Global Warming
Global warming is a term that refers to the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere over the past century. It is caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, in the atmosphere, which trap heat from the sun and prevent it from escaping back into space. Global warming has many negative impacts on the environment and human society, such as:
- Melting ice caps: The polar ice caps and glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, reducing the albedo of the Earth and exposing more dark water that absorbs more heat. This creates a positive feedback loop that accelerates global warming. The melting ice also raises the sea level, threatening coastal communities and islands with flooding and erosion.
- Rising sea levels: The sea level has risen by about 20 cm since 1900, and is projected to rise by another 30 to 120 cm by 2100, depending on the emission scenario. This will submerge low-lying areas, displace millions of people, damage infrastructure and property, and increase the risk of storm surges and saltwater intrusion.
- Extreme weather events: Global warming intensifies the water cycle, leading to more frequent and severe droughts, floods, heat waves, hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires. These events cause deaths, injuries, diseases, crop failures, water shortages, power outages, and economic losses.
- Loss of biodiversity: Global warming alters the habitats and distributions of many plants and animals, forcing them to migrate, adapt, or go extinct. Some species are more vulnerable than others, such as coral reefs, polar bears, penguins, and amphibians. The loss of biodiversity reduces the resilience and productivity of ecosystems, and affects the services they provide to humans, such as pollination, pest control, food, medicine, and recreation.
- Human health: Global warming affects human health in various ways, such as increasing the exposure to heat stress, air pollution, vector-borne diseases, water-borne diseases, food insecurity, malnutrition, mental stress, and violence. Some groups are more vulnerable than others, such as children, elderly, poor, indigenous, and marginalized people.
- Food security: Global warming affects food security by reducing the yield and quality of crops and livestock, increasing the frequency and intensity of pests and diseases, disrupting the supply chains and markets, and increasing the price and volatility of food. This can lead to hunger, famine, poverty, and social unrest.
- Economy: Global warming affects the economy by damaging or destroying physical assets, infrastructure, natural resources, human capital, and social capital. It also reduces the productivity and profitability of various sectors, such as agriculture, fisheries, forestry, tourism, energy, transport, trade, and health. It also increases the costs of adaptation and mitigation measures. The economic impacts of global warming are unevenly distributed across regions and countries. Some regions may benefit from global warming in the short term (such as higher latitudes), while others may suffer more (such as low latitudes). However, in the long term (beyond 2050), all regions are expected to experience net negative impacts.
- Social stability: Global warming affects social stability by increasing the risk of conflicts over scarce resources (such as water), displacing people from their homes (due to sea level rise or disasters), creating environmental refugees (who may face discrimination or violence), undermining human rights (such as access to food or water), eroding trust and cooperation among people (due to inequality or injustice), and weakening institutions and governance (due to corruption or inefficiency).
To prevent further global warming and its consequences,
we need to take urgent actions to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,
switch to renewable energy sources,
conserve energy and resources,
and adapt to the changing climate.
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