. The main target is to reduce 80% of emissions by 2050. The problem is that the majority of the countries and communities didn’t yet fully commit themselves to it.

Although there are already good, clean and efficient technologies, the real challenge is to finance them.
Besides that there is still hope as the youngest generations bring a new mentality or sensitivity to the problem. They already realise that people don’t live alone in an “island” and that even the smallest and insignificant action has global consequences.

There are several consequences brought by global warming. In fact, the list can spread a lot. Here are the main problems (don’t forget that there are too economic consequences for each one):

As cooler countries get warmer, disease carrying insects migrate, bringing plagues and diseases to population and fauna that are not used do deal with them. Some scientists even believe that in some areas of the Earth, some plagues had not been already extinct thanks to global warming, like for example malaria;

As the temperature of oceans and seas rises, so will the probability of more frequent and stronger storms hurricanes. We can see proves of that in the recent years of 2004 and 2005;

As it wasn’t already a problem the never stopping growing of human population, with global warming the shortage of water will be even more problematic. Although some specific regions might become wetter and propitious to precipitation due to global warming, other areas will suffer serious droughts and heat waves. In Africa we might witness the biggest dryness and according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global warming will exacerbate the conditions and could lead to even more conflicts and wars;

The melting of polar ice caps is probably the major consequence from global warming, because it brings many problems at different levels. The most obvious of them is the raising of sea levels. There are approximately 5,773,000 cubic miles of water in ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow. Indeed, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, if every glacier did melt today, the seas would rise about 70 meters;

One more consequence from this flush of water in to the seas is that the ice and snow are composed of fresh water. So when they melt they will desalinate the ocean. It will not only endanger the majority of sea fishes, as it will also disarray ocean currents which regulate temperatures and other important climate cycles;

As the melting of ice caps wasn’t already sufficient for climate purposes it can also exponentially raise global warming. In fact while a white Pole reflects the sunlight, a darker Pole, with the colors of the earth below the actual ice would absorb those light rays;

Finally as temperature rises and landscapes change, already endanger species of animals will become even more fragile. Only the most adaptable will survive.

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