Global warming
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Global warming is the name given to the fact that the world's air has become hotter over the last two hundred years. Global warming may be a very serious problem for the world. It causes floods and storms.
Today, the atmosphere of the world is about a half a degree Celsius hotter than it was two hundred years ago. But many people disagree about whether this is caused by man's pollution (from cars and factories, for example), or a natural change.
The average temperature at the surface of the Earth has gone up by 0.6°C since the late 19th century[1]. This is known as Global warming. There are several theories which try and explain this increase. Most of the warming of the last 50 years is believed to be a result of increases in the greenhouse effect caused by human-generated carbon dioxide (CO2); variations in the amount of heat from the sun and other natural causes also play a role.
Climate models predict that temperatures will increase by 1.4°C - 5.8°C between 1990 and 2100 [2]. Much of the uncertainty in this increase results from not knowing future CO2 emissions, but there is also uncertainty about the accuracy of climate models. Climate commitment studies predict that even if levels of greenhouse gases and solar activity were to remain constant, the global temperature will increase by 0.5°C over the next one hundred years due to the lag in warming caused by the oceans.
Although the discussion of global warming often focuses on temperature, global warming or any climate change[3] may cause changes in other things as well, including the sea level, precipitation, weather patterns, etc. These may affect human activity via floods, droughts, heat waves, changes to agricultural yields, etc.
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[edit] Is the globe warming?
Over the past century or so the global (land and sea) temperature has increased by approximately 0.6 ± 0.2°C [4]. Over the past 1-2 thousand years the temperature has been relatively stable, with various (possibly local) fluctuations, such as the Medieval Warm Period or the Little Ice Age.
For details of changes during various periods:
- General discussion of Temperature records see: Temperature record
- Record of past century see: Instrumental temperature record
- Record of recent millennia see: Temperature record of the past 1000 years
- For attribution see: Anthropogenic climate change
- For the temperature of the lower troposphere since 1979, see Satellite temperature measurements
[edit] Why is the world warming?
[edit] Greenhouse gases have increased...
Coal-burning power plants, car exhausts, factory smokestacks, and other waste vents of the human environment give off about 22 billion tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the earth's atmosphere each year. The atmospheric concentration of CO2 has increased by 31% above pre-industrial levels since 1750. This is quite higher than at any time during the last 420,000 years, the period for which reliable data has been extracted from ice cores. From less direct geological evidence it is believed that CO2 values this high were last attained 40 million years ago. About three-quarters of the anthropogenic emissions of CO2 to the atmosphere during the past 20 years is due to fossil fuel burning. The rest is predominantly due to land-use change, especially deforestation [5].
[edit] But there may be other factors
There may be other causes of global warming. Some scientists believe that atmospheric carbon dioxide is actually determined by global temperatures, and that increased solar activity has caused the temperature rise.
[edit] Future
If the theory is correct then it is possible to predict future climate, based on assumptions (guesses) about future emissions. Climate models project a warming of 1.4°C to 5.8°C between 1990 and 2100.[6].
[edit] Effects
The effects of global warming are very important. The United Nations' Environmental Program recently announced that severe weather around the world has made 2005 the most costly year on record.
It would cost a lot of money to stop global warming in its tracks. If we spend a little money now to help solve the problem of global warming now, then we can save ourselves from losing a lot of money later in life when the bad effects of global warming occur. The sea level will rise, which means that coasts will move inland and cause floods. There will be more rain, which will cause floods. Storms will be stronger, which will cause damage. There will be more diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, and it is possible that more people will die in disasters.
If we spend 1% of our resources on this problem now, we may save as much as 20% of our resources soon.[7] We should try to solve the problem of global warming.
[edit] Attempts to combat global warming
[edit] Slowing temperature rise
- Kyoto Protocol
- Carbon sequestration / Carbon tax
- Future energy development
- Soft energy path
- United Kingdom Climate Change Programme
- Solar Panels
- Congestion Charge in the city of London
- Improving Londons Public Transports
- Trams
- Economical Cars
- Extra tax for larger Engines
- Energy Efficient Products
- Impact of global climate changes on agriculture
- flood defence
[edit] See also
Global warming relates to a number of other issues which are discussed elsewhere:
- ozone depletion
- global dimming
- sea level rise
- Global warming controversy
- scientific opinion on climate change
[edit] Notes
- ^ Use of the term "global warming" generally implies a human influence — the more neutral term climate change is usually used for a change in climate with no presumption as to cause and no characterization of the kind of change involved, such as the Ice Ages. Note, however, that there is one important exception to this: the UNFCCC uses "climate change" for human caused change and "climate variability" for non-human caused change [8]. Sometimes the term "anthropogenic climate change" is used to indicate the presumption of human influence.
[edit] External links
[edit] Data
- NOAA CMDL CCGG - Interactive Atmospheric Data Visualization NOAA CO2 data
- UNEP - The present carbon cycle - Climate Change carbon levels and flows
- Temperature data Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. Philip D. Jones and other.
- Hadley Centre: Global temperature data
[edit] Carbon dioxide "production"
- International Energy Annual: Reserves
- IEA Publications Bookshop - Key World Energy Statistics
- International Energy Annual 2002: Carbon Dioxide Emissions
[edit] Scientific
- NASA's Global Hydrology and Climate Center
- NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) — Global Temperature Trends.
- NASA's GISS paleoclimate site
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — NOAA, United States Department of Commerce — Global Warming FAQ
- NOAA's paleoclimate site
- MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
- Real climate a blog where scientists discuss the science of global warming
[edit] Educational
- New Scientist: Climate Change — Latest news, articles and FAQ on climate change from New Scientist magazine.
- Discovery of Global Warming — An extensive introduction to the topic and the history of its discovery
- Science of Climate Change — Meteorological Service of Canada, a guide to understanding the science behind climate change with a thorough FAQ section.
- Global warming - a briefing document, summarising current arguments concerning global warming. They present various points of view and some of the basic problems in following the science.
[edit] Other
- A large compendium of links to sites with information on global warming
- Ross McKitrick's commented list of resources on global warming
- Science and Technology Librarianship: Global Warming and Climate Change Science — Extensive commented list of Internet resources — Science and Technology Sources on the Internet.
- Activist Magazine: Carbon Activism for Beginners
- Stop Climate Chaos ~ ACT for the Earth