Climate Change

 

Climate Change 

 

Climatologists say that change in climate and is natural and continuous process however what has happened in recent past is unusual and rapid too. From about 1885-1940 world temperature showed an upward trend. As defined by United Nations, “Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns.” These shifts may be natural, but since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels which produce heat producing gases and these gases ultimately lead to global warming. Global warming is both a cause and outcome of climate change. More the earth heats up more global warming will be caused and vice versa.

The World Health Organisation calls climate change the greatest threat to global health in the 21^st century. Even if efforts to minimize future warming are successful, some effects will continue for centuries. Many of these impacts are already felt at the current level of warming, which is about 1.2°C.  

Causes of climate change

There are number of causes for climate change. Broadly these can be categorized into two categories which are astronomical causes and terrestrial causes. Astronomical changes are those which occur in the outer space and are generally associated with sun. These changes affect Earth and other planets in many ways. These changes alter Earth’s climate as wet or dry and thus change is climate is observed.

On the other hand terrestrial causes are many and are both natural and man-made. Volcanism for instance is a natural terrestrial cause. The aerosols which are thrown out during volcanic eruptions mix with the atmosphere, reducing the sun’s radiation reaching the earth’s surface.

Of all the terrestrial causes, greenhouse effect is the most significant. It re adjusts atmosphere’s transparency in such a way that heat does not find its way out to escape and eventually the atmospheric temperature gears up. The gases which contribute to greenhouse effect are water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons.

On Earth, the human activities are changing the natural greenhouse. Over the last century the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. To a lesser extent, the clearing of land for agriculture, industry and other human activities has increased concentrations of greenhouse gases.

Impacts of climate change

Climate change has diverse impacts on different organisms and different domains of life be it physical environment, nature and wildlife, food and health or on humans itself. Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner. Effects that scientists had predicted in the past would result from global climate change are now occurring. These include loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves.

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) is a panel of scientists world over dedicated to research and analysis about climate change. IPCC forecasts a temperature rise of 2.5 to 10 degrees F over the next century.

Nearly all lands are seeing more hot days and heat waves. 2020 was one of the hottest years on record. Higher temperatures increase heat-related illnesses and can make it more difficult to work more rapidly when conditions are hotter. Changes in temperature cause changes in rainfall. This results in more severe and frequent storms. They cause flooding and landslides, destroying homes and communities and costing billions of dollars. Water is becoming scarcer in more regions. Droughts can stir destructive sand and dust storms that can move billions of tons of sand across continents. Deserts are expanding, reducing land for growing food. Many people now face the threat of not having enough water on regular basis.

The effects of climate change on humans have been detected worldwide. They are mostly due to warming and shift in precipitation. Impacts can now be observed on all continents and ocean regions, with low latitude, less developed areas facing the greatest risk. The risks are unevenly distributed, but are generally greater for disadvantaged people in developing and developed countries.

Responses to climate change

Mitigation of greenhouse gases i.e. reduction emission of greenhouse gases is observed as one of the finest controls for climate change. A little while back a COP26 (26^th Conference of Parties) was held in Glasgow for wrapping up the global climate summit. Many such meeting have taken place in past too and many are planned for the future but the common aim is to mitigate the greenhouse effect and achieve sustainable practices in such a way to benefit both humans and environment.

One such meeting was Paris Agreement adopted in 2015 which aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The agreement also aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change, through appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework. With global emissions are reaching record levels and showing no sign of peaking, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on all leaders to come to New York on 23 September 2019 for the Climate Action Summit with concrete, realistic plans to enhance their nationally determined contributions by 2020, in line with reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% over the next decade, and to net zero emissions by 2050.

It is our sacred duty as humans and global citizens to protect mother earth from further degradation. We owe a lot to the earth. In words of Lester Brown, we have not inherited the earth from our ancestors. We have borrowed it from our children. If we want our children to live a life a healthy and comfortable live and if we want our future to be mess free we have to protect the earth from this threat called climate change.