Let’s discuss the climate change problem that has emerged as the proverbial “elephant in the room.” Environmentalists and scientists have been warning us about the dangers of climate change for about three decades, but countries have only really listened and discussed the issue without taking any significant action.
Worldwide catastrophes
Some of the most recent occurrences that demonstrate the effects of climate change and global warming in India and other parts of the world are melting glaciers,earthquakes, cyclones, and disastrous floods.
Global catastrophes and unusual weather have increased in severity and frequency.
Recent occurrences in 2023 that demonstrate the effects of climate change and global warming everywhere
- Forest Fires in Chile
- Earthquakes in Syria and Turkey
- Australia’s flash floods
- Earthquake in New Zealand
- Avalanche in Tajik
- Brazil Floods
Is it too late to tackle global warming and climate change?
The global temperature is projected to increase by 2.5 °C to 4.5 °C (4.5 °F to 8 °F) by 2100 if significant emission reduction efforts are not made, according to NASA. There is not much time left to take action, as we are expected to see warming of between 3 and 5 degrees Celsius if governments do nothing seriously in the next few decades.
This suggests that we have little chance of meeting the specific global temperature target. Yet, as a collective planetary civilization, we must immediately work towards clean energy before we approach the critical threshold.
What distinguishes global warming from climate change?
The terms “climate change” and “global warming” are sometimes used interchangeably, yet they have different meanings.
The term “global warming” describes the planet’s gradual warming.
Since the early 20th century, and particularly since the late 1970s, there has been a well-documented rise in the average global temperature.
Global warming is included in the term “climate change,” which also refers to a wider spectrum of planetary changes. They include changes in flower/plant blooming seasons, dwindling mountain glaciers, accelerated ice melt in Greenland, Antarctica, and the Arctic, and rising sea levels.
Many of these effects of global warming are primarily due to human activity in the form of fossil fuel combustion.
Severe implications of climate change
- The water cycle is being accelerated by climate change. In addition to more violent flooding caused by the increased rainfall, many areas will experience increased drought.
- Rainfall patterns are being impacted by climate change. Precipitation is predicted to decrease over most of the subtropics while increasing at high latitudes. Monsoon precipitation is predicted to change, with regional variations.
- Throughout the 21st century, sea levels will continue to rise, which will cause coastal erosion and more frequent and severe coastal flooding in low-lying locations. By the end of this century, extreme sea level occurrences that formerly happened once every 100 years could occur annually.
- An increase in temperature will accelerate permafrost thawing, the melting of glaciers and ice sheets, the loss of seasonal snow cover, and the retreat of Arctic sea ice in the summer.
- Ocean changes such as warming, increased frequency of marine heatwaves, acidification of the ocean, and decreased oxygen levels have all been directly attributed to human activity. These changes, which will last at least the rest of this century, have an impact on both ocean ecosystems and the humans who depend on them.
- Certain features of climate change, such as heat (because urban areas are typically warmer than their surroundings), flooding from intense precipitation events, and sea level rise in coastal cities, may be amplified for cities.
- The IPCC International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report’s Sixth Assessment Report states that many of the climate changes that have been seen are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years, and some of the effects that have already started, including ongoing sea level rise, are irreversible over hundreds to thousands of years.
Yet, limiting climate change would require significant and long-term reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2). While improvements in air quality would be noticeable right away, stabilising global temperatures could take 20 to 30 years.
Conclusion
Climate change and global warming must be treated as an urgent threat. No one can avoid it because it is already here and is not something that is waiting for us in the future.
According to the IPCC report, lowering greenhouse gas emissions will both slow down climate change and enhance air quality. All of the major global crises—from natural disasters to the disappearance of biological diversity, from rising pollution levels to food security—are linked to climate change.
Since the stakes of climate change are as high as they can be, including life, it is not the duty of just one country or a small number of countries. We are all stakeholders, after all.
Follow us at – https://www.facebook.com/dissenttimes