United Nations: Climate Change – Global Epidemic

The United Nations came out with an article addressing the global issue of Climate Change. I raised emphasis, because this is a defining issue of our era, with fast-changing weather patterns that altogether affect sustainable food production, additional rising sea levels – collectively increasing the risk of flooding. 

The UN has divided their article into individual subtopics including, the human fingerprint on greenhouse gases, and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/climate-change/

The Human Fingerprint on Greenhouse Gases:

The concept of greenhouse gases seems to scare the public, I think what many of us may not know is that greenhouse gases are naturally occurring and are vital to the survival of humans and our living counterparts (all of nature!). However, through human impacts of deforestation, and large-scale agriculture, quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have risen above the normal standard.

• The concentration of GHGs in the earth’s atmosphere is directly linked to the average global temperature on Earth

• The concentration has been rising slowly, and global temperatures have also been rising steadily since the era of the Industrial Revolution

• The most abundant type of GHG is CO₂ due to the burning of fossil fuels

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

IPCC was organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment. In 2013, the IPCC displayed the roles of human activities and their correlation with climate change through an established fifth assessment report.

The fifth assessment report provided information regarding rising sea levels and how they have changed and the impacts it has caused over the years of it being studied. Additionally, provided estimations of cumulative CO₂ emissions and how they can control and limit warming to less than 2^oC. 

The report concluded:

• From 1880 to 2012, the average global temperature increased by 0.85°C.
• Oceans have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished and the sea level has risen. From 1901 to 2010, the global average sea level rose by 19 cm as oceans expanded due to warming and ice melted. The sea ice extent in the Arctic has shrunk in every successive decade since 1979, with 1.07 × 106 km² of ice loss per decade.
• Given current concentrations and ongoing emissions of greenhouse gases, it is likely that by the end of this century global mean temperature will continue to rise above the pre-industrial level. The world’s oceans will warm and ice melt will continue. Average sea level rise is predicted to be 24–30 cm by 2065 and 40–63 cm by 2100 relative to the reference period of 1986–2005. Most aspects of climate change will persist for many centuries, even if emissions are stopped.