Human health is deeply linked to planetary health. As climate change harms the planet, we too are harmed. At its core, climate change is also a health issue: from the air we breathe to the food we eat, the health of the planet is fundamentally linked to our own health.
As climate change worsens, so too does human health. And as weather becomes more unpredictable and ecosystems change, it creates and exacerbates acute emergencies. Mental health, disease spread, and more are all at risk of worsening if we do not address climate change.
Climate change poses a fundamental threat to the places, species and people’s livelihoods. Sea levels are rising and oceans are becoming warmer. Longer, more intense droughts threaten crops, wildlife and freshwater supplies. From polar bears in the Arctic to marine turtles off the coast of Africa, our planet’s diversity of life is at risk from the changing climate. Humans and wild animals face new challenges for survival because of climate change. More frequent and intense drought, storms, heat waves, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming oceans can directly harm animals, destroy the places they live, and wreak havoc on people’s livelihoods and communities.
The ways in which climate change is affecting the world are mentioned below:
1. Greenhouse gas emission: Greenhouse gases trap heat and make the planet warmer. Human activities are responsible for almost all of the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere over the last 150 years. Carbon dioxide (CO2) makes up the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions from the sector, but smaller amounts of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are also emitted. These gases are released during the combustion of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, to produce electricity.
2. Temperature: Earth’s temperature has risen by an average of 0.11° Fahrenheit (0.06° Celsius) per decade since 1850, or about 2° F in total. The rate of warming since 1982 is more than three times as fast: 0.36° F (0.20° C) per decade. 2023 was the warmest year since global records began in 1850 by a wide margin.
3. Sea Level Rise: Global average sea level has risen by 8–9 inches (21–24 centimeters) since 1880. In 2022, global average sea level set a new record high at 101.2 mm (4 inches) above 1993 levels. The rate of global sea level rise is accelerating: it has more than doubled from 0.06 inches (1.4 millimeters) per year throughout most of the twentieth century to 0.14 inches (3.6 millimeters) per year from 2006–2015.
4. Drought: Drought is a prolonged dry period in the natural climate cycle that can occur anywhere in the world. Rising temperatures caused by climate change are making already dry regions drier and wet regions wetter. In dry regions, this means that when temperatures rise, water evaporates more quickly, and thus increases the risk of drought or prolongs periods of drought.
5. Flood: Climate change results in more intense rainfall. This increases the chances of flooding. This is because warming means the air can hold more moisture (for every 1℃ of warming, the atmosphere can hold 7% more moisture). Flooding destroys people’s homes, communities, livelihoods, and cropland and can lead to injury or death.
There are two main types of flooding which happen as a result of rainfall – “pluvial” flooding (surface water floods), and “fluvial” flooding (river floods). There’s also coastal flooding often caused by storm surges. Coastal flooding will worsen in places under climate change due to rising sea levels and more intense storms. Flooding can happen quite suddenly and have a very real and devastating impact on people’s lives.
6. Wildfire: Wildfires have the potential to harm property, livelihoods, and human health. Fire-related threats are increasing, especially as more people live in and around forests, grasslands, and other natural areas. Beyond the human and societal impacts, wildfires also affect the Earth’s climate. Forests in particular store large amounts of carbon. When they burn, they immediately release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which in turn contributes to climate change.
7. Food shortages: Ultimately, impacts to our agricultural systems pose a direct threat to the global food supply. And food shortages and price hikes driven by climate change will not affect everyone equally: Wealthier people will continue to have more options for accessing food, while potentially billions of others will be plummeted into food insecurity-adding to the billions that already have moderate or severe difficulty getting enough to eat etc.
Apart from the things mentioned above there are many other things that are affecting our world. Due to which the balance of the earth is affected in many ways. We should all step up to prevent climate change.
To know the cause of climate change click below:
https://weatherclash.com/index.php/2024/03/06/causes-of-climate-change/
