Next Effect of Global Warming

As more days go on, my research is going more into my topic; global warming. Every day I get more and more worried because I see that global warming is a fact, and the main thing that is causing it are humans. Its like if people didn’t realize that the more affected will be us; humans. Five effects of global warming will be: human health, weather, sea level rise, agriculture, and animals and plants. Global warming will affect human’s health by making some organisms to spread disease. As temperatures increases, people will die of getting too much stress do to hotter days. Also, mosquitoes will widen their variety, getting to places that are too cold for them. This will make them to spread more diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, and encephalitis. Allergies and respiratory problems will increase as temperature continues rising.

Weather will change dramatically in a future if global warming continues at this rate. Scientists predict that the parts that will be more heated up are the poles. Ice masses in the poles will melt making less ice bergs float on the Arctic and Antarctic oceans. In places where there is small snow fall, in a future there will be no snow fall at all. Nighttime and winters will have higher temperatures than usual. But, also scientists predict that while the globe continues warming, the atmosphere will become more humid making more water vapor go into the atmosphere. They still don’t know if water vapor will push or kind of slow down global warming. Water vapor is a green house gas, but in the other hand it will make more clouds in the atmosphere that will return sunlight rays into space. Storms will increase and will be more severe. Rainfall will increase one percent each time one degree Fahrenheit also increase. People expect that weather will be less predictable and more intense.

Seal levels are expected to rise about from 9 to 88 cm for the end of this century. If this is true, shorelines will change drastically and erosion will take place more frequently and making more damage. For example, the sea level rise will cover much part of the Everglades in Florida. Also, it will sink 6 percent of the Netherlands and also many islands will sink too.

Agriculture will be affected in both ways; good and bad. Good, because there will be places like southern Canada that will have a longer growing season and more rainfall, and also in places in which the climate is classified as semiarid and have some tropical farmlands will receive more water increasing crops or farming. But, forests and many trees will be in some kind of trouble because they will be bothered by more plant diseases and insects.

Plants and animals will be at risk. This is because it will be difficult for them to adjust to global warming effects or to move from their habitats. Both will be seeking for new homes in the poles or in higher elevations, do that were they are used to live will tend to be very hot in a future. For some of them, the move to the poles will not be so easy because they will find obstacle in their way such as, cities and farmlands that will block their way leading that specie to a sort of extinction.

My personal opinion about all these effects is that humans need to make something about it; we are causing too much harm to our very own world. As I said earlier scientists don’t know if the abundance of global warming in the atmosphere will speed up or slow down Global warming, so I think that weather is starting to be less predictable than before.

I will like to continue searching on various causes of global warming and some other solutions too. Then, my group and I will like, kind of choose the best two or something like that and will focus more on those.

Global Warming & The Arctic

The ACIA, which stands for The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, was an international project that finalized in November 2004. This project was done with the purpose of collecting data, from many sources, to see how UV radiation, global warming, and climate change would affect the rises in temperature of the Arctic making the tides to increase and affecting the globe in many different ways. The project finalized with three reports; a synthesis report, a scientific report, and a policy report. The scientific and the synthesis reports were released on November 9th, 2004 and the policy report was released the 24th. This was important to be done because the Arctic temperatures are increasing at a rate faster than the rest of the world, so this project provided some kind of future result. From the twentieth century the temperature of the globe, without counting the Arctic, has increased 1ºF and in the Arctic the temperature has increased about 4 to 5ºF from the mid 1900’s. The reports that were done by the ACIA have been of much help for the world. They have been a source of veridical information for the people who are working to improve the future of the globe.

One of the effects of global warming will be sea level rise. As I said earlier, the arctic is warming at a faster rate than the rest of the globe, this makes the ice sheets and glaciers to melt and raise tides. According to the report made by the ACIA, the predictions are, that by the end of this century, the sea level will rise about 4 inches. This might not sound a lot, but indeed it is a lot; this will change coastal lines and will cause a lot of erosion. The Arctic Tundra is also involved, it contains a lot of carbon and it can release a lot of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere during a melt. When ice masses melt, because of released green house gasses, it adds more water to the ocean and it makes the ocean to warm. Also, one of the major source of fresh water the earth has are ice masses and by melting they will combine with the salinity the ocean contains making the solution to change because it will combine with other elements.

In my opinion, a way to end or improve this, is by following the Kyoto protocol. If the USA accepts it, Japan will follow up. If Japan follows up, the protocol will gain the support needed to make it an international law. If the Kyoto Protocol becomes an international law, emissions of green house gasses will decrease; the effects of this I think will be usual tides, the Arctic will recover its original shape of ice mass, also the temperatures will decrease until they reach their original point, etc. Climate change is affecting the world worsening it, because for example, the mosquitoes produce a lot of diseases. They are more attracted to places were temperatures are high, so they go to those places spreading diseases.

I will like to continue my research on one cause of global warming. I will like to have one cause, one effect, and one way to improve global warming in this project. This project for me is very interesting because I’m really worried about where the future of this planet will lead to. The cause that I will research will be about the emissions of global warming and how gasses get trapped in Earth’s atmosphere.

References:
ACIA & Sea Level Rise
Global Warming and The Arctic

The Politics of Global Warming

Some days ago, I was looking at the BBC News web page and I read a remarkable article about the politics of climate change. While I read this article I learned a lot of interesting things about the Kyoto Protocol and how it is working in present days. For those who don’t know, the Kyoto Protocol is like a kind of treaty between the countries that are part of the United Nations to decrease the emissions of green house gasses, and by this way improving climate change. In other words,

The Kyoto Protocol is an agreement made under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Countries that ratify this protocol
commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse
gases, or engage in emissions trading if they maintain or increase emissions
of these gases.

The Kyoto Protocol now covers more than 160 countries
globally and over 55% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The major polluters are the following countries (in order):
1.
United States of America
2. European Union
3. China
4. Russia
5. Japan
6. India

The United States is the only country in the globe that has accepted the Kyoto Protocol and then refused it. On March 2006, George W. Bush said that he would not ratify the Kyoto protocol because he thought it would worsen the US economy and because it doesn’t make the developing countries to cut their emissions. The US emits more, by much, green house gasses. It has increased its emission 11% from the 1990’s.

In the other hand, China has decrease its emissions and has improve a lot its economy, so it is not necessary that if a country cuts it emissions it will damage its economy. I think that is what President Bush meant on what he said last March. Although, China is one of the major polluters, it has decreased its emission of carbon dioxide by a 17% from the 1990’s. Even though China is not required to cut its emissions because it is an annex II country, which means that is not a developed country, it has cut its emissions by far.

Russia is a developed country; this means it is part of annex I. Russia’s gas emissions have decrease a 40% from the 1990’s till now. But, this hasn’t been of much help for the country due to that its economy has also fallen dramatically. Even though their economy is very weak, they ratify the Kyoto Protocol because it is a way of earning money. The plan is to use the money for projects of energy efficiency.

Japan, one of the most powerful economies in the world, has also decrease its gas emissions and it needs to because its part of annex I. They feel affection to the protocol; it has the name of one of its cities because the protocol was concluded there. But they say they will not ratify the protocol until the Americans do. Until the Japanese accept the treaty, the Kyoto Protocol will not have the support needed to be an international law.

As well, India, a developing country, has increased its emissions more than 52% from the 1990’s. In my opinion, at this rate it will be vulnerable to be a major polluter in a future. Maybe that is why President Bush doesn’t agree that all developing countries aren’t obliged to cut their emissions.

I think that in part, the Kyoto protocol has been of much help to the world on improving the green house effect. I think that if the United States accepts the protocol and Japan follows up it would be better because it will have the support needed. Imagine if the Kyoto Protocol wouldn’t ever be done what would be of this world? Any of those countries would have decreased their emissions.

For More information visit BBC News -Climate Change.