Global warming is already happening and causing significant effects on the global environment and also on us. There is an urgent need for reducing the environmental degradation and carbon emission to avoid even more dangerous impact that could affect the entire planet.
What is climate change and why is it happening?
Climate change is a global challenge caused by global warming. Therefore it has no borders, so it requires global efforts. Many people do not actually know what global warming and climate change are because of all the myths from all kinds of sources.
Climate change vs. Global warming
Global warming causes climate change. As the temperature of the planet rises, it is natural that there is environmental change going on. These changes have happened before but were much slower than what we are experiencing today.
Global warming is the main cause of climate change, which has many negative consequences on the biological, physical and human systems as well as other effects.
What’s the cause of global warming?
Global warming is caused by the greenhouse effects, natural processes in which the atmosphere (and the protective ozone layer) retains the Sun’s heat, allowing the necessary conditions for sustaining life on Earth.
Without this effect the temperature of the planet would be very low (about -18 C). The greenhouse effect itself is not a problem, but rather the human activities which maximize its impact causing the temperature of the planet to rise.
What are the consequences?
The increase of the global temperature brings disastrous consequences among them. Endangering the survival of plants, animals and humans on Earth. The worst effect of it is the melting of the ice caps at the poles. This causes the rising sea levels, which in turn produces flooding and threatens coastal environments.
Small islands are at risk of disappearing. We are also witnessing more extreme weather phenomena. Fires, drought, the extinction of plant and animal species, climate refugees, destruction of food chains and economic resources, intense hurricanes and wildfires and so much more.
What can we do about global warming?
According to scientists we can mitigate the human contribution to global warming. By reducing the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. However, even if we reduce the CO2 emissions significantly, some additional global warming is inevitable. So, the best way is to make plans to adapt to coming climate change. If we are neither able to control the emissions or adapt to the unavoidable changes quickly, a carefully selected geoengineering strategy could provide an emergency solution to slow it down. Still, the strategies that are being discussed recently are unproven and quite risky.
Both climate change and global warming are a fact already. So being informed about the consequences and making the right decisions is the first step to adapting and learning to cope with the challenges they bring.
