In fact, scientists have found that the frequency of North Atlantic hurricanes has increased since the early s, as has the number of storms that reach categories 4 and 5. The Atlantic hurricane season included a record-breaking 30 tropical storms, 6 major hurricanes, and 13 hurricanes altogether.
With increased intensity come increased damage and death. The impacts of global warming are being felt everywhere. Extreme heat waves have caused tens of thousands of deaths around the world in recent years. And in an alarming sign of events to come, Antarctica has lost nearly four trillion metric tons of ice since the s. The rate of loss could speed up if we keep burning fossil fuels at our current pace, some experts say, causing sea levels to rise several meters in the next 50 to years and wreaking havoc on coastal communities worldwide.
A: Each year scientists learn more about the consequences of global warming , and each year we also gain new evidence of its devastating impact on people and the planet. As the heat waves, droughts, and floods associated with climate change become more frequent and more intense, communities suffer and death tolls rise.
Global warming is already taking a toll on the United States. Though everyone is affected by climate change, not everyone is affected equally. Indigenous people, people of color, and the economically marginalized are typically hit the hardest. Inequities built into our housing , health care , and labor systems make these communities more vulnerable to the worst impacts of climate change—even though these same communities have done the least to contribute to it.
A: In recent years, China has taken the lead in global-warming pollution , producing about 26 percent of all CO2 emissions. The United States comes in second. And America is still number one, by far, in cumulative emissions over the past years.
As a top contributor to global warming, the United States has an obligation to help propel the world to a cleaner, safer, and more equitable future. Our responsibility matters to other countries, and it should matter to us, too. The ten warmest years on record have all happened since Seven of the 10 wettest years on record have also happened since It predicts that by , UK winters will be between 1 and 4.
Additionally, as a result of the melting of ice caps and global warming, the IPCC predicts that the average sea level of oceans will increase around 82cm by the year if we do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This increase would have a strong impact on the coastal regions around the world. Climate change also has consequences on agriculture and fishing, which directly affects food safety. Some populations are forced to migrate in order to survive, which has the effect of creating climate refugees. All this causes tensions surrounding the available natural resources, including water and reinforces inequality amongst humans, especially in less economically developed countries.
Oceans are carbon sinks , i. However, the accumulation of carbon dioxide in oceans changes their composition and causes oceans to become more acidic. This phenomenon of acidification directly threatens the capacity for oceans to absorb carbon dioxide and produces death and disease to marine flora and fauna.
It is essential that human activities, both at home, at work and at government level consider climate change and global warming. Mitigating the effects of global warming means adapting your current lifestyle to the current situation, reducing and limiting greenhouse gases.
Offsetting carbon footprint must always be accompanied by efforts to reduce it. Since , Selectra offers individuals the possibility to offset part or all of their greenhouse gases through the financing of an environmental project, the Gandhi project. It consists of building a wind farm in India in order to promote the development of green energy in the country.
It is not just individuals who can help fight climate change, but companies too. Forests and bushland act as carbon sinks and are a valuable means of keeping global warming to 1. But humans clear vast areas of vegetation around the world for farming , urban and infrastructure development or to sell tree products such as timber and palm oil. When vegetation is removed or burnt, the stored carbon is released back into the atmosphere as CO 2 , contributing to global warming.
Up to one-fifth of global greenhouse gas pollution comes from deforestation and forest degradation. Plant more trees through reforestation and afforestation. Shop sustainably. Call on our leaders to introduce stronger laws to stop excessive tree-clearing.
Animals, particularly livestock like sheep and cattle , produce methane, a greenhouse gas. When livestock are grazed at a large scale, as in Australia, the amount of methane produced is a big contributor to global warming. Some fertilisers that farmers use also release nitrous oxide, which is another greenhouse gas. Use different stock feeds can help to reduce farming's contribution to climate change. Delay in taking such action means the prospect of much steeper cuts later if there is any hope of staying below the 3.
Delayed action is also likely to make it more difficult and costly to not only make these reductions, but also address the climate consequences that occur in the meantime.
The decade is the warmest since —the earliest year for which comprehensive global temperature records were available. In fact, nine of the warmest years on record have occurred in just the last 10 years. This warming has been accompanied by a decrease in very cold days and nights and an increase in extremely hot days and warm nights.
The continental United States, for example, has seen record daily highs twice as often as record daily lows from to While the record shows that some parts of the world are warming faster than others, the long-term global upward trend is unambiguous.
Of course, land and ocean temperature is only one way to measure the effects of climate change.
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