If you are keen and sensitive enough to care about the well-being of the environment you live in, then you will definitely notice the widespread adverse effects of global warming around you. The concentration of the harmful atmospheric greenhouse gases on Earth is continuously resulting in the planet growing warmer with the passage of time. This inturn is affecting other aspects like climate, water level in the sea, pattern of agriculture – the list is endless. While a lot of these adverse global warming effects are already taking place, scientists predict a lot more may be in store if adequate and timely precautions are not adhered. Here’s a cursory list of some.
Consequences of Global Warming
- Ice across the world such as the ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland and Arctic sea ice is melting. This particular effect of global warming is more visible at the Earth’s poles.
- A sharp decline of the number of Adélie penguins living in the Antarctica has been recorded. Infact, their count has dropped from 32,000 breeding pairs to just 11,000 in the past few decades.
- The rise in the level of the sea has accelerated over the previous century.
- Certain butterflies, foxes and alpine plants have moved far away in the north or to the higher, cooler regions.
- Average precipitation in the form of rain and snowfall has increased across the world.
- The breed of Spruce Bark Beetles has increased significantly in Alaska due to 20 years of warm summers there. And these insects have chewed away around four million acres of spruce trees.
- It is predicted that the sea levels may rise between seven and 23 inches by the century’s end. Continuous ice melting at the poles could further add another four to 8 inches.
- Hurricanes and other types of storms may become stronger.
The cycle of life (i.e. species depending upon one another for food) may get disturbed badly due to global warming. For instance, plants may blossom much faster than their pollinating insects become mature.
Floods and droughts is predicted to become more common as a result of global warming. - The availability of fresh water may get reduced. It is being said that if the Quelccaya ice cap at Peru keeps melting at its present rate, then it will vanish by 2100 and in the process leave thousands without the source of drinking water and electricity.
- Diseases like malaria will get spread by mosquitoes, etc.
