Global Warming

 

GLOBAL WARMING

The gradual increase in the planet's surface temperature is known as global warming. Although this warming trend has been around for a while, the combustion of fossil fuels has greatly accelerated its speed during the past century. The amount of fossil fuels burned has grown along with the size of the human population. Burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas results in the phenomenon known as the "greenhouse effect" in the atmosphere of Earth.

The greenhouse effect is a phenomenon that occurs when heat from the sun's rays enters the atmosphere but cannot leave when it is reflected off a surface and back into space. The heat cannot escape from the atmosphere because of the gases created during the combustion of fossil fuels. These greenhouse gases include nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, water vapor, chlorofluorocarbons, and methane. World warming, sometimes referred to as atmospheric overheating, is the gradual increase in the average world temperature.

Climate change is a problem brought on by global warming. Although these expressions are occasionally used interchangeably, they are not the same. Changes in global weather patterns and growing seasons are referred to as climate change. It also refers to the increase in sea level brought on by melting ice sheets and glaciers and the expansion of warmer oceans. Climate change brought on by global warming poses a severe danger to life on Earth in the form of catastrophic weather events and extensive flooding. Scientists are still researching global warming and how it affects the planet.

Why does the world get warmer?

   When carbon dioxide (CO2) and other air pollutants build up in the atmosphere, they absorb sunlight and solar rays that have already reflected off the surface of the planet. Normally, this radiation would escape into space, but because these pollutants may linger in the atmosphere for many years or even decades, they trap the heat and make the planet hotter. The greenhouse effect is the result of these heat-trapping pollutants, notably carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapor, and synthetic fluorinated gases, which are referred to as greenhouse gases.

Although the earth's climate has changed several times over the past 800,000 years due to natural cycles and fluctuations, our current era of global warming is solely attributable to human activity, specifically the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, petrol and natural gas, which creates the greenhouse effect. Transportation accounts for 29% of greenhouse gas emissions in the US, closely followed by power generation (28%), and industrial activities (22%). Learn about the causes of climate change, both natural and human-made.

To stop hazardous climate change, emissions must be drastically reduced, and fossil fuel alternatives must be used globally. The good news is that nations all around the world have publicly committed to reducing their emissions by setting new criteria and creating new policies to achieve or even surpass those targets as part of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. The bad news is that we're not moving along quickly enough. According to experts, we need to decrease global carbon emissions by as much as 40% by 2030 if we want to escape the worst effects of climate change.

To make that happen, the world community needs to act swiftly and decisively. We need to electrify our cars and trucks, decarbonize electricity generation by equitably shifting from fossil fuel-based production to renewable energy sources like wind and solar, and increase the energy efficiency of our buildings, appliances, and industries.

 

How are extreme weather events related to global warming?

 Scientists concur that longer and hotter heat waves, more frequent droughts, heavier rains, and stronger hurricanes are all being fueled by the earth's warming climate.

 

For instance, scientists determined in 2015 that global warming has increased the severity of a protracted drought in California—the state's greatest water scarcity in 1,200 years—by 15 to 20%. They added that during the previous century, the likelihood of future droughts of a comparable magnitude had almost doubled. We can now clearly link some severe weather occurrences, such as heat waves, droughts, and heavy rains, to climate change, according to a 2016 National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine report.

Additionally, the oceans' temperatures are rising, which allows tropical storms to intensify. In other words, global warming has the power to upgrade a category 3 hurricane to a category 4 storm, which is more hazardous. In reality, researchers have discovered that both the number of storms that reach classifications 4 and 5 as well as the frequency of North Atlantic hurricanes have grown since the early 1980s. A record-breaking 30 tropical storms, 6 major hurricanes, and 13 hurricanes were all recorded during the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. Increased intensity causes more harm and mortality.

However, 2017 was the costliest on record and one of the deadliest years as well, with an unprecedented 22 weather and climate catastrophes that cost the US at least $1 billion in damage in 2020: Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria were among the tropical storms that year that collectively cost about $300 billion in damage and resulted in over 3,300 fatalities.

Everywhere, the effects of global warming are being felt. In recent years, extreme heat waves have been responsible for tens of thousands of fatalities worldwide. Additionally, Antarctica has lost approximately four trillion metric tones of ice since the 1990s, which is a worrying portent of future occurrences. According to some scientists, if we continue to burn fossil fuels at our current rate, the rate of loss might increase, raising sea levels several meters within the next 50 to 150 years and wreaking havoc on coastal cities throughout the world.