Research Paper

Bijaya Bista                                                                                                                              bista1             English 1100                                                                                                                

Nayanda Moore

           

                                                 Global Warming: A bitter truth                                            

            We all have noticed the late occurrence of spring, the hotter and hotter summer and a short winter but few are only aware of how and why it is. Climate change is one of the common results of Global warming. Global warming is the rise of earth’s atmospheric and land’s average temperatures mainly due to the concentration of greenhouse gases and human related activities. In its fifth assessment (AR5) in 2014 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2013) reported that scientists were more than 95% certain that most of global warming is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases and other human (anthropogenic) activities (Bradford). Even though, many scientists debate on the causes of Global Warming that it is naturally happening, but the human related activities also have the significant impact on Global Warming. There are few scientists that heavily talk on the topic of Global Warming. But, with all the facts and records from the studies conducted so far, it is sad but true that Global Warming is prevailing and it has adverse effects on ecosystem and biodiversity.

            The factories, industries, fertilizers and other human activities, mostly produce greenhouse gases like Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, etc.. Greenhouse effect was proposed by Joseph Fourier in 1824, discovered in 1860 by John Tyndall, was first investigated quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in 1896, and was developed in the 1930s through 1960s by Guy Stewart Callendar. When these gases are produced, they make a layer in the earth’s atmosphere interfering with the ozone layer.

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Usually, the sunlight enters through the ozone layer that filters the sunrays and the light is reflected back, but the layer formed by these greenhouse gases lets the sunlight to enter the earth’s atmosphere but does not let it reflect trapping the sunlight that leads to the rise in the temperature of earth. Even though, many scientists agree that the temperature of earth has been gradually rising, very few scientists actually voiced their concerns about it. The Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC), formed by the United Nation with a group of scientists, meets every few years to discuss on the latest scientific findings on global warming and then makes a report on it.                                                                                            

            There are several effects of rise in global temperature in various parts of the world, but the global attention is yet very low. The rises of sea levels, and a change in the amount and pattern of precipitation, melting of polar ice caps and glaciers are the most common effects of Global warming that is relevant in the different parts of the world (Bradford). Other effects include drought, heat waves, heavy rainfall and heavy snowfall, oceans acidification and species extinction. Researcher Bill Fraser has tracked the decline of the Adélie penguins in Antarctica, where their numbers have fallen from 32,000 breeding pairs to 11,000 in 30 years (IPCC, 2007).

            Nepal, a Himalayan country has been the direct victim of Global warming. Having some of the world’s highest mountains, it is vulnerable to the effects of Global warming and its consequences. Every year many glaciers from the Himalayas retreat due to excessive warming and as a result lead to flood that consists of melting ice, water from the rivers, soil and stones, that take lives of many people and destroy habitats of large number of people and animals.

Nepal, including other countries like Bhutan and China are vulnerable to Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF). 15 GLOF events were recorded in Nepal, 6 in the Tibet Autonomous Region of

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China (with consequences for Nepal) and 5 in Bhutan (ICIMOD, 2007). The GLOF have been resulting significant losses in various parts of the world. There are several incidents regarding GLOF that have been recorded over the time. The Dig Tsho GLOF occurred and destroyed the nearly completed Namche Hydropower Plant (with an estimated loss of US $1.5 million), 14 bridges, trails, and cultivated land, and cost many lives (ICIMOD, 2007). Recent studies by ICIMOD showed that glaciers in the Dhud-Koshi sub-basin of Nepal are retreating at unpredicted rates; glacier retreat rates of 10 to 60m per year and, in exceptional cases, as fast as 74m per year, have been recorded (ICIMOD, 2007). The damage of climate change has been significantly huge over the past as recorded in various parts of the world. But in a whole, the net damage costs of climate change as recorded from the various records and evidences is significantly high and it is even more likely to increase over time as stated by International Panel on Climate Change.

            The Global Warming also profoundly affects the earth’s ecosystems. We have noticed that many plants and animals have been shifting from their original places. A report from the National Academy of Sciences suggested that they are especially moving towards northward and to higher altitudes as the temperature is warming up gradually but continuously (National Research Council of the National Academics). An analysis of 866 scientific papers that researched the effects on ecosystem due to climate change, showed that nearly 60 percent of the 1598 species studied exhibited shifts in distributions and/or phenologies over timeframes of 20 to

 140 years. Analyses of field-based phenological responses showed shifts as great as 5.1 days per decade, with an average of 2.3 days per decade across all species (Hauser, Archer, Backlund,Lettenmaier, Janetos, Ryan, Schimel, and Walsh, 2008). The adaptive landscape of an

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organism under climate change is not only affected by the direct effects of climate change but also by the indirect effects like species interactions that may be weak or strong (Bocedi, Greta, et al., 2013). The rate of climate change is becoming faster and faster that the biodiversity is also affected. The animals may not or cannot quickly adapt to a changing climate regime and as a result some species may go extinct (Bradford). As observed in the recent decades, due to the Global Warming, the snow and ice covers in the Arctic are dramatically reducing due to melting (Hauser, Archer, Backlund,Lettenmaier, Janetos, Ryan, Schimel, and Walsh, 2008), hence, affecting the habitat of polar bears. Similarly, there are several effects of Global Warming that have the adverse effects on human, ecosystems, biodiversities and so on and various studies and researches have been carried out that have indicated the effects of Global Warming.

            Even though, several studies and records have highlighted the adverse effects of Global Warming, very less has been actually done to minimize the effects of Global Warming and educate the world regarding this important global matter and there are not significant emphasis given and plans made in order to deal with the adverse effects of Global Warming. Global Warming has been continuously degrading the nature, making adverse and competitive living conditions. It is sad that the maximum population is contributing to Global Warming, whereas very few are only concerned about Global Warming and its effects in the present and in past. If we only keep on contributing relentlessly to Global

 Warming, then more adverse and severe effects are going to prevail in the future and there might be a point, where we have to struggle to live. It is better to be late than to be sorry.

 

 

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Works Cited

                        Hauser, Rachel, Archer, Steve, Backlund, Peter, Hatfield, Jerry Lettenmaier, Janetos Dennis Anthony, Ryan, G. Mike, Schimel, David and Walsh, Margaret: the Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.3 (SAP 4.3). The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity in the United States, D.C. 2008

            Bocedi, Greta, et al. "Effects of local adaptation and interspecific competition on species' responses to climate change." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1297.1 (2013): 83+. Academic OneFile. Web. 12 May 2015.

            Shen, Weishou, et al. "Climate-forced ecological changes over the Tibetan Plateau." Cold Regions Science and Technology 114 (2015): 27+. Academic OneFile. Web. 12 May 2015.

            Bradford, Alina. Effects of Global Warming, livescience.. 17 Dec., 2014.web.13 May 2014. <http://www.livescience.com/37057-global-warming-effects.html>

            Edited by W J. McG. Tegart, G.W. Sheldon and D.C. Griffiths. Climate Change the IPCC Impacts Assessment, Australian Govt. publishing service, 1990, <https://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/far/wg_II/ipcc_far_wg_II_full_report.pdf>

            <http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/Downloads/Climate_Change_Ecosystems.pdf.>, United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2010

            National Research Council of the National Academics. Climate change Evidence, impacts and choices, 2012                

           

 

 

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             Beaumont et al., 2011, L.J. Beaumont, A. Pitman, S. Perkins, N.E. Zimmermann, N.G. Yoccoz, W. Thuiller. Impacts of climate change on the world's most exceptional Eco regions

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 108 (2011), pp. 2306–2311

            Samjwal Ratna Bajracharya, Pradeep Kumar Mool, Basanta Raj Shrestha. Impact of climate change on Himalayan glaciers and glacial lakes: Case studies on GLOF and associated hazards in Nepal and Bhutan, ICIMOD 2007

 

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Annotated Bibliography

      Beaumont et al., 2011, L.J. Beaumont, A. Pitman, S. Perkins, N.E. Zimmermann, N.G. Yoccoz, W. Thuiller. Impacts of climate change on the world's most exceptional Eco regions

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 108 (2011), pp. 2306–2311

This article is a very important source for my research paper. It provided all the important information required for my research topic. I got to explore different areas affected by global warming and that helped me to broaden my knowledge of Global warming.

        Edited by W J. McG. Tegart, G.W. Sheldon and D.C. Griffiths. Climate Change the IPCC Impacts Assessment, Australian Govt. publishing service, 1990, <https://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/far/wg_II/ipcc_far_wg_II_full_report.pdf>

Even though, it is an online source, from its articles I got the important data and records on Global Warming from past and from present. It was a very reliable source of information for my research paper on the topic of Global Warming.

       Hauser, Rachel, Archer, Steve, Backlund, Peter, Hatfield, Jerry Lettenmaier, Janetos Dennis Anthony, Ryan, G. Mike, Schimel, David and Walsh, Margaret: the Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.3 (SAP 4.3). The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity in the United States, D.C. 2008

This article from the book explored the various effects of Global Warming in the United States. It provided with the records and data related to climate change and its effects on agriculture, land water resources and also biodiversities in the United States. This was a very helpful article for my research paper as it showed how the Global Warming has been affecting the biodiversities and ecosystems by showing the studies of plants that are moving north and animals that are facing difficult challenges in adapting to the rapidly changing environment.