Climate Change
Climate change is unfortunately real and it is progressively having an increasingly serious and devastating effect on the planet. While it is true to say that global warming is one of the most complex and controversial issues pertaining to the environment, its negative effects are both numerous and far-reaching, and the longer we take to mitigate its impact, the greater the damage will be.
The most immediate, visible result of global warming is the melting of ice sheets and the corresponding rise in the sea levels, with large chunks of polar ice and glaciers melting away as the planet gets warmer each year. Subsequently, this not only affects people’s lives, both in terms of water supply and displacement when they have to move away from low-level areas due to the threat of flooding but also disproportionately affects the lives of people living in some of the poorest parts of the world.
In addition, the increased temperatures are causing a shift in the range of species which live in previously densely populated areas. Animal and plant species are being forced to migrate in search of cooler climates, in which they can survive, and are unable to make the journey in many cases. This reduces the biodiversity of certain areas, with the knock-on effect of changing the habitats in which plants and animals thrive.
On top of this, warmer temperatures also result in an increased frequency of severe weather such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts, or heat waves which can cause huge amounts of damage and even loss of life, particularly in the most vulnerable parts of the world which do not have the funds available to build up a strong infrastructure to be able to withstand it. These floods and storms are likely to become even more frequent and intense over the next few years.
In the long-term, global warming is also likely to cause an irreparable disruption of global food production, leading to the spread of disease and famine in certain regions, and the resulting financial, social, and political crisis which this would cause. It is also believed that global warming is having an impact on the spread of vector-borne diseases, with warmer temperatures making certain diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and yellow fever become more prevalent.
In conclusion, it is clear that global warming has a range of negative effects on the planet, both in the present and the foreseeable future, and therefore it is essential that both individuals and governments take action together in order to make concerted efforts to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, in order to mitigate the worst of the damage which is likely to be caused by global warming.
