An Analysis of the Effects of Global Warming on Climatic Changes

Introduction

The new trend seems to be taking effect as the world continues to warm from the North Pole to the South Pole. The global mean surface temperature has increased since 1906 by at least 0.9 degrees Celsius even in regions with more sensitive polar (Parmesan, Camille, and Gary. 37). For Global warming to occur, there must be an observed rise in the average temperature of the climate system of the Earth depending on the emissions scenario. As global warming continues to rise, it is already having significant and costly effects on the communities, health of people, and the climate. The future climate change and impacts are expected to differ from a region to another with having far-reaching, long-lasting, and devastating consequences for the planet Earth. Therefore, following global warming, there have been subsequent climate changes reflecting the complex shifts in the weather and climate systems of the Earth. Climate change does not only encompass rising average temperatures but indicates the weather events, wildlife populations and habitat shift, and seas rise. Thus, as global warming increases due to human activities, further changes are expected to be experienced on the planet Earth.

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Photo: An iceberg melts in the waters off Antarctica.

Unless actions are taken to curb global warming, its effects continue to increase, grow more costly and damaging, and will soon affect the entire planet Earth. Some of the documented effects of global warming on climate changes by scientists are available for evaluation. The melting of ice is happening worldwide especially at the poles of the Earth including Arctic sea ice, ice sheets which cover Greenland and West Antarctica, and mountain glaciers. For instance, in 1910, the number of glaciers in Montana's Glacier National Park was 150 which have declined since then to fewer than 30 glaciers (Parmesan, Camille, and Gary. 37). Other effects include the global sea-level rise by 0.13 inches per year and rising at a faster rate especially in recent years as has been caused by the much melting ice. Wildlife and their habitats are among the affected elements due to the rising temperatures. The effects on the wildlife have been due to the vanishing ice challenging the species resulting in the collapsing of the populations by more than ninety percent on the western peninsula. Many species such as alpine plants, foxes, and butterflies continue to be on the move in farther north or cooler areas because of the temperature changes.

On the other hand, there are species such as ticks, crop pests, jellyfish, and mosquitos which continue to thrive as well as back beetles population booming because they feed on pine trees and spruce. Subsequently, rain and snowfall continue to increase across the globe on average with some regions experiencing severe drought, lost crops, wildfires increasing risks, and shortages of drinking water. There is the expectation that the sea levels will rise between 10 and 32 inches or even higher as the century approaches its end (Lobell, David, and Christopher, 13). Global warming has increased the incidences of the occurrence of hurricanes and other storms which are likely to become even stronger. A significant part of the United States and other areas face a higher risk of decades-long megadroughts in 100 years to come as more floods and droughts are anticipated (Lobell, David, and Christopher, 13). Since more than three-quarters of the worlds' freshwater is stored in glaciers, less of it is available and the problem is likely to persist. The continued acidification of the seas has caused reduced freshwater due to global warming effects on climate changes.

Global warming is a serious issue affecting the environment and is caused naturally or by human influences. Some of the natural causes include the sun's rotation which changes the sunlight intensity all it to move closer to the earth. Other natural causes are volcanic eruption and greenhouse gases. When examining the causes of global warming, the discussion rotates around the temperature of the earth as a balancing act which depends on the energy entering and leaving the earth's system. The earth warms the moment the earth system absorbs the incoming energy from the sun, and the warming stops the time the energy of the sun is reflected into space. At the time the absorbed energy is released back into space, the earth cools (Hughes, Terry et al, 931). Thus, changes in the energy of the sun reaching the earth, the reflectivity of the atmosphere and surface of the earth changes as well as the greenhouse effect changes which affects the heat amount retained by the atmosphere of the other are among the common causes. In many times that global warming occurs, these are some of the significant factors that have been attributed to the climate change of the earth. Whenever the greenhouse effect occurs, it causes the atmosphere to retain heat which leads to global warming. Greenhouse effect on global warming is explained by the extent at which the sunlight reaches the Earth surface and is reflected into space or absorbed by the Earth. The Earth then releases energy into the atmosphere as heat after absorbing the sunlight. Energy is then absorbed by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapour, and methane which slows or prevents the heat loss into space. This makes the greenhouse gases to act like blanket warming the earth in what is called the greenhouse effect.

However, considering the recent climate changes, natural causes do not explain enough the observed warming since human activities have been the dominant causes of global warming. The human activities that lead to global warming include the industrial revolution, mining, and deforestation among others. From the credible scientific sources around the world, it is evidence that the burning of fossil fuels and its effects increases carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere which causes global warming. The increased industrial revolution has led to many manufacturing companies emerging that have increased the release of dangerous gases such as methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which causes global warming. Mining and deforestation have identified as the major human activities that cause global warming (Lobell, David, and Christopher, 15). Human contribution to global warming through simple chemistry that involves the burning of carbon-based materials releases dangerous gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Recent years have seen the increase in the carbon-based materials burn. This has been indicated by the measurements that began in the 1950s which show that the Carbon dioxide level has been increasing.

There are various ways humans can help decrease the issue of global warming to a large extent by controlling the perceived causes. Some of these solutions include the reduction of gasoline where people have to choose hybrid cars that reduce the use of gasoline. This to a large extent will help reduce the problem of release of dangerous gases into the atmosphere that has become rampant due to increases in the price of petrol. This means that one will have to fuel petrol more than three times a day increasing carbon dioxide released into the air. Another way to reduce global warming is to recycle objects or by-products that are considered harmful to the environment. By reducing paper or glass, bottles, and plastic bags, garbage will be reduced. Reusing may involve buying food and use the carried containers for packaging rather than using plastic bags or using the plastic bottles used to buy water for home use instead of throwing them (Parmesan, Camille, and Gary. 37). There is also need to stop open burning of garbage or dry leaves since this releases harmful gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which may block the ozone layer leading to the heating of the Earth hence causing global warming. Finally, it can be said that government agencies should put in place policies that curb deforestation due to the increasing earth temperature which is regulated by the trees. People can also adopt collective responsibility of ensuring that deforestation does not occur.

Conclusion

Therefore, conclusively, it is evident that global warming is on the rise from North Pole to the South Pole following the increased human increases that seem to cause the changes in climate. The increased global warming has seen the average temperature of the earth increases significant since 1900's to date. This has resulted into many effects to the climate change of the Earth such as the sea level rise, melting of the ice, species and wildlife being affected, increases in drought and floods, and well as the high chances of occurring if hurricanes and other disastrous elements. Various factors both natural and artificial have been identified as being behind the occurrence of global warming. These include; sun's rotation, volcanic eruption, greenhouse gases, industrial revolution, and deforestation. Some solutions to global warming include recycling, reducing gasoline, and reduced deforestation.

Works Cited

Hughes, Terry P., et al. "Climate change, human impacts, and the resilience of coral reefs." science 301.5635 (2003): 929-933.

Lobell, David B., and Christopher B. Field. "Global scale climate-crop yield relationships and the impacts of recent warming." Environmental research letters 2.1 (2007): 014002.

Parmesan, Camille, and Gary Yohe. "A globally coherent fingerprint of climate change impacts across natural systems." Nature 421.6918 (2003): 37.