What is Global warming: Definition and 222 Discussions
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, humans have since the mid-20th century had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and have caused change on a global scale.The largest driver of warming is the emission of gases that create a greenhouse effect, of which more than 90% are carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane. Fossil fuel burning (coal, oil, and natural gas) for energy consumption is the main source of these emissions, with additional contributions from agriculture, deforestation, and manufacturing. The human cause of climate change is not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing. Temperature rise is accelerated or tempered by climate feedbacks, such as loss of sunlight-reflecting snow and ice cover, increased water vapour (a greenhouse gas itself), and changes to land and ocean carbon sinks.
Temperature rise on land is about twice the global average increase, leading to desert expansion and more common heat waves and wildfires. Temperature rise is also amplified in the Arctic, where it has contributed to melting permafrost, glacial retreat and sea ice loss. Warmer temperatures are increasing rates of evaporation, causing more intense storms and weather extremes. Impacts on ecosystems include the relocation or extinction of many species as their environment changes, most immediately in coral reefs, mountains, and the Arctic. Climate change threatens people with food insecurity, water scarcity, flooding, infectious diseases, extreme heat, economic losses, and displacement. These impacts have led the World Health Organization to call climate change the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century. Even if efforts to minimise future warming are successful, some effects will continue for centuries, including rising sea levels, rising ocean temperatures, and ocean acidification.
Many of these impacts are already felt at the current level of warming, which is about 1.2 °C (2.2 °F). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a series of reports that project significant increases in these impacts as warming continues to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) and beyond. Additional warming also increases the risk of triggering critical thresholds called tipping points. Responding to climate change involves mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation – limiting climate change – consists of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and removing them from the atmosphere; methods include the development and deployment of low-carbon energy sources such as wind and solar, a phase-out of coal, enhanced energy efficiency, reforestation, and forest preservation. Adaptation consists of adjusting to actual or expected climate, such as through improved coastline protection, better disaster management, assisted colonisation, and the development of more resistant crops. Adaptation alone cannot avert the risk of "severe, widespread and irreversible" impacts.Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, nations collectively agreed to keep warming "well under 2.0 °C (3.6 °F)" through mitigation efforts. However, with pledges made under the Agreement, global warming would still reach about 2.8 °C (5.0 °F) by the end of the century. Limiting warming to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) would require halving emissions by 2030 and achieving near-zero emissions by 2050.
Is this fair?
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I know this forum is full of arguments over whether or not global warming is even taking place, but even if it can be proven that it is, and that it is largely caused by greenhouse gases, is it fair to sue a nation for that? What is the U.S. doing that 90% of...
After writing this essay I decided to stop fighting the global warmings.
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Recommendations For Global Warming Skeptics, an armchair analysis
by Andre
Apparently, one of the instincts for survival of a social species like Homo sapiens is social...
Since there seems to be a lot of controversy about this, I thought I'd do a little poll to collect the oppinions of you guys. Is global warming a real threat caused by us, a purely natural occurence or a cross between misleading figures and political spin?
Views & opinions appreciated.
Just a question I am a little stuck on. I missed last week's chem lecture:
What effect would each of these changes have on global warming?
a) volcanic eruptions
b) CFCs in the troposphere
c) CFCs in the stratosphere
Here's what I think so far..
a) Volcanic eruption release large...
is global warming a natural phenomenon? I think it is . But we can enhanced it such as we produce tonnes of carbon dioxide every day, causing the greehouse effect strengthen and finally lead to global warming .
As I see a new brave offensive against those devious satanic gasses and obviously, weather of mass destruction is about to destroy the world. So, perhaps it's time to review the science behind greenhouse warming.
How about using the scientific method this time.
It seems to be getting...
In a low key admission, Bush officials are allowing that they were wrong in their summary dismissal of man induced atmospheric warming.
link:www.nytimes.com/2002/06/03/science/03CLIM.html
Global warming on retreat.
The British press is usually in the top scaremongers when it’s about the potential disasters of Anthropogenic Global Warming. It’s about finished by now. See how elegant the retreat is:
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/07/18/wsun18.xml
Every time I read about global warming (cooling) and climate change, I have a tendency to think: this is such a longterm problem, with very few consequences for our lives; it should be of no concern to us.
The other day I read that Greenland's entire icecap could melt by the year 2350 (oh...
I'm a physicist, and a skeptic. I have been all my life.
Now, when it comes to global warming, I admit to not knowing a great deal. It seems that many in Academia feel that this is a legitimate threat. However, I have this growing suspicion about the integrity of many of these academics in...
im still on the fence, is global warming natural or manmade? i don't know
i have read that eruptions from mamalian rear ends has a lot to do with it
how could one stop that.
no crudidity intended.
Is global warming really that bad?
Just imagine, right now we're all "polluting" the atmosphere with "pollutants", like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and what-nots. Isn't this just like the time when oxygen was being pumped into the atmosphere by cyanobacteria and plants a...