Global Warming 101

March 11, 2016, Amanda MacMillan 

Here’s a basic global warming concept. The average global temperature has risen at the highest rate in modern history over the past 50 years. And economists see the pattern accelerating: Since 2000, all but one of the 16 hottest years have happened in NASA’s 134-year record. Theorists of climate change also suggested that there has been a “delay” or a “slowdown” in rising global temperatures, but this argument has been disproved by many recent reports, including a 2015 paper released in the journal Science. And scientists estimate that average U.S. temperatures could rise by up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century unless we control global-warming pollution. Global warming occurs when the atmosphere collects carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and other air contaminants and greenhouse gases and reflects heat and solar radiation falling off the surface of the earth. This radiation will usually spread into space, but these toxins, which can last in the atmosphere for years to centuries, trap the heat and cause the earth to get hotter. It is what is known as the greenhouse effect. The major cause of heat-trapping emissions in the world is the fossil fuels to produce electricity, generating around two billion tons of CO2 a year. Coal-burning power stations are the largest polluters by far. The second-largest source of carbon pollution in the world is the transport industry, which creates almost 1.7 billion tons of CO2 emissions annually. Limiting harmful climate change needs especially deep carbon cuts, as well as the use of fossil fuel options worldwide. The positive news is that we have begun a turnaround: from 2005 to 2014, CO2 emissions actually declined in the United States, due in part to new, energy-efficient innovations and the use of renewable fuels. And scientists continue to discover innovative ways of modernizing power plants, producing cleaner energy, and as we drive, consuming less fuel. Climate warming effects are being felt around the world. In recent years, dangerous heat waves have caused tens of thousands of deaths around the world. And since 2002, Antarctica has been losing around 134 billion metric tons of ice per year in a worrying indication of events to come. If we keep burning fossil fuels at our current rates, this rate could pick up, some scientists warn, allowing sea levels to increase several meters within the next 50 to 150 years. The Obama administration promised $3 billion to the Green Environment Fund, a multinational body devoted to helping developing nations implement renewable energy solutions, to help make the agreement possible. Participating nations will meet every five years, beginning in 2020, under the terms of the Paris Agreement, to update their proposals to reduce CO2 emissions. They will also have to monitor their progress publicly, starting in 2023. We have to change our lifestyle to save our world.