Climate Crisis

IPCC:

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

• Includes over 1,300 scientists from the US and other countries

Causes:

• Carbon pollution

  • Caused by burning fossil fuels

• Destroying forests

  • Trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide. By cutting down forests, we prevent pollution from, in essence, being absorbed

• Carbon dioxide, methane, soot, and other pollutants released into the atmosphere act like a blanket, trapping the sun's heat and warming the planet

• The main gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect include water vapor, nitrous oxide, methane, carbon dioxide, and chlorofluorocarbons

Overall Effects:

• Temperature rise of 2.5 to 10 *F

• Frost-free season, and the corresponding growing season, will lengthen

• Changes in Precipitation patterns

  • Wet areas will become wetter, while dry areas will become drier

• Increased droughts and heat waves

• Stronger and more intense hurricanes

  • This includes an increase in the number of billion-dollar weather disasters

• Sea level will rise 1-8 feet by 2100

  • This not only threatens coastal systems and low-lying areas, but also entire island nations and great cities like New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Mumbai, Sydney, and Rio de Janeiro

• Arctic likely to become ice free (see Glacial Melting piece, by Rebecca B.)

  • Means that polar bears are losing their habitat; many are dying, while some are forced to find refuge in countries surrounding the polar cap, leading to havoc there

Droughts:

• Jeopardize access to clean drinking water, which can also lead to serious disease

• Out of control wildfires

• Results in dust storms, extreme heat events, and flash flooding

Heavier Rains:

• Overflowing streams, rivers, and lakes

  • Damages life and property

  • Contaminates drinking water

  • Dangerous material spills

  • Causes mold infestation and unhealthy air

• Overall, a warmer, wetter climate is amazing for food-borne and waterborne illnesses, as well as disease carrying insects like mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks

Heat:

• Longer periods of heat, such as four days straight where temperatures don’t go down, not even at night, vs the previous one or two days, lead to severe health consequences

  • These include heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and cardiovascular and kidney diseases

• Not everyone can afford things like air conditioning, furthering the gap between how affected poor people are compared to the poor

• Warmer temperatures also significantly increase the amount of pollen in the air, causing more suffering for people with hay fever or other allergies

• In addition, rising temperatures increase the ground level ozone (created when pollution from cars, factories, etc react to sunlight and heat), and in effect, greatly increase the amount of smog

  • This worthens the health of people with cardiac or pulmonary disease, as well as asthmatics

Animal Extinction:

• Due to climate change, pollution, and deforestation, vertebrate species are disappearing 114 times faster than they should be, according to a 2015 study

• Many species “shifting their geographic ranges to cooler climes or higher altitudes, in an attempt to escape warming. They're changing seasonal behaviors and traditional migration patterns, too. And yet many still face increased extinction risk due to climate change.” (Denchak, Melissa)

More Acidic Oceans:

• As oceans are absorbing some of our emissions, they are becoming more acidic

• This poses serious threats to many species, especially those with calcium carbonate shells or skeletons, such as mollusks, crabs, and corals

• This has not only led to something known as “coral bleaching” and killing off sea creatures, but also greatly cost shellfisheries

  • According to Melissa Denchak, “as of 2015, acidification is believed to have cost the Pacific Northwest oyster industry nearly $110 million. Coastal communities in 15 states that depend on the $1 billion nationwide annual harvest of oysters, clams, and other shelled mollusks face similar long-term economic risks.”