- What's the Big Deal -
Weather stations, weather balloons, ocean buoys, and satellites tell us the Earth's temperature today. Ice cores, sediment layers, and tree rings tell us about what the Earth's climate has been like in the past. With this evidence, scientists are learning how climate changes over time.
- Sometimes little things can turn into big things -
Think about brushing your teeth. If you don't brush for one day, chances are nothing bad will happen. But if you don't brush your teeth for one month, you may develop a cavity. It's the same thing with global temperatures. If temperatures rise above normal levels for a few days, it's no big deal, the Earth will stay more or less the same. But if temperatures continue to rise over a longer period of time, then the Earth may experience some problems. The average global temperature has increased by almost 1°F over the past century; scientists expect the average global temperature to increase an additional 2 to 6°F over the next hundred years. This may not sound like much, but the temperature was only 7°F colder than it is today at the peak of the last ice age, 18,000 years ago!, and glaciers covered much of North America. This rise in temperature could change the Earth's climate as never before.
Even a small increase in temperature over a long time can change the climate. When the climate changes, there may be big changes in the things that people depend on. These things include the level of the oceans and the places where we plant crops. They also include the air we breathe and the water we drink.
So,What Might Happen?
It is important to understand that scientists don't know for sure what climate change will bring. Some changes brought about by climate change will be good. If you live in a very cool climate, warmer temperatures might be welcome. Days and nights could be more comfortable and people in the area may be able to grow different and better crops than they could before. But it is also true that changes in some places will not be very good at all.
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View Some likely scenarios if climate change continues
A change in Human Health Issues, Ecological Systems, Sea Level, our crops and food supply and impacts on Coral Reefs and Polar Bears could all be expected.
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Global Climate Change may make the sea level rise. Why?
Well, warmer weather makes glaciers melt. A glacier is a large sheet of ice that moves very, very slowly. Some melting glaciers add water to the oceans and the level of the sea rises.
Sea level may rise between several inches and as much as 3 feet during the next century. This will affect both natural systems and manmade structures along coastlines. Coastal flooding could cause saltwater to flow into areas where salt is harmful, threatening plants and animals in those areas.
Oceanfront property would be affected by flooding, and beach erosion could leave structures even more vulnerable to storms. Whether we move back from the water or build barricades in the face of a rising sea, it could cost billions of dollars to adapt to such change. Coastal flooding also may reduce the quality of drinking water in coastal areas.
A rise in sea level could also affect the movement of the ocean's currents.
It is thought that the Gulf Stream could be diverted further south by the addition of cold water from the north, changing much of western Europe's weather patterns.
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Throughout the world, the prevalence of some diseases and other threats to human health depend largely on local climate. Climate Change may affect people's health both directly and 
indirectly. For example, heat stress and other heat related health problems are caused by very warm temperatures and high humidity. Untreated, heat stress can be a very serious medical problem and can lead to heart problems or even death. Scientists suspect that, in many places, climate change will increase the number of very hot days that occur during the year. More hot days increases the possibility of heat related health problems.
Indirectly, ecological disturbances, air pollution, changes in food and water supplies, droughts and coastal flooding are all examples of possible impacts that might affect human health. Diseases could possibly spread to parts of the world where they weren't before. For example, warmer weather in higher altitudes will make the mosquitoes fly higher, causing the spread of diseases such as malaria.Food and water shortages also impact human health. Not having access to clean water can cause many illnesses such as diarrhea and eye infections while droughts increase the prevalence of malnutrition.
Click on Orbie to visit the World Health Organization's Web Page on Global Climate Change
How people and nature adapt to climate change will determine how seriously
it impacts human health. Some people and places are likely to be affected more than others. Generally, poor people and poor countries are less likely to have the money and resources they need to adapt to climate change and to respond to environmental changes and disasters. They also often do not have to means to prevent and treat resulting health problems.
Young children and the elderly adults will run the highest risks.
The extent and nature of climate change impacts on human health vary by region, by vulnerability of population groups, by the extent and duration of exposure to climate change itself and by society's resources and ability to adapt to or cope with the change.
Click on the Link Above to
view the World Health Organization's
Summary of Climate Change and Human Health - Risk and Responses
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Climate change may alter the world's habitats and ecosystems, all living things are included in and rely on these places. Many of these places depend on a delicate balance of rainfall, temperature, and soil type. A rapid change in climate could upset this balance and seriously endanger many living things.
Most past climate changes occurred slowly, allowing plants and animals to adapt to the new environment or move somewhere else. However, if future climate changes occur as rapidly as some climatologist predict, plants and animals may not be able to react quickly enough to survive.
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Click on Orbie above to vew Impacts of Climate Change on specific Eco-Systems
Below are just a few examples of Climate Change on Eco-Systems
The Ocean:
Oceans cover 70% of the world's surface, contain 90% of all life on the planet, play an important role in regulating climate and weather, and is an important source of livelihood and food for millions of people.
Global Climate Change will raise ocean temperatures leading to shifts in ocean populations, invasions of alien species, and even species deaths.
Tropical Rainforest: In tropical forests, global warming will change temperatures and rainfall totals. There are more than 1,400 distinct indigenous tribes, most of whom are hunters and gatherers, living in the world's tropical rain forests. Many of these tribes are relying on agriculture for their sustenance. To adapt to the new climate patterns, these groups will need to:
- Diversify crops to minimize the risk of harvest failure
- Change their hunting and gathering patterns to reflect new animal migrations
- Change the timing of planting and harvesting, a practice that indigenous groups traditionally based on phases of the moon.
Low-latitude Dry Climates: Drylands consist of about 40% of the world's land surface and is home to more than two billion people, many of whom are considered the world's poorest people. Due to global climate change, drylands are expected to receive less rain and experience more droughts and floods. For example, the yield from agriculture in Africa is expected to decrease 50% by 2010. Rising water temperatures in African lakes will results in less fresh-water fish. Similarly, Asia is expected to see a 30% decrease in agricultural production.
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Global Climate Change may make the Earth warmer in cold places. People living in these places may have a chance to grow crops in new areas. But climate change also might bring droughts to other places where we grow crops. In some parts of the world, people may not have enough to eat because they cannot grow the food that they need.
Also some of the best land for growing food is located in low-lying areas. That means it will be flooded first. It also happens that some of your biggest cities, like London, New Orleans and Bangkok, will get flood as well. Millions of people will go hungry
and many more will have nowhere to live. This is very worrying.
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Both Meteorologist and Climatologist have studied the earth's climate and have found that as it warms up, the weather is going to get more violent and unpredictable.
Climate is defined not simply as average temperature and precipitation but also by the type, frequency and intensity of weather events. Human-induced climate change has the potential to alter the prevalence and severity of extremes such as heat waves, storms, floods and droughts. Though predicting changes in these types of events under a changing climate is difficult, understanding vulnerabilities to such changes is a critical part of estimating vulnerabilities and future climate change impacts on human health, society and the environment.
It is important to understand that directly linking any one specific extreme event, like a hurricane, to human-caused climate change is not possible. However, climate change may increase the probability of some ordinary weather events reaching extreme levels.
It is probable that heat waves will become more likely and progressively more intense over the course of decades under current climate change scenarios. Hurricanes, for example, will become more powerful. This is a big worry for people living in the south of the U.S. and in the Pacific or Indian oceans.
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Coral reefs are an ecosystem that have the second biggest biodiversity in the world and have been described as the rainforests of the ocean. For years they have been threatened by man. Boats, fishing and pollution were all threats, now their biggest threat may be from climate change.
15% of the world's reefs have already been lost and 30% may die in the next 30 years.
A rise of sea temperatures by as little as 2 or 3°F can cause a major coral bleaching event where the algae, which feed the coral growing polyps, die. A rise of 4 or 5°F will mean that the algae will never return.Warmer seas will leave the reefs more vulnerable to pollutants and diseases.
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Dive into Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society
If we lose our coral reefs we lose not only the wildlife that lives there, income from tourism, but also protection for the coasts from the increased number of storms expected from global climate change.
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With no ice, there will be no polar bears!
Polar bears could be extinct in 100 years if climate change continues to melt the North Pole's ice.
The North Pole's permanent ice is melting by 10% each year and is likely to speed up as the white ice no longer reflects the sun's heat.
Bears need the ice to feed. They can smell the seals under the ice and break through it to catch them, or just wait for them to come up for air. Polar bears have always been able to survive the summers with little food, but now, with longer periods of time between the ice forming, they are going hungry.
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Starving bears have fewer cubs and are more likely to come to human settlements searching for food. Here they will be more at risk from humans..
...Click on the Polar Bear to learn more about Polar Bear Research
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