How is Climate Change going to affect us?
Thomas Newcomen, a British an ironmonger invented the first widely used steam engine in 1712 that paved a way to the industrial revolution. Since then human ambition has known no bounds. We have achieved marvels in technology and medical science. But, at what cost?
Not long ago we all saw our favorite actor Leonardo Di Caprio standing high with pride holding the black lady on one hand and addressing the audience about climate change at his Oscar speech. We saw the young Swedish school girl Greta Thunberg protesting outside the parliament being ferociously angry at our leaders and We have seen millions of people across the globe joining the biggest climate protest but we are yet to observe the governments across the world coming together to stand up against climate change.
Climate Change is not a new concept. The fact is that Earth’s climate has been changing since the advent of time. We came across last ice age around 2.5 million years ago and since then our planet’s climate has been stable up until recently. Earth’s climate has increased more than 1 ahrenheit during the 20th century and twice that in sensitive parts of Arctic. While 1-2 degrees may not seem a big deal, it is surely an unusual event in the recent history of our planet. The gradual change in climate over the period of millions of years has been recorded in the geological and evolutionary history of our planet. So what happens over a period of millions of years is happening within our lifespan due to human activities and even if 1-2 degrees may seem less, it can cause an immense damage to our environment because that stability ratio has now been disturbed. Take it like this- in the last ice age the temperatures were only 5-9 degrees cooler than today! So now, you can imagine how even 2 degrees can affect us.
How evident is climate change? Well, the recent example is the locust attack in parts of our country, where scientists stated that increased frequency of these attacks this year was due to changing climate. Warming of oceans, increased frequency of cyclones over the sea have led to high flooding in one part of the world, like we observed in Assam this year and drought in the other. Researchers have also confirmed that the 2019 Australian wildfires that took lives of billions of animals and displaced as many was 30% more extreme due to human induced climate change. They even said that it was one ‘worst wildfire disasters’ in modern human history. It is true that the world is warming and events like this is likely to occur on our planet whether we are ready or not.
We all know that burning of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases in our atmosphere has shaped this warming trend. In fact the last five years were the hottest in our planet since the onset of Industrial revolution. Other signs of this disturbing trend observed by scientists are -distribution of ice, salinity levels and ocean temperatures. If we talk about ice distribution, ice is changing everywhere on Earth. Since 1970’s we have lost 75% of the volume of arctic summer sea ice. It’s a big reason for us to worry because what happens in arctic does not stay there. In fact, ’what’s at stake in Arctic is actually the future of humanity itself’ as said by Gail Whiteman. This is because Arctic affects the jet stream causing extreme weather all over the world. Just like the Amazon Rain Forest is the lung of our planet, the Arctic is our circulatory system, which feeds the global climate change. A new study has also confirmed that the Permafrost is thawing due to melting of Arctic ice, which is releasing a massive amount of carbon in the atmosphere in form of methane and carbon di oxide. A quarter of northern hemisphere is covered in permafrost (a ground that has been frozen continuously for two or more years) which includes regions of Siberia, Alaska, Greenland and Canada. When solidified, the microbial decomposition of organic matter is stalled, and carbon compounds stay in the ground. However, melting permafrost releases double the amount of carbon that is currently in the atmosphere which in turn warms our planet through greenhouse effect. Thus, everything in Arctic is happening in a feedback loop. When white ice melts, dark patches of oceans appears which absorbs more heat and melts more ice in return. As ocean is warming, currents are disrupting weather patterns around the world and what we see is its after effects like increased flooding, coastal soil erosion, fisheries being affected, increased frequency of cyclones. Not just that, polar bears are wandering off to land in search of food, causing man-animal conflict and Walrus species are losing their home. Who can forget the picture of a polar bear stranded on an ice floe that made rounds on the internet- a symbol of how humans have caused destruction on this planet due to global warming.
Many glaciers around the world are also melting rapidly adding to rising sea levels. This is again increasing coastal erosion, hurricanes, and typhoons. The Greenland ice sheet and Antarctic one is the largest contributor to the increasing sea level. Right now Greenland ice sheet is contributing to 20% of increased sea level. This glacial melt is further changing the circulation pattern and influencing ocean currents of the Atlantic too. Researchers have also predicted now that the first arctic summer without ice is coming in just 15 years since our ancestors left Africa.
The Covid-19 pandemic has already wreaked havoc in our planet taking as many as 7,60,000 lives. Now scientists have said that as climate crisis will progress, we are more certainly to see viruses and bacteria remerging from the ice, that were dormant there for millions of years. While this may seem as a movie plot, it is indeed not erroneous. Permafrost and ice is a good preserver of viruses because it is cold and lacks oxygen. Scientist have even discovered evidence for the same- 1918 Spanish flu in corpses buried in mass graves in Alaska and small pox and bubonic plaque in Sibera where they have uncovered the RNA fragments of the viruses. It is highly possible that these viruses will be unleashed when the ice melts.
What can we do? Each and every individual can help by taking measures to reduce their carbon footprint. We can write to our leaders and safeguard our communities against the impending danger we will face if we don’t change our lifestyle. It is imperative that climate crisis will be resolved in a matter of few years given the priorities of our leaders and we are going to observe many dangerous viruses and immense loss if we don’t take an action now. We are looking at a future where we need to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and also prepare ourselves for the impact of climate change.
