A Call to Action
Throughout its history, the Earth has experienced drastic fluctuations in its average surface temperature, with multiple ice ages and periods of natural global warming. However, in recent years, the rate at which the global temperature has increased is unparalleled and cause for concern. The effects and predicted effects of this major and relatively rapid global warming are varied and extensive. Global warming has likely been and will continue to wreak havoc on sea levels, weather patterns, human health, buildings and communities, agriculture and other components of life on Earth as we know it, making global warming the most important environmental and potentially even the most important social and economic issue of our time and warranting prompt, extensive action.
Some global warming over time is natural and is the result of factors like the Earth’s position and movement in relation to the sun or major volcanic eruptions (Casper xiv). Global warming results from what is commonly known as the “greenhouse effect.” The sun heats the Earth, but some of the sun’s heat is lost back into space. In the planet’s atmosphere are certain gasses responsible for blocking some solar radiation and allowing some of the radiation to be reflected off of the earth and back into space. These “greenhouse gases,” which include water vapor, ozone, methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, create a natural greenhouse or blanket that keeps the planet relatively warm, which is particularly noticeable when Earth and Earth’s temperatures are compared to nearby planets like Mars, which lacks the atmospheric composition of Earth.
Historic global climate change is studied by scientists who measure air bubbles trapped deep within ancient ice, as it has been determined that global temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide content are closely linked (Maslin 12). One conclusion drawn from studying trapped air bubble in ice is that regions have experienced dramatic regional temperature changes in the past, or a variation of about five degrees Fahrenheit within a few decades, while a second conclusion drawn is that the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has increased greatly as a result of human activity of the last two centuries or so, namely industrial activity and other fossil fuel-burning activities.
There has been a widespread increase in carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, even in areas far from sources of significant carbon emissions, as evidenced by measurements of carbon dioxide taken on Mauna Loa Mountain in Hawaii. Here, the average concentration of carbon dioxide has risen every year since 1958, when the data was first collected (Maslin 12). Various sources contribute the greenhouse gases that are causing unprecedented climate change. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, which is added to the atmosphere in large quantities through the burning of fossil fuels, land use changes and cement production, increased by 30 percent between its pre-industrial concentration and concentration in 1994. Methane, contributed by fossil fuel combustion, waste dumps or landfills, livestock and rice paddies, has increased its concentration by 240 percent between the pre-industrial period and 1994. Over the same period, the concentration of nitrous oxide released through fertilizer use, fossil fuel burning and industrial practices, increased by 15 percent (Maslin 13).
There are many effects and potential, often difficult-to-predict effects of global warming, ranging from the most obvious and direct—a global increase in average temperatures—to less direct effects that are only now beginning to be understood. The effect that most clearly defines global warming or climate change is an increase in the Earth’s average temperature. During the past century, the Earth’s average temperature has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, predicts that the next century will see an increase in temperature of 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. While a few degrees of temperature change may seem minor, in reality it will have a significant impact—often negative—especially on particularly fragile or already-struggling ecosystems and populations. According to the IPCC, it is very likely that that the increase in the global average temperature in the last 70 years is due to the increase in human-caused greenhouse gas concentration (IPCC Summary for Policymakers 9).
The IPCC’s extremely thorough and authoritative Fourth Assessment Report includes a “Summary for Policymakers” section of the volume Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptations and Vulnerability, which summarizes, using very conservative and scientifically-appropriate language, many of the observed and predicted impacts of global warming. These include, in regions with cold climates, increased sizes and numbers of glacial lakes, increasing ground instability in areas with permafrost and increased rock avalanches in mountainous regions and changes in Arctic and Antarctic ecosystems, including effects upon predators high in the food chain. Lakes and rivers are also likely growing warmer and rivers fed from glacial- and snow-melt are experiencing increased runoff and earlier peak discharge. Plants and animal species are experiencing shifts in ranges, spring events like bird egg-laying are occurring earlier and many regions are experiencing longer thermal growing seasons (IPCC Summary for Policymakers 8). Many species will struggle to adapt to environmental changes and experience severe decreases in populations and potentially even endangerment or extinction.
The U.S. House of Representative Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held a hearing in 2008 to discuss the impacts of global warming on the planet’s oceans. This hearing estimates that during the past 60 years, oceans have absorbed 90 percent of the increased heat resulting from human activity, basically keeping humans from feeling significant effects of global warming pollution (1). The increase in ocean temperatures and other effects of global warming on the ocean have devastating impacts on marine life and biodiversity. Many ocean-dwelling species thrive or survive only in a narrow range of temperatures. For species that have limited or nearly no mobility and cannot move to find the ideal temperature, like coral reefs, this is devastating.
As the oceans and atmosphere experience rising temperatures, ice melt and water expansion will reshape coastal contours and harm vulnerable coastal cities and communities. Additionally, as the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rises, so dies its concentration in the ocean. As carbon dioxide is added to the ocean, the water becomes increasingly acidic, hindering the growth and presence of many important shell-forming plants and animals, like coral reefs, that hold positions in many ocean food chains.
Global warming may present serious health risks to human populations that will likely have significant economic, social and cultural tolls. Health-related consequences and current “warning signs” are outlined by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Heat waves, like the 2003 heat wave that lasted two weeks and caused as many as 70,000 deaths in Europe (NRDC website), will become increasingly frequent and severe. A warmer atmosphere also makes for increased moisture in the atmosphere and more intense weather events like hurricanes, flooding and drought that can claim human lives and result in economic losses. Infectious disease vectors are also likely linked to temperature increases (IPCC Summary for Policymakers 9). Disease-carrying mosquitoes are able to spread further, bringing with them diseases like malaria and dengue fever. Food-borne illnesses like salmonella are linked to temperature and heavy rainfall can wash pathogens and contaminants into drinking water supplies. Extreme weather events are poised to be most damaging in developing countries, where droughts, famine and flooding are already extremely impactful (NRDC website).
Human development and the rising sea-level are combining to cause losses of buffering mangroves and coastal wetlands, increasing the damage or potential for damage from flooding (IPCC Summary for Policymakers 9). While mid- to high-latitudes are expected to experience an increase in crop productivity as a result of a longer growing season caused by warmer temperatures, lower latitudes, especially in tropical and seasonally-dry areas are projected to experience a decrease in crop productivity, leading to greater food insecurity and the potential for famine (IPCC Summary for Policymakers 11).
Significant misinformation has and continues to hinder efforts to inform the public about global warming and its vast effects, essentially hindering a broader call for action. Groups and individuals that claim global warming is not a significant problem argue that global warming is natural and that there is no cause for concern or drastic action. Over the past two decades, as mainstream science has begun to further research and accept the reality of global warming, climate change deniers, frequently funded by the fossil fuel industries and other parties that would stand to lose from tighter regulations or decreased use of fossil fuels, downplay or distort evidence of global warming and its effects, confusing the public.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-partisan group that advocates for the increased influence of scientific analysis on policy and consumer and corporate practices, places part of the blame for this misinformation on the United States news media. The group investigated climate and energy new stories published over a two-year period. Within these news stories, they looked more closely at stories that used evidence supplied by “climate contrarian” groups and whether or not the story included information about the funding behind the groups. The study found that “two-thirds of stories from eight top news organizations failed to identify fossil fuel industry funding of climate contrarian think tanks (UCS website).” Fighting this misinformation, which downplays or distorts the truth of global warming, is just one of the ways to tackle the looming, enormous problem that is global warming.
In addition to fighting misinformation and increasing education on global warming and related scientific topics, there are many ways individuals can act to slow the pace of global warming. The Union of Concerned Scientists outlines many actions for individuals and communities on their website. Reducing the emissions responsible for trapping heat in the atmosphere, both by adjusting personal activities like transportation and consumer choices and demanding policy that supports and implements solutions to carbon emissions problems and global warming is important. Also crucial is putting a halt to deforestation, particularly in tropical areas, which results in a significant portion of carbon emissions, by making smart choices as consumers and making harmful deforestation more difficult and less profitable. Policies on regional, national and global levels are necessary, as global warming is a problem that transcends boundaries drawn by humans. These policies could include placing caps on the level of carbon that polluters are allowed to emit, providing rewards for investing in energy-efficient technology and approaches and renewable energies as well as increasing vehicle fuel efficiency.
Contacting government representatives to urge action, taking steps to ensure energy-efficient transportation is as widely-available in communities as possible, using less electricity and homes and businesses and choosing electricity obtained from sources besides fossil fuels can further help to slow global warming.
Finally, although it is necessary to slow carbon emissions as much as possible to limit future global warming, it is also necessary to deal with the inevitable: the world has already begun to grow warmer and some impacts of global warming are already beginning to be felt. Communities, regions and national governments as well as international organizations must face realities ranging from a rise in sea level, extreme weather events and increased risk from wildfire, heat waves and other events. Improved emergency preparedness on all levels ranging from individual to international scales is necessary.
In conclusion, global climate change is one of the most important and distressing problems that communities and natural environments across the whole planet are facing. Some areas may see an increase in health problems like heat stroke and asthma, other regions will have to deal with increasingly severe hurricanes and rainstorms while other places may suffer a sad loss of wildlife or plant species or an increased sea level, flooding or drought. This broad range of different effects of global warming only serves to highlight the importance of broad, worldwide agreement and action. Haste is also of the utmost importance, as without quick, broad efforts, global warming will be a very difficult catastrophe that the world, especially and unfairly developing nations, will not easily weather.
Works Cited
Casper, Julie Kerr. Changing Ecosystems: Effects of Global Warming. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2010. Electronic.
“The Consequences of Global Warming on Health.” Natural Resources Defense Council, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. < http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/fcons/fcons2.asp>.
IPCC, 2007: Summary for Policymakers. In: Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, Eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 7-22.
Maslin, Mark. Global Warming: Causes, Effects, and the Future. St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Company, 2007. Electronic.
United States. Cong. House. Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Rising Tides, Rising Temperatures: Global Warming’s Impacts on the Oceans. 29 Apr. 2008. 110th Congress, 2nd sess. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office. Electronic.
“Unreliable Sources: How the News Media Help the Koch Brothers and ExxonMobil Spread Climate Disinformation.” Union of Concerned Scientists, 13 May 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. < http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/fight-misinformation/news-media-helps-koch-brothers-exxon-mobil-spread-climate-disinformation.html>.
Works Cited (cont.)
“What You Can Do About Global Warming.” Union of Concerned Scientists, 28 Jan. 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. < http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/what_you_can_do/>.
