Global warming is the common disease to which our planet has succumbed. What is global warming? Global warming is created by carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases warming the surface of the planet by naturally trapping solar heat in the atmosphere. This is generally a good effect because it keeps our planet habitable. However, by burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil and clearing forests, we have dramatically increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere; and, as a result, temperatures are rising. Global warming is greatly affecting our agriculture and wildlife, and in time, it will affect our culture and society.
The effect of this disease is already in effect by changing our climate and our world. The Arctic region has long fascinated humankind – sparking holiday myth, motivating explorers, and inspiring people to create clever solutions for living in extreme cold. However due to global warming, the climate over the Arctic is changing at an accelerated pace. Arctic climate shifts are expected to delay recovery of the northern stratospheric ozone layer. Aside from all the ice melting in the Arctic, surface air temperatures are projected to be high enough in this century to melt the ice sheets of Greenland. (Source: Union of Concerned Scientists)
Although it is difficult to connect specific weather events to global warming, an increase in global temperature has caused border changes, including glacial retreat, arctic shrinkage and worldwide sea level rise. Surface air temperature continues to increase yearly due to the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is the process by which absorption and emission of infrared radiation by atmospheric gases warm a planet’s lower atmosphere and surface. Surface air temperature has risen from 3.6 to 5.4 over the past 50 years, and because of this, permafrost has began to melt and tundra regions are slowly disappearing, forests will expand northward into current tundra regions and already the White spruce, the most valuable timber species of the North American boreal forest, has experienced sharp declines as an effect to global warming. (Source: Union of Concerned Scientists)
Since global warming has affected the environment so dramatically, our wildlife’s source of food and habitats are diminishing and being destroyed. Take, for example, the life of a polar bear, an animal dependent on the polar icecaps for habitat, its white fur perfectly camouflaged with the snow for hunting. Now realize that your home is slowly melting away. Each year it gets more crowed and there’s less food around. Sea ice, which you could use as a bed and diving platform, is also melting away. Where can you rest after a long day’s swim? Oh wait! You can’t; so, what do you do? Well, hopefully your large body that’s been deprived of food will make it to the next block of sea ice. Worst case scenario (which is usually what happens), you don’t make it and drown.
Now, you may think, deprived of food? Well, polar bears aren’t the only ones that need sea ice. Their food source, seals, also need it to rest; and, like polar bears, if there isn’t any sea ice to rest on, they drown and fall to the bottom of the ocean, which is out of reach for polar bears. Other animals are also in peril since forests will expand northward into tundra regions, caribou and reindeer, both of whom depend on tundra vegetation, will be affected greatly when their food source and living environment has completely been destroyed. These two are only some of the animals that are facing extinction. (Source: Union of concerned Scientists). Wildlife is at risk as global warming changes the timing of seasonal behaviors such as breeding and migration which has an effect on animal life cycles. The National Wildlife Federation considers global warming to be “the most dangerous threat to the future of wildlife.”
Here are some species affected by global warming:
Adelie Penguins: Rising temperatures are causing the amount of sea ice to diminish, which in turn causes the amount of algae in the water to decrease. Many tiny organisms, including the krill shrimp which forms the foundation of the Adelie penguin’s diet, cannot survive without this important food source .(Source: National Wildlife Federation).
Caribou: Almost everyone annoying mosquitoes knows how can be, but if you happen to be a caribou, these common summertime pests can have an even bigger impact. This is because warming Arctic temperatures have caused an explosion in these insects’ populations. As caribou use more energy shooing the pests away, they decrease the amount of food that they eat and energy that they conserve in preparation for the coming winter months. Female caribou are particularly at risk as the effort of birthing and raising the new generation takes enormous energy. (Source: National Wildlife Federation).
Monarch Butterflies: Brilliant orange and black monarchs are among the most easily-recognizable of the butterfly species which call the Americas home. Their migration takes them as far north as Canada and, during the winter months, as far south as Mexico City. It is here that changing conditions could cause their demise if current climatic trends continue into the future. In Mexico, the butterflies amass themselves in fir trees which provide shelter from rain and temperatures which often dip below freezing. As rainfall worldwide continues to increase, the protection that these trees provide may not be enough to shield the butterflies from these hazards. (Source: National Wildlife Federation).
Trout: Coldwater: Fish, such as trout, depend on a frigid mixture of spring and glacier water to thrive. As North American temperatures continue to rise, trout stand to lose three-quarters of their current habitat. (Source: National Wildlife Federation).
Coral Reefs: Coral reefs are colorful underwater forests which teem with life and act as a natural protective barrier for coastal regions. The fishes and plants which call them home belong to some of the most diverse – and fragile – ecosystems on the planet. In one year alone, sixteen percent of the world’s coral reefs were wiped out. A sea temperature change of a mere one degree Celsius would yield similar losses. Increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the water cause additional damage to corals, leaving them defenseless against storm damage and erosion. (Source: National Wildlife Federation).
Due to changes in the environment, climate and wildlife, life as we know it will be dramatically changed for the worst; culture and society too will be affected. People who hunt and eat specific animals (i.e. Eskimos, Vegetarians) will have to find a new source of food and possibly a new living environment, if they are unwilling and/or unable to make the necessary changes they too will die off. Without proper nutrition new diseases may form as well old ones may reappear. As a matter of fact we may experience medicinal shortages; many medications are derived from plant, animal and mineral sources. Clearly if the sea level continues to rise a domino effect will be created amongst all living thing and the possibility of global flooding will turn from a vague theory to a reality of biblical proportions.
However there is an up-side to global warming, as a result of the arctic ice caps melting new valuable undiscovered natural resources will be available to the world; the arctic is unclaimed land. Many believe the arctic is loaded with untapped resources (gold, conflict-free diamonds, oil), as a matter of fact on August 2, 2007 a mini-submarine dropped a titanium capsule containing a Russian flag on the ocean floor at the North Pole. Increasing the availability of conflict-free diamonds to the public will enable us to stop funding the wars in third-world countries and hopefully stop the wars altogether. If more oil is found under the Arctic’s this will buy us more time to finding an alternative to oil its self such as bio-fueled or hydro-powered cars. With an increase of gold more jewelry and coins can be made, new gold-powered heat or gold-powered electrical devices. Aside from the natural resources that can be found under the polar ice caps a new trade route to the east can be opened up to Europe. Global warming has had a positive effect in Québec; warmer summer nights and shorter warmer winters.
However on a global scale the negative affects far out weight the positive. There would be agricultural and animal extinction, global flooding; an uninhabitable planet. The only way to save the planet is or all countries to take global warming seriously and create and put into effect a plan of action. We can reduce carbon dioxide by relying less on public transportation (trains, planes, automobiles), cities can find ways to reduce traffic jams by redesigning or improving upon there highways, burning less fossil fuels and finding alternatives to factories that emit harmful gases into our atmosphere. Wood burning fire places could be replaced by other forms of heat such as electric heaters. As an individual you can drive less or car pool, walk more often and stop smoking. If we do not control global warming agriculture, wildlife, culture and society will be greatly affected, for the worst.
Written by Keelan Forsythe Copyright © All Rights Reserved, Image Credit: Nisqually Glacier, Mt. Rainier (Mount Rainier has more glacial ice on it than any other peak in the lower 48. This is a view up the Nisqually Glacier to the summit of Mount Rainier. Taken from a magnificent viewpoint along the trails at Paradise. This is an excellent place to see the awesome grinding and excavating power glaciers can exert over the landscape and the slow inextricable effects of global climate change on Mount Rainier’s glaciers. Mount Rainier National Park, Washington.) by glennwilliamspdx Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons License
