Climate Change is NOT only a Future problem, very much present concern!

CLAIM: For several years climate change had been mainly discussed as a concern only for future generations and a problem that doesn’t really affect current generations in everyday lives. Many perceived an increase in temperature by a few degrees or a rise in sea levels by several centimeters as issues that do not bear any significant impact on current generations.

Sources: This misleading statement is being shared as a social narration. And we see this false narration published on some websites also, as seen here.

With catastrophic disasters related to climate change, over the past several years, along with the realizations of a warmer planet, the perception that climate change affects only future generations has been clearly challenged.

Climate change is very much a present problem and not only a problem of the future.

In a broader definition, climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. Yet, especially over the past several decades, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas.

Global warming related to current rise in the average temperature of Earth’s air and oceans.  The Green House Effect, one of the major contributors to Global warming, is a relatively recent, yet a concern that has been prevalent for several decades.

However, the Green House Effect is not a bad phenomenon in natural ways as it helps reflect the solar waves from the atmosphere to the earth surface, and acts like insulating walls of a greenhouse, which helps to keep the Earth’s temperature at an optimum level.

Yet, with the massive emissions of greenhouse gases, the greenhouse effect happening in an unhealthy and rapid manner has led to sudden increases of Earth’s temperature leading to many climatic changes, in recent past.

One of the most obvious such effects is that giant glaciers and ice caps melt at a faster rate than usual, and this meltwater drains into oceans, leading to increase in sea water levels and becoming oceans less salty.

Some of the world’s leading climate scientists have warned there is only about a dozen years for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius, beyond which even half a degree will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat and sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty. 

According to the annual report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) in 2021, the planet Earth is already going through a tough period, as a result of climatic changes, and some of the important milestones of irreversible weather pattern changes could have already been reached or even passed.

Due to these climate changes, many changes such as rise in sea level, are difficult to reverse for even hundreds. The intensification of those changes like sea level rising and rainfall pattern changes and their impacts on industries such as farming, will be more significantly felt in the future. Yet these problems are prevailing even now and a UN report about this can be reached from here. Archived.

As a result of climate changes, even at present we are facing more frequent and intense droughts, intense heat waves and high temperatures. The number of hot days in a year have increased. Lack of precipitation and desertification are depriving areas of rain. This means river levels in these areas are falling, causing lakes, ponds and wells to dry up, and even disappear in some places. More on this here

Rising sea levels could not only have devastating effects on coastal habitats with flooding but also could contaminate drinking water, interfere with farming, threaten wildlife populations and impact the economy as well.

Other living beings are also deeply impacted by changes due to climate changes and entire biodiversity and ecosystems are being affected. Many details about this can be reached from here. Archived.

According to data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), climate change has caused an increase in weather related natural disasters in the last fifty years. However, the number of deaths have decreased, mainly due to the early warning systems. More details about this can be reached from here. Archived.

According to the WMO Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes (1970 – 2019), there were more than 11,000 reported disasters attributed to climate related  hazards globally, with just over 2 million deaths and US$ 3.64 trillion in losses.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the USA, the effects of climate change are clearly visible now and what scientists had predicted earlier are happening now. And there will be more intensified effects in the future also. They claim “global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted, and trees are flowering sooner.” More details about this can be read from here. Archived.