The IPCC reported that the global sea level rose about 1. Rising sea levels could flood coastal communities, displacing millions of people in areas such as Bangladesh, the Netherlands, and the U. Millions more people in countries like Bolivia, Peru, and India depend on glacial meltwater for drinking, irrigation , and hydroelectric power.
Rapid loss of these glaciers would devastate those countries. Glacial melt has already raised the global sea level slightly. However, scientists are discovering ways the sea level could increase even faster. For example, the melting of the Chacaltaya Glacier in Bolivia has exposed dark rocks beneath it. The rocks absorb heat from the sun, speeding up the melting process. Another effect involves changes in precipitation like rain and snow.
Patterns in precipitation may change or become more extreme. Over the course of the 20th century, precipitation increased in eastern parts of North and South America, northern Europe, and northern and central Asia. However, it has decreased in parts of Africa, the Mediterranean, and parts of southern Asia.
Future Changes Nobody can look into a crystal ball and predict the future with certainty. However, scientists can make estimates about future population growth, greenhouse gas emissions, and other factors that affect climate.
They can enter those estimates into computer model s to find out the most likely effects of global warming. The IPCC predicts that greenhouse gas emissions will continue to increase over the next few decades. As a result, they predict the average global temperature will increase by about 0. Even if we reduce greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions to their levels, we can still expect a warming of about 0.
The panel also predicts global warming will contribute to some serious changes in water supplies around the world. By the middle of the 21st century, the IPCC predicts, river runoff and water availability will most likely increase at high latitudes and in some tropical areas. However, many dry regions in the mid-latitudes and tropics will experience a decrease in water resources. As a result, millions of people may be exposed to water shortage s.
Water shortages decrease the amount of water available for drinking, electricity, and hygiene. Shortages also reduce water used for irrigation. Agricultural output would slow and food prices would climb. Consistent years of drought in the Great Plains of the United States and Canada would have this effect. IPCC data also suggest that the frequency of heat waves and extreme precipitation will increase.
Weather patterns such as storm s and tropical cyclone s will become more intense. Storms themselves may be stronger, more frequent, and longer-lasting. They would be followed by stronger storm surge s, the immediate rise in sea level following storms.
Storm surges are particularly damaging to coastal areas because their effects flooding, erosion , damage to buildings and crops are lasting. What We Can Do Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions is a critical step in slowing the global warming trend.
Many governments around the world are working toward this goal. The biggest effort so far has been the Kyoto Protocol , which was adopted in and went into effect in By the end of , countries had signed and ratified the agreement. Under the protocol, 37 industrialized countries and the European Union have committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. There are several ways that governments, industries, and individuals can reduce greenhouse gases.
We can improve energy efficiency in homes and businesses. We can improve the fuel efficiency of cars and other vehicles. Some scientists are working to capture carbon dioxide and store it underground, rather than let it go into the atmosphere. This process is called carbon sequestration. Trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide as they grow.
Protecting existing forests and planting new ones can help balance greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Changes in farming practices could also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For example, farms use large amounts of nitrogen-based fertilizer s, which increase nitrogen oxide emissions from the soil. Reducing the use of these fertilizers would reduce the amount of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. The way farmers handle animal manure can also have an effect on global warming.
When manure is stored as liquid or slurry in ponds or tanks, it releases methane. When it dries as a solid, however, it does not. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is vital ly important.
However, the global temperature has already changed and will most likely continue to change for years to come. The IPCC suggests that people explore ways to adapt to global warming as well as try to slow or stop it. Some of the suggestions for adapting include:. Shell Shock A sudden increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere does more than change Earth's temperature. A lot of the carbon dioxide in the air dissolves into seawater.
There, it forms carbonic acid in a process called ocean acidification. Ocean acidification is making it hard for some sea creatures to build shells and skeletal structures. This could alter the ecological balance in the oceans and cause problems for fishing and tourism industries.
Barking Up the Wrong Tree Spruce bark beetles in Alaska have had a population boom thanks to 20 years of warmer-than-average summers. The insects have managed to chew their way through 1. Disappearing Penguins Emperor penguins made a showbiz splash in the film March of the Penguins. Sadly, their encore might include a disappearing act. In the s, an abnormally long warm spell caused these Antarctic birds' population to drop by 50 percent.
Some scientists worry that continued global warming will push the creatures to extinction by changing their habitat and food supply. In the United States, with Americans buying larger cars and taking more flights and with low gas prices encouraging drivers to use their cars more, transportation is the largest contributor of greenhouse gases.
It accounted for Carbon dioxide is the primary gas emitted, though fuel combustion also releases small amounts of methane and nitrous oxide, and vehicle air conditioning and refrigerated transport release fluorinated gases too. Nationwide, cars and trucks are responsible for more than 80 percent of transportation-related carbon emissions. Buildings Operating buildings around the world generates 6.
In the United States, homes and businesses accounted for about 11 percent of warming emissions. These emissions, made up mostly of carbon dioxide and methane, stem primarily from burning natural gas and oil for heating and cooking, though other sources include managing waste and wastewater and leaking refrigerants from air-conditioning and refrigeration systems.
Other Sources This category includes emissions from energy-related activities other than fossil fuel combustion, such as the extraction, refining, processing, and transportation of oil, gas, and coal. Globally, this sector accounts for 9. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, more than 2, billion tons of carbon dioxide have been released into the atmosphere by human activities, according to the Global Carbon Project. North America and Europe are responsible for approximately half of that total, while the emerging economies of China and India have contributed another 14 percent.
For the remainder, plus countries share responsibility. An analysis of carbon dioxide emissions by country today shows that China now leads the pack, responsible for 27 percent of all emissions. Together, these global powers account for almost 60 percent of all emissions. According to the IPCC, to was likely the warmest year period of the last 1, years in the Northern Hemisphere, where assessment is possible.
And all five of the years from to were the hottest on record globally. It is:. These changes pose threats not only to plants and wildlife, but directly to people. Warmer temperatures mean insects that spread diseases like dengue fever and Zika can thrive—and heat waves are getting hotter and more lethal to humans. People could go hungry when our food supply is diminished thanks to droughts and floods —a National Research Council study found that for every degree Celsius that the planet heats up, crop yields will go down 5 to 15 percent.
Food insecurity can lead to mass human migration and political instability. And in January , the Department of Defense released a report that described the threats to U. In other words, humans are the problem. But we may also be the solution. Overhauling our energy systems will require transformative, aggressive global action—and now.
According to the IPCC, we must decrease greenhouse gas pollution by 45 percent from levels by and reach net zero emissions by To allow global warming to exceed 1. Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions will require significant effort at the international, national, and local levels.
First and foremost, we must slash fossil fuel production, consumption, and pollution by ramping up our use of clean, renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies and by investing in fuel-efficient and electric vehicles. We must protect our carbon-storing forests and reduce food waste and the emissions that go with it. And as individuals, we must commit to taking carbon-cutting actions in our daily lives. President Trump is also working to withdraw the nation from the landmark Paris climate agreement even though nearly two-thirds of Americans believe we should do more to tackle climate change, not less.
Still, decision makers, companies, leaders, and activists across the country and around the world staunchly believe we must act on climate change. For just as the emissions of man-made greenhouse gases long ago are inducing the climate change we see now, the emissions we release today will impact us long into the future. By tackling transit, ride sharing, and more, the Texas capital hopes to embrace its big-city identity.
Mining, drilling, and burning dirty energy are harming the environment and our health. At lower elevations of the atmosphere the troposphere , ozone is harmful to human health. Learn more about ground-level ozone pollution and what is being done to reduce ozone pollution. Energy and the environment explained Greenhouse gases. What is energy? Units and calculators. Use of energy. Energy and the environment. Also in What is energy? Forms of energy Sources of energy Laws of energy.
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