GLOBAL WARMING

INTRODUCTION
Global warming is the long-term rise in the average
temperature of the Earth's climate system. It is a major
aspect of current climate change, and has been
demonstrated by direct temperature measurements and by
measurements of various effects of the warming. The term
commonly refers to the mainly human-caused increase in
global surface temperatures and its projected continuation.
In this context, the terms global warming and climate change
are often used interchangeably, but climate change includes
both global warming and its effects, such as changes in
precipitation and impacts that differ by region. There were
prehistoric periods of global warming, but observed changes
since the mid-20th century have been much greater than
those seen in previous records covering decades to
thousands of years.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth
Assessment Report concluded, "It is extremely likely that
human influence has been the dominant cause of the
observed warming since the mid-20th century." The largest
human influence has been the emission of greenhouse gases
such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Climate
model projections summarized in the report indicated that
during the 21st century the global surface temperature is
likely to rise a further 0.3 to 1.7 °C (0.5 to 3.1 °F) in a
moderate scenario, or as much as 2.6 to 4.8 °C (4.7 to 8.6 °F)
in an extreme scenario, depending on the rate of future
greenhouse gas emissions and on climate feedback effects.
These findings have been recognized by the national science
academies of the major industrialized nations and are not
disputed by any scientific body of national or international
standing.
The effects of global warming include rising sea levels,
regional changes in precipitation, more frequent extreme
weather events such as heat waves, and expansion of
deserts.Surface temperature increases are greatest in the
Arctic, which has contributed to the retreat of glaciers,
permafrost, and sea ice. Overall, higher temperatures bring
more rain and snowfall, but for some regions droughts and
wildfires increase instead. Climate change threatens to
diminish crop yields, harming food security, and rising sea
levels may flood coastal infrastructure and force the
abandonment of many coastal cities.Environmental impacts
include the extinction or relocation of many species as their
ecosystems change, most immediately the environments of
coral reefs, mountains, and the Arctic. Because the climate
system has a large "inertia" and greenhouse gases persist in
the atmosphere, climatic changes and their effects will
continue for many centuries even if greenhouse gas
emissions are stopped.
OBJECTIVES:
1.Determine temporal trends and community
perceptions of the influence of climate change on
the diseases.
2. Determine community perceptions of the
influence of climate change on the diseases.
3.Establish the influence of socio-economic, environmental,
climatic and institutional factors on transmission dynamics.
4.Explore, define and recommend stakeholderdriven
adaptation strategies to reduce population health
vulnerabilities.
5.Develop and strengthen capacities of research
groups and communities to empower them to
assess and mitigate population vulnerabilities.
IMPORTANCE:
The economics of global warming concerns the economic
aspects of global warming; this can inform policies that
governments might consider in response. A number of
factors make this a difficult problem from both economic and
political perspectives: it is a long-term, intergenerational
problem;benefits and costs are distributed unequally both
within and across countries; and both scientific and public
opinions need to be taken into account.
One of the most important greenhouse gases is carbon
dioxide Around 20% of carbon dioxide which is emitted due
to human activities can remain in the atmosphere for many
thousands of years. The long time scales and uncertainty
associated with global warming have led analysts to develop
"scenarios" of future environmental, social and economic
changes.These scenarios can help governments understand
the potential consequences of their decisions.
The impacts of climate change include the loss of
biodiversity, sea level rise, increased frequency and severity
of some extreme weather events, and acidification of the
oceans. Economists have attempted to quantify these
impacts in monetary terms, but these assessments can be
controversial.
The two main policy responses to global warming are to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions (climate change mitigation)
and to adapt to the impacts of global warming (e.g., by
building levees in response to sea level rise). Another policy
response which has recently received greater attention is
geoengineering of the climate system (e.g. injecting aerosols
into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth's
surface).
One of the responses to the uncertainties of global warming
is to adopt a strategy of sequential decision making. This
strategy recognizes that decisions on global warming need to
be made with incomplete information, and that decisions in
the near term will have potentially long-term impacts.
Governments might choose to use risk management as part
of their policy response to global warming. For instance, a
risk-based approach can be applied to climate impacts which
are difficult to quantify in economic terms, e.g., the impacts
of global warming on indigenous peoples.
Analysts have assessed global warming in relation to
sustainable development.Sustainable development considers
how future generations might be affected by the actions of
the current generation. In some areas, policies designed to
address global warming may contribute positively towards
other development objectives.In other areas, the cost of
global warming policies may divert resources away from
other socially and environmentally beneficial investments
(the opportunity costs of climate change policy).
METHOD OF STUDY:
Causes of Global warming The major cause of global
warming is the greenhouse gases. They include carbon
dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides and in some cases chlorine
and bromine containing compounds. The build-up of these
gases in the atmosphere changes the radiative
equilibrium in the atmosphere. Their overall effect is to warm
the Earth’s surface and the lower atmosphere because
greenhouse gases absorb some of the outgoing radiation of
Earth and re-radiate it back towards the surface. The net
warming from 1850 to the end of the 20th century was
equivalent to nearly 2.5 W/m2 with carbon dioxide
contribution about 60 % to this figure, methane about 25
per cent, with nitrous oxides and halocarbons providing
the remainder. In 1985, Joe Farman, of the British
Antarctic Survey, published an article showing the decrease
in ozone levels over Antarctica during the early 1980s.
The response was striking: large scale international scientific
programmes were mounted to prove that CFCs (used as
aerosol propellants in industrial cleaning fluids and in
refrigeration tools) were the cause of the problem. Even
more important was abrupt international action to curb the
emissions of CFCs.The second major cause of global
warming is the depletion of ozone layer. This happens
mainly due to the presence of chlorine-containing source
gases. When ultraviolet light is present, these gases
dissociate releasing chlorine atoms which then catalyses
ozone destruction. Aerosols present in the atmosphere
are also causing global warming by changing the climate in
two different ways. Firstly, they scatter and absorb solar
and infrared radiation and secondly, they may alter the
microphysical and chemical properties of clouds and
perhaps affect their lifetime and extent. The scattering of
solar radiation acts to cool the planet, while absorption
of solar radiation by aerosols warms the air directly instead
of permitting sunlight to be absorbed by the surface of the
Earth. The human contribution to the amount of aerosols in
the atmosphere is of various forms. For instance, dust is a
by-product of agriculture. Biomass burning generates a
mixture of organic droplets and soot particles. Many
industrial processes produce a wide diversity of aerosols
depending on what is being burned or generated in the
manufacturing process. Moreover, exhaust emissions from
various sorts of transport produce a rich mixture of
pollutants that are either aerosols from the outset or are
transformed by chemical reactions in the atmosphere to
form aerosols
Global Warming: The Effects Predicting the consequences
of global warming is one of the most difficult tasks faced
by the climate researchers. This is due to the fact that
natural processes that cause rain, snowfall, hailstorms, rise in
sea levels is reliant on many diverse factors. Moreover, it
is very hard to predict the size of emissions of
greenhouse gases in the future years as this is determined
majorly through technological advancements and political
decisions. Global warming produces many negative effects
some of which are described here. Firstly, extra water vapour
which is present in the atmosphere falls again as rain which
leads to floods in various regions of the world. When the
weather turns warmer, evaporation process from both land
and sea rises. This leads to drought in the regions where
increased evaporation process is not compensated by
increased precipitation. In some areas of the world, this
will result in crop failure and famine particularly in areas
where the temperatures are already high. The extra water
vapour content in the atmosphere will fall again as extra
rain hence causing flood. Towns and villages which are
dependent on the melting water from snowy mountains may
suffer drought and scarcity of water supply. It is because
the glaciers all over the world are shrinking at a very rapid
rate and melting of ice appears to be faster than previously
projected. According to Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC), about one-sixth of the total
population of the world lives in the regions which shall
be affected by a decrease in melting water. The warmer
climate will likely cause more heat waves, more violent
rainfall and also amplification in the severity of hailstorms
and thunderstorms. Rising of sea levels is the most deadly
affect of global warming, the rise in temperature is
causing the ice and glaciers to melt rapidly. This will lead to
rise of water levels in oceans, rivers and lakes that can pilot
devastation in the form of floods [6]. As evident from Fig. 5,
temperature anomalies are projected to increase in coming
years. Before, the 20th century, the situation was well
under control but the beginning of the current century, the
situation started to worsen .This was all due to increase in
global warming majorly due to the fact that new industries
and power houses started operation and emitted harmful
gases which cause the planet to heat up. This data is based
on the research carried out by different climate and
environmental research agencies. A greenhouse gas
(sometimes abbreviated GHG) is a gas that absorbs and emits
radiant energy within the thermal infrared range.
Greenhouse gases cause the greenhouse effect.[1] The
primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water
vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone.
Without greenhouse gases, the average temperature of
Earth's surface would be about −18 °C (0 °F),[2] rather than
the present average of 15 °C (59 °F).[3][4][5] The
atmospheres of Venus, Mars and Titan also contain
greenhouse gases.
Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial
Revolution (around 1750) have produced a 45% increase in
the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide from 280
ppm in 1750 to 415 ppm in 2019. This increase has occurred
despite the uptake of more than half of the emissions by
various natural "sinks" involved in the carbon cycle.The vast
majority of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions come
from combustion of fossil fuels, principally coal, oil, and
natural gas, with additional contributions coming from
deforestation, changes in land use, soil erosion and
agriculture (including livestock).
Should greenhouse gas emissions continue at their rate in
2019, global warming could cause Earth's surface
temperature to exceed historical values as early as 2047,
with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems, biodiversity
and human livelihoods. At current emission rates,
temperatures could increase by 2 °C, which the United
Nations' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid
"dangerous" levels, by 2036.