Climate change and global warming

 

The Earth’s climate has always changed throughout the history: just in 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat and it all has depended on the small variations of Earth’s orbit. Now, unfortunately, this climate change is caused by the human activities, so there is an expansion of the ”greenhouse effect”. The greenhouse effect is capable of trapping the heat radiating from Earth toward space.

The differences between global warming and climate change.

• “Global warming” applies to the long-term trend of rising average global temperatures.
• “Climate change” is a broader term that reflects the fact that carbon pollution does more than just warm our planet. Carbon pollution is also changing rain and snow patterns and increasing the risk of intense storms and dryness.

Evidences:

• Global temperatures rise;
• warming oceans;
• shrinking ice sheets;
• decreased snow cover;
• sea level rise;
• declining artic sea ice;
• extreme events;
• ocean acidification.

Global temperatures rise

The planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 1.1 degrees (2 fahreneheit) since the 19^th century. This happened because of the increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtPkFBbJLMg

Warming oceans

Not only are ocean surface waters getting warmer, but so is water 1,500 feet below the surface.

In fact, the ocean has absorbed so much heat—about 20 times as much as the atmosphere over the past half-century—that some models suggest that it is likely to warm the air of 0.55° Celsius (1 Fahreneheit) worldwide over the coming decades.

Shrinking ice sheets

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass. Greenland lost 150 to 250 cubic kilometers (36 to 60 cubic miles) of ice between 2002 and 2006, while Antarctica lost about 152 cubic kilometers (36 cubic miles) of ice between 2002 and 2005.

Decreased snow cover

The amount of spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased over the past five decades and the snow is melting earlier.

Sea level rise

The sea level has risen by 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters). However, the annual rate of rise over the past 20 years has been 0.13 inches (3.2 millimeters) a year, roughly twice the average speed of the preceding 80 years.

 

Declining artic sea ice

The thickness of ice in the central Arctic ocean declined by 65% between 1975 and 2012; record lows in the maximum extent of Arctic sea ice occurred in March. SWIPA estimates that the Arctic will be free of sea ice in the summer by 2040. Scientists previously suggested this would not occur until 2070.

http://www.amap.no/swipa 

Extreme events

We could have heat waves, periods of abnormally high temperatures and heat index. Cold waves, a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air. Floads and tropical cyclones.

Ocean acidification.

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about 30 percent because of the emission of carbon dioxide.

The cause

Global warming is primarily a problem of too much carbon dioxide (CO2) in theatmosphere which atcs as a blanket, trapping heat and warming the planet. As we burn fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas for energy or cut and burn forests to create pastures and plantation, carbon accumukates and overloads our atmosphere. Certain agricultural practices make the problem worse by releasing other potent global warming gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide.

 

September 2019 was the hottest September in 137 years according to Nasa 

What can we do to stop this?

1.Reduce, Reuse, Recycle;

2.Drive less, do you remember your bike?;

3.Save electricity and reduce global warming by turning off lights when you leave a room;

4.Encourage Others to Conserve;

5.Plant a Tree or two;

6. Replace regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs;

7.Install a programmable thermostat;

8.Eat less meat: methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters;

9.Fly less: air travel produces large amounts of emissions so reducing how much you fly by even one or two trips a year can reduce your emissions significantly;

10.Make sure your voice is heard!

 

-Stefania