Worldwide Effects of Global Warming
Every day, we hear more and more about how much global warming is destroying the planet. We also hear more and more about how it's too late to avoid the worst of these consequences. But is it really?
In this post, we explore what global warming means for the world in a variety of different ways. Please read on to find out if you're at risk — and what you can do to help solve this problem before it's too late.
Respiratory Illness
Where are all these people going to get their water? How are they going to get it there? And who is going to pay for the transport infrastructure and equipment to bring it there? If we do nothing, the cost of delivering this water will be astronomical. By comparison, a small fraction of the cost would be fixed costs per person if we were able to bring in traditional desalination plants.
Global heating could leave thousands without enough fresh water . The world is projected to be faced with just such a public health disaster as soon as 2040, according to research published May 14 in Environmental Research Letters. The study, using climate models to predict extreme weather events, found that water shortages would be severe in the Middle East and North Africa and global warming would likely worsen them.
Pollution
With the rapid increase of smog, we need different solutions. While most cities are affected by smog or haze at some times of day, Delhi has been having smog throughout the day even in winter and even when there is no heat wave. The situation is most alarming for those living in slums located closer to industrial areas where the majority of factories are located. People living mainly in rural areas are not affected by smog as much as those living more urbanized surroundings such as Delhi.
The new Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi is making every effort to reduce pollution in Delhi and to make it more greener. But the situation looks far from being under control. It seems like the entire country is affected by noxious fumes daily but authorities seem unable to find a permanent solution to this problem.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that the air-borne particulate matter PM2.5 is responsible for most of the worldwide deaths due to air pollution. The WHO estimates that over 7 million people die every year due to air pollution, with nearly two-thirds of those deaths occurring in developing countries.
In places like China, India, and Pakistan where burn-offs are the main source of air pollution the levels are even higher. New Delhi has recently made a bid to make its air cleaner by putting in place a plan to reduce pollution by adding 10 billion trees to the city. But that might prove too costly in a city that is rapidly growing and proving itself unable to keep up as it tries to grow at an ever increasing rate. Even with this campaign in place, it seems unlikely that Delhi will be able to achieve clean air for its thousands of people living under his rule so long as international companies are allowed to pollute the air and water supply of the world's largest population region.
Meanwhile, western nations consume about a third of the world's natural resources. But India, has only six percent of the world's population and uses only five percent of its water. Yet, nearly 800 million people need water to drink and even more need clean water for crops.
Climate change is also beginning to take its toll on India's agricultural production. Every year monsoon rains fail farmers in some areas while excessive rain floods others. The droughts have been more frequent in the last decade or so.
Whenever it rains too much, it causes problems elsewhere when rivers overflow and inundate farmland. When it does not rain enough, the state of Orissa was hard hit in June 2010 when floods swept away crops.
Fires have destroyed about 2.5 million acres of forest across India in a few short months — an area equal to the total area of Wales. This is an area larger than the land on which all European Union countries are situated and more forested than Europe or North America combined.
The forests were recovering from the catastrophic cyclone that hit Orissa state in 1999 and forests were protected by thick vegetation, so there was no shortage of fuel for the fires that started at night with lightning strikes.
India has asked Australia and Russia to help extinguish more than 18,000 fires burning across more than 1.3 million acres of land in the country.
At least six states have been badly affected, with the vast majority of them caused by farmers desperately clearing land for agricultural use.
There are over a million cases of dengue fever in the country every year and many climate scientists predict that this will become worse as temperature increases and rainfall becomes less predictable.
Adaptation will be slow in coming if it comes at all to areas like India where there are no systems to deal with floods, increased drought or poor quality drinking water . The $1.8 billion loan from the IMF for this country is a good start but since most of that money will be used to service previous debts, the people of India could still be in a precarious position.
If we do nothing and continue on a business as normal path, many more people will suffer. If we were to pay closer attention to how we improve conditions in areas like India and China, it might be possible to avert disaster.
Sea Level Rise
Ongoing sea level rise is expected to displace millions of people in low-lying coastal areas such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Egypt and Vietnam.
The consequences of sea level rise could have an enormous impact on the economies and cultures in these nations, especially if the populations that live near the coast ever decide to move inland or migrate far away across vast distances.
Flooding in India could be expected to cause millions of people to migrate from their homes as the land erodes and becomes increasingly difficult to access and farm.
Experts are warning that rising sea levels may bring about a global catastrophe if they continue at their current rate. Scientists have predicted a rise of between 18 and 59 centimeters by 2050, with more severe effects possible if emissions continue at 2008 levels . This would destroy hundreds of millions of people's homes along with farmland, crops and infrastructure such as roads.
Conclusion
Nearer term, the number of people living in extreme poverty could fall to half the current level in less than two decades, with a high rate of economic growth and an ambitious effort to tackle climate change. On the other hand, if economic growth slows and investments in infrastructure, education and health services do not keep pace with population growth, more than four out of every ten people on earth could still be poor by 2030. This would slow progress towards achieving internationally agreed goals for improving lives around the world.
India is already affected severely by climate change.