Every year on one side the temperatures are rising at a significant level during summer, and some regions are not experiencing summer at all, which is not a good sign in climate change. Two major wildfire events occurred in the past few months, which also had a major impact on the climate. Everybody is aware that climate change is happening, but how big of a treat is it for human health?
According to the reports, the earth has seen the twenty warmest years which have occurred in the past 22 years. The ocean temperatures were shockingly warm. In 2017 the ocean temperatures were shockingly warm and were 1.52 x 10^22 Joules more than the second warmest ocean temperature year, 2015. It is equivalent to the energy that is produced by China annually. Ocean warming also causes acidification which is harmful to phytoplankton that provides half of the oxygen that the planet breathes.
Over 42 Billion tons of greenhouse pollution causes every year, which is causing global warming, and it is increasing every year by 2-3%. The USA is historically the largest emitter of greenhouse gases and is lead by China in the highest annual emissions. With such significant changes in the climate, the EPA has predicted the carbon concentration in the atmosphere will rise to over 800 ppm by the end of the 21st century. The atmospheric concentration of methane is the highest today, according to the records.
Effects of climate change
Climate change can cause changes in the weather conditions which can create significant threats to human health. The temperatures are already predicted to increase 4-degree Celcius by the end of the century. It is a sign that the weather conditions are going to alter too, creating several problems for humans.
Higher temperatures in the oceans can increase the surface evaporation, which can carry more water to the lands causing excess amounts of rain. These extreme rain events are termed as rain bombs which result in storm surge and last for a long time causing devastation that takes many lives. The deadliest storm in 2017, Hurricane Maria accounted for around 3,000 deaths across Puerto Rico. Climate changes can cause hurricanes to become even more dangerous by intensifying rainfall for 10% and wind speeds by 25mph.
There are many cities which are slowly disappearing from the global map, including New York, Tokyo, Jakarta, Bangkok, and Venice. The melting ice from Greenland can add 20 feet to the current height of global seas.
Drought is another big calamity that the world will have to deal with, which will also increase in the coming years with rising temperatures. The world is experiencing more persistent droughts during the summers, which also makes the forests more prone to wildfire. Last year devastating forest fire in the Amazon rainforest ripped off on of the most important ecosystems of the earth. Dozens of bushfires erupted in Australia as well which also made the government declare a state of emergency in 2019.