Agriculture

While CO2 is essential for plant growth, all agriculture depends also on steady water supplies,
and climate change is likely to disrupt those supplies through floods and droughts

Health

Warmer winters would mean fewer deaths, particularly among vulnerable groups like the aged.
However, the same groups are also vulnerable to additional heat, and deaths attributable to heatwaves
are expected to be approximately five times as great as winter deaths prevented.

Polar Melting

 Melting of the Antarctic ice shelves is predicted to add further to sea-level rise with no benefits
accruing.

Ocean Acidification

A cause for considerable concern, there appear to be no benefits to the change in pH of the oceans. This
process is caused by additional CO2 being absorbed in the water, and may have severe destabilising
effects on the entire oceanic food-chain.

Melting Glaciers

The effects of glaciers melting are largely detrimental, the principle impact being that many millions of
people (one-sixth of the world’s population) depend on fresh water supplied each year by natural spring
melt and regrowth cycles and those water supplies – drinking water, agriculture – may fail.

Sea Level Rise

Many parts of the world are low-lying and will be severely affected by modest sea rises. Rice paddies are
being inundated with salt water, which destroys the crops. Seawater is contaminating rivers as it mixes
with fresh water further upstream, and aquifers are becoming polluted. 

Environmental

Positive effects of climate change may include greener rainforests and enhanced plant growth in the
Amazon, increased vegitation in northern latitudes and possible increases in plankton biomass in some
parts of the ocean. Negative responses may include further growth of oxygen poor ocean zones,
contamination or exhaustion of fresh water, increased incidence of natural fires, extensive vegetation
die-off due to droughts, increased risk of coral extinction, decline in global photoplankton, changes in
migration patterns of birds and animals, changes in seasonal periodicity, disruption to food chains and
species loss.
Economic

The economic impacts of climate change may be catastrophic, while there have been very few benefits
projected at all. The Stern report made clear the overall pattern of economic distress, and while the
specific numbers may be contested, the costs of climate change were far in excess of the costs of
preventing it.

What is the evidence for warming?

The world is about one degree Celsius warmer than before widespread industrialisation, according to
the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
It says the past five years, 2015–2019, were the warmest on record.

Across the globe, the average sea level increased by 3.6mm per year between 2005 and 2015.

Most of this change was because water increases in volume as it heats up.

How much will temperatures rise in future?

The change in the global surface temperature between 1850 and the end of the 21st Century is likely to
exceed 1.5C, most simulations suggest.

The WMO says that if the current warming trend continues, temperatures could rise 3-5C by the end of
this century.

Temperature rises of 2C had long been regarded as the gateway to dangerous warming. More recently,
scientists and policymakers have argued that limiting temperature rises to 1.5C is safer.

How will climate change affect us?

There is uncertainty about how great the impact of a changing climate will be.

It could cause fresh water shortages, dramatically alter our ability to produce food, and increase the
number of deaths from floods, storms and heatwaves. This is because climate change is expected to
increase the frequency of extreme weather events - though linking any single event to global warming is
complicated.

As the world warms, more water evaporates, leading to more moisture in the air. This means many
areas will experience more intense rainfall - and in some places snowfall. But the risk of drought in
inland areas during hot summers will increase. More flooding is expected from storms and rising sea
levels. But there are likely to be very strong regional variations in these patterns.

 Vietnam's children and the fear of climate change

 Would you give up beef to help the planet?

Poorer countries, which are least equipped to deal with rapid change, could suffer the most.

Plant and animal extinctions are predicted as habitats change faster than species can adapt. And the
World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the health of millions could be threatened by
increases in malaria, water-borne disease and malnutrition.

As more CO2 is released into the atmosphere, uptake of the gas by the oceans increases, causing the
water to become more acidic. This could pose major problems for coral reefs.

Global warming will cause further changes that are likely to create further heating. This includes the
release of large quantities of methane as permafrost - frozen soil found mainly at high latitudes - melts.

Responding to climate change will be one of the biggest challenges we face this century.
What practical measures will you be willing to take

 CUT OUT BEEF -switching to pork, cod, chicken, or soya beans =drastically reduces CO2
emissions
 MOVE TO A SMALLER HOME –downsize and make energy savings of 8-27%
 DON’T DRIVE SHORT DISTANCES – walking or cycling would reduce transport emissions by 62%
(Source: intergovernmental panel on climate change)
 Cut down on heating /air-conditions – save 21 -26 % energy by installing intelligent thermostats
 SHARE YOUR CAR – carpooling reduces emissions 13 – 18 %