Global Warming: Causes, Effects, and Solutions

Running head: GLOBAL WARMING
GLOBAL WARMING
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GLOBAL WARMING
Introduction
The issue of global warming is being realized with growing concerns as its effects are
becoming more visible. The issue is not only affecting the communities, climate and health but
also the economy. Strict measures have been taken to tackle the issue but these are yet to produce
any significant benefit. The global sea level has seen an increase by around eight inches since the
19th century and is expected to experience further acceleration in the coming years. This essay
aims to highlight the concerns of global warming in the society and ways to tackle it.
Discussion
Global warming is a term that needs no explanation in the contemporary era because it
has been the main topic of global discussion over the decades. Nonetheless, to define it concisely
for the readers to understand, global warming refers to the long-term rise of earth’s temperature.
The rise is due to numerous factors including globalization and its consequent effects. To many,
climate change and global warming are synonymous but scientists like to use the term as the
complex changes that are affecting the planet and its weather. One of the most concerning things
about global warming is that it has caused the climate to change drastically leading to sudden
floods and other natural disasters. The earth’s temperature has seen an increase of 0.9 degrees
Celsius since 1906 causing the glaciers to melt, “shifting precipitation patterns and setting
animals on the move” (Nationalgeographic.com, 2019). Climate change is happening because of
the emerging human activities that increase the use of greenhouse gases causing it to be trapped
in the atmosphere. According to the scientists, the climate change has resulted in the worldwide
melting of ice especially at the poles. Due to such a rapid melting of ice, sea level is rising at a
rate of 3.2 millimeters every year, a rate faster than in the previous years.

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GLOBAL WARMING
The fact that global warming has caused the climate to change drastically is also evident
from the sharp increase the number of natural disasters that happened over the last two decades.
According to the report published in International Disaster Database, the global reported natural
disaster rose rapidly during the period from 1960 to present (Ritchie & Roser, 2019). These
disasters ranged from earthquake to volcanic eruptions, drought and flood amongst others. The
years after 2000 especially witnessed a rapid increase in natural disasters going up to almost 500
incidences globally (Ritchie & Roser, 2019). The data clearly indicates the effect of global
warming on the world and the societies. Billions of lives are lost due to global warming caused
natural disasters. In addition, properties worth billions are damaged as well causing the world
economy to stagnate. The data also reported that the total economic costs caused due to these
disasters crossed 350 billion dollars worldwide in 2011 (Ritchie & Roser, 2019). Wildfires
caused the worst economic damage totaling more than 3 billion dollars. The Union of Concerned
Scientists, a non-profit organization based in the United States found that due to global warming,
the wildfire season in the US has become longer due to rise in temperatures (Ucsusa.org, 2019).
Innumerable policies have been implemented since the global warming issue began to
become significant. These policies included local, national and international policies. The Paris
Climate Agreement is one such policy that was signed to tackle global warming. The accord was
signed in the year 2015 by nearly every country to tackle the issue of climate change and the
negative consequences caused by it (Nrdc.org, 2019). The primary goal of the agreement is to
reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and the target set is 2 degrees Celsius above the
preindustrial levels. Apart from the Paris Agreement that is a relatively new effort to combat
global warming, some other policies were also undertaken. The United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto Protocol are the two most significant