Today I sat down with my parents to discuss the importance of Global Warming and the impacts it has on the fragile ecosystems. We discussed how in the past century, global environmental threats have tripled in numbers and doubled in reoccurrences. More fossil fuels, harsh toxins, and man made issues have served as a catalyst to the deteriorating environments, such as the Amazon rainforest, Great Barrier Reef, and northern glaciers. Eventually, the sixth mass extinction in the world’s history could occur because more of these environmental hazards are assisting the rapid decline in animal and plant populations. Many of the earth’s fragile factors are in some case, preventative, and in others, past the tipping point. Some irrepressible hypotheses that are a danger to Earth’s environments also deal with deadly particles from a predicted sunburst, which could harm thousands, if not millions, of living creatures. Due to the global threats of climate change, mass extinction, and an uncontrollable sunburst, the global community will face lack of basic human needs and in result, the global community will have to prevent and/or prepare for such devastating events.
As the Earth faces an increasing amount of destructive effects, the global community is already viewing the dangerous toll human activity has caused. With the amount of gases humans have put into the air, trapped heat is causing rapid climate changes in places all over the world. In winter of 2001, more than 900 bush fires occurred in Australia, which later will worsen and consume more water to put out the fires. In Greenland, glaciers currently melt twice as fast as they used to and cause rivers to flow into the ocean. These rivers lubricate and propel the rest of the glaciers into the sea. Due to climate change, 8 miles of Greenland fall off annually. In the south Atlantic, hurricanes are increasing. It is estimated that in three decades, the Himalayan’s water supply could be completely diminished.
All of these examples are current issues, but with a film my parents and I recently watched (National Geographic’s Six Degrees Could Change the World documentary), each warmer degree radically changes the climate, which eventually leads to food and water shortages.
If the Earth became one degree warmer, which it is currently approaching, droughts in America’s Midwest will affect global meat and grain production and consumption. Colder countries, such as England, will gain the ability to produce more Mediterranean crops such as olives and grapes for wine. Northern glaciers will begin to melt, producing quicker trade routes for ships. Although this seems somewhat beneficial to humans, the change in weather will serve as a catalyst to what scientists refer to as the “tipping point” of Global Warming.
The tipping point of Global Warming lies in the effects of Earth becoming two degrees warmer. If this point occurs, marine life will mainly be impacted. The Great Barrier Reef and other coral reefs will suffer due to the toxins and temperature rise, which causes coral to expel the algae it needs to survive. After this point, glaciers will no longer refreeze; they will solely continue to melt. This point will also cause a global raise in oceans—about 3-4 feet over a century, causing coastal cities to turn into a New Orleans disaster—a city largely below sea level.
After reaching 3 degrees warmer, the Amazon River and rainforest will dry out; 20% of the world’s oxygen is created there. Raging brush fires will occur due to dry, desert-like land, causing hundreds of species of flora and fauna to die out. Northern Europe will be wetter for much of the year, causing flooding that used to be seen once a century, every two or three years. The Mediterranean and southern Europe will wither away, no longer supplying crops.
Once the Earth hits 4 degrees warmer, China’s agricultural production will crash. Staple crops like rice, wheat, and corn will decline by roughly 40% or more if water continues to run out. China will face feeding 1.5 billion people on two-thirds of its supply it has now.
After 5 and 6 degrees warmer, the global community will no longer be divided by governments and countries. Most Americans will look for refugee in Canada and most Europeans will look for refugee in the North. Eventually, the Gulf Stream will shut down, creating an anoxic environment, killing most ocean life.
With the Earth facing incredibly destructive effects on the fragile environments, much of the animal and plant population will become extinct. Scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, stated that if present extinction rates progress, Earth could lose three-quarters of its species as soon as three centuries from now. “Once you lose species, you don’t get them back. It takes millions of years to rebound from a mass extinction,” said Nicholas Matzke, a graduate student at UC Berkeley.
The Earth is currently on the brink of the sixth mass extinction, meaning that 75 percent of all species will disappear within a short time. If this will occur, the food chain will radically transform, affecting the number of more species and eventually us humans. With less food, governments will face feeding billons of people with a strained amount of supplies. (Source: Extinction)
Although these previous issues are somewhat controllable and preventable, one hypothesis that could affect our entire Earth, in one hit, is the sunburst. In 1989, an explosion occurred on the sun’s surface, causing a billion tons of solar plasma to come hurtling towards the Earth. It flew over Canada, creating chaos in the ionosphere and Earth’s magnetic field. The surge of electricity shut down Quebec’s power, causing most of the community’s reliance on electricity to abruptly stop.
While Quebec recovered, many of the natural disasters have shaped and altered communities and one that can be added to the list are the major effect of sunbursts—called Coronal Mass Ejections, which have an incredibly destructive effect on society.
Although it is hard to predict all of the locations Global Warming will have an impact on, the issue could change the way humans survive, thrive, and cultivate. The mixture of climate change, aggressive storms, and disruption of water and food will most likely cause food shortages and disruption of infrastructure in local areas.
Overpopulation in some counties will occur because of the coastal communities forced to move inland. The negative effects it will have on the US range in topics, but one main subject is the increased hurricanes that will cost America billions. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina created $125 billion in damage, and $66 billion in insured losses. In 2008, two more hurricanes occurred in the US, supporting the trend of more frequent hurricanes in the South Atlantic.
It is predicted that 14-23 billion dollars will be spent annually in the US. Efforts to curb Global Warming have affected and will affect the US Economy. America’s Department of Energy invested $1 billion to stimulate the biofuels industry. Recently, in a year, over 100 biofuel factories produced 6.4 billion gallons of ethanol using 18 million acres of corn, which is 20% of America’s total corn production. As anyone can imagine, corn prices went up immensely—about $4 per bushel
Scientists predict that temperatures will increase between 1.5 and 4 degrees Celsius, by 2100. At 3.5 degrees, scientists say up to 70% of the world’s known species risk extinction. This means that the sixth mass extinction of plants and animals could occur in the next century. The reasons vary from human activity, climate change, habitat destruction, ocean acidification and more.
If the biodiversity declines to an unsustainable level, then the problems resulting could dramatically affect communities. For example, in regions such as India, more trees are being demolished, causing the natural barriers against mud slides, monsoons, floods, and avalanches to take a harder, and deadlier, hit on nearby villages. With these issues, related problems such as diseases and rebuilding can arise, causing more cost, maintenance, and overall chaos.
As for animal populations, most amphibians and marine life will suffer the worst damage. Already, 1 out of 3 amphibians and 6 out of 7 marine turtles are threatened with extinction. 75% of the world’s fisheries are somewhat or completely overexploited and 1/3 of reef-building corals are threatened with extinction as well. With these issues, humans will suffer the number one sought out protein source—fish. The food chain will also stagger if there is less fish. “The good news is, we still have most of what we want to save, “said Berkeley paleobiologist Anthony Barnkosky. “But things are clearly going extinct too fast today.”
Even though mass extinction could be prevented, there are still chances of natural events such as the sunbursts’ effects— Coronal Mass Ejections. CME’s have the effect of altering Earth’s magnetic field. If one were to occur, the CME would send a surge of energy that is 100 million times more energy than the strongest man made nuclear device. Billions of tons of solar particles would fly into Earth’s atmosphere, weakening and eventually transforming the magnetic field. Mass power outages would occur, shutting down the entire power grid infrastructure, which would take years to restore. This loss of power would affect the food, water, transportation, and communication systems society currently thrives on.
Unlike the climate change and mass extinction, Coronal Mass Ejections are unpredictable, and unpreventable. However, humans can prepare for the power shortages by stocking up with food, water, and resources for cooking, keeping warm, and security. Society was able to thrive without electricity, but today’s society has become so dependable on it that they need to prepare themselves mentally if a CME were to occur.
With preparation and preventative measures for Global Warming, humans need to begin reducing carbon and greenhouse emissions. This will reduce the amount of gases that have trapped heat in the Earth’s atmosphere and in turn, slow down the rate of climate change and habitat destructions. If fewer habitats are destroyed, then fewer animals will be threatened with extinction and food chain alteration.
In terms of local communities, the US needs to reduce their carbon and greenhouse emissions immensely. Currently, one household in America produces 59 tons of Carbon Dioxide annually. This includes heating, lighting, appliances, hot water, air conditioning, refrigerating, automobiles, and other indirect emissions. One household in any other country produces on average 9.5 tons. If Americans begin to reduce, the Earth will largely benefit.
The Earth’s fragile environments all contain precious resources that are valuable to human society. Everyone is dependable on food, water, and fresh air; if these human needs are restricted, my parents and I theorized that society will clearly suffer. With global threats of climate change, mass extinction, and a sunburst, the global community will face lack of basic human needs and in result, society will have to come together, prevent, and prepare for such devastating events.
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