Despite the fact that your personal surroundings may appear to be in excellent condition, we should undoubtedly be concerned about the increase in global temperatures. Is the climate really changing, you might think as you take in your surroundings? Why do we know it's true? Can we halt it? We examine a handpicked list of facts and statistics about climate change that assist in addressing those questions below.
facts and statistics about climate change and Global Warming
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| A photo depicts researchers releasing an Ozonesonde balloon, which can reach heights of up to 115000 feet and relay data on the state of the climate to a ground station. |
General Climate Change Facts and statistics
- The last ice age ended approximately 11,700 years ago.
- Over the past 650,000 years, there have occurred seven periods of glacial expansion and contraction.
Climate change is nothing new. Over the past 650,000 years, glaciers have changed seven times, growing and contracting. The orbital path of the earth occasionally encounters a tiny change. The amount of sun's energy that reaches the planet changes as a result. Why is the current increase in the global temperature creating so much anxiety since changes in the climate of the earth have always occurred?
The research indicates that present global warming is occurring ten times more quickly than it did in the past. This is worrisome since the rate of global warming is faster than the rate of average cooling.
Human Activity
- More than 95% of the current trend in global warming can be attributed to human activity.
Labor-related human activities had changed- and time-intensive as they were before the industrial revolution. The energy was required by automation, large-scale production, and the expansion of factories to meet worldwide consumer demand.
Large volumes of carbon dioxide are being released into the atmosphere as a result of human activities since the industrial revolution. Primarily, the energy and raw materials needed to fuel our growth were produced by mining, drilling, and burning fossil fuels. Since then, scientists have acquired evidence showing that the amount of CO2, which is generated as a result of industrialization, has increased and is a factor in global warming.
- Since the end of the last ice age, carbon dioxide arising from human activities has increased more compared to carbon dioxide produced by natural resources, more than 250 times faster.
And over half of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are made up of carbon dioxide. Burning fossil fuels, other biological materials, solid waste, and trees contribute significantly to atmospheric carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere by plants through absorption.
Methane, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases are other greenhouse gases. Methane is released during the processing and movement of coal, oil, and natural gas. Methane emissions in landfills are also influenced by livestock and organic garbage. Nitrous oxide is released during wastewater treatment, and several industrial, and agricultural processes. Moreover, fluorinated gases are strong gases produced by humans and released during an industrial operation.
Recent Increases
- Since the late 19th century, the planet's surface temperature on average has increased by 2.05 degrees Fahrenheit.
- The majority of recent global warming has occurred in the past 40 years[ref].
Unfavorable changes are being made to the world climate. Glaciers are melting, plants are flowering earlier, and river ice is dissolving. This is taking place as a result of an unfavorable greenhouse effect brought on by increased greenhouse gas emissions. The atmosphere of the earth is heated by greenhouse gases. We refer to this as the greenhouse effect, which maintains the world average global temperature is comfortably warm at 15 degrees Celsius. The world is kept habitable through the greenhouse effect. However, in recent years, greenhouse gas emissions have surged, and the planet is now getting hotter.
- Between 1901 and 2016, the average global temperature rose by around 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit[ref].
- According to research, between 2030 and 2050, there will be an additional 250,000 deaths annually as a result of climate change.
People with respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses are negatively impacted as air temperatures rise. Since 1960, calamities caused by the weather have increased in frequency and power. About 60,000 people have died as a result of this in developing nations.
- Over 70,000 more people perished in Europe during the summer 2003 heatwave.
The effects of climate change pose a serious threat to our livelihood, environment, and health. This is true because many of the environmental and social factors that determine human wellness are negatively impacted by climate change. Heat waves, sea level rise, and heavy rainfall pose a hazard to our planet and those of us who live there.
- Since 2014, the warmest years on record have occurred, 2016 was the hottest year ever[ref].
Impact and facts and statistics about Climate Change: The Environment
- In the past 130 years, the planet has warmed by approximately 0.85 degrees Celsius[ref].
The ecosystem has seen the consequences of climate change; both plants and animals have been impacted. As the sea ice melts, it's likely that animals who dwell in ice zones will lose their habitat. The ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland are fast melting, which is raising the sea level. The recurrence of wildfires and severe heat waves has increased in the planet's warmer regions due to climate change.
Since 1969, global warming has caused the top 100 meters of the ocean to warm by more than 0.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Research indicates that between 1993 and 2019, Greenland lost 279 billion tons of ice year on average.
- Research indicates that between 1993 and 2019, Antarctica lost 148 billion tons of ice annually.
- Over the past ten years, sea levels have risen by nearly 8 inches worldwide.
- According to research, 95% of cities with extreme climate change risks are in Asia and Africa[ref].
- Since the 1960s, the number of weather-related natural disasters documented has tripled[ref].
Not just about warming
- Since the beginning of the industrial age, the acidity of the surface world's oceans has increased by 30%[ref].
Industrial processes sometimes use fossil fuels as a source of energy or entail other activities that produce carbon dioxide into the environment. The more CO2 that is released into the atmosphere, the more energy the ocean absorbs and stores. The ocean has become more acidic as a result of this. A large portion of the heat produced by climate change is also absorbed by the ocean. The ocean's top 382 feet exhibit a 0.33-degree Celsius warming. The UN warned that we must keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius or less than pre-industrial levels.
- In recent decades, the ocean has absorbed 20% to 30% of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions.
- The ocean takes in between 7.2 and 10.8 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
Impact and facts and statistics about Climate Change: Human Health
- When temperatures are extremely high, aeroallergens like pollen and others are present in higher quantities. Asthma affects over 300 million people globally. [ref]
- Due to global sea level rise, more than 40% of the world's population, who live within 60 miles of the coast, are at risk.
sheets ice will keep melting, Sea levels will keep rising, and precipitation patterns will shift as temperatures continue to climb. These all put our lives at peril. Extreme weather disasters are happening more frequently and with greater ferocity. People will be forced to relocate to "safer" areas as a result of rising sea levels and extreme weather events that would destroy homes and infrastructure. These movements will eventually lead to an overpopulation of such locations, endangering people's health and welfare.
- Variable rainfall patterns have an impact on the availability of clean water, which leads to contaminated water supplies and raises the danger of diarrheal disease, which claims the lives of over 500,000 children under the age of five every year. [ref]
Poor hygiene is a result of unsafe water, which puts people at risk for illnesses including cholera, typhoid, and diarrhea. In some places, climate change increases the frequency of rainfall and flooding, which taints the clean water supply. Infected water breeds insects and diseases. The malaria-transmitting Anopheles mosquito is greatly influenced by the climate. Floods also result in the destruction of property and lives.
- Every year, malnutrition and undernutrition result in around 3.1 million fatalities. Climate change's increasing heat and erratic rainfall are likely to Boost that quantity as a staple food supply declines. [ref]
Water Scarcity
Due to climate change, there is a water shortage in other parts of the planet. Food production worldwide is declining, and more people are going hungry and dying as a result. Drought can impair the planting season and cause hunger in some locations. According to scientific predictions, droughts will increase in frequency and severity by the end of the twenty-first century. In some locations, excessive rain or snowfall results in flooded and unproductive farms. owing to a lack of technology to remotely control calamities like flooding, underdeveloped nations are most impacted by this.
- Some diseases, such as malaria, which claims the lives of over 400,000 people annually, are impacted by climate change.[ref]
by 2030 and 2050, according to researchers:
- An additional 38,000 elderly persons every year pass away from heat stroke[ref]
- 48,000 more deaths each year as a result of diarrhea[ref]
- 95,000 more fatalities each year as a result of childhood malnutrition[ref]
- 60,000 more people die from malaria per year[ref]
These climate change facts demonstrate that people will experience the effects of climate change all throughout the world, but differently. Living in developing nations, coastal places, megacities, and mountainous regions carry a greater danger. Rising sea levels pose a threat to those who reside in coastal or island communities. A total of 84 rapidly expanding cities throughout the world are in danger due to extreme weather events and rising temperatures. Cities in Africa that are expanding the quickest are also the most at risk.