UNSTOPPABLE GLOBAL WARMING

Global warming is a phenomenon in which the average temperatures on the surface of the earth increase at a slow but steady rate. Global warming has been a topic of hot discussions and high debates all over the world for the past decade. Global warming is a term that actually refers to the climatic changes and that too on the warmer side, caused by the Humans. A look at the recent research done on Global warming suggests that this climatic change is indeed prevalent. The global temperatures have increased by 0.6 degree Celsius when compared to a century ago and the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere jumped by a whopping 30 percent in the last 200 years, mainly thanks to the Industrial revolution and development our world. This increase of carbon dioxide is the main reason behind the increase in the global temperatures.

Let us have a peek at some of the causes of Global warming. The chief among them is the industrial revolution our world has witnessed in the past 200 years. The shift from agriculture to business as the biggest source of GDP to the world has made the industrial development much faster. The other causes are the automobile emissions which emit green house gases like Carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and a small fraction of Nitrous oxide. The net effect of these green house gases is popularly known as Green house effect, which is a procedure in which absorption and emission of infrared radiation by the green house gases warms the earth’s surface. There are other factors attributed to this warming which are mostly indirect, among them are Deforestation, burning of fossil fuels, and variations in the solar energy.

To combat this phenomenon, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) formed the IPCC, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 1988. The IPCC has submitted comprehensive assessments in the years 1990, 1996, 2001 and 2007(fourth assessment report, AR4). Experts from more than 130 countries take part in doing research for the AR4, which signifies six years of work. About 450 authors have received contribution s from more than 800 contributing authors, and another 2,500 experts evaluated the documents. AR4 is the broadest synthesis of climate change to date. The researchers can calculate how much of the present climatic change is attributable to human-induced warming.

The major impacts of this global warming are scarcity of water resources mainly for drought-affected areas, areas that use water from glaciers and snow packs. The land that is under the affect of drought will see a rise. Currently, more than one-sixth of the world’s population inhabitate near rivers that get their water from glaciers and snow cover; The IPCC expects many glaciers in the Latin America to vanish completely in the next 20 years. The melting of the Glaciers in the Himalayas would lead to flooding and rockslides. Reduction in the Food Production is expected in low-latitude areas (near the equator). There will be a lessening of land suitable for agriculture. Intensifying lake temperatures in Africa pooled with overfishing decrease fish supplies. Upto 30 percent of the animal and plant species may face extinction if the global temperatures increase more than 1.5 to 2.5 degree Celsius. Some species have already shifted their base to higher latitude regions like the poles. IPCC expects that there will be more of storms, floods, fires ad heat waves caused by global warming and these contribute to the increasing rate of diseases, injuries and deaths to millions of humans.

Over and all the effects of Global warming seems more than we even imagined. Though the causes are known, the usage of energy, which is the chief cause of global warming, seems directly proportional to the overall economic growth of the world. There are few measures that can be followed to slow down the affect of global warming. Among them are decreasing the usage of energy as much as possible. We also need to adapt ourselves to the increasing temperature. The affects till now were unavoidable and were not known to us. This is the moment for all of us to get together and minimize or delay the effects of global warming for a safe earth and a healthy world.