Warning bells are ringing loud and clear. It’s high time we get the message. Global warming is on the rise, climate trends are changing all over the planet and human activities are the unequivocal forces that have triggered this. Global warming is affecting the environment at a swift pace, making its impact felt not only on nature but also on the lives and homes of millions of people across the globe.

Global warming is endangering polar bears, shortening ski seasons, resulting in heat waves and unprecedented hot weather, arrival of early spring, ocean warming, rise in sea level, glacier melting, Antarctica and Arctic warming, coral reef bleaching, heavy downpours, snowfalls and flooding, droughts and fires, and breakout of various diseases and epidemics.

These changes are reflecting in the rapidly increasing extinction of the world’s rich biodiversity which can be measured from the highest mountains to the deepest oceans. According to a study conducted by the United Nations, people who live near the shoreline are open to the threat of global warming earliest, along with those who suffer from droughts and floods.

According to the latest report on Climate Change by Intergovernmental Panel, which was released in Brussels on 06 April 2007, global warming is having a radical impact on eco-systems and living beings as the earth’s temperature is increasing degree by degree. The earliest targets are people belonging to poorer nations that have had little to do with the greenhouse effect. Scientists proclaim that certain areas are likely to benefit from global warming as the agriculture yields will tend to go higher. But the ubiquitous fact haunting us today is that the world is plunging towards extinction and we are watching helplessly.

Global Warming: The Threat Imposed

Global warming has become a matter of mass concern ever since the dawn of the 21st century. The threats imposed by it are far more destructive than war. We are faced with a crisis to help sustain the human race. David A. King, Chief Scientific Advisor to the British Government, says, “In my view, climate change is the most serious problem we are facing today— more serious even than the threat of terrorism.”

Global temperatures have risen dramatically since the 19th century ever since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. This is due to the rapid increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted during the burning of fossil fuels. Human activities are solely responsible for this calamity. Methane, ozone and other harmful gases are also released in the atmosphere as a by-product of the burning of fossil fuels. Gases like CO2 and methane trap some of the sun’s radiation and hold it in the lower atmosphere leading to an increase in temperature. According to scientists, whenever the quantity of CO2 has increased, temperatures have soared. The recent increase in atmospheric CO2 is 380 parts per million— the highest in 650,000 years.

This has resulted in increasing the earth’s temperature by 1° F in the last century. According to a report by the International Panel of Climate Scientists (IPCC), the earth’s water bodies have absorbed most of the added CO2 and heat which had led to them becoming warmer and slightly acidic.

Unprecedented Damage

Global warming is already creating havoc by damaging plant and animal life, weather, climate zones and above all— human beings.

Antarctica

Ice shelves are melting rapidly. This is resulting in increased sea levels and several coastal areas are likely to drown permanently.

The Muller ice shelf, in the Antarctic Peninsula, fed by glaciers has been receding recently after thriving over a 400-year-long cooling period.

The Larson ice shelf lost a 1200 mile section in 2002. According to Argentinean glaciologists, the land-based glaciers exposed by the removal of those sections had surged rapidly into the ocean. Thus, although ice shelves are floating and do not add to sea level when they melt or break up, land-based glaciers released by such events definitely will add to sea level.

The mile-long ice cliff of Marr Ice Piedmont, Anvers Island, has receded about 500 meters since the mid 1960s. The regional temperature has increased 5°C in winter over the past 50 years. This reduces seasonal icepack, disrupts growth of krill and changes conditions on penguin rookeries.

Arctic Zone

With shorter winters and warmer winds, the arctic zone is already witnessing the catastrophic effects of global warming. Rise in sea level combined with perma frost results in soil erosion. Shishmaref Alaska, a village located on a sandy barrier island of the northwest shore of Seward Peninsula has failed to halt the rising Bering Sea and has witnessed massive shore erosion since the 1950s. The town’s folk have been compelled to move the inland to a higher and safer altitude.

Baffin Island is located across Greenland in Nunavut, Canada, where loss of ice and perma frost is affecting the lives of the native Inuits. In winters, loss of ice is limiting hunting and fishing, and in the summers, permafrost is resulting in increased erosion. The mountains, which were covered with ice all year long, now lay barren without ice.

Glaciers

The inch by inch warming is resulting in the melting away of glaciers. Every passing year has startling revelations to follow up with. Since 1980, glacier retreat has become rapid and omnipresent and is pointing towards the depletion of several glaciers of the world. The process further picked up speed since 1995. The total surface area of glaciers has decreased by 50 percent of which major losses have been reported from the Andes Mountains, the Alps, the Himalayas, the Rocky Mountains and the North Cascades. The snow cap that adorned Mount Kilimanjaro has almost disappeared. Greenland’s icecap, second to Antarctica, is also melting away rapidly. The Pasterze, Austria’s longest glacier, was about 2 kilometers longer in the 19th century, but is now completely out of sight. It has been replaced by Margaritzen-Strausee, an artificial lake, which was once the glacier terminus.

Melting of glaciers will result in landslides, floods and the outbreak of several diseases and epidemics. If prolonged melting exists, the glaciers will dry up and people will be at a loss of water in the plains.

Coastlines

Rising sea levels, warming winds and rising tides are some of the by-products of global warming affecting the coastal areas. The first island claimed by global warming was Lochara Island in the Sunderbans in the Bay of Bengal.

Ecosystems: As per the world Wildlife Federation (WWF), global warming has already started to have an impact on several plants and animal species. The golden toad (Bufo periglenes) and the harlequin frog /9Atelopus various) of Costa Rica have disappeared as a direct result of global warming.

Owing to the climate change, ecosystems are likely to disappear altogether. They have already started to undergo irreversible changes. Polar Bears in the Hudson Bay area of Canada are losing weight and are showing a sign of health concern as the ice has started to melt two weeks earlier leaving them with no scope for hunting. The fish stocks of Cornwall, South England have moved as far as the Shetland Islands.

Global warming is having a devastating impact on the coral reefs as well. The coral reefs thrive in temperatures between 18 C and 30 C. Thus, with the increase in global temperature there has been unprecedented increase in coral bleaching events during the past two decades. When ocean temperatures get to high, coral polyps lose the symbiotic algae inside them, causing them to turn white or “bleach” and then eventually die. Almost 90 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef was affected by coral bleaching in 1998. Rising sea levels are imposing a great threat to coral reefs and the islands that stand on coral reef atolls. As per the recent statistics, 10 per cent of the world’s coral reefs have been destroyed. It is estimated that within the next 40 years approximately 70 per cent of the coral reefs will be destructed.

For millions of years, species have been shifting where they grow and reproduce in response to the change in climatic conditions. Over the next century, global warming could result in approximately one-third of the world’s forested area undergoing major transitions in species composition. These changes in vegetation and ecosystems structure may in turn give rise to additional releases of carbon into the environment, further accelerating climate change.

Old vegetation also tends to die in areas affected by climate change and is likely to be replaced by fast growing, non-native species. Several pest species such as weeds, rats and cockroaches may also increase.

As the temperature soars, optimum habitat for various species will move higher up the mountains or further towards the Poles. Some species are likely to undergo major losses or permanent extinctions when there is no scope left for adaptability.

Stop Global warming: Save the Planet

The time to take action to prevent global warming has finally arrived. Human activities are at the core of triggering this phenomenon and it is entirely in our hands to overcome this cataclysm. Scientists are forewarning a rise in earth’s temperatures between 2 and 11 F over the next century. If unchecked, global warming will destroy the planet and cause unprecedented human suffering on a global scale.

Since, CO2 is one pf the major pollutants behind global warming, we need to adopt ways to cut down on its use and head for alternative energy. We need to make a transition towards clean energy based on solar, wind and biomass generated power and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister of Sweden, in a recent White House conference opined, “The world cannot rely on technological innovation alone to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but must also move to curb emissions through regulation. We feel that the time has come to take our international dialogue to the next level. We need not only to work together on the technology of fighting climate change, but also to agree on the overriding goal of reducing greenhouse gas.”

Simple day-to-day techniques to prevent global warming include using more efficient or electrical cars. One might even think of going in for cars that run on solar energy. Say no to all aerosol products and get your air conditioners services annually. Reduce the consumption of electricity by cutting down on unnecessary lights and fans. Turn off electrical appliances when not being used. This will reduce the amount of electricity being consumed thereby, decreasing the amount of fossil fuels being burned. Another way to prevent global warming is by replacing the candescent bulbs in homes with compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). It consumes just a fourth of the electricity for delivering the same lumens of light as the ordinary bulb and lasts much longer. It considerably reduces greenhouse gases.

As we all know, that the main culprit backing global warming is atmospheric CO2, we need to plant more trees and plants as they absorb atmospheric CO2 for photosynthesis and release oxygen. As per research, one acre of lawn removes one ton of CO2, nitrous oxide and other air pollutants in one year. Rainforests are being razed at a swift pace today for cattle grazing; many are being burned down for making establishments to accommodate the ever increasing population. The biggest problem facing us is that of creating general awareness among the masses.

Is Global Warming Real?

Global warming is certainly real and is likely to infuse a catastrophe that will take the whole world in its stride. In a report prepared for the Pentagon Defense Headquarters in the US, global warming could make large areas of the world uninhabitable causing massive food and water shortages, infusing widespread migrations and even war.

Global warming is a threat standing at the threshold. If we don’t do something about it now, it might be too late …