Global Warming
Global Warming is a fact; it endangers life and urgent remedial actions are required. Such actions have not been put into practice apart from isolated cases. Actions are hampered politically. Most people admit that climate change is real but reject personal peril. A vociferous minority section of cynics question the obvious, well recognized and indubitable scientific facts. The question is why Global Warming is so difficult to acknowledge and to act on? According to newspaper articles global warming is taking place faster than previously calculated by meteorologists, which means its effect in the shape of rising sea levels with consequential damage to the earth’s lowlying regions is far more on the horizon than envisaged earlier. Although the official prediction is that sea level will go up by 35 inches before the year 2100, it is obvious from recent reports that the ice caps, ice shelves and glaciers are thawing more speedily than previously projected. So what was predicted for 2100 may happen in the next 1520 years. The Greenhouse Effect We like to live a cozy life. We go allout to achieve it. This attitude will lead to earth’s destruction unless we change this attitude because this cozy lifestyle results in carbon based energy and carbon producing processes such as deforestation, resulting in the emission of harmful gases called the Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). These gases wind up in the atmosphere causing Global Warming. Millions of people die each year due to pollution caused by Global Warming. These expensive and dangerous preferences may be taken away from us before long, which is good news for the fight against Global Warming. The Milankovitch Cycles There are factors other than the earth’s atmosphere which can bring about Global climate change. A Serbian mathematician, Milutin Milankovitch, explained three types of changes, or phases, in the earth’s rotation. The first is an axial vibration that happens once in 19,000to23,000years. The second is a change in the incline of the earth’s axis which takes place over a 3degree scale once in 41,000years. The third is the deviation in the earth’s orbit as it moves, from a circular path to an elliptical one. This cycle takes place once in 100,000 years. All of these episodes affect the amount of solar radiation getting through to the earth, triggering events as earthshattering as the ice ages! The Oceans Oceans have a significant effect on climate. Oceans absorb heat from the atmosphere and transport energy from one place to another by way of their currents.[1] The most familiar associations involving oceans and climate are El Nino and El Nina, involving the
temperature changes on ocean surface in the mid latitudes of the western Pacific Ocean during two, seven year cycles. The Consequences of Global Climate Change There are numerous harmful outcomes of global warming. Glaciers are disappearing, resulting in large quantities of fresh water ice melting and flowing into the oceans, triggering considerable rise in sea level. Warmer temperatures of ocean water that cause water to expand are also contributing to the rise in sea level. Lowlying islands like the Maldives, Tonga, Fiji, French Polynesia and the Galapagos Islands have already been affected. Water scarcity will reach emergency levels the world over. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), about five billion people will face scarcity of potable water by 2025. The rising of temperatures will cause Mediterranean climates to change to Subtropical and Tropical climates, with associated diseases and infections. The Debate International scientists concur on the occurrence of global climate change. Where they differ is the rate at which these changes are happening today, and the precautionary action people should take. Policy makers and economists disagree on what should be the right reaction to these changes. For instance, who should take liability for greenhouse emissions? Another doubt entails costbenefit analysis: will it be cheaper to resolve the problem before it happens or to repair the damage afterwards? “Yale University economist William Nordhaus estimates that implementing the Kyoto Protocol on climate change would cost the US $2.5 trillion over the next ten years…”[2]and will do little to halt the advance of global warming. The question that remains is should changes to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases be done on a voluntary basis or should it be obligatory under international law?
Notes 1. Brennan and Withgott, Environment: The Science Behind the Stories, p. 362. 2. Bob Williams, “The Benefits of Global Climate Change.”