The impacts of global warming are particularly acute in low-lying areas and delta regions. Already, drought and water availability in many arid regions are problems. Further, low-income countries are less technologically developed and are not equipped to protect themselves from extreme weather events. As a result, they are more susceptible to global warmings negative impacts. In this article, we will examine some of the most important impacts of global warming.
In this article, we will explore three common impacts.
Natural and human influences of global warming
When scientists look at the causes of climate change, they must consider both natural and manmade factors. Changes in solar energy and ocean circulation, and volcanic activity all contribute to global warming. But greenhouse gases emitted by humans also play a role. These emissions are causing global temperatures to rise, and they are affecting sea levels and the melting of ice sheets. Other factors, including human activities, like pollution, are also contributing to global warming, including global population growth.
A majority of is emitted by human activities, and this amount has increased over the past few decades. This is primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide has increased from about 280 parts per million before the Industrial Revolution to more than 410 parts per million today. Other substances such as nitrous oxide also contribute to climate change, but their atmospheric lifetimes are shorter. Therefore, human activities cannot fully account for the current level of global warming.
Increases in the lengths of frost-free and growing seasons
Across the United States, the length of the frost-free season and the growing season have both increased in recent decades. The increasing lengths of the growing season and frost-free days mean changes to agriculture and ecosystems. The longer frost-free and growing seasons are good news for agriculture, but what about the effects on our ecosystems and our crops? The length of the growing season and frost-free days are linked to both crop and livestock production.
In some regions, such as the Western U.S., the growing season has already increased by more than two weeks since the beginning of the 20th century. In addition, the length of the growing season has increased much more rapidly in the West than in the East. The Western United States has experienced a 2.2-day increase in the length of the growing season over the past 30 years, while the Eastern United States only saw a one-day increase during that same period.
Increases in the frequency of extreme weather events
The recent reports show that climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme heat waves and droughts. The 2003 European summer heatwave and the 2010 Russian and Texas heatwave were caused by human-caused climate change, and each heatwave resulted in more deaths and damages. By the middle of this century, these extreme weather events will be commonplace compared to their previous levels. In the meantime, scientists continue to investigate how human-caused climate change affects extreme weather.
In a recent article published in the journal Nature, scientists rushed to explain the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado and the heatwave that gripped the eastern seaboard. However, most scientists pulled back from directly attributing the events to global warming. The Waldo Canyon fire in
Colorado garnered the most attention, but wildfires and droughts swept across the western US. Despite the scientific consensus, climate-change-related extremes will continue to occur despite the fact that were already in the middle of a warming-era.
Increases in the cost of living
The cost of climate change is not a new issue. It is already causing significant damage to the planet and already has reduced U.S. economic output by about 1%. The effects of global warming are even more devastating if we exceed the 2degC threshold by the end of the century. Depending on the scale of the damage, the price tag could rise as high as $1 trillion by the end of the century.
Recent reports suggest that increased costs are inevitable. Last year, extreme weather events cost the U.S. economy at least $95 billion. Hurricanes will become more destructive and frequent as a result of climate change. By 2100, the earth is expected to warm by two to 2.6 degrees, which is nearly double its current trajectory. By that point, the U.S. economy could lose up to five years worth of GDP due to damage in other countries.