What is climate change and its impacts ? Does this question ever arise in your mind ? Or, even if it does, you simply ignore. So, here is a take on the climate change as a whole phenomenon and some of its impacts that might lead you not to ignore it.
What is Climate Change ?
If put in simple words, climate change is a change in the pattern of weather, and related changes in land surfaces, oceans and ice sheets taking place over a considerably long period of time.
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing its temperature, wind, rainfall, humidity,etc.
The average weather conditions prevailing in an area over a long period, usually 30 years, is
termed as climate.
Climate change is the change in the traits of the climate system that pertains for a few decades or even longer.
What are the factors influencing Climate Change ?
In the atmosphere, gases such as carbon dioxide, ozone, water vapour and methane trap heat and warm the planet. These gases are known as greenhouse gases and the phenomenon is known as greenhouse effect. This effect keeps the Earth habitable otherwise the Earth would have been 33°C cooler. However, there is continuous increase in the natural levels of these gases due to the emissions from human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, farming activities and land use changes. As a result, the surface of the Earth and lower atmosphere are becoming warmer and this is causing many other changes.
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| Industrial Emissions |
Apart from human activities, natural processes such as changes in radiation from the Sun,
volcanoes, change in ocean currents or internal variability in the climate also lead to climate change.
What are the consequences of Climate Change ?
It is not scientifically possible to link individual weather events to the climate change, however, it can be statistically proven that the global warming will increase the probability of extreme weather conditions.
The direct consequences of climate change include:
- rising maximum temperatures
- rising minimum temperatures
- rising sea levels
- higher ocean temperatures
- increase in heavy precipitation
- shrinking glaciers
- thawing permafrost
The indirect consequences of climate change, that will directly affect us and our environment, are:
- increase in hunger and water crisis, especially in developing countries
- health risks due to rising temperature and heatwaves
- loss of biodiversity due to limited adaptability and adaptability speed of flora and fauna
- acidification of oceans due to increase in bicarbonate concentrations in the water as a result
of increased carbon dioxide concentrations.
- economic implications of dealing with secondary damage related to climate change.
Increase in levels of greenhouse gases is already changing the climate. According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group I (WGI) Fourth Assessment Report, the average global temperature increased about 0.76°C and global mean sea level rose by 12-22 cm during the last century. These changes are affecting the whole world.
What can we do to reduce the probable consequences of Climate Change ?
Although we have already done an unrepairable damage to the climate, but there are certainly a few strategies to reduce the probable effects. One of the most common strategy is to limit the emission of greenhouse gases. The other strategies include:
- Improving the energy efficiency of buildings to reduce emissions from heating/cooling.
- Planting forests and trees to remove excess carbon dioxide from our atmosphere.
- Reducing fuel emissions associated with motor vehicles.
- Integrating transportation and land use.
According to the Special Report (SR15) published by IPCC in 2018, limiting global warming to 1.5°C, compared with the earlier findings of 2°C, is possible if emissions are deeply reduced.
Since climate change is inevitable, we have to learn to cope up with the changes to keep ourselves away from possible health issues and other effects.
Clearly, the predictions of Climate Change are not encouraging. So, we have to work collectively to prevent it or rather reduce its effects. Today, on the World Environment Day, let us all pledge to start working for the cause to ensure a better future for ourselves.
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