THE IMPACT OF GLOBAL WARMING

Earth is the only planet in the solar system where man has found survival since then man has been ‘eating’ earth. The planet is surrounded by an atmosphere and covered by a large expanse of water also called the hydrosphere which is estimated to be 70% of the surface of earth. It so happens that the planet is just in the right distance and position to receive appropriate light from and warmth from the sun for animals to see and for the plants to make their own food by the process of photosynthesis, Simply put the earth has a ‘life jacket’ or the power house for the sustenance of the biosphere. The ecologists view the sun to be the source of all our energies on the planet. Consequently the earth has been sustaining the biosphere as long as history can remember; however the natural conditions on this planet have been threatened by anthropogenic activities some scholars call global warming.

In this presentation the writer seeks to show the impact of global warming on this planet. Before going any further it is important to define the key words which are ‘impact’ and ‘global warming’. According to Soanes and Stevenson (2003) (11ed) impact means marked effect or influence. In other words it means the effect caused by an act of something. It can also mean influence or results due to a certain condition. Global warming is a combination of two words that is ‘globe’ to mean ‘earth’ and ‘warming’ to mean a ‘rise in temperature’. When these two words are combined they form ‘global warming’. Global warming is the increase in global temperature resulting from human activities that exacerbate the so-called natural ‘greenhouse effect.

Global warming is a more specific term referring to increases in the earth’s average temperature hence green gasses build up in the atmosphere causing climate change in various ecosystems. In turn this causes long term weather patterns either by increasing or reducing their intensity. www.sharpsolaracademy.com it can also be said that global warming is increased warmth on earth caused by a thick blanket of gasses(green house gasses) as a result of global warming which further causes changes in climate per region. Global warming is a gradual increase in the earth’s surface temperature. It is believed to result partly from a build-up of heat-trapping greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) emitted by human activities including fossil fuel burning and land clearing

Man has been struggling in order to shape his ecosystem in a manner he wants since the first day he set foot on this planet. The effects of global warming are the environmental and social changes caused (directly or indirectly) by human emissions of greenhouse gases. There is a scientific consensus that climate change caused by global warming is occurring, and that human activities are the primary driver hence they are anthropogenic. Many impacts of climate change have already been observed, including melting of glaciers, changes in the timing of seasonal events. Global warming will not only be felt many decades from now, it is already happening and its impacts are clearly visible. These include increases in extreme weather events, rising sea level, disappearing glaciers and polar ice, damaged coral, changes in wildlife distributions and many more.

Although a direct link to global warming is difficult to establish for some of these phenomena in isolation, the multitude of changes collectively provide clear evidence of the immediate and growing danger that global warming pose to the economy, human health, and the ecosystems upon which humans and other species depend. Since greenhouse gas pollution stays in the atmosphere for decades or centuries, humanity may have no more than a decade left to begin stabilizing the climate to avert devastating and irreversible impacts. Such an achievement will require a concerted effort among all nations. Sea-level rise is one of the most certain impacts of global warming.

During the 20th century, sea levels around the world raised by an average of 4 to 8 inches. That rise is projected to accelerate further, with possible catastrophic increases of many meters. The Shrinkage of glaciers is already creating water shortages, and threatening tourism in scenic parks. Mt. Kilimanjaro peak ice has been disappearing since1912, with about one-third melting in just the last dozen years. In Asia, glaciers are retreating in the Indian Himalaya, and two glaciers in New Guinea will be gone in a decade. Over time, this could cause disruptive ecological and economic changes. Many species, including the golden toad and most of the 70-odd species of harlequin frogs have vanished or declined in population because of diseases that have spurred due to climatic changes that have been induced by global warming.

Disease outbreaks are on rampage due higher temperatures that are accelerating the maturation of disease-causing agents. Global Warming has also been linked to the recent spread of tropical diseases including malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever, into high-altitude areas such as in Colombia, Mexico, and Rwanda that had never seen the diseases before. In other areas such as those of Bangladesh sea levels are rising due to severe flooding coupled with melting of ice caps in permafrost areas. While this is so for Bangladeshi sea cost, the river Rhine is threatened with drying forcing bigger ships to carry less cargo.

Glaciers are slow-moving “rivers” of ice formed over many years from compacted snow on sloping land. In almost every mountainous region across the world, long-term monitoring has revealed that the vast majority of glaciers are retreating up slope in response to cold regions around the world; large reaches of land have been frozen year-round. That permafrost is now melting rapidly in places like the Arctic of North America, Siberia, and the Himalayan/Tibetan region of Asia. Higher night time temperatures are strongly correlated with the spike in malaria cases, argues Balbus et al (1996). The spread of the disease to higher altitudes has also been facilitated by heavy rainfall, which creates more pools of water in which mosquitoes breed.

Due to increased flooding in certain regions mosquitoes breed causing severe malaria. Night time and winter temperatures are increasing faster than daytime and summer temperatures in many regions of the world, Folland et al (2001). This decrease in the occurrence of cold weather means that areas at high latitudes or altitudes that were previously unsuitable for the transmission of tropical diseases may become suitable due to global warming. This has, apparently, already started to happen. In the South American country of Colombia, the mosquitoes that carry dengue fever and yellow fever viruses were previously limited to altitudes below 3,300 ft, but have been recently found at 7,200 ft. To the north in Mexico, dengue fever has spread above its former limit of 1,000 m and now appearing at 1,700 m.

Climate change will impact agriculture and food production around the world due to: the effects of elevated CO2 in the atmosphere, higher temperatures, altered precipitation and transpiration regimes, increased frequency of extreme events, and modified weed, pest, and pathogen pressure In general, low-latitude areas are at most risk of having decreased crop yields Night time and winter temperatures are increasing faster than daytime and summer temperatures in many regions of the world.

This decrease in the occurrence of cold weather means that areas at high latitudes or altitudes that were previously unsuitable for the transmission of tropical diseases may become suitable due to global warming. Phonological studies provide important evidence of the response to recent regional climate change. Penology is the study of natural phenomena that recur periodically, and how these phenomena relate to climate and seasonal changes. A significant advance in phenology has been observed for agriculture and forestry in large parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

Although flooding events are very likely to increase with global warming, droughts are also expected to be more frequent and severe in other places. Higher temperatures tend to increase the rate of evaporation and if precipitation doesn’t soon replenish the lost moisture, soils grow drier. In drier soils, less solar energy is used up in evaporating water, meaning more energy is available to raise the temperature of the soil. Warmer ocean temperatures due to global warming may also increase the severity of droughts, Hoerling and Kumar (2003). Ocean and the western Pacific were exceptionally warm between 1998 and 2002 in part because of the overall warming trend in the world’s oceans. In the same period, unusually persistent atmospheric flow patterns resulted in below normal precipitation.

Some climate simulations have indicated that further insect pests are spreading to forests previously too cold for their survival; Alaska, for instance, had in the 1990s the world’s largest recorded outbreak of spruce bark beetles. Today many developing countries are under considerable threat from changes in the global climate, characterized by an increased severity and frequency of droughts and floods, which have forced people to leave their homes.

Between 1997 and 2005, for example Tanzania experienced drought as a result of climate change and the Metera dam reached its lowest water level, resulting in a 17 percent drop in hydro generation. Tanzania announced a major power load-shedding that adversely affected industrial and commercial sectors. In Uganda, thermal generation was introduced to meet the shortfall. Karekezi and Kithyome (2005). Several recent reports have highlighted the potential for climate change to cause increased migration, Black (2001). An estimated one billion people worldwide could be forced from their homes by 2050 with 250 million of them permanently displaced by the effects of climate change. Increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide pose a more direct danger to corals as well.

When carbon dioxide gas dissolves in seawater, it changes ocean chemistry, making it more difficult for corals to produce calcium carbonate, the main building material in their skeletons. Such a change in seawater chemistry has in fact been observed Therefore, as hazards and disruptions associated with climate change grow in this century, so too may be the likelihood of related population displacements, Hugo (1996). Mass movements of people are projected hence affecting the ecosystems of many species. Climatic climate change is expected to have considerable impacts on natural resource systems and changes in the natural environment, sustenance and livelihoods. These in turn can lead to instability and conflict, often followed by displacements of people and changes in migration patterns.

In a nutshell global warming has wide-ranging effects that are very devastating on many aspects of human life and other forms of life in the biosphere. It threatens economies, lives and traditional ways of life. Some of these results of climate change are so catastrophic that thousands of lives of people, infrastructure and livestock have been lost to floods and landslides in regions such as the subcontinent of India or Bangladesh and others. The sinking of coastal land, rising of seawater levels, the drying up of major lakes and degradation of wildlife habitat, the floods, the droughts, the diseases, the rising temperatures and all the changes in rainfall patterns are all as result of climate change caused by global warming. The changing of rainfall patterns is also attributed to climatic change.

REFERENCES

Black Richard (2001) Environmental Refugees: Myth or Reality? In New Issues in Refugee Research. Geneva: United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees. Working Paper No. 34: 1-19

Folland, C.K.,T.R. Karl, J.R. Christy, R.A. Clarke, G.V. Gruza, J. Jouzel, M.E. Mann, J.Oerlemans, M.J. Salinger, and S.W. Wang (2001) Observed Climate Variability and Change. In: Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the IPCC.

Karekezi and Kityoma (eds.) (2005) Sustainable Energyin Africa: Cogeneration and Geothermal in the East and Horn of Africa – Status and prospects. Nairobi, Kenya.

Hoerling, M and Kumar A(2003) the perfect ocean for drought science 299:691-694

Hugo, G. (1996). “Environmental Concerns and Migration,” International Migration Review . Vol. 30, No. 1: 105-13.

Balbus J.M, Patz J.A, P.R. Epstein, and T.A. Burke, (1996) Global climate change and emerging infectious diseases. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 275, 217–223.

Soanes Catherine and Stevenson Angus (2003) Oxford Dictionary of English, London: Oxford University Press.

Wieczorek, G.F., M.C. Larsen, L.S. Eaton, B.A. Morgan, and J.L. Blair, (2001) Debris-flow and flooding hazards associated with the December 1999 storm in coastal Venezuela and strategies for mitigation. USGS Open-File Report 01-0144. http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2001/ofr-01-0144/ retrieved on 17/12/14 @ 22:30