Facts about Climate Change!

Facts about Climate Change!

1. There is no doubt that Humans are clearly responsible for warming the atmosphere, oceans, and lands.

What makes us so certain? Climate models are now refined enough to make reasonable predictions about how things will turn out without human interference. Today, we are observing a change beyond that margin of error, meaning our efforts have brought about the change.

2. Temperatures reached their highest point in 125,000 years in the recent decade.

One of the most basic truths regarding climate change is that, according to a recent IPCC report, the last decade was likely the warmest in 125,000 years. There was a glacial period around 100,000 years ago, followed by a warm interglacial period similar to the current one. However, we are already experiencing temperatures similar to those seen prior to the onset of the glacial periods.

Also Read: The Solution to Global Warming

During the Holocene era, or "Holocene epoch", around 6500 years ago, the temperature was very likely the warmest multi-century period in at least the last 100,000 years. The next higher temperature in most recent times was approximately 125,000 years ago, before the last ice age. In each of these past warm periods, orbital variations lasted much longer than they do today and caused the warming.

3. Most of the heat we produce is absorbed by the ocean, number of studies published in 2019, it was found that it absorbed 90% of the planet's heat between 1971 and 2010.

A study showed that it absorbed 20 sextillion joules of heat each second in 2020 - equivalent to two Hiroshima bombs each second.

The ocean has a tremendous capacity for storing heat, which is why certain organisms can adapt to quite stable temperatures. Temperature levels are especially detrimental to coral reefs, which is why so many are dying out.

4. Carbon dioxide levels shows highest in two million years. 280 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 were present before the Industrial Revolution.

The current level is near 420 ppm. CO2 levels are most closely related to the Ordovician period, around 500 million years ago.

We can once again thank the ocean for its ability to absorb a third of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Prior to the industrial revolution, it actually generated carbon, rather than absorbing it. However, since so much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere now, it is now forced to soak it up.

5. The world loses 1.2 trillion tonnes of ice every year.

We may struggle to comprehend one of the climate change realities because we are dealing with a volume that is beyond our comprehension.

Since the mid-1990s, we've lost more than 28 trillion tonnes of ice, with a current melting pace of 1.2 trillion tonnes per year.

To put it in context, all of humanity's creations weigh 1.1 trillion tonnes. This is equal to the combined weight of all living species on the planet.

6. There are both positive and negative effects of air pollution.

More than 10 million people die each year from air pollution, nearly four times as many as from COVID according to recent research. There is a silver lining to the poor air quality in developing hotspots in south Asia and Africa for years to come.

The particles that cause adverse health effects in the same way as cigarettes, such as PM10 and PM2.5, actually reflect instead of trap the heat of the sun. The amount of greenhouse gases we pump into the atmosphere has already warmed it by 1.5°C, but the fine particles have kept it at about 1.1°C.

Putting particles in the atmosphere intentionally to reflect more sunlight has been proposed, however, it could lead to unforeseen consequences.

7. Weather attributing is possible now (extreme weather)

As a result of human-driven climate change, natural disasters can now be attributed with certainty. Historically, it has been difficult to determine how much we had to do with each extreme weather event due to the lack of data and refined techniques for attribution.

In fact, we can tell with precision how likely things like the summer heat wave in North America in 2021 were because of climate change. The World Weather Attribution says this would have been "virtually impossible" without climate change.

8. Global warming can (partly) be reversed

Global net emissions would gradually reverse if we completely ceased them, but other climate changes would continue at least until the late 20th century. If sea level rise were to reverse its trend, it would require several centuries or millennia.

9. In 2019, excessive heat cost us 302.4 billion working hours

When it's hot and humid in south east Asia in August, working outside with shade is virtually impossible, and working without it is always dangerous. 199 billion work hours were lost to heat in 2000, and 302.4 billion in 2019. This was reported in a report from The Lancet. It would take about 436,969 average human lives to reach that number in 2019.

Outdoor daytime workers, especially in agriculture, are most exposed to the risks of this kind of work.

10. By the end of the century, many places may be too hot to live

One of the most catastrophic aspects of climate change may be this. The Sahara desert and Saudi Arabia include the largest areas of land where mean annual temperatures are above 29°C.

In a study from 2020, Xu et al., entitled "Future of the Human Niche," they found that up to 3 billion people could suffer from unbearable heat by 2070, under a high emission scenario.

Especially when sustained over an extended period, extreme heat can impact work hours. The other factors are crop yield losses, mosquitoes that transmit diseases, and the need for air conditioning, which increases energy consumption.

11. Not acting has a higher cost than acting

Climate change could cost us between 11 and 14% of the global GDP by mid-century if we keep on our current trajectory. Keeping above 2°C would reduce the damage to only 4%, while regression into a high emission scenario would cause 18% of the damage.

There is a consensus that it will take $300 billion to $50 trillion over the next two decades to stop climate change. If the price tag were $50 trillion, then that would amount to $2.5 trillion a year, or just over 3% of world GDP.

We did not cover everything that is happening regarding climate change above, as it is a very complex phenomenon.

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