How have we changed with the climate?

The following practical cases show that our planet's future has merged into climate change. This article is taken from a book by Stephan Faris entitled Predict: The consequences of climate change, from the Amazon to the Arctic, from Darfur to the Napa valley will be published in January 2009 by the Exporter. Henry Holt edition published.

1. Increased drought (typically in Darfur, Sudan)

Only when the rain poured into Darfur, could the area be peaceful again. Nomads often drop camel flocks on a rocky hillside between fields owned by settled farmers and let them eat the remains of the harvest. But after decades of drought, this place is no longer a healthy land. Farmers started fencing fields and conflicts that broke out between farmers and nomadic tribes.

What made the rain not fall to this place? Warming in the tropics and oceans in the south combined with the cold in the North Atlantic changed the monsoon regime in Africa. The cause of drought in Darfur lies in the change of global climate.

The climate crisis has dragged to the Central African Republic. Sudan's nomadic tribes must go deeper into the Congo rainforest. Other neighboring countries are worried and it will be their turn. At the first conference on the impact of climate change last year organized by the United Nations Security Council, Ghanaian representative said: "We hope the warning bell about the risk of global warming will be followed by timely, appropriate and coordinated action ".

In Ghana, climate change has spread to the Sahara desert, forcing nomads to release their cattle into land areas. Nomads say they must equip good guns to protect the cattle from indignant local people for sharing their rights.

2. More frequent floods (coastal areas)

Climate scientists may continue to debate why climate change makes tropical storms stronger and more frequent, but insurance companies cannot wait for answers. During the 2004-2005 hurricane season, including Hurricanes Katrina and many other storms hit Florida, the insurance industry was in danger. More than 5.6 million people claim compensation of $ 81 billion.

3. Increasing disease-causing insects (typically in Italy)

In August 2007, the disease swept through a small town in northern Italy, more than 100 of the town's 2,000 inhabitants fell ill with symptoms: high fever, rash, bone and joint pain. Unusual warm air in the winter has allowed the mosquito to breed early and increase its density. When Italian tourists return from India with Chikungunya fever, a close form of dengue, this fever is spread. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this is the first time that tropical disease has exploded in Europe caused by climate change.

Climate change raises dengue and tropical diseases like malaria. Mites thrive when the water is warmer, female mosquitoes digest blood faster and bite more often when the temperature rises.

Malaria mosquitoes only live for a few weeks. At 20 degrees C, mosquitoes need 26 days to complete the adult cycle. At 25 degrees C, it only needs 13 days. "The change in the density of mosquitoes due to the differentiation of seasons is no longer clear (warm temperatures in winter) are related to the types of mosquito-borne diseases" - Paul Epstein, deputy director of the Center for Health Global health and environment Harvard University said.

4. Influence the Nordic wine industry

But global warming seems good for wine production. A study hosted by Gregory Jones, a climatologist from the University of Southern Oregon and also the son of a grape rancher, noticed the impact of temperature rise on wine production during the time from 1950-1999. Accordingly, the temperature has increased an average of 1.3 degrees Celsius in 27 wine regions in Jones' study, helping to increase the concentration of alcohol, increasing the ripening of fruit and thus increasing the amount of sugar after fermentation.

But after years of unstable crops, it is obvious that the future will not be bright for the wine industry. The heat waves in 2003 made the grapes ripen early and changed the unique flavor of many wines, they tasted like raisins!

As the temperature continues to increase, farmers will discover their fruit ripening too quickly. Thus, the future of grape farms must expand to the north and advance to the high hills to continue to ensure the best growing conditions for grapes. They even have to open farms in the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.

5. Impact on the life of seafood species

Not all of the CO2 we breathe out contributes to the rise in temperature. More than a third of this gas is absorbed by oceans, where they react with seawater to form carbon-acid acid (H ₂ CO ₃ ). So far, we have contributed a large enough amount of carbon to reduce the global pH globally from 8.2 to 8.1.

The first species to sense the chemical changes, this is the seafood using calcium carbonate to create shells and outer bones. The slightly acidic seawater (actually less alkaline) erodes crab shells, mollusc shells and sea snails. Coral reefs are strongly degraded because of chemical changes associated with unusual warming of seawater.

Australian reefs lost about 10% of coral reefs in 1998 and 2002. Symbiosis of symbiotic algae gives off the vibrant colors of reef corals, leaving the bones white and soft. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that by 2050, 97% of the large reefs will be bleached annually. Although corals can sometimes regenerate, re-absorb marine algae, but bleaching is an early sign of the destruction of reefs.

Australian seabirds have reduced their density due to lack of food. Seafood-related industries will be the next victims. Along with the disappearance of the reef, fish species will also disappear.

6. Flooding in island nations and peninsulas

Last summer, Kiribati - a small Pacific island nation - was the first country to declare Earth's warming to make its islands uninhabitable and to seek help to relocate. people go elsewhere. Melting ice and warming Earth will raise sea level by about 1m by the end of this century. Residents here will not even have fresh water to drink because of the salty water sources.

While residents of Kirubati are expecting answers from any country to allow their 100,000 people to refuge the Maldives island climate, at the same risk, but richer by tourism exploration looking to buy. a new land.

In November, the president-elect in the country's first democratic election announced that he had set up a fund with the hope of acquiring a new land for the country's 300,000 residents. "We do not want to leave the Maldives, but we also do not want to make climate refugees living in tents in the next decade." Sri Lanka and India have spoken to the new president, but Australia with its large terrain, many unexplored land is also a place to pay attention.

7. Increase immigration from poor countries to rich countries

According to the Red Cross Organization, natural disasters cause more people to be separated than war. Accordingly, by 2050, floods, droughts and starvation caused by climate change will displace 250 million people - compared to more than 163 million people who are evacuated by war, famine or carpets. ecology Most climate refugees are among the poorest countries in the world - where governments and people lack the resources to adapt to global warming.

In richer countries, the impact of global warming is related to politics. The increase in population due to migration provides groups with objections to immigration an argument to hide - that is the environment. The Washington DC Migrant Research Center argues: Immigrants from the developing world hinder efforts to combat climate change because they produce four times more carbon dioxide when they are in the country. native.

The influx of Mexicans into the US is growing as conditions for irrigation work in Mexico become increasingly difficult, especially with less rain and more droughts. The increase in climate disasters such as tropical storms in many places encourages a wave of migration to the United States.

8. Painting each other through the North Pole

The Arctic melting raises a political and political political race for the region, with media from countries like Russia, America, Canada and Denmark vowing to claim sovereignty over the land. Highest on this planet.

But even though this struggle is aimed at the potential of minerals, metals, and oil, the disintegration of ice sheets reveals another invaluable resource: waves beneath them. When there are no Arctic ice sheets, but the sea, cargo ships from Europe to Asia, if possible, take short cuts through the Arctic, which will shorten the 6,400km road and not have to cross the Panama Canal.

Cargo ships will not pass through narrow locks, and all tonnage ships will pass. In September 2007, the European Space Agency announced that for the first time in the history of the Arctic sea, it could be fully circulated, at least for a short time. If the ice continues to melt, the construction of the off road will be closer to reality.

9. Redirect travel services in the Alps

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Alps are warming to a level three times higher than the global average, further research data will be published. This is threatening business services involving winter sports that attract about 60-80 million visitors a year.

Tourist facilities on the mountains are the most attractive form of tourists who are closed or trying to open regular services all year round with sports not related to snow and ice, or bathing spots hot, conference venue with vacation .

10. Carbon trade conflicts with aboriginals

In some places, efforts to minimize global warming have a greater impact on climate change. In Elgon Mountain National Park in eastern Uganda, a Dutch nonprofit organization conducts a project to plant forests around the park to get carbon credits for air passengers who want to make up for CO _2. which they have emitted, and will reinvest the proceeds to plant more trees.

This is a project that benefits everyone. Trees will consume CO2 in the air, tourists will feel less guilty and Uganda will expand more parks. But the project did not account for the most vulnerable component: Aboriginal communities lived on the hills near this national park.

Angry that their land was deprived, they struggled to regain their land by suing and cutting down trees. After all, the trees planted for the purpose of absorbing carbon gas have been destroyed.

Similar conflicts in other countries have also occurred, and often poor people suffer more, such as in Ecuador, Brazil and India. The biggest challenges in climate change negotiations to come up with a new agreement to replace the Kyoto Treaty will be the provisions to include forests to calculate greenhouse gas emissions, and solutions between rich countries. and poor countries who will be the more responsible side in cutting emissions of carbon dioxide.

In both cases, very poor countries are most likely to suffer.