What is Global Warming?

Global Warming is quite a new concept. It jumped into our attention in the late 1890s. According to Weart S., in 1896, Global Warming was discovered by a Swedish researcher that at first proposed it as a theoretical term. Later, in the 1950s, several Californian researchers identified Global Warming as “a risk that might come to pass in a remote future” (Weart, 2008). Fifty years later, a group of scientists associated the Global Warming term with “a phenomenon that had measurably begun to affect the weather and would probably grow much worse” (ibid.). Global Warming affects not only the weather, but also our personal life, well-being, social evolution, and all the life on Earth.

Today, we know Global Warming as a process of global raising temperatures as a result of tropical deforestation, methane emissions (Adger, Brown, 1994), thermal pollution (Nordell, 2003), fossil-fuel emissions (Wigley, 1991), and other factors.

Although it may seem that Global Warming is caused by the big factories only, we have never been told that we contribute indirectly to pollution. Most of the pollution is made by electricity factories that burn coal or use radioactive material to produce electricity. Our daily routine is distracting us. Thus, many of us have never wandered where most of the electricity comes from, or about the clothing factories and how much pollutions they make, how many trees are cut down by the oil industries, and so on.

So, here we are, in the 21st century, unknowingly being accomplices to a process that affects all the living creatures on Earth.

International reaction to the Global Warming

The idea of global climate change was not initially accepted by political leaders and a part of the scientific community. In the 1990s, the national states became aware of the real problem and initiated negotiations on how to face the problem and how to react. Global Warming highlighted that the “lack of a world government meant that the resources on which all countries depend could not be controlled not to be overused” (Paterson, 2003: 2).

Thus, the Global Warming and the crisis of international cooperation were solved with several international Agreements:

  • The Kyoto Protocol, 11/12/1997, established limits for greenhouse gas emissions (United Nations, 2020). This Protocol has been changed over the years and adapted to the new climate threats and needs.
  • Paris Agreement, 12/12/2015, invites the world nations to take measures and by collective effort reduce carbon emissions (United Nations, 2018).

Global Warming temperatures 1880- 2000

Although Global Warming has been taken seriously by the political area, Global Warming is not stoping (see figure 1).

Figure 1: Global Warming 1880-2020

Source: NASA, 2020. NASA, NOAA Analyses Reveal 2019 Second Warmest Year on Record

Considering that the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997, and the temperature continued to grow even faster after 2000, we conclude that the international agreements had no significant result in constraining factories to respect pollution limits.  To stop the process, the responsibility should be taken seriously by factories, all branches of industry, and people. Why?

Because Global Warming is not just about raising temperatures but is also about crises in the economy, health, environment, and others.

Global Warming and human crises

In the last couple of years, the high temperatures issue lead to serious discussions in the whole World about stopping Global Warming which caused multiple problems like:

Fires:

  • In Brazil: Amazon, the forest that used to gave us 20% of our oxygen, was reduced by the fire with 1,345 square kilometers (Woodward, 2019).
  • In Australia: The damages are estimated at 25 people and half a billion animals deaths, thousands of people evacuated from their homes and 8 million hectares of Earth burned (Roach, 2020).

Diseases:

In 2015, Sleman highlighted that Global Warming could be a cause of a changing spectrum of viral infections. In 2015 he underlined that as a result of raised temperature, the viral infections might “spread, mutate create new opportunities for pathogens as mosquitoes, flies, animals, birds to transmit the infection into new hosts” (Sleman Salaman, 2015).

The same argument is sustained by Jimenez- Clavero in 2012, which argues that the West Nile virus appeared as a result of Global Warming.

Another viral threat was registered at the beginning of this year, the coronavirus from Wuhan, China.

The scientists believe that the virus mutated because of the Global Warming. Warm temperatures create new “disease vectors and defrost viruses that have been frozen for millennia” (Kluth, 2020).

Therefore, Global Warming not only contributes to defrosting old viruses but also helps the viruses to mutate and adapt to new environments by taking new forms. Consequently, here we are, in 2020, with a new virus, which triggered a public health crisis which in just several days recorded around 80 deaths, and infected 2463 people (Sparrow, 2020).  

The crises we have at this moment may not be the last ones. The fires, sometimes “deliberately or unintentionally caused by humans” (DW, 2020), may occur and extend again in such hot weather and the diseases may multiply, together causing substantial economic, public policy, political and other crises.

How can We stop Global Warming?

 Considering the main factors that cause global warming (pollution and deforestation ), we as individuals could:

  • save electricity;
  • avoid overshopping (which will decrease factories activity and their thermal pollution);
  • avoid making fires in hot weather;
  • reduce house overheating in cold weather;
  • plant trees;
  • avoid buying firewood from illegal tree cuts;
  • report the illegal tree cuts;

* This article was partly published in The Hall Magazine, February 2020.

Sources:

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DW. (2020, 01 26). Wildfires: Climate change and deforestation increase global risk. Retrieved 01 27, 2020, from DW Environment: https://www.dw.com/en/wildfires-climate-change-and-deforestation-increase-the-global-risk/a-51928388

Foland, S. (2000). Dialogue. GSA TODAY, 3-9.

Jimenez- Clavero M.A. (2012). Animal viral diseases and global change: bluetongue and West Nile fever as paradigms. Frontiers in Genetics, vol.3, issue 105, 1-15.

Kluth, A. (2020, 01, 21). The Next Pandemic Will Come. Here’s How to prepare. Retrieved 01 27, 2020, from Bloomberg Opinion: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-01-21/coronavirus-how-we-should-prepare-for-the-next-pandemic

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Sleman Salaman S. (2015). Global Warming Could Change the Spectrum of Viral Infections in Europe. Journal of Infectious Deseases&Therapy, vol.3, issue 6, 1-4.

Sparrow A. (2020, 01 26). The Wuhan Coronavirus: A tentative Clinical Profile. Retrieved 01 27, 2020, from Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/26/2019-ncov-china-epidemic-pandemic-the-wuhan-coronavirus-a-tentative-clinical-profile/

United Nations. (2018, 10 22). What is the Paris Agreement? Retrieved 01 27, 2020, from United Nations Climate Change: https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/what-is-the-paris-agreement

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Woodward, A. (2019, 08, 22). The Amazon Is Burning at a Record Rate, And The Devastation Can Be Seen From Space. Retrieved 01 27, 2020, from science alert: https://www.sciencealert.com/the-amazon-is-burning-at-a-record-rate-and-parts-were-intentionally-set-alight