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sea level rise and polution
effects of climate change on the planet
effects of climate change on the planet
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That Sinking Feeling
Climate change. Global warming. We’ve heard these terms thrown around so often in the media that they’ve almost lost all meaning. We’ve heard academics throw predictions of polar ice caps melting and nations disappearing into the ocean, much to the denial and distaste of the sceptics. But, really, we haven’t been affected so far. And by scientific predictions, any changes to the earth will be well into the distant future. So why should we worry? Why should we care?
Far out in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Australia and Hawaii, lies a broken necklace of islands called Kiribati. Made up of 32 atolls interspersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, Kiribati snakes over the equator and nudges the International Date Line at its eastern-most point.
Kiribati is only 900 meters across at its widest point but over 100,000 people inhabit it, and that number is rapidly increasing each year. The nation’s capital, Tarawa, now has a higher population density than Tokyo.
Oh yeah, and did I mention that Kiribati will most likely cease to exist by the time the century is up?
Kiribati is only 2 metres above sea level at its highest point, making it one of the world’s most vulnerable nations to the effects of sea level rise caused by climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made a prediction in 2007 that global sea-rise would be as much as 0.8 metres by the end of the century. Other scientific studies suggest that the increase will be as much as 1.9 metres. A 2012 study discovered that the ocean is absorbing heat 15 times faster than it has at any point during the past 10,000 years. Just another metre would make living on Kiribati virtually impossible.
Now, the end of the century seems an awful long way...
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...he court also cautioned that if Mr Teitioa’s argument was accepted there or in any other jurisdictions, “at a stroke, millions of people who are facing medium-term economic deprivation, or the immediate consequences of natural disasters or warfare would be entitled to protection under the Refugee Convention”.
In a world focussed on fixing short-term problems, global warming is not a trendy subject. However, like it or not, it is an issue affecting not only the 100,000 people of Kiribati, but thousands of inhabitants of other small Pacific nations and millions of people worldwide.
If it’s too late to for the big countries to do something about the pollution they’ve created, generating these dramatic changes in climate, then the least we can do is help out the tiny island nations that barely contribute to it at all and will eventually lose everything because of it.
Global warming has some very potential impact on Hawaii’s environment, health, economy and natural resources. With the environment if the sea level raises our reefs are at risk. With out our reefs our beaches have no protection against the pounding waves. Also it hurts the reef cause if the water rises that means the sun needs to get through more water, which means the reef wont get as much sunlight for them to survive. With economy global warming poses a big threat on it. With the reefs being exposed to less sunlight and letting the waves pound our beaches, it threatens our economy because our state makes its profit off of tourism. Which means if our beaches start to go away then the tourism will start to decrease and less money will be coming in to the state. Along with this the fish that live around the reef may start to die off cause the reef isn’t doing good so the life around will react the same way. Reef fish population will start to drop until they adapt and hopefully the reef can too.
According to Erik Conway of NASA, “Global warming refers to surface temperature increases, while climate change includes global warming and everything else that increasing greenhouse gas amounts will affect” (Conway). Recently the United States has experienced a drop in temperature. This past weekend I was walking with a friend. With nothing to talk about, the awkward silence was finally filled with a comment on the weather. He said, “It’s so incredibly cold! So much for global warming!!” What my friend, nor I at the beginning of the semester, did not understand was that “temperature change itself isn’t the most severe effect of changing climate. Changes to precipitation patterns and sea level are likely to have much greater human impact than the higher temperatures alone” (Conway). Thankfully the national media has begun to increasingly reference the more scientifically significant term: climate change.
A. Sea level rise- The temperatures around the globe rise, the oceans start to warm up and water expands, the ice caps and glaciers start to melt, and more precipitation starts to fall falls instead of snow. These are some of the causes for sea levels rising. Recorded by the Department of Ecology, the sea levels have risen four to ten inches in the past one hundred years. When the climate changes it usually increases the oceans temperatures, causing water to expand which causes the sea level to rise by thermal expansion. When the water amount begins to take up more space. The sea level rising depends souly on the temperature of the ocean. Climate Change is also effected by ice glaciers melting over areas of land, which run off into our oceans. A big contribution to climate change and sea level rising is the melting ice masses of Antarctica and Greenland.
Climate Change is costing the world millions of dollars and is the biggest issue facing society today. Climate change is causing greenhouse gases to build up, ice caps to melt, etc. Some people believe climate change is not a big issue. For instance in the article “Gospel of The Climate Change Deniers” it is stated, “Barton a guy who called Al Gore ‘totally wrong’ about global warming and advised people to get shade to adapt to rising temperatures” (Kroll). Although, this is an appealing mindset, it is illogical because climate change has many more effects than just warmer temperatures. For example, Frank Ackerman: an economist known for his work in environmental economics and Dr. Elizabeth A. Stanton an environmental economist and
Scientists and environmentalists started talking about global warming and the dangers of climate change long time ago but it is now when the consequences of these effects began to manifest themselves in a clearer and even worrisome manner. The temperatures on Earth are rising, the sea level is rising, the amounts of CO2 and ozone in the atmosphere are increasing, the amount and timing of precipitation is changing. All of these issues show tendency to worsen in the future, though it is hard to predict exactly by how much or at what rate they will unfold. One thing is clear – climate change has an impact on almost every area of our life and it deserves our attention and timely response.
Climate change is a major issue that is only going to get worse. Climate change is a change in global or regional climate patterns. It has become more apparent since the mid to late 20th century onwards and is attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels. Climate change has been an important issue for decades that has effects on the environment and people of the world with the end result potentially being catastrophic. Although many believe that prolific use of fossil fuels is the direct cause of climate change, there are many more underlying causes including population expansion as well as irresponsible consumption of natural resources that have
...ry that is very demanding of krill and their habitat. The fisherman catch so much krill at once that the krill cannot keep up with the reproduction and the number of krill is decreasing every week. People should monitor how much krill they are catching so they don’t extinct the animal.
Scientific knowledge required to show the effects and trends of climate seems to be well-developed and valid for use, but the social, economic and political aspects have always caused differences, which have delayed the efforts to solve these issues (Maslin, 2007). While the world is still struggling to find a better and effective way of dealing with these effects, there has been very little efforts made towards this on global scale, with each nation attempting to have its own way of dealing with these issues. Moreover, the controversies over the responsibilities per nation or region have been a drawback towards finding a solution to these problems (Brown & Leipold,
Due to climate changes, we are a “gradual and uncertain rather than immediate and obvious” process, we as humans cannot understand it (Jamieson, 102). In addition, climate change effects have no geographical bounds and because very few people pay attention to events that occur beyond national boundaries, most people are oblivious to its existence. Jamieson makes the point that climate change must be thought rather than sensed, and we as humans are not very good at thinking (Jamieson, 103). On top of that, even if we succeed in thinking that something is a threat, we are less reactive than if we sense that it is a threat. Since we cannot even comprehend climate change's presence in our world right now, it also makes it extremely difficult for us to comprehend how our anthropogenic actions of today will affect future generations all over the world.
All facts, statements and reports conclude that mankind is in part responsible for this change in our ecosystem. Hence if we do not change, drastic changes over the next 100 years will threaten the safety of some people and our environment. More and more research is being deployed into this intriguing field of science. Some scientists deny reports of global warming impacts. And some scientists show more and more proof of such impacts. When will the academic and governmental community understand the consequences of our treasured way of life? Will it take huge catastrophic man-induced disasters to change the worlds mind on what actions to take? Is our economy so reliant upon oil that it will risk our planets' health, for money? People need to take action on these issues before the damage of global warming has left a huge, worsening-footprint on our earth.
The earth has experienced climate change for the entirety of its existence. For billions of years, this change has occurred at a relatively slow pace, with exceptions being caused by events such as large scale volcanic eruptions. Now, humans are the cause for high rates of climate change and damage to the environment. This is beginning to have damaging effects on not only us, but the world around us, and we are only just started to take action. Efforts to reduce climate change would be more realized if not for the resistance of many due to misconceptions, money, and a reluctance to change. Short- and long-term solutions are being developed by the brightest minds, but they will not work without
There are many different views on whether global warming is actually real or not and possible catastrophic damage it causes. It is a big issue in politics now, everyone is arguing whether or not it is actually real or that it is just a weather pattern. People need to wake up and realize that it is real, just look at the shorter winters and the warmer weather. The Glaciers are melting, crazy weather patterns are happening, so what else could it be? We have more things to worry about as a government though.
The country that I am doing for my report is New Zealand. New Zealand is made up of two Islands. The north and the south islands. It is located in the south pacific by Australia.
Global Warming is a condition caused by greenhouse gases and human activities. The increased concentration of greenhouse gases due to activities such as deforestation and fossil fuel burning is causing the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans to warm up. As a result of this, global warming has some serious effects in the shape of extreme weather, species extinctions, and rising sea levels. These effects can contribute to the changes that are taking place all over the world, most of which are dangerous enough to pose a threat to the survival of life on Earth in the future.
One of the major effects of global warming is the rise of sea level due to thermal expansion of the ocean, in addition to the melting of land ice. Now there are dozens of land areas that sit well below sea level and the majority of those land areas are very well populated. At least 40 percent of the world 's population lives within 62 miles of the ocean, putting millions of lives and billions of dollars ' worth of property and infrastructure at risk. (Juliet Christian-Smith, 2011) This means if the sea level rises to the projected level of 25 meters (82 feet) half of the world will retreat back to the ocean. (Rohrer, 2007) Also rising sea levels means higher tides and storm surges riding on ever-higher seas which are more dangerous to people and coastal inf...