What are the potential effects of global warming in terms of the climate change and how can they be arrested?
Global warming is a worldwide concern. Global warming is the increase in the Earth’s temperature due to emission of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere and warm up the Earth. However, the burning of gasoline and fossil fuels increases the concentration of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. As a result, the Earth becomes warmer. According to Holli Riebeek (2007), the average Earth’s surface temperature has increased from 0.6 to 0.9 degree Celsius in the past century and it is believed that the temperature will keep on increasing in the next century. Global warming causes some potential impacts in terms of the climate change to us, so prompt actions should be taken to solve this problem to prevent it from getting worse.
Global warming has influenced the weather conditions on Earth. It leads to more hot days and fewer cool days. Report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change showed that there are increase in both heat waves and intense rain events during the past 50 years (Riebeek 2007). Global warming causes bigger and more destructive storms to some area and it also leads to more widespread drought to some countries for example Niger and Darfur. The erratic weather patterns could lead to hurricanes, tornados or typhoons bringing catastrophe and loss of lives.
Another significant impact of global warming is the rise of the sea levels. This is caused by the rising of the temperature. As the temperature increases, the oceans become warmer, causing the ice caps and glaciers melt more quickly (Woodford 2006). Consequently, the sea levels increase. This will cause serious problems to the population lives in the coastal area. In the film An Inconvenient Truth (2007), the main character Al Gore comments that if the sea levels increase tremendously, it will cause some low-land area for instance Beijing, San Francisco bay, New York City and Netherlands to be inundated.
In addition, global warming also affects the ecosystems of our planet. As the temperature increases, plants and animals have to adapt themselves to the new weather conditions. If they are unable to do so, they will face extinction. There is a prediction shows that thirty to forty percents of the species in the world will be at risk of extinction due to global warming (Woodford, 2006). Besides that, in the film An Inconvenient Truth (2007), Al Gore states that global warming also causes the problem of infectious diseases, development of new diseases like SARS, Arena virus and Lyme Diseases, and reemergence of some old diseases such as Avian flu and West Nile Virus.
Immediate actions should be taken to solve the global warming issue as it brings detrimental effects to our Earth. One of the solutions is to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions. Chris Woodford (2006) suggests that we can use less energy technology, switch to renewable energy, use energy-saving fluorescent and reduce the usage of car. Governments also have the responsibility to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions. They should restrict the uses of the harmful chemicals to reduce global warming. In the film An Inconvenient Truth (2007), Al Gore says that we are able to solve the global warming problems and although each of us is the causes of the global warming, each of us also has the choice to change it. We just need to have the determination to solve the problems.
As a conclusion, global warming brings many negative effects like erratic and more extreme weather, rising of sea levels and impacts on ecosystems. Cooperation of every nation in the world is required to solve the problem. Everyone bears this responsibility as the Earth is our only home. We have to try our best to overcome this global environmental challenge.
