climate change

[Guest guest]

The following is a extract from various sources for

global warming related climate change. It is a little

detailed, but all fact….

 

 

When most people think about climate change, they

imagine gradual increases in temperature and only

marginal changes in other climatic conditions,

continuing indefinitely or even leveling off at some

time in the future. The conventional wisdom is that

modern civilization will either adapt to whatever

weather conditions we face and that the pace of

climate change will not overwhelm the adaptive

capacity of society, or that our efforts such as those

embodied in the Kyoto protocol will be sufficient to

mitigate the impacts. The IPCC documents the threat of

gradual climate change and its impact to food supplies

and other resources of importance to humans will not

be so severe as to create security threats. Optimists

assert that the benefits from technological innovation

will be able to outpace the negative effects of

climate change.

 

Climatically, the gradual change view of the future

assumes that agriculture will

continue to thrive and growing seasons will lengthen.

Northern Europe, Russia, and

North America will prosper agriculturally while

southern Europe, Africa, and

Central and South America will suffer from increased

dryness, heat, water shortages,

and reduced production. Overall, global food

production under many typical climate

scenarios increases. This view of climate change may

be a dangerous act of self deception,

as increasingly we are facing weather related

disasters -- more hurricanes,

monsoons, floods, and dry-spells – in regions around

the world.

 

Weather-related events have an enormous impact on

society, as they influence food

supply, conditions in cities and communities, as well

as access to clean water and

energy. For example, a recent report by the Climate

Action Network of Australia

projects that climate change is likely to reduce

rainfall in the rangelands, which could

lead to a 15 per cent drop in grass productivity.

This, in turn, could lead to

reductions in the average weight of cattle by 12 per

cent, significantly reducing beef

supply. Under such conditions, dairy cows are

projected to produce 30% less milk,

and new pests are likely to spread in fruit-growing

areas. Additionally, such

conditions are projected to lead to 10% less water for

drinking. Based on model

projections of coming change conditions such as these

could occur in several food

producing regions around the world at the same time

within the next 15-30 years,

challenging the notion that society’s ability to adapt

will make climate change

manageable.

 

With over 400 million people living in drier,

subtropical, often over-populated and economically

poor regions today, climate change and its follow-on

effects pose a severe risk to political, economic, and

social stability. In less prosperous regions, where

countries lack the resources and capabilities required

to adapt quickly to more severe conditions, the

problem is very likely to be exacerbated. For some

countries, climate change could become such a

challenge that mass emigration results as the

desperate peoples seek better lives in regions such as

the United States that have the resources to

adaptation.

 

The tiny island nation of Tuvalu sees the issue of

global warming as a matter of life and death. Few at

the U.N. development summit seem to care.

 

The United States does not want the gathering to

commit to specific pollution controls. The world's

developing nations - many of them major oil producers

- have little interest in helping a nation of 12,000

people that fears it will be crushed by storms, rising

ocean levels and disruptions to marine life.

 

" If this issue of climate change is ignored, what will

happen to Tuvalu? " said Paani Laupepa, Tuvalu's

assistant secretary of the environment.

 

Tuvalu comprises nine low-lying coral atolls in the

Pacific Ocean between Australia and Hawaii whose

highest point is just 5 meters (15 feet) above sea

level. Studies suggest the global sea level has risen

about 19.8 centimeters (7.8 inches) over the past 100

years, and some experts say the rate is increasing.

 

" Tuvalu is flat. As flat as a pancake, " Laupepa said.

" We are at the front line of climate change. "

In March, the country's prime minister appealed to

Australia and New Zealand to provide homes for his

people if his country is washed away. But at what is

expected to be the world's largest U.N. gathering, the

country is being ignored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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