Climate includes patterns of temperature,
precipitation, humidity, wind and seasons. "Climate change" affects
more than just a change in the weather; it refers to seasonal changes over a
long period of time. These climate patterns play a fundamental role in shaping
natural ecosystems, and the human economies and cultures that depend on the,
Department of Ecology, state of Washington.
Bill
McKibben mentions, "We can't just be stunned-that seems to lead to denial,
to inaction. We need to feel what's happening, not just in our overheating
bodies but in our minds and spirit, too." All across the world and in our
state, people are taking action because climate change has serious impacts,
locally and globally. For example, in 2007, scientists from the International
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that warming oceans and melting
glaciers due to global warming and climate change could cause sea levels to
rise 7-23 inches by the year 2100. Worldwide, densely populated coastal
communities and infrastructure that supports them would be affected (such as
city buildings and homes, roads, ports and waste water treatment plants). Some
would be flooded or more vulnerable to storm damage. In flat terrain, the
shoreline could move many miles inland.
Other
effects are also serious. In some places, floods and/or drought could become
more frequent and more severe. Even seemingly less dramatic local changes in
temperature, precipitation and soil moisture could severely impact many things
important to human life and all life around us, including, (DEPARTMENT OF
ECOLOGY AND CLASS NOTES)
·
natural
ecosystems
·
agriculture
and food supplies
·
human
health
·
forestry
·
water
resources and availability
·
energy
use
·
transportation.
Many people are concerned that we are losing time to make a
difference. Climate change and its effects may be irreversible. Life could
become very difficult for some populations—plant, animal and human. Species,
cultures, resources and many lives could be lost. The author raises great amount of awareness in
this book about Climate Change. He writes about the tornadoes that killed
hundreds across the American South and the current- scientific knowledge. The
rise in weather- related catastrophes is one of the causes of global warming
and that is why 2010 was noted as the warmest year in the history. Sir Charles
Lyell for the first time proposed the post-glacial geological epoch (a unit of
geological time that is a subdivision of a period and is itself divided into
ages) of the past ten to twelve thousand years Holocene (Recent Whole) and it
was adopted by the International Geological Congress (IGC) IN Bologna in 1885. Russian
geologist Vernadsky in 1926 recognized the increasing power of mankind as part
of the biosphere. Mankind’s expansion both in numbers and per-capita
exploitation of Earth’s resources has been so surprising. For the past three
centuries human population tenfold to 6 billion, accompanied by a growth in
cattle population also urbanization has increased tenfold in the past century. Furthermore
critics say, “They lack a sense of urgency about this,” said Douglas Hill, an
engineer with the Storm Surge Research Group at Stony Brook University, on Long
Island.