Global Warming
A Global Warming is a phenomenon caused by the increase of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere.
- AKA: Global Warming Trend (~1980 - ), Climate Change.
- Context:
- It can be a Recent Global Trend for warming of the Earth.
- It can (typically) be attributed to Human Activity, specifically an increase in Greenhouse Gas Emissions (e.g. 30 billion tons of CO2 per year), which can also be attributed to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
- It can result in Global Climate Change.
- It can be associated to Human Adaptation Policies.
- …
- Example(s):
- Counter-Example(s):
- See: Earth Climate, Sea Surface Temperature, Climate Model, IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Regional Effects of Global Warming, Effects of Global Warming, Greenhouse Effect, Carbon Footprint.
References
2023
- (Wikipedia, 2023) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change Retrieved:2023-6-18.
- In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current rise in global average temperature is more rapid than previous changes, and is primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels.[1][2] Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and some agricultural and industrial practices increase greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide and methane. Greenhouse gases absorb some of the heat that the Earth radiates after it warms from sunlight. Larger amounts of these gases trap more heat in Earth's lower atmosphere, causing global warming.
Due to climate change, deserts are expanding, while heat waves and wildfires are becoming more common. Increased warming in the Arctic has contributed to melting permafrost, glacial retreat and sea ice loss. Higher temperatures are also causing more intense storms, droughts, and other weather extremes. Rapid environmental change in mountains, coral reefs, and the Arctic is forcing many species to relocate or become extinct.[3] Even if efforts to minimise future warming are successful, some effects will continue for centuries. These include ocean heating, ocean acidification and sea level rise.
Climate change threatens people with increased flooding, extreme heat, increased food and water scarcity, more disease, and economic loss. Human migration and conflict can also be a result. The World Health Organization (WHO) calls climate change the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century. Societies and ecosystems will experience more severe risks without action to limit warming. Adapting to climate change through efforts like flood control measures or drought-resistant crops partially reduces climate change risks, although some limits to adaptation have already been reached. Poorer countries are responsible for a small share of global emissions, yet have the least ability to adapt and are most vulnerable to climate change.
Many climate change impacts are already felt at the current 1.2 °C (2.2 °F) level of warming. Additional warming will increase these impacts and can trigger tipping points, such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, nations collectively agreed to keep warming "well under 2 °C". However, with pledges made under the Agreement, global warming would still reach about 2.7 °C (4.9 °F) by the end of the century. Limiting warming to 1.5 °C will require halving emissions by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
Reducing emissions requires generating electricity from low-carbon sources rather than burning fossil fuels. This change includes phasing out coal and natural gas fired power plants, vastly increasing use of wind, solar, nuclear and other types of renewable energy, and reducing energy use. Electricity generated from non-carbon-emitting sources will need to replace fossil fuels for powering transportation, heating buildings, and operating industrial facilities. Carbon can also be removed from the atmosphere, for instance by increasing forest cover and farming with methods that capture carbon in soil.
- In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current rise in global average temperature is more rapid than previous changes, and is primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels.[1][2] Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and some agricultural and industrial practices increase greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide and methane. Greenhouse gases absorb some of the heat that the Earth radiates after it warms from sunlight. Larger amounts of these gases trap more heat in Earth's lower atmosphere, causing global warming.
- ↑ IPCC SR15 Ch1, 2018, Publisher, p. 54, ps=: Since 1970 the global average temperature has been rising at a rate of 1.7°C per century, compared to a long-term decline over the past 7,000 years at a baseline rate of 0.01°C per century (NOAA, 2016; Marcott et al., 2013). These global-level rates of human-driven change far exceed the rates of change driven by geophysical or biosphere forces that have altered the Earth System trajectory in the past (e.g., Summerhayes, 2015; Foster et al., 2017); even abrupt geophysical events do not approach current rates of human-driven change.
- ↑ Lynas, Mark, Houlton, Benjamin Z., Perry, Simon, Greater than 99% consensus on human caused climate change in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, 2021, Environmental Research Letters, vol. 16, issue 11, p. 114005, Retrieved from [1], DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac2966
- ↑ EPA, Climate Impacts on Ecosystems, 19 January 2017, Retrieved from [2], Accessed on 5 February 2019, Quote: "Mountain and arctic ecosystems and species are particularly sensitive to climate change... As ocean temperatures warm and the acidity of the ocean increases, bleaching and coral die-offs are likely to become more frequent."
2020
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/07/30/you-must-not-do-your-own-research-when-it-comes-to-science/
- QUOTE: Similarly, in the field of climate science, it’s overwhelmingly well-understood that:
- the Earth is warming,
- and local climate patterns are changing,
- caused by changes in the concentration of gases in our atmosphere,
- driven by human-caused emission of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels,
- and that this is having a number of adverse consequences: causing changes in food supplies, water availability, and land use all across the world.
- This has been scientifically known and accepted by the consensus of active climate scientists for more than 30 years, and yet a sustained misinformation campaign — as well as a few contrarian scientists — has sown sufficient doubt that anyone who is determined to “do their own research” can find boatloads of websites and documents confirming whatever conspiratorial line of thought they prefer. ...
- QUOTE: Similarly, in the field of climate science, it’s overwhelmingly well-understood that:
2006
- https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9912-timeline-climate-change/
- QUOTE:
- 1979: First World Climate Conference adopts climate change as major issue and calls on governments “to foresee and prevent potential man-made changes in climate.”
- 1985: First major International Conference on the greenhouse effect at Villach, Austria, warns that greenhouse gases will “in the first half of the next century, cause a rise of global mean temperature which is greater than any in man’s history.” This could cause sea levels to rise by up to one metre, researchers say. The conference also reports that gases other than CO2, such as methane, ozone, CFCs and nitrous oxide, also contribute to warming.
- 1987: Warmest year since records began. The 1980s turn out to be the hottest decade on record, with seven of the eight warmest years recorded up to 1990. Even the coldest years in the 1980s were warmer than the warmest years of the 1880s.
- QUOTE: