IMPACTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

By Rahul

The diagram above shows the impacts of global warming. It shows that many animals are getting extinct, some parts of countries are getting under water and the temperature is rising up fast which results in melting of glaciers.

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Global warming is already underway with consequences that must be faced today as well as tomorrow. Evidence of changes to the Earth's physical, chemical and biological processes is now evident on every continent.

To fully appreciate the urgency of climate change, it's important to understand the ways it affects society and the natural environment. Sea levels are rising as ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice because of the rising of temperature. Glaciers are shrinking; record high temperatures and severe rainstorms and droughts are becoming increasingly common. Changes in temperatures and rainfall patterns alter plant and animal behaviour as they cannot survive in the hot surroundings and have significant implications for humans.

The planet is warming, from North Pole to South Pole, and everywhere in between. Globally, the mercury is already up more than 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius), and even more in sensitive Polar Region. They’re happening right now. Signs are appearing all over, and some of them are surprising. The heat is not only melting glaciers and sea ice, it’s also shifting precipitation patterns and setting animals on the move because the animals cannot survive in the hot surroundings so they are all migrating. For eg.  The Aedile penguins in Antarctica, their numbers have fallen from 32,000 breeding pairs to 11,000 in 30 years, spruce bark beetles have boomed in Alaska thanks to 20 years of warm summers. The insects have chewed up 4 million acres of spruce trees, some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have moved farther north or to higher, cooler areas.

Other effects could happen later this century, if warming continues.

• ·         Sea levels are expected to rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 and 59 centimetres) by the end of the century, and continued melting at the poles could add between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimetres).
• Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger.
•   Species that depend on one another may become out of sync. For example, plants could bloom earlier than their pollinating insects become active.
•   Floods and droughts will become more common. Rainfall in Ethiopia, where droughts are already common, could decline by 10 percent over the next 50 years.
• Less fresh water will be available. If the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru continues to melt at its current rate, it will be gone by 2100, leaving thousands of people who rely on it for drinking water and electricity. This means that many people can die because of the lack of resources and also some parts of countries can be underwater.