If there is one thing that refuses to respect national borders, it is the environment that we live, and thrive in. As the years have gone by, environmental degradation and preservation have become major issues because of the negative environmental impacts economic development and globalization has brought upon in many parts of the world. Examples are aplenty- increased industrial pollution that leads to global warming; the clearing of land or marshes to make way for companies looking to build a new factory, governments wanting to build a new town, or even farmers seeking to eke out more profits have irreversible effects on our global environment. Yes, that's right. Our environment.
Climate change refers to the changes in the whole Earth's climate or a region's climate over time, describing changes in the state of our atmosphere over time scales ranging from decades to millions of years. These changes can be caused by natural processes on Earth or external entities (e.g. variations in sunlight intensity), or, more recently, human activities. Climate changes reflect variations within our atmosphere, oceans and ice caps, and human activity. External factors that can affect our climate are e.g. changes in solar radiation or/and the Earth's orbit.
There are many factors that drive climate change. Prime examples of such factors that are negating the Earth's atmosphere are the trapping of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere causing global warming and the human needs of building irrigation, clearing forests and harvesting crops.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) recently completed an experiment project, the "BBC Climate Change Experiment"- where BBC teamed up with a consortium of research organizations led by the University of Oxford, which includes the British Meteorological Office and the University of California (Berkeley) among others. Funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council, the experiment sought to predict the future of our global environment. At a glance, the experiment's results predict that the UK could have a 4 rise in temperature by 2080, and that by then, summer temperatures in the UK would reach 40 and winters would also be warmer. Other parts of the world are also expected to have temperature increases, varying from city to city, and from town to town. New Zealand, for example, faces a smaller temperature rise than that of the UK because it is surrounded by an ocean, whereas Central Asia will warm much more than New Zealand and the UK because very much of Central Asia is land-locked.
Increasing temperatures across continents is the least of the world's worries, because it is the catalyst for the other potential changes. As temperatures rise, we are likely to see an increase in rainfall and rises in sea levels, which could lead to higher occurrences of floods. The possible melting of glaciers in the Antarctic will also cause sea levels to rise by 5-6m. And how about the wildlife that share the Earth with us? What of the agricultural practices that we have gotten used to over time? And how will our health be affected? By the way, records show that temperatures of 11 of the last 12 years were among the 12 warmest on record worldwide.
Let's look at what hits home most- how these changes could and would impact us, humans. The events caused by climate change that would impact humans can be summarized by 3 characteristics. These impacts would be extreme in loss of life and property. They are difficult to foresee because they do not follow the "traditional" climate cycle. And are repetitive which would lead to social and economic impacts difficult for poor countries to afford. If all of the above comes to fruition, the bigger impact will be on the poor communities, which are most vulnerable. Developing countries will also exacerbate their vulnerabilities because of their economic reliance on climate-sensitive industries like agriculture and fishing, and because of their limited ability to anticipate and respond to the effects of climate change. Extreme weather events would also possibly set back development for decades to come. Tropical and sub-tropical areas, like Singapore and Hawaii, are more vulnerable to these changes because of the surrounding waters.
Through faced with a literally gloomy future, scientists believe there may be ways to reduce the effects of the climate changes. For example, if a certain forcing (e.g. solar variation) acts to change the climate, there should, it is believed, be a counter-force to nullify its effect.
However, that is the counter-reaction of nature. What can we do, as humans, to at the very least, slow down these changes? Who should foot the bill for climate change?
History points the finger for the current state of the atmosphere at the now-developed countries, despite the fastest growing emitters of greenhouse gases being currently in the developing world. Inevitably, all countries should reduce emissions to protect our environment, but the debate is whether developed or developing nations should bear the cost of protecting the global environment. Should the poor countries who are still trying to develop their infrastructure be penalized? But the richer nations are the generally those who have created the extra greenhouse gases, and it is generally agreed that the richer nations should be the ones to tackle the problem, to allow the developing nations to continue development.
There have been many policies made to counter the drastic changes that would happen such as the Delhi Declaration, the United Nations Convention On Climate Change and perhaps the more well-known of these policies, the Kyoto Protocol.
The climate of the Earth is, and has always been changing. In the past it has changed as a result of natural causes, where the climate changed humans. Now, the earth will change as a result of humans rather than that of nature. Now, we seem to be changing the global climate. The list of things with which we need to think about with regards to climate change is endless.
Is it too late now?