Climate Change

The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and baffling expedients of delay are
coming to a close. In its place, we are entering a period of consequences.” Winston Churchill

The overwhelming majority of scientists agree that our globe is undergoing major climate
change. They also agree that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rising significantly.
With global warming on the increase and species and their habitats on the decrease, chances for
ecosystems to adapt naturally are diminishing.Recent years show increasing temperatures in
various regions, and increasing extremities in weather patterns.

Research has shown that air pollutants from fossil fuel use make clouds reflect more of the sun’s
rays back into space. This leads to an effect known as global dimming whereby less heat and
energy reaches the earth. It is believed that global dimming caused the droughts in Ethiopia in
the 1970s and 80s where millions died, because the northern hemisphere oceans were not warm
enough to allow rain formation. Global dimming is also hiding the true power of global
warming. By cleaning up global dimming-causing pollutants without tackling greenhouse gas
emissions, rapid warming has been observed, and various human health and ecological disasters
have resulted, as witnessed during the European heat wave in 2003, which saw thousands of
people die.

It can be seen through satellite images and research that the ice caps are melting faster, our sea
levels are rising, and weather patterns are changing. We are experiencing more water shortages
and we will see hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones increasing in ferocity and frequency. The
deserts will expand and the world will ultimately have difficulty growing enough food.

One of the World Resources Institute, Forest Frontier Regions, found that eighty percent of the
forests that originally covered the earth have been cleared, fragmented, or otherwise degraded.
And, over the past 150 years, deforestation has contributed an estimated 30 percent of the
atmospheric build-up of CO2. It is also a significant driving force behind the loss of genes,
species, and critical ecosystem services. However, in the international policy arena, biodiversity
loss and climate change have often moved in wholly unconnected domains.

Forests are vital parts of many ecosystems. Ensuring a healthy ecosystem that includes forests
also means sustainable preservation of other species that dwell in forests. As part of a living
system, forests rely on these various species, and the various species rely on forests.

A mechanism suggested for tackling climate change and warming has been the idea of using
"Carbon Sinks" to soak up carbon dioxide.

It seems there has been a recent interest in associating climate change with “over population”
and that countries such as China and India have to do more to help contain global warming.

Yet rich countries have a lot to do themselves. There were agreed reasons why developing
countries were exempt from initial greenhouse gas emission targets: it was the emissions from
rich countries that accumulated in the atmosphere for so long to trigger climate change.

Burning coal, oil and natural gas releases carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere. On average,
this may warm the earth and change the climate in other ways. For example, it might change the
severity and duration of storms or droughts. Other human activities, such as cutting down forests,
and growing rice, and raising cattle, may have the same effect, but are less important.

If the climate changes heating, cooling, water use, and sea level will be affected. In wealthy
countries, the average cost would probably be small, although some people and regions might
have high costs and others might receive large benefits. In some poor countries, the cost could be
very high. A large or fast change in climate will have a big effect on plants and animals in the
natural environment. Very rapid climate change is unlikely, but could be disastrous, even for
wealthy countries.
We could reduce the rate at which we add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by burning less coal,
oil and natural gas. If climate changes, we could adapt by changing agriculture and other human
activities. Many plants and animals in the natural environment might be unable to adapt.If
warming is large and costly, some people might want to make changes to the atmosphere or
oceans in order to cool the earth. This is very controversial.

A mechanism suggested for tackling climate change and warming has been the idea of using
"Carbon Sinks" to soak up carbon dioxide. To aid in this, reforestation, or planting of new
forests, have been suggested. This is a popular strategy for the logging industry and nations with
large forests interests, such as Canada, the United States, various Latin American nations, and
some Asian countries such as Indonesia.Creating new forest areas would require the creation of
entire ecosystems.

Climate change, having an impact on biodiversity is projected to become a progressively more

significant threat in the coming decades loss of artic sea ice threatrns biofiversity across an entire
biome and beyond . The related pressure of ocean acidfication, resulting from higher
concantrations of carbon dioxide in the atomsphere, is also already being observed.

Ecoysstems are already showing negative impacts under current levels of climate change which
is modest compared to future projected changes. In addition to warming temperatures, more
frequent extreme weather events and changing patterns od rainfall and drought can be expected
to have significant impacts on biodiversity.

The artic, antartis and high latitudes have had the highest rates of warming and this trend is
projected to continue. In the artic, it is not just a reduction in the extend of sae ice, but its
thickness and age. Less ice means less surface meaning more rapid melting. The ice in the artic
does thaw and refreeze each year, but it is that pattern which has changed a lot in recent years as
shown by this graph.

It is also imporrant to note that loss of sea has implications on biodiversity beyond the Artic, as
the Global Biodiversity Outlook report also summarizes.

 Bright white ice reflects sunlight.

  When it is replaced by darker water, the ocean and the heat much faster, a feedback that
accelerates ice melt and heating of surface ari inland, with resultant loss of tundra.
 Less sea ice leads to changes in seawater temperature and salinity, leading to changes in
primary productivity and species composition of plankton and fish, as well as large- scale
changes in coean circulation, affecting biodiversity well beyond the artic.

As climate change warms the oceans, the warmer water tends to stay on top of what is then a
layer of colder water. This affects tiny drifting marine organisms known as phytoplankton.
Though small, ‘Phytoplankton are a critical part of our plantery life support system. They
produce half of the oxygen we breathe, draw down surface CO2, and ultimately support all of
our fishesies’ says Boris Worm of canada’s Dalhousie University and one of the world’s leading
experts on the global oceans

Around the world, coral reefs have been dying largely due to climate change. Coral reefs provide
many ecosystem services to humans as well for free.

To sum up the rate at which we Humans are burning fuels all the ice caps may melt down to
earth as a cause the sea level is rising day by day & there is a drastic climate change in the world
and for us in chennai for the first time its like we are in some hilly region ahd we seem to enjoy
this climate without feeling the pinch which is yet to come in the summer and its going to be too
too worse are the expectations. Its high time we react to it and do the needful to save our ‘Mother
Earth’.