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According to the research conducted by Derek Markham, a famous analyst on climate change, the main causes of global warming may be carbon dioxide emissions from burning plants and gasoline, deforestation and increased use of chemical fertilizers. However, even if some academics disagree about the opinions, effects of global warming are huge, world-wide, and measurable. In fact, global warming has a series Of serious impacts on human, animals and environment.
The ice melting is raising the sea level, natural disasters threaten thousands of lives and human health is also affected by global warming directly. The first impact of global warming is on the polar ice cap. With the increasing temperature, massive ice sheets from glaciers and ice caps melt at a high ace, causing some dangerous consequences on the sea level, marine plants and animals. In fact, global sea levels have increased significantly due to the melting of two massive ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland.
According to a recent study conducted by a group of researchers led by Alex Gardener, Professor of Geography at Clark University, the world’s glaciers lost 260 agitation of water each year between 2003 and 2009, making these rivers Of ice responsible for almost a third of sea level rise during that time. In edition, corals at the bottom of the ocean cannot get enough sunlight for their photosynthesis due to the rising of sea level. Hence, their quality deteriorates and fish that depend on these corals for food will not be able to survive.
Finally, ice melting also threatens the life of marine animals such as polar bears, seals and birds. For example, polar bears live on the sea ice of Arctic Ocean that provides a platform from which they can hunt, live and breed. However, scientists estimate that retreating sea ice will result in a loss f two-thirds of the polar bear population and force the remaining bears into a smaller, icicles areas. Another impact of global warming is on the environment. Scientists predict that extreme events such as heavy rains with floods, droughts and wildfire would happen frequently.
For example, according to “Global Warming’s Increasingly Visible Impacts” by Dry. James Wang and Dry. Bill Chemises , natural disasters caused 60,000 deaths in developing countries annually. Because Of high temperature, evaporation process release increasing amount Of water vapor into the air causing frequent heavy rains. Recently, many countries including Venezuela have suffered from this severe problem. Meanwhile, global warming also encourages rains outside of normal rainy season.
Furthermore, floods contaminate fresh water supply while spreading water- borne diseases. Other than that floods create favorable atmosphere for insects like mosquitoes. Another effect of global warming is severe drought, which normally occur in summer due to lack of rain and high evaporation. In fact, agricultural productivity has been affected by severe drought causing lobar food shortage. For example, it is estimated in the “Global Warming: Impacts to Public Health & Air Quality” by Holmes-Gene, Bonnie, and Will Barrett that every year 3. Million people, especially children die due to acute malnutrition in African. In the same way, droughts influence wild fires causing dehydration, deforestation and soil erosion. Finally, global warming also affects human health. According to the World Health Organization’s report over the past thirty years, the effects of global warming claim one hundred and fifty lives annually. High temperatures, due to the depletion of the ozone layer, cause heat stroke, dehydration and often times, victims lose their lives.
Food-borne diseases, caused by salmonella are known to be as a result of high temperatures. With increasing pace, such outbreaks are contagious and often times put the health care systems under serious burden. In addition, high temperatures are conducive for mosquitoes that spread malaria, dengue fever and diarrhea. Traditionally, high altitude areas were not known to be breeding grounds for malaria, but now quotes have been reported to be breeding in altitudes of more than 7,200 feet in the Andes Mountains of Columbia.