Yet it has been largely ignored by society to date. A global, transboundary issue such as how to tackle global warming is difficult to plan and regulate since it greatly affects current patterns of production and consumption. However it is clear that action must be taken before irreversible changes occur, and it becomes too late.
Global warming Can be attributed to the greenhouse effect. Trends suggest that temperatures of the northern and southern hemispheres and the earth’s oceans have been gradually increasing over the last fifty years. This general warming of the climate is due to an increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and climatologists agree that this has contributed to the increase in global temperatures.
The effects of such temperature change results in increased precipitation levels, increased cloud cover and water vapour concentrations, longer monsoon seasons and rising sea levels. These climatic disturbances are all intricately interlinked with a rise in temperature; for example, the loss of ice mass from glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets consequently increases sea levels worldwide.
Climatic models of radiative forcing predict that low lying coastal areas and islands will be made uninhabitable by rising sea levels while areas such as Southern Africa will be influenced by severe desertification. Ecosystems may be irreversibly altered when seasonal climatic patterns are disturbed.
Warmer winters and summer droughts may have serious effects on forests, fertile farmland and water supplies affecting humans and animals. There is also the risk that there will be an increase in infectious diseases such as malaria as temperatures increase and disease carrying insects find suitable habitats in new regions. The serious social and political implications of global warming are not to be ignored.
Extreme weather phenomena are already becoming more common on a global scale. The effects may be seen already in the form of heatwaves, flooding and violent storms and hurricanes, all of which may be attributed to the build up of greenhouse gases in particular Carbon Dioxide and the ever increasing greenhouse effect.
Most experts agree that if the warming trend continues, climate change is inevitable.
Increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in society will serve to accelerate rates of global warming and climate change and pose real risks to environment and society. The need for change is paramount