Sunday, May 20, 2018
Global Warming In The Climate Change
Global Warming In The Climate Change
This is a simple explanation of Climate Change, based on an article in the New
York Times.The average temperature on the
surface of the planet has already increased 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880, which may not seem like much, but think
about it this way, the heat from human
emissions is roughly equal to 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs
exploding across the planet every single
day. Future generations are in big
trouble.
But for now it will continue to get warmer and storms will grow more intense, with longer periods of drought in
between. But longer-term, if emissions
continue to rise unchecked, the climate disasters will be so severe they will destabilize entire nations, send millions
of refugees across borders, cause
widespread extinction of most species on Earth,
and melt the polar ice
caps, leaving most of the worlds coastal
cities several feet underwater. All this
could take centuries, but something like the sudden collapse of agriculture
would trigger immediate chaos in
society. Best case is we get our act
together and begin to rapidly bring emission levels down; meanwhile, Earth turns out to be less sensitive to greenhouse
gases than we currently believe, plants and animals adapt quickly, and major technological breakthroughs help
society limit emissions and adjust to
climate change. But, these are all the
opposite of what we're actually seeing, so the only thing in our control is to limit emissions using all available tools
and best
behaviors currently at our disposal. Worst case, the
collapse of food production causes spiraling prices and -- as our
capital i st utopia breaks down -- billions
starve as our world gets violent and messy real quick--kind of like a zombie apocalypse, but with extreme hunger
spreading chaos instead. So, yeah, still
just like a zombie apocalypse. This would be coupled with the melting of the
An tarctic ice sheet, leading to rapidly
rising seas that would force us to abandon many of our greatest cities and all of the social and scientific progress that
we were making within them. Adding
insult to injury is the fact that many of the emissions were emitted
while building these now abandoned,
underwater
metropolises. If emissions
continue unchecked, we're looking at a total rise of between 80 to 160
feet, which would occur if all the ice in
the polls melted. So the oceans will rise, the real question is how fast? Scientists only have Earth's history to
base their prediction s on, which suggests
that the rate has occasionally hit 1 foot per decade...so we'll have
t o adapt to an altered coastline sooner or
later, but probably much sooner than later. Because... Computer forecasts only give us a range of future possibilities,
the most important evidence comes from the
study of past climate condition
which clearly show that every time the
amount of carbon dioxide in the air rises,
the Earth warms up, ice melts, and the ocean rises. What's important to remember here is that we are in uncharted
territory--humans are pumping carbon
dioxide into the air far faster than nature ever has before us. Scientists have been publishing strong evidence that
warming is making drought and heat waves more frequent, causing heavier rainstorms, and more severe
coastal flooding. But while the Internet
has made us all more aware of weather disasters in distant countries,
it's hard to prove these are all directly
made worse by climate change, although they probably are. Canada and Russia
both have vast, frozen lands, and could see some economic benefits
from a warmer climate.
Putin and the
Russians, therefore, have been reluctant to make ambitious climate commitments. But expect that to change as
these countries realize they will be swamped by millions of refugees from less fortunate nations. Libertarians and other political conservatives do
not like the policies proposed to fight climate change and have chosen to try and block them by actively
undermining the science. This effort has
been funded by the oil and coal industry, who favor making money
above all else. As more resources are devoted to solving the problem, our chances
at big
technological breakthroughs are
improving, but we still should be spending about three-times as much money as we currently are on these efforts according
to several in-depth reports. You can
reduce your carbon footprint by doing things like plugging leaks in your home
insulation, installing a smart
thermostat, taking public transit, taking less airplane trips,
buying an electric car, and putting
solar panels on your roof. A big one is eating less meat. But what's really needed is for you to speak up and exercise
your rights as a citizen, because strong,
collective action through state and national policies is how we'll make the most impact. Considering that we've been ignoring scientists warnings
since the 80 to limit emissions, we're pretty late in the game. But we've finally reached a
moment where nearly every country in the
world agrees this is a huge problem, and seem ready to commit to
taking at least some kind of action.
Leading corporations will continue to make bold promises to do their part, low-emission technologies will improve,
and many states and cities will go much
further than any goals set by their national governments.
The United States, the
worlds biggest economy, is finally
starting to move aggressively, and China, the worlds largest emitter, is beginning to recognize that it needs to do
the same, as many of its mega cities cities
will be underwater if the seas rise too high. But it's up to us, the
ordinary citizens, to continue demanding
our political leaders tackle climate change, the hardest problem that humanity has ever faced. So like and share this video to help it spread. A special thanks
to Justin Gillis of the New York Times
for putting together the original article, , thanks
technology
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