Dying Earth
1. Melting of Ice
The ice caps melting is a four-pronged danger.
First, it will raise sea levels. There are 5,773,000 cubic miles of water in ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, if all glaciers melted today the seas would rise about 230 feet.
Second, melting ice caps will throw the global ecosystem out of balance. The ice caps are fresh water, and when they melt they will desalinate the ocean, or in plain English - make it less salty. The desalinization of the gulf current will “screw up” ocean currents, which regulate temperatures. The stream shutdown or irregularity would cool the area around north-east America and Western Europe.
Third, temperature rises and changing landscapes in the artic circle will endanger several species of animals. Only the most adaptable will survive.
Fourth, global warming could snowball with the ice caps gone. Ice caps are white, and reflect sunlight, much of which is relected back into space, further cooling Earth. If the ice caps melt, the only reflector is the ocean. Darker colors absorb sunlight, further warming the Earth.
Climate change is affecting the spread of infectious diseases worldwide — posing serious threats to not only humans, but also animals and plants, The changing climate is already massively affecting plants and animals, researchers write in the study. The muskox, pictured above, is one arctic animal that's already seeing higher mortality rates because of one climate change-spread infectious disease, researchers said. Biodiversity loss has even been linked to greater risks from certain infectious diseases, such as Lyme disease and the West Nile Virus, according to researchers. Additionally, certain human diseases, such as dengue, malaria and cholera, thrive in warmer temperatures, threatening much of the developing world. The warming globe's impact on agricultural systems and game species pose a particular concern for the indigenous people of the Arctic, among other groups in rapidly changing areas.
2. Spread of disease
As the temperature of oceans rises, so will the probability of more frequent and stronger hurricanes. Scientists have looked at potential correlations between ocean temperatures and tropical cyclone trends worldwide over the past several decades. Extensive research has found that a 0.45 °F (0.25 °C) increase in mean annual tropical sea surface temperature corresponded to a 60 percent increase in a tropical cyclone's potential destructiveness. Further research show that a one percent annual increase of atmospheric CO2 concentrations over the next 80 years would produce more intense storms, and rainfall would increase an average of 18 percent compared with present-day conditions.
Although some areas of Earth will become wetter due to global warming, other areas will suffer serious droughts and heat waves. Africa will receive the worst of it, with more severe droughts also expected in Europe. Water is already a dangerously rare commodity in Africa, and according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming will exacerbate the conditions and could lead to conflicts and war.
3. Warmer waters and more hurricanes
4. Increased probability and intensity of droughts and heat waves
A powerful combination of vehicular fumes, ground-level ozone, airborne industrial pollution and the stagnant hot air associated with heat waves, smog represents an immediate and chronic health threat to those living in built-up urban areas.
It exacerbates pre-existing health conditions that affect the respiratory system such as emphysema, bronchitis and asthma, and in general impedes the immune system’s ability to fight against infection and disease.
A hotter climate tends to lead directly to an increase in the levels of ozone, with smog-related deaths predicted to rise by “about 4.5 percent from the 1990s to the 2050s,” according to relevant studies undertaken by Columbia and Johns Hopkins universities.
5. Death by smog
6. Rising Sea Levels
If people keep adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, the average sea level around the world by the end of this century (the year 2099) could be anywhere from 7 to 23 inches higher than it was in 1990. Sea level could rise even more if the big ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica melt faster.
Rising sea level is a threat to people who live near the ocean. Some low-lying areas will have more frequent flooding, and very low-lying land could be submerged completely. Rising sea level can also harm important coastal ecosystems like mangrove forests and coral reefs. - EPA
Flooding represents one of the most dangerous hazards to human settlements and is one of the most potentially momentous impacts of global warming. As the climate changes, a warming of the seas creates ‘thermal expansion’. This is where warm water begins to take up more space than cool water, making the sea’s surface level increase. Thermal expansion has already raised the height of the oceans by 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20cm), according to National Geographic.
Steadily melting glacial ice also adds significantly to the elevation in water surface level, and many low-lying or coastal communities and facilities will be under threat of eradication should the sea levels continue to rise. An increase of just a single meter (3 ft) would submerge considerable sections of the U.S. eastern seaboard, while one sixth of Bangladesh could be lost permanently by a rise of 1.5 m (5 ft), to name just two examples.
The relocation of power stations, refineries, hospitals, homes and so on would become an expensive priority. Also, warmer air can hold more water vapour, increasing the level of rainfall and bringing flooding to inland areas.
- Scribol
7. More floods
It is possible that future centuries could see increased friction between nations and ethnic groups as dwindling resources lead to migration and conflict. Countries and factions would seek to control precious, dwindling resources and provide safety and shelter for their own people – perhaps at the cost of others.
Simultaneously, previously heavily populated places would become uninhabitable due to heat or other factors, displacing millions of people. These refugee hordes might be corralled into semi-permanent camps, or even suffer at the hands of unwelcoming native groups.
Even now, relocations are taking place. Mumbai’s population is estimated to become swollen by a further 7 million people by the year 2050 as global warming renders villages and hamlets uninhabitable or unprofitable, either through flooding or drought. More land pollution would be an inevitable by-product of these changes in habitation and the availability of resources. - Scribol
8. Migration, conflict and wars
If global warming continues as expected, it is estimated that almost a third of all flora and fauna species worldwide could become extinct. Scientists from the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (Biodiversität und Klima Forschungszentrum, BiK-F) and the SENCKENBERG Gesellschaft für Naturkunde discovered that the proportion of actual biodiversity loss should quite clearly be revised upwards: by 2080, more than 80 % of genetic diversity within species may disappear in certain groups of organisms, according to researchers in the title story of the journal Nature Climate Change. The study is the first world-wide to quantify the loss of biological diversity on the basis of genetic diversity.
Most common models on the effects of climate change on flora and fauna concentrate on "classically" described species, in other words groups of organisms that are clearly separate from each other morphologically. Until now, however, so-called cryptic diversity has not been taken into account. It encompasses the diversity of genetic variations and deviations within described species, and can only be researched fully since the development of molecular-genetic methods. As well as the diversity of ecosystems and species, these genetic variations are a central part of global biodiversity.
In a pioneering study, scientists from the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) and the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturkunde have now examined the influence of global warming on genetic diversity within species.
Over 80 percent of genetic variations may become extinct
The distribution of nine European aquatic insect species, which still exist in the headwaters of streams in many high mountain areas in Central and Northern Europe, was modelled. They have already been widely researched, which means that the regional distribution of the inner-species diversity and the existence of morphologically cryptic, evolutionary lines are already known.
If global warming does take place in the range that is predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), these creatures will be pushed back to only a few small refugia, e.g. in Scandinavia and the Alps, by 2080, according to model calculations. If Europe's climate warms up by up to two degrees only, eight of the species examined will survive, at least in some areas; with an increase in temperature of 4 degrees, six species will probably survive in some areas by 2080. However, due to the extinction of local populations, genetic diversity will decline to a much more dramatic extent.
According to the most pessimistic projections, 84 percent of all genetic variations would die out by 2080; in the "best case," two-thirds of all genetic variations would disappear. The aquatic insects that were examined are representative for many species of mountainous regions of Central Europe.
9. Loss of biodiversity and animal extinction
Climate change brings about a variation in net world product, which could be minus or plus 5 percent. However, even the smallest changes can result in comparatively huge variations in the national economies. One industry that is normally affected by such changes is the widely held insurance industry. In fact, a report done in 2004 by British Insurers discovered that the changing climate systems increase the risks for property and households by about 5% per annum. Furthermore, claims for flood and tornado compensations in Britain had also increased twofold during the period of the report. Consequently, insurance premiums are so costly such that in certain places it is almost impossible for people to afford storm and flood insurance.
Agriculture, transportation and food are also affected adversely by global warming. This results in an overall slowing down of development in most countries. Temperature variations cause damage to roads, railway lines, pipelines, water mains and airport runways and so on. Hence, additional efforts and money are needed to renew and maintain the entire system. Areas that experience permafrost are unfavorably affected resulting in badly damaged airport runways and crumpled roads. - Hope Project
10. Economic impacts of global warming
Arctic sea ice melts in summer and then returns in the winter. From 1979 to 2002 the Arctic was losing sea ice at about 3% per decade (ten years). From 1979-2004 summer ice declined by 7.7% per decade. Melting seems to be speeding up. In 2007 there was a record loss of sea ice. Summer ice lost 1,000,000 square kilometres, down to 4,140,000 sq km (1,600,000 sq mi), by far the lowest ever.
CONSEQUENCES OF GLOBAL WARMING
Among the massive problems that the entire world is currently dealing with is global warming. The negative effects it brings to plants and animals are quite scary and the consequences it can bring on us humans are even a lot more frightening. Global warming facts are usually debated in the media and politics and it is really sad to say that even if all of us argue on what causes it, the effect that global warming brings are measurable, global and real. Basically, we, human beings cause it and the consequences we are facing right now can be more severe if we cannot do things to take care of our mother earth.
Say stop to holocaust against animals, environment and Earth