Global Warming and Its Long-Lasting Effects

The Global Climate is changing drastically every single year. It is estimated to heat up to 4.1°C to 4.8°C by 2100 as compared to 1.16°C, in the current year, if no adequate measures are taken against global warming. It is a well-known fact that this rise in global temperature is occurring due to the increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, and we as humans, are contributing to that devastation excessively, by burning fossil fuels for the purpose of heating, electricity and transportation.

What are The Effects of a Long-Term Global Warming?

The scenario may be another one, if the CoViD pandemic would have been tackled differently on a global scale. However quite a lot of countries that came in to fight the pandemic did not care to invest their money in an environmentally friendly and forward looking way. Instead the USA under Trump are bailing out fossil fuel companies with huge amounts of money. Europe has promised to do better, Ursula von der Leyen announcing a Green New Deal for the European Union. However some institutions like the ECB are still in quest to green their bond buying activity while Von der Leyen has not turned the driving direction in the Union´s destructive trade policy, though the European population strongly  oppose trade deals like Mercosur and some countries are refusing to agree on the deal.

With every degree of rise in the global temperature, we can expect a third of life on earth to go extinct. Our fresh water sources will deplete, our food cultivating lands will turn barren, our ocean reefs would be killed, impacting heavily on our marine life and our melting ice sheets. That can result in 3 feet sea level rise, causing devastating effects for all the living species.

Lot of countries are facing problems as their natural ecosystems are diminishing and the biodiversity is getting a big hit. The Amazon rainforest, that used to brim with wildlife, is now turning into savannah and many animal and bird species are also getting extinct. The reduced ice caps and melting snow, have led to sea level rises, which in turn have led to frequent flooding, coastal erosions and crop loss. Asia is at a risk of facing heavy droughts or floods, as the availability of freshwater is expected to decrease tremendously by 2050. North America on the other hand is experiencing increased heat waves due to the depletion of snow packed mountains and Africa is already facing a 50 percent decrease in agricultural production, which is affecting millions of people in some regions.

If not controlled, global warming can also affect human lives and can cause people to have serious respiratory and cardiovascular problems. People breathing in the harmful forest fire fumes and facing scarcity of food due to severe droughts can have asthma and other breathing problems, along with bronchitis and lung infections.

Another long-term effect of global warming are the vector-borne diseases, which are commonly seen in high humidity and high temperature areas as the Lyme disease. With increase in global warming many countries that used to have extreme winters and keep the mosquitos and ticks at bay, have started seeing mild winters, due to which the ticks are infecting people living in those areas.

With an increase in temperature, the demand for cooling and air conditioners are being on the rise. Besides this global warming will decrease the productivity of our nuclear plants and we will also be burning more fossil fuels, which adds to the long-term effects of global warming.

In order to save our planet and allow our future generations to enjoy life on earth, it is very important to control global warming and its effects. Smart travel, switching to renewable sources, using energy efficient appliances etc., will help start a sustainable living and should be followed by every individual. Read Continue elstel.org

Sea Level Rise

Rise in the sea level due to the changing climatic conditions is a concern many of the countries are facing in the current times. Small islands and coastal areas are at a threat of being gobbled up by the sea water soon. Tide gauges which were previously used to predict the level of sea water rise is now taken over by high quality satellite measurements and from these measurements it can be observed that, the ocean water which was increasing 2mm every year till the year 2000, is now increasing by 4mm. A total of 75mm rise in sea level was predicted from 1991 to 2019.

What Causes a Rise in The Sea Level?

Our planet has become warmer than in the past. One can see that there is a significant increase in the earth’s average temperature which has led to extreme climatic changes. This increase in temperature is nothing but Global warming and its impact is certainly felt on our oceans today.

Firstly, it melts down the ice sheets and glaciers which are needed to maintain the sea water balance. This happens by a process called greenhouse effect, wherein the loss of large masses of ice from the earths surface warms up the water, as sun’s energy gets trapped in the oceans and warms up the water. Secondly, this trapped heat causes thermal expansion of water which means the sea water volume expands and can also flood coastal cities. Thirdly global warming reduces the water from the land surface of earth. So, water from our lakes and reservoirs are getting dried up which in turn leads to drought. So global warming is a serious condition which is depleting out water resources day by day.

A recent UN climate report also states that, the decade from 2010 to 2019 had the warmest climate on record and this global warming makes it difficult to keep the average global temperature below 2°C.

What are The Problems Due to Sea Level Rise and Global Warming?

Even a one-degree rise of water and earth’s temperatures, is enough to cause major damage to our eco system and people’s lives. The fracturing of glacier in the Antartica region due to the warm climate, the loss of 329 gigatones of the Greenland ice sheet in the year 2019, the loss of marine life and coral reefs due to high acidification and deoxygenation in the oceans, bushfires caused in Australia, peak summers which affected countries like United Kingdom, Germany , France, Finland and even the Artics in the year 2019, and the altering ocean currents are some of the alarming real life situations, which were caused by a spike in sea and global temperatures in the recent times and requires some immediate attention.

Also, greenhouse gases are impacting our oceans in a big way. Oxygen is as important in water as its on land. But as the heat trapped in the atmosphere makes the sea temperature go warmer day by day, there is a loss of oxygen which makes it difficult for the marine life to survive and hunt for their living. Corals which act as a home for marine life breeding are also getting affected due to coral bleaching, which in turn is caused by ocean acidification.

Floods and droughts are also common drawbacks of the changing climate. While countries like the US, Iran, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar experienced some heavy floods with high economic and human losses, countries like Australia, South Africa, Central and South America had dry weather and lower rains than average. Thousands of people have died from hunger, dengue and natural disasters like cyclones and storms as a reason of global warming and the extreme climatic changes.

Our oceans have always helped sustain human and animal life for a long time. They have acted as a buffer to protect us from extreme climatic changes. But taking care of them in the current generation is our responsibility. So let us act together and save our oceans as they have been doing it for us. Read more continue

Sea Level Rise: An Impact That We Must Not Ignore

An increase in sea level has resulted in many things these days. As per the recent research that has been made with regards to the possible concerns on the Antarctic Ice sheet, it is quite clear that there has been a double sea-level rise and is expected to grow more by the year 2100. This is not a good sign as it increases the damaging situation and is one of the signs that climatic changes are taking in a bad way. However, there are very few people who have been takings such risk extremely lightly. But understand the fact that financial and otherwise too, the rise in sea level will spread a lot from the coats hampering many things.

Understanding What Exactly Is The Rise In Sea Level:

As the possible dangers of global warming are increases each day, the seas have contributed to rising too. This is one of the reasons why the sea level increase is one of the climatic change signs. The possible cause of this is humans burning fossil fuels which add more greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. These gases when it gets trapped increases the heat and creates a hot blanket or say layer which is why there is more increase in the heat level at the global target.

The more there is heat; the high is the melting point of the ice sheets and glaciers which balances the temperature on the earth. This means the extra meltdown will add the water in the ocean which eventually would contribute to the rise in the sea level too.

Bad Impact Of Sea Level Rise:

It has been stated that 8 out of 10 large cities are located near the coast level. As there will be an increase in the sea level, millions and billions of people who stay in this area will become the victim of flooding and even the changing storm surges that would love the island further. This is not going to happen down the line in 10 years but it has already started happening now. The latest reports show that if we don’t restrict the temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100 then there will be a great expectation in the sea level rise which of course will not be good for coastal communities

Some Interesting Facts That You Need To Know:

Considering the situation of global warming, the meltdown of ice is not affordable for us. Most of the ice which is located in Greenland and Antarctica with an area of around 40 percent more than that of the whole United States is covered in the sheets of the ice. This even though for now is stable but scientists reveal that massive part of the west sheet of Antarctica has contributed to 11 feet rise in the sea level.

Over time, there has been a great change in the sea level as in 100,000-year intervals there has been a lot of ice meltdown. The last ice age was quite a long time back when entire North America was covered in the ice and sea level then was 400 feet lower. 

Ocean level has increased up to 8 inches in the 20th century. It doesn’t look that the level will be stable but yes chances of it to get doubled up is more. It is believed that nearly 90% of the increased heat is from the change in the climatic season. But in the future, if melting ice is not controlled then the collapse of the ice sheet can result in a high level of the sea which eventually would destroy half rather more than half of a human race and hence factors affecting these things should be wisely controlled. Read more about it at elstel.org