Climate Change
Human induced climate change is a serious issue only if has the ability to create real problems for natural ecosystems and human societies. But we are at a stage where magnitude and rate of climate change is large and rapid enough to cause serious threat to the existence of species. Some of the species have already been extinct and some on the verge of being extinct. In this article, I will focus on the impacts of climate change on our environment.
Impacts of Climate Change – Types:
Impacts of climate change can be categorized into two types; Direct and Indirect. As the name suggests, direct impacts of climate change are the immediate results of changing environmental conditions. Indirect impacts of climate change are the results of direct impacts that may take longer than direct impacts to be actually visible. For example, Direct impact of climate change may be heavy rain that can cause flood or very little rain that can cause sever drought.
The indirect impacts of climate change follows the direct impacts. For example, following flood or drought, the food supply may be disrupted or a disease may spread due to contamination of water.
What may happen due to Climate Change?
The study of the impacts caused by climate changes have been conducted by hundreds of research groups and suggested the following possible threats to mankind:
- Increased rate of species extinction due to changes in natural ecosystems and biodiversity.
- Increased rate of sea level rise which poses a serious risk to coastal lines. Millions of people in low lying coastal areas are at risk of flooding and storms.
- Increased water shortage in already water-scarce nations due to loss of glaciers, reduced precipitation and increased evaporation.
- Reduced crop yield in tropical and sub-tropical regions which will disrupt the food supply and demand.
- Increased risk of irreversible climate changes.
- Impact on human health due to changed climate conditions.
- Impacts on economic growth of both developed and developing nations. Climate change will broaden the inequities between developed and developing nations.
- Increased rate and intensity of natural calamities.
These are only the major impacts of climate change. As I described above, there may be hundreds other indirect impacts that may turn the earth into a difficult place to live. We are already too late to control climate change, but if we continue like this, we are definitely going to make it difficult for our next generations to sustain.
Documentary – The Truth about Climate Change:
This stunning documentary about climate change, global warming and natural disasters will guide you through to the fundamentals of climate change and how humans have contributed significantly in intensifying natural disasters by altering the way nature works.