There are skeptics who suggest that the global warming phenomenon is grossly exaggerated, turning the attention of possible government backing or funding away from the movements that are working against its possible worldwide effects (Houghton, 2007). Nevertheless, the fact that the planet is getting warmer is undeniable. NASA (Voiland, 2010) reports that the previous decade, from 2000 to 2009, is the warmest the earth ever experienced in its history. Since 1880, the time when temperature can be accurately measured, the average global temperature has increased by 0.8 degrees Celsius.
According to The Guardian (Houghton, 2007), over the recent years, the climate had been "notoriously variable" in scattered places in the world. A heat wave over the summer of 2003 in Europe caused 20,000 people's lives. Projections suggest that such summer temperatures could become the norm by 2050. Flood disasters have become more frequent in various parts of Asia. The National Resources Defense Council (2005) says that some parts of the US endured their worst wildfire seasons in 2002. The same year witnessed severe dust storms and floods causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damages in the country. The National Geographic (2007) reports that Arctic ice is rapidly disappearing and can become completely ice-free by 2040. Its polar bears and indigenous cultures are already bearing the consequences of sea-ice loss.
According to the NRDC (2005), global warming is a complex phenomenon and its full-scale effects cannot be accurately predicted far in advance. However, as more and more data confirm the inevitability of the phenomenon, scientists agree on the following consequences should the climate trends continue.
- Melting glaciers, severe droughts and early snowmelt will cause extreme water shortages.
- Rising water levels will cause coastal flooding, submerging entire cities underwater.
- Warmer temperature of sea surfaces will fuel hurricane intensities.
- Migration of pests and disease-carrying insects to populated areas.
- Disruption of habitats that could cause many animal and plant extinction.
It was concluded that this abnormal climate change is human-induced, called the anthropogenic climate change (National Geographic, 2007). Industrialization, pollution and deforestation have greatly raised levels atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and water vapor, all greenhouse gases that help trap heat near Earth's surface. People are producing carbon dioxide much faster than plants can absorb it. These gases remain in the atmosphere for years so eliminating their production will not necessarily prevent global warming, but only delay it. (National Geographic, 2007)
The sooner the world accepts the inevitability of global warming, the sooner the world governments can do something about them. NRDC (2005) says that the technologies to do something about preventing global warming, like vehicles producing less pollution and power plants using renewable energy, are at hand. The corporations and governments to mobilize them, however, are not. It is a problem considered to be of the distant future and resources to do something about it are placed elsewhere.
Global warming is a world-wide phenomenon. It is a threat of retaliation of nature as consequence of abuse of its usage by human beings, and it will not be discriminating of race or nationality. People took more and more from nature without allowing it replenish and take their season. As soon as nature produces, people tend to ravish in and leave it desolate. If nations will come together to find solutions that all countries will share, then perhaps, the immediate problems to lack of food and water will be solved as well, and perhaps, it is not too late to see nature in its full glory.
References
Voiland, A. (2010). 2009: Second warmest year on record; end of the warmest decade. Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. Retrieved from: http://climate.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm?NewsID=249
National Resources Defense Council. (2005). Global Warming Basics. Retrieved from: http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/f101.asp
Houghton,J. (2007). Global warming is getting worse - but the message is getting through. guardian.co.uk. Retrieved from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/opinion/story/0,,1284281,00.html
National Geographic News. (2007). Global Warming Fast Facts. Retrieved from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1206_041206_global_warming.html
