Environmental Problems Part 6-Effects of Climate Change

Environmental Problems (Mooney, Linda, Knox, David, and Schacht)

Effects of Global Warming and Climate Change

Climate Change kills an estimated 30,000 people per year, mostly in the developing world (Global Humanitarian Forum 2009). The majority of these deaths are attributed to crop failure leading to malnutrition and water problems such as flooding and drought. The effects of global warming and climate change also include the following:

Melting Ice and Sea-Level Rise. Between 1901 and 2010, average global sea level rose by about 7.5 inches (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2013). Some forecasts predict that sea-level rise could reach 3 to 6.5 feet over the 21^st century (Muldrow & Ochs 2011). The two major factors that are causing a rise in the sea level are (1) thermal expansion caused by the warming of the oceans (water expands as it warms), and (2) the melting of glaciers and the Greenland and polar ice sheets. In 2012, sea ice extent (ocean area covered by ice) was at a record low, and in mid-summer, 97 percent of the Greenland ice sheet was melting (UNEP 2013). Scientists say the Arctic Ocean in summer could be ice-free by the end of the century (Leitzell 2011). Rising sea levels pose a threat to 10 percent of the world’s population that live in coastal areas, and 13 of the world’s 20 largest cities that are located in coastal areas (Muldrow & Ochs 2011). As sea levels rise, some island countries, as well as some barrier islands off the U.S. coast, are likely to disappear, and low-lying coastal areas will become increasingly vulnerable to storm surges and flooding.

Flooding and Spread of Disease. Increased heavy rains and flooding caused by global warming contribute to increases in drownings and increases in the number of people exposed to insect-and-water-related diseases, such as malaria and cholera. Flooding, for example, provides fertile breeding grounds for mosquitoes that carry a variety of diseases including encephalitis, dengue fever, yellow fever, West Nile virus, and malaria (Knoell 2007). With the warming of the planet, mosquitoes are now living in areas in which they previously were not found, placing more people at risk of acquiring one of the diseases carried by the insect.

Threat of Species Extinction. At least 19 species extinctions have been attributed to climate change (Staudinger et al. 2012). Scientists have predicted that, in certain areas of the world, global warming will lead to the extinction of up to 43 percent of plant and animal species, representing the potential loss of 56,000 plant species and 3,700 vertebrate species (Malcolm et al. 2006). The U.S. Geological Survey (2007) predicts that, due to the effects of climate change, the entire polar bear population of Alaska may be extinct in the next 43 years.

Extreme Weather: Hurricanes, Droughts, and Heat Waves. Rising temperatures are causing drought in some parts of the world and too much rain in other parts. Warmer tropical ocean temperatures can cause more intense hurricanes (Chafe 2006). With rising temperatures, an increase in the number, intensity, and duration of heat waves is expected, with the accompanying adverse health effects (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007). Droughts, as well as floods, can be devastating to crops and food supplies.

Forest Fires. Another effect of global warming is an increase in the number and size of forest fires (Westerling et al. 2006). For every degree Celsius warming in the Western states, scientists project a two-to-sixfold increase in area burned by wildfire (Staudinger et al. 2012). Warmer temperatures dry out trash brush and trees, creating ideal conditions for fires to spread. Warmer temperatures dry out brush and trees, creating ideal conditions for fires to spread. Warmer weather also allows bark beetles to breed more frequently, which leads to more trees dying from beetle infestation (Staudinger et al. 2012). Dead trees become dry and increase risk of fire. Global warming also means that spring comes earlier, making the fire season longer.

Effects on Recreation. Winter sports and recreation, such as skiing and snowboarding, are threatened by decreased and unreliable snowfall, causing high economic losses for winter recreation businesses, not to speak of frustration for winter sports enthusiasts. In coastal areas, beach recreation is also projected to suffer due to coastal erosion caused by sea level rise and increased storms association with climate change (Staudinger et al. 2012).

Sources

Mooney, Linda, Knox, David, and Schacht, Caroline 2015. Understanding Social Problems. Cengage Learning: Boston, MA.

Global Humanitarian Forum. 2009. Human Impact Report: Climate Change-The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis. Genova: Global Humanitarian Forum.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2013. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. United Nations Environmental Programme and the World Meteorological Organization. Available at www.climatechange2013.org

Muldrow, John, and Alexander Ochs (with Shakuntala Makhijani). 2011. “Glacial Melt and Ocean Warming Drive Sea Level Upward.” In Vital Signs, Linda Starke, ed. (pp. 43-46). Washington DC: Worldwatch Institute.

UNEP. 2013. UNEP Yearbook 2013: Emerging Issues in Our Global Environment. Available at www.unep.org

Leitzell, Katherine. 2011 (May 3). “When Will the Artic Lose its Sea Ice?” National Snow and Ice Data Center. Available at www.nsidc.org

Knoell, Carly. 2007 (August 9). “Malaria: Climbing in Elevation as Temperature Rises.” Population Connection. Available at www.populationconnection.org

Staudinger, Michelle D., Nancy B. Grimm, Amanda Staudt, Shawn L. Carter, F Stuart Chapin III, Peter Kareiva, Mary Ruckelshaus, Bruce A. Stein. 2012. Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services: Technical Input to the 2013 National Climate Assessment. Available at assessment.globalchange.gov

Malcolm, Jay R., Canran Liu, Ronald P. Neilson, Lara Hansen, and Lee Hannah. 2006. “Global Warming and Extinctions of Epidemic Species from Biodiversity Hotspots.” Conservation Biology 20(2):538-548

U.S. Geological Survey. 2007 (September 7). “Future Retreat of Arctic Ice Will Lower Polar Bear Populations and Limit Their Distribution.” USGS Newsroom. Available at www.usgs.gov

Chafe, Zoe. 2006. “Weather-Related Disasters Affect Millions.” In Vital Signs. L. Starke ed. (pp. 44-45). New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2007. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: United Nations Environmental Programme and the World Meteorological Organization. Available at www.ipcc.ch

Westerling, A.L., H.G. Hidalgo, D.R. Cayan, and T.W. Swetnam. 2006. “Warming and Earlier Spring Increase Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity.” Science 313 (5789):940-943

Environmental Problems Part 5-Global Warming and Climate Change

Environmental Problems (Mooney, Linda, Knox, David, and Schacht)

Global Warming and Climate Change

Global warming refers to the increasing average global temperature of earth’s atmosphere, water and land, caused mainly by the accumulation of various gases (greenhouse gases) that collect in the atmosphere. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international team of scientists from countries around the world, “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal…The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased” (2013, p. SPM-3). In the United States, 2012 was the warmest year since records began in 1895 (Blunden & Arndt 2013).

Causes of Global Warming

The prevailing scientific view is that greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide, accumulate in the atmosphere and act like the glass in a greenhouse, holding heat from the sun close to the earth. Most scientists believe that global warming has resulted from the marked increase in global atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases since industrialization began. Global increases in carbon dioxide concentration are due primarily to the actions of humankind, particularly the use of fossil fuels.

Deforestation also contributes to increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Trees and other plant life use carbon dioxide and release oxygen into the air. As forests are cut down or are burned, fewer trees are available to absorb the carbon dioxide.

The growth of greenhouse gas emissions is strongest in developing countries, particularly China, which emits more carbon dioxide than any other nation. In 2010, China consumed nearly half of all coal worldwide and surpassed the United States as the world’s largest consumer of energy (BP 2011). However, the United States has the highest per capita emissions of carbon dioxide (Energy Information Administration,2013).

Even if greenhouse gases are stabilized, global air temperature and sea level are expected to continue to rise for hundreds of years. That is because global warming that has already occurred contributes to further warming of the planet, a process known as a positive feedback loop. For example, the melting of Siberia’s frozen peat bog could release billions of tons of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere (Pearce 2005). And the melting of ice and snow, another result of global warming, exposes more land and ocean area, which absorbs more heat than ice and snow, further warming the planet.

For more than 20 years, the fossil fuel industry and its allies have launched an aggressive misinformation campaign attacking and discrediting climate science, scientists, and scientific institutions (Greenpeace USA 2013). This well-funded “climate denial machine” has been effective in swaying public view of climate change: Despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity causes global warming (Cook et al. 2013), more than half (57 percent) of U.S. adults believe that global warming is due to natural changes in the environment (Saad 2013).

 Sources

Mooney, Linda, Knox, David, and Schacht, Caroline 2015. Understanding Social Problems. Cengage Learning: Boston, MA.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2013. Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. United Nations Environmental Programme and the World Meteorological Organization. Available at www.climatechange2013.org

Blunden, Jessica, and Derek S. Arndt. 2013. “State of the Climate in 2012.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 94(8):S1-S258

BP. 2011. BP Statistical Review of World Energy. Available at www.bp.com

Energy Information Administration. 2013 (September). Monthly Energy Review. Available at www.eia.gov

Pearce, Fred. 2005. “Climate Warming as Siberia Melts.” New Scientist, August 11. Available at www.NewScientist.com

Greenpeace USA. 2013. Dealing in Doubt: The Climate Denial Machine Vs. Climate Science. Available at www.greenpeace.org

Cook, John, Dana Nuccitelli, Sarah A. Green, Mark Richardson, Barbel Winkler, Rob Painting, Robert Way, Peter Jacobs, and Andrew Skuce, 2013. “Quantifying the Consensus on Anthropogenic Global Warming in the Scientific Literature.” Environmental Research Letters 8(2)1-7.

Saad, Lydia. 2013 (April 8). “Americans’ Concerns about Global Warming on the Rise.” Gallup, Inc. Available at www.gallup.com

Environmental Problems Part 4-Water Pollution

Environmental Problems  (Mooney, Linda, Knox, David, and Schacht)

Over the past 50 years, humans have altered ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any other comparable period of time in history (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). As a result, humans have created environmental problems, including depletion of natural resources; air, land and water pollution; global warming and climate change; environmental illness; threats to biodiversity; and light pollution. Because many of these environmental problems are related to the ways that humans produce and consume energy, we will begin with global energy use.

Water Pollution

Our water is being polluted by a number of harmful substances, including plastics, pesticides, vehicle exhaust, acid rain, oil spills, sewage, and industrial, military, and agricultural waste. Water pollution is most severe in developing countries, where more than 1 billion people lack access to clean water. In developing nations, more than 80 percent of untreated sewage is dumped directly into rivers, lakes, and seas that are also used for drinking and bathing (World Water Assessment Program 2009).

In the United States, one indicator of water pollution is the thousands of fish advisories issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that warn against the consumption of certain fish caught in local waters because of contamination with pollutants such as mercury and dioxin. The EPA advises women who may become pregnant, pregnant women and nursing mothers, and young children to avoid eating certain fish altogether (swordfish, shark, king mackerel, and tilefish) because of the high levels of mercury (EPA 2004).

Pollutants in drinking water can cause serious health problems and even death. At Camp Lejeune, a Marine Corps base in Onslow County, North Carolina, as many as 1 million people were exposed to water contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE), an industrial degreasing solvent, and perchloroethylene (PCE), a dry-cleaning agent from 1957 until 1987 (Sinks 2007). Exposure to these chemicals has been linked to a number of health problem, including kidney, liver, and lung damage, as well as cancer, childhood leukemia, and birth defects.

Water pollution also affects the health and survival of fish and other marine life. In the Gulf of Mexico, as well as in the Chesapeake Bay and Lake Erie, there are areas known as “dead zones” that due to pollution runoff from agricultural uses of fertilizer have oxygen levels so low they cannot support life (Scavia 2011)

In recent years, there has been increasing public concern about the effects of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking-a process used in natural gas production that involves injecting at high pressure a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into deep underground wells to break apart shale rock and release gas. Opponents of fracking cite a number of concerns about the damaging impacts to the environment and to human health, including the production of toxic wastewater and contamination of drinking water, air pollution, land damage, and global warming emissions (Ridlington & Rumpler 2013).

Another growing concern surrounds the increasing amount of plastic pollution found in the world’s oceans: There is not a single cubic meter of ocean water that does not contain some plastic. Much of this plastic is difficult to see because of its small size. Microplastics, which fragments of plastic that measure less than 5 mm, come from the degradation of plastic products and from small pellets that are used to make plastic products such as bottles, bags, and packaging. Some of these pellets are accidentally spilled into the environment and have been found on beaches and in ocean water around the world (Takada 2013) These plastic pellets and other plastic debris contain high concentration of hazardous chemicals that can have adverse effects on marine life and humans that consume seafood.

Sources

Mooney, Linda, Knox, David, and Schacht, Caroline 2015. Understanding Social Problems. Cengage Learning: Boston, MA.

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Synthesis. Washington. DC: Island Press.

World Water Assessment Program, 2009. World Water Development Report 3: Water In a Changing World. Available at www.unesco.org

EPA. 2004. What You Need to Know about Mercury in Fish and Shellfish. Available at www.epa.gov

Sinks, Thomas. 2007 (June 12). Statement by Thomas Sinks, PhD, Deputy Director, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry on ATSDR’s Activities at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune before Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations United States House of Representatives. Available at www.hhs.gov

Scavia, Donald. 2011 (September 2). “Dead Zones in Gulf of Mexico and Other Waters Require a Tougher Approach: Donald Scavia.” Nola.com Available at www.nola.com

Ridlington, Elizabeth, and John Rumpler. 2013. Fracking by the Numbers: Key Impacts of Dirty Drilling at the State and National Level. Environment America Research & Policy Center. Available at www.environmentamerica.org

Takada, Dr. Hideshige. 2013 (May 10). Microplastics and the Threat to Our Seafood. Ocean Health Index. Available at www.oceanhealthindex.org