Carbon Management and Climate Change
The global carbon cycle is the trigger between the interglacial periods that could increase the Earth’s geologic temperature in different climatic states. The climatic tipping points are projected to have potential effects on the ecosystems and the Earth’s inhabitants. These effects could be frequent wildfires, droughts, an increase in populations, and intense heat waves, and tropical storms. The Earth’s climate depends on the global emissions of trapping gases, that when left uncontrolled will lead to future strenuous impacts.
The sea level is likely to rise by 3-7 by 2100. This is due to the human activities that cause global warming, which drives the thermal expansion of seawater and melting of ice sheets and glaciers. Climate scientists predict that in the next century, there will be a rise in temperature in Greenland and Antarctica, which will increase the sea level by approximately 42%. This will lead to catastrophic difficulties such as Tsunami, widespread flooding for the coastal living communities. The water occupation of the Earth is expected to rise leaving a smaller portion of the mainland, which eventually in the next centuries if nothing is done, too shall be sweep into the waters.
In the next century, there will be a high heat record of the planet earth’s temperature. The human-driven climate change and carbon emissions into the atmosphere tend to affect the ozone layer, leaving the Earth’s surface exposed to too much heat from the sun. This will result in an accelerated melting of the ice. “The tropic will have high temperatures all summer long and days will be hot and intense as what we consider today as unusual” (Easterbrook, 2018). The collapse of these ice shelves will increase seal level by two feet and could displace around four million people.
The increase in human activities in the next century is likely to increase the amount of carbon dioxide. With the rising temperatures, the oceans are expected to absorb the gas and become acidic. This will destroy the tropical coral reefs. The high heat and the global warming effects will likely strain the water resources leading to more droughts and heatwaves. More natural disasters such as wildfires, storm surges, and heat waves are projected to rise with future climate changes. The Earth in 2100 will be somewhere between “a little bit warmer than today and a lot warmer than today” (Jones, Lowe, Liddicoat & Betts, 2009).
The prolonged effects of climate change could lead to the Earth losing some of its species in the Holocene extinction. The IPCC report stated that “a large fraction of terrestrial and freshwater species are likely to face extinction due to the increased acidity and temperature of the water surfaces”( https://www.ipcc.ch, 2014). This will be a result of pollution and the overexploitation of the environment that will create adverse climatic effects on Earth’s inhabitants. There will be similar cases such as the Australian and the amazon rainforest bushfires that will threaten the source of food supplies and habitat due to the criticality of the situation they pose.
In the next century, the world will need at least 65% more foods, 50% more energy, ad 30% more water than it does now due to the high-level global sustainability estimates. The Earth is also likely to lose its forest cover due to human deforestation activities and unfavorable tropical conditions. Additionally, uncontrolled climatic changes shall lead to atmospheric rivers ad hurricanes. This is because high temperatures increase evaporation, which results in a high atmospheric water-vapor ration.
Feasible Solutions to Protect the Earth from Climate Changes
Foregoing Fossil fuels and adopting clean and efficient fuels. Eliminating coal, oil, and natural gas combustion is the first step to saving the Earth. Solar and wind energies are the most efficient energy sources to fight climate change. When burnt releases carbon dioxide and other gases, fossil fuels trap the atmospheric heat leading to global warming. “Burning fossil fuel increases temperature by 1.5 degrees, affects biodiversity and leads to extreme weather changes” (Mokhov, 2019). On the other hand, renewable energy sources and nuclear powers do not emit greenhouse gases, reduces the acidity of the environment, and thus a more feasible option.
Afforestation and Stopping cutting down of trees. Cutting down trees to harvest timber and burn charcoal contributes huge metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Afforestation and restricting deforestation could save up to 20% of human-made greenhouse gas emissions. “Paper recycling, proper forest management could balance the amount of cut down trees to eliminate the gas emissions” (Potvin, Guay & Pedroni, 2008). This can be furtherly pushed my buying only recycled wood products. The Amazon and other forests are the Earth’s lungs, and keeping it more forested is the only best humanity’s hope of escaping the ruthless effects of climate change.
Incentivize carbon farming. The agricultural sector is the primary source of greenhouse gases. Global legislation to incentivize carbon farming can help improve soil health, which then reduces atmospheric carbon emissions. Thus the type of agriculture could be helpful as it ensures the carbon gases are stored in the soil instead of the atmosphere. Various governments should incentivize it as it is expensive and requires a lot of pesticides. “Carbon farming practice enables longer root systems that increase the carbon molecules in the soil while reducing their emissions” (Fleming, 2018). This, too, can result in an increased supply of vegetarian foods instead of meat and dairy products whose production emits greenhouse gases.
Fig.1 Showing a melting glacier
Fig. 2 Showing a bush fire
Fig. 3 Drought (Picture; Getty images)
References
Easterbrook, D. (2018). Cause of the ice ages and climate change. Journal of Earth Science & Climatic Change, 09. doi: 10.4172/2157-7617-c1-039
Fleming, R. (2018). An updated review on carbon dioxide and climate change. Journal of Earth Science & Climatic Change, 09. doi: 10.4172/2157-7617-c1-038
IPCC — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2020). Retrieved 29 June 2020, from https://www.ipcc.ch/
Jones, C., Lowe, J., Liddicoat, S., & Betts, R. (2009). Committed ecosystem change due to climate change. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 6(6), 062017. doi: 10.1088/1755-1307/6/6/062017
Mokhov, I. (2019). Contemporary climate changes: anomalies and trends. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 231, 012037. doi: 10.1088/1755-1315/231/1/012037
POTVIN, C., GUAY, B., & PEDRONI, L. (2008). Is reducing emissions from deforestation financially feasible? A Panamanian case study. Climate Policy, 8(1), 23-40. doi: 10.3763/cpol.2007.0386