Global Warming And Climate Change

Global warming will not only be felt many decades from nowit is already happening and its impacts are clearly visible. There have been perceptible changes in the climate all over the world particularly in the last two decades or so. The climate change and its adverse impact on the environment human health and the economy have recently risen to the top of economic and political agenda in various national and international forums and meetings on the environment. Some of the climate changes are attributable to human activity. A change in human behavior can be an important instrument of minimizing the extent of those changes in the climate which have harmful effects. Studies have shown that human activity may cause large disturbance in regional and global climate. The most important climatic changes that have come to the fore recently and that are harmful include acid rain global warming and depletion of the stratospheric ozone shield or layer. Global warming is one of such disturbances. It is an important issue and all over the world people have very strong feeling about global warming. Global warming means that the world is heating up. It is the increase of earths average surface temperature due to effect of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels or from deforestation which trap heat that would otherwise escape from earth. This is a type of greenhouse effect and it work just as a blanket. Global warming has the following effects i Precipitation patterns may change causing some regions to have more frequent droughts and some areas suffering from heavier snowfall and rainstorms. ii Shortage of fresh water in many arid and semi-arid areas. iii Global warming will also adversely affect human health leading to increase in heat-related disease and health. Besides it will also indirectly affect human health due to higher incidence of malaria dengue yellow fever and viral encephalitis caused by expansion of mosquitoes and other diseases carries to warm areas. iv Adverse effect on agricultural production due to droughts and increased incidence of pests causing shortage of food. There are three ways of managing global warming namely prevention mitigation and adaptation. Prevention can be accomplished by preventing the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. For example this could be done through development of alternatives to fossil fuels and levying taxes on greenhouse gases. Mitigation is moderation or postponement of global warming. It could be achieved through planting more trees to serve as carbon sinks. Adaptation is responding to changes brought about by global warming. This could be achieved through shifting agricultural zone or changes in crop pattern.