Climate Change and Its Impact on Society and the Environment

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Section 1
The evidence of climate change is compelling: sea levels are rising, glaciers are retreating,
precipitation patterns are changing, and the world is getting warmer. According to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the current rate of greenhouse gas
emissions is likely to cause average temperatures to rise by 0.2 ̊C per decade, reaching by 2050
the threshold of 2 ̊C above pre-industrial levels. Recent evidence suggests even more rapid
change, which will greatly, and in some cases irreversibly, affect not just people, but also species
and eco- systems (Elizabeth et al., 2010). Climate change indeed is real. Super typhoon Haiyan is
the latest natural disaster that has also led credence to the reality of climate change. This sad
occurrence hit land and devastated the Philippines. This record-breaking storm is the strongest
storm in history to make landfall. It tore apart buildings and left entire provinces without power
or communication. The 370-mile-wide storm packed winds 3.5 times as strong as Hurricane
Katrina. Winds reached 195 mph and had gusts of up to 235 mph. Walls of water as high as
fifteen feet swept over the country washing away towns on many islands and washed ships
ashore where homes once stood. The U.N. says, “Around 920,000 people were displaced by the
storm and a total of 11.8 million people have been affected. Of- ficials said the deadly storm left
more than 3850 injured and at least 77 people reported missing across the Phil-ippines.” (The
Argo, 2013). Climate change is a serious risk to poverty reduction and could undo decades of
development efforts. While climate change is global, its negative impacts are more severely felt
by poor people and poor countries. They are more vulnerable because of their high dependence
on natural resources and limited capacity to cope with climate variability and extremes.
Restoring and maintaining key ecosystems can help communities in their adaptation efforts and
support livelihoods that depend upon the services of these ecosystems. Moving towards low-
carbon societies can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improving human health and well-
being and creating green jobs. Climate change is a fact of life. We need to act urgently if we are
to avoid an irreversible build-up of green- house gases (GHGs) and global warming at a
potentially huge cost to the economy and society worldwide. Or- animation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) analysis suggests that if we act now, we have 10 to 15
years’ “breathing space” during which action is possible at a relatively modest cost. But every
year of delay reduces this breathing space, while requiring ever more stringent measures to make