Climate change!! Even as conservationists and earth activists cry themselves hoarse over the issue, the phenomenon just keeps rising. It’s very real and it’s always taken for granted just because we chose not to give up a lifestyle detrimental to our own existence. Take a look at these 7 shocking facts about climate change.
Although there has been a fluctuation in Earth’s temperature, the decrease is always made up by a rise two or three notches higher. Yes!! It means temperatures are increasing. World temperatures in 2016 broke the record high of 2015 which broke records of the year before that. Will 2017 reverse the trend?? It’s not likely. Earth’s average temperature of 2016 analyzed from data taken from a vast array of sources was 1.69 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 20th century. Satellites are also indicating a rise in global warming.
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From 1960 till now, we humans have doubled the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Our carbon footprint is getting heavier and it’s weighing down our poor planet!! The only natural contributor to increased temperatures last year was El Nino which released hot air from the pacific but that’s it!! The rest was man made. While the sun’s solar cycles occur every 11 years and volcanic eruptions cool the planet, manmade greenhouse gases are steadily increasing that thick blanket of CO2 enveloping the earth and trapping the heat on Earth’s surface.
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9 out of 10 climate scientists agree that man made carbon emissions are the main cause of global warming. When Swedish physicist Svante Arrhenius predicted in 1896 that carbon dioxide from burning coal would warm the planet, he felt it was a good thing. Well?? It didn’t turn out as he expected now did it? Man has known about greenhouse gases from the 1800, yet we sit back and burn and burn just to make our comfy lifestyles cozier. Global warming is dangerous.
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Glaciers worldwide are reducing in size, one of the most dreaded facts of climate change. Arctic sea ice is shrinking and by 2100, sea levels will rise by 3 feet or more. But who cares!! Last September Arctic ice was found to be 825, 000 sq miles smaller than the long term average. Both, Alaska and California would fit in a size that big, that’s how much is shrinking. Sunlight is steadily being absorbed by the ocean instead of ice cover reflecting it into space. Yes!! That’s what the arctic ice does for you, it throws back the heat.
It’s not sea ice that causes a rise in sea levels, its melting land ice mainly due to the reduction of mountain glaciers. Since 1900, sea levels have risen 9 inches causing coastal flooding. Remember Superstorm Sandy??? Flooding and wind caused $ 68 billion in damage on the US east coast. The entire ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland hold enough ice to raise sea levels by 200 feet.
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Since 1980, climate related disasters have tripled. Climate change doesn’t cause a drought or a storm but it kills through heat waves and that is more intense. 70,000 people died in Europe alone in the unprecedented heat wave of 2003. What should ideally be a 1 in 500 year event has turned to 1 in 40. Research shows that if climate change is allowed to continue, it will be in this century alone that people along the Persian Gulf won’t be able to move outside because of intense heat.
Global warming is causing drought as moisture is removed from land and oceans. Areas lacking in rain suffer the most and in some areas, the rain is so intense it causes flooding such as the flooding in Paris and Houston in 2003. Heating up of the ocean is packing more muscle into storms and hurricanes making them fiercer even if they are not frequent.
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Animals and plant species are disappearing from natural ranges and habitats. The Bramble Cay melomys, a ratlike rodent has disappeared from its natural habitat, a low lying island in Australia’s Torres Strait. That is the first scientific documentation of extinction today.
Global warming is making species migrate towards the poles. Species of penguins and birds are reducing, thousands of walruses are being forced onto land in Alaska all because of depletion of ice. Alpine ecosystems are vanishing off mountain tops and coral reefs are dying around the world. While some species like humpback whales are adapting and thriving, it won’t be for long.
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In every scenario depicted in the last six problematic facts about climate change, the solution lies in your hands. It lies in our hands as a collective species whose beautiful world is being threatened. If climate change wasn’t important, 195 countries would never have signed the Paris Agreement committing themselves to keep global temperatures below 2 degrees centigrade. (3.6 degrees F).
Even as the USA is now threatening to withdraw from it, the Paris Agreement is our only hope. Solar energy is reducing in cost and is the best way of obtaining energy without taxing our planet. In the US alone, solar energy is responsible for more employment than gas, oil and coal combined. Renewables can easily be made new sources of energy and electricity. Studies have shown the average American is melting 525 sq feet of Arctic ice annually. If the world does not convert to carbon free sources of energy, who knows, man won’t be around to even discuss climate change. Protect your world by reducing your carbon footprint now!!!
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