|
|
Over the past years, climate change has gone from a little mentioned subject to an actual and essential issue everywhere in the world. The reason for this is that the expected consequences will affect every single living being on the planet. Even if the eventual impact is only a fraction what was predicted, it will still unalterably and adversely affect the biodiversity of the Earth.
Humans are the main cause of global warming of the Earth, which is currently one of the biggest concerns of researchers. Almost all the observed rise in temperature over the last decades has been due to the increase of greenhouse gas concentrations within the atmosphere. The burning of fossils fuels is the largest contributor to greenhouse effect gasses and, as long as industrialized nations consume energy and develop their countries on fossil fuel consumption, these gases’ concentration in the atmosphere will continue to expand, and the effect will become that much greater on global temperature.
Global warming is a phenomenon that will lead to tremendous consequences which are expected to be very threatening for the biodiversity of the whole planet within a few decades, unless dramatic changes are established. Researchers currently predict a rise of about 3 to 10°C by the end of the century; but these are numbers that are largely subject to change because of the recent efforts taken by Third World countries to become industrialized. This progressive increase in temperature will inevitably lead to disastrous consequences, such as the melting of the ice caps and the shrinking of the Arctic sea ice.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the extent of the Arctic sea ice has declined by about 10% in the last 30 years. This decrease has led to a dangerous rise of the sea levels that is expected to be of an extent of at least of 25 meters (82 feet) by the year 2100. Furthermore, in September 2007 the Arctic ice level was 50% below the 1950 recorded levels, and the NASA climate scientist Jay Zwally predicts that by the end of the summer 2012 nearly all of the ice could be gone from the Arctic Ocean.
The warming of the Earth’s oceans, as well as the fluctuation of the water currents caused by the melting of the ice caps will affect the global evaporation and condensation cycles, which will lead to a change in the weather pattern, thus causing more frequent and stronger hurricanes. Global warming will also lead to severe droughts being more frequent in hotter areas of the world. And lastly, certain species, such as polar bears, will likely be unable to adapt to these environmental changes, and will thus face extinction.
Climate changes are a global issue that is constantly becoming more critical, generally because of the lack of will of the industrialized and developing nations. However, people are gradually becoming more aware of this problematic situation, and thus, hopefully, more significant steps will soon be undertaken in the right direction. If there is good will to actually make a difference, there is a large variety of possible alternatives, each having its own advantages and disadvantages.
No matter where one may live on our planet, there is always great potential for at least one of the renewable sources of electricity. We have the technology and the knowledge; the only thing that we are truly missing is the volition.
|
1
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
François Leblanc-Roy
This user has not written anything in his panorama profile yet.
|
Comments
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
