1.Introduction
A heat wave scorching India this week has already killed at least 1,000 people, according to Indian authorities, but that number may be a huge underestimate,
Heat waves can be especially harsh on people with pre-existing health conditions, such as heart disease and dehydration. That's because heat waves can overtax the body, making it difficult for people with these conditions to deal with the illness and they often are more likely to die as a result, Azhar said.
2. Impacts of Global Warming
Global warming is already underway with consequences that must be faced today as well as tomorrow. Evidence of changes to the Earth's physical, chemical and biological processes is now evident on every continent.
To fully appreciate the urgency of climate change, it's important to understand the ways it affects society and the natural environment. Sea levels are rising and glaciers are shrinking; record high temperatures and severe rainstorms and droughts are becoming increasingly common. Changes in temperatures and rainfall patterns alter plant and animal behavior and have significant implications for humans. In this section, explore the connections between the climate data and the changes happening around you—and those you can expect to see in the future—in all parts of the globe, including your own backyard.
Not only are global warming-induced changes currently underway, but scientists also expect additional effects on human society and natural environments around the world. Some further warming is already unavoidable due to past heat-trapping emissions; unless we aggressively reduce today's emissions, scientists project extra warming and thus additional impacts.
The Climate Hot Map arranges current and future climate impacts into five main groupings:
-People
-Freshwater
-Oceans
-Ecosystems
-Temperature
Each of these major groupings, in turn, is divided into specific categories that describe more fully some of the consequences we may face. Click on any of the categories listed on the left for more information.
3.Global Warming Causes
Global Warming Emissions by Economic Sector
Global warming is primarily a problem of too much carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere—which acts as a blanket, trapping heat and warming the planet. As we burn fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas for energy or cut down and burn forests to create pastures and plantations, carbon accumulates and overloads our atmosphere. Certain waste management and agricultural practices aggravate the problem by releasing other potent global warming gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide. See the pie chart for a breakdown of heat-trapping global warming emissions by economic sector.
4.Solutions to Global Warming
There is no single solution to global warming, which is primarily a problem of too much heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere. (Learn more about the causes of global warming.) The technologies and approaches outlined below are all needed to bring down the emissions of these gases by at least 80 percent by mid-century. To see how they are best deployed in each region of the world, use the menu at left.
• Boosting energy efficiency: The energy used to power, heat, and cool our homes, businesses, and industries is the single largest contributor to global warming. Energy efficiency technologies allow us to use less energy to get the same—or higher—level of production, service, and comfort. This approach has vast potential to save both energy and money, and can be deployed quickly.
• Greening transportation: The transportation sector's emissions have increased at a faster rate than any other energy-using sector over the past decade. A variety of solutions are at hand, including improving efficiency (miles per gallon) in all modes of transport, switching to low-carbon fuels, and reducing vehicle miles traveled through smart growth and more efficient mass transportation systems.
• Revving up renewables: Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy are available around the world. Multiple studies have shown that renewable energy has the technical potential to meet the vast majority of our energy needs. Renewable technologies can be deployed quickly, are increasingly cost-effective, and create jobs while reducing pollution.
• Phasing out fossil fuel electricity: Dramatically reducing our use of fossil fuels—especially carbon-intensive coal—is essential to tackle climate change. There are many ways to begin this process. Key action steps include: not building any new coal-burning power plants, initiating a phased shutdown of coal plants starting with the oldest and dirtiest, and capturing and storing carbon emissions from power plants. While it may sound like science fiction, the technology exists to store carbon emissions underground. The technology has not been deployed on a large scale or proven to be safe and permanent, but it has been demonstrated in other contexts such as oil and natural gas recovery. Demonstration projects to test the viability and costs of this technology for power plant emissions are worth pursuing.
• Managing forests and agriculture: Taken together, tropical deforestation and emissions from agriculture represent nearly 30 percent of the world's heat-trapping emissions. We can fight global warming by reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and by making our food production practices more sustainable.
• Exploring nuclear: Because nuclear power results in few global warming emissions, an increased share of nuclear power in the energy mix could help reduce global warming—but nuclear technology poses serious threats to our security and, as the accident at the Fukushima Diaichi plant in Japan illustrates to our health and the environment as well. The question remains: can the safety, proliferation, waste disposal, and cost barriers of nuclear power be overcome?
• Developing and deploying new low-carbon and zero-carbon technologies: Research into and development of the next generation of low-carbon technologies will be critical to deep mid-century reductions in global emissions. Current research on battery technology, new materials for solar cells, harnessing energy from novel sources like bacteria and algae, and other innovative areas could provide important breakthroughs.
• Ensuring sustainable development: The countries of the world—from the most to the least developed—vary dramatically in their contributions to the problem of climate change and in their responsibilities and capacities to confront it. A successful global compact on climate change must include financial assistance from richer countries to poorer countries to help make the transition to low-carbon development pathways and to help adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The planet is warming, from North Pole to South Pole, and everywhere in between. Globally, the mercury is already up more than 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius), and even more in sensitive polar regions. And the effects of rising temperatures aren’t waiting for some far-flung future. They’re happening right now. Signs are appearing all over, and some of them are surprising. The heat is not only melting glaciers and sea ice, it’s also shifting precipitation patterns and setting animals on the move.
Some impacts from increasing temperatures are already happening.
• Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice.
• Researcher Bill Fraser has tracked the decline of the Adélie penguins on Antarctica, where their numbers have fallen from 32,000 breeding pairs to 11,000 in 30 years.
• Sea level rise became faster over the last century.
• Some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have moved farther north or to higher, cooler areas.
• Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average.
• Spruce bark beetles have boomed in Alaska thanks to 20 years of warm summers. The insects have chewed up 4 million acres of spruce trees.
Other effects could happen later this century, if warming continues.
• Sea levels are expected to rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 and 59 centimeters) by the end of the century, and continued melting at the poles could add between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters).
• Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger.
• Species that depend on one another may become out of sync. For example, plants could bloom earlier than their pollinating insects become active.
• Floods and droughts will become more common. Rainfall in Ethiopia, where droughts are already common, could decline by 10 percent over the next 50 years.
• Less fresh water will be available. If the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru continues to melt at its current rate, it will be gone by 2100, leaving thousands of people who rely on it for drinking water and electricity without a source of either.
• Some diseases will spread, such as malaria carried by mosquitoes.
• Ecosystems will change—some species will move farther north or become more successful; others won’t be able to move and could become extinct. Wildlife research scientist Martyn Obbard has found that since the mid-1980s, with less ice on which to live and fish for food, polar bears have gotten considerably skinnier. Polar bear biologist Ian Stirling has found a similar pattern in Hudson Bay. He fears that if sea ice disappears, the polar bears will as well.
1.บทนำคลื่นความร้อน scorching อินเดียสัปดาห์นี้มีแล้วฆ่าคนที่ 1000 ตามหน่วยงานอินเดีย แต่ว่าเลขอาจจะตัวใหญ่ดูถูกดูแคลน คลื่นความร้อนได้อย่างรุนแรงโดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งกับคนใหม่โรค โรคหัวใจและคายน้ำ ก็เนื่องจากคลื่นความร้อนสามารถ overtax ร่างกาย ทำให้มันยากสำหรับคนที่มีเงื่อนไขเหล่านี้จะจัดการกับการเจ็บป่วย และพวกเขามักจะมีแนวโน้มการตายเป็นผล ฮัรกล่าว 2. ผลกระทบของภาวะโลกร้อน ภาวะโลกร้อนอยู่ระหว่างดำเนินผลที่ต้องเผชิญวันนี้เป็นวันพรุ่งนี้ หลักฐานของการเปลี่ยนแปลงของโลกทางกายภาพ ทางเคมี และทางชีวภาพกระบวนการอยู่ตอนนี้ชัดทุกทวีป การเติมเต็มของการเปลี่ยนแปลงสภาพภูมิอากาศ จำเป็นต้องเข้าใจวิธีที่จะส่งผลกระทบต่อสังคมและสิ่งแวดล้อมธรรมชาติ ระดับน้ำทะเลเพิ่มขึ้น และธารน้ำแข็งหด ตัว คอร์ดทน และพายุฝนที่รุนแรง และ droughts จะแข็งแรงมาก การเปลี่ยนแปลงในรูปแบบของฝนและอุณหภูมิเปลี่ยนแปลงพฤติกรรมของพืชและสัตว์ และมีนัยสำคัญสำหรับมนุษย์ ในส่วนนี้ สำรวจการเชื่อมต่อระหว่างข้อมูลสภาพภูมิอากาศและการเปลี่ยนแปลงที่เกิดขึ้นรอบตัวและคุณสามารถคาดว่าจะเห็นในอนาคต — ในทุกส่วนของโลก รวมทั้งบ้านของคุณเอง Not only are global warming-induced changes currently underway, but scientists also expect additional effects on human society and natural environments around the world. Some further warming is already unavoidable due to past heat-trapping emissions; unless we aggressively reduce today's emissions, scientists project extra warming and thus additional impacts. The Climate Hot Map arranges current and future climate impacts into five main groupings: -People-Freshwater-Oceans-Ecosystems-TemperatureEach of these major groupings, in turn, is divided into specific categories that describe more fully some of the consequences we may face. Click on any of the categories listed on the left for more information. 3.Global Warming CausesGlobal Warming Emissions by Economic Sector Global warming is primarily a problem of too much carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere—which acts as a blanket, trapping heat and warming the planet. As we burn fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas for energy or cut down and burn forests to create pastures and plantations, carbon accumulates and overloads our atmosphere. Certain waste management and agricultural practices aggravate the problem by releasing other potent global warming gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide. See the pie chart for a breakdown of heat-trapping global warming emissions by economic sector. 4.Solutions to Global Warmingมีวิธีใดเดียวกับภาวะโลกร้อน ซึ่งเป็นปัญหาหลักมากเกินไปความร้อนดักคาร์บอนไดออกไซด์ (CO2), มีเทน และไนตรัสออกไซด์ในบรรยากาศ (เรียนรู้เพิ่มเติมเกี่ยวกับสาเหตุของภาวะโลกร้อน) เทคโนโลยีและแนวทางที่ถูกระบุไว้ด้านล่างทั้งหมดจำเป็นต้องนำลงปล่อยของก๊าซเหล่านี้ โดยอย่างน้อยร้อยละ 80 โดยช่วงกลางศตวรรษนี้ เพื่อดูว่าพวกเขามีส่วนจัดวางในแต่ละภูมิภาคของโลก ใช้เมนูที่ด้านซ้าย•เพิ่มประสิทธิภาพการใช้พลังงาน: พลังงานที่ใช้ กับ พลังงาน ความร้อน เย็นของบ้าน ธุรกิจ อุตสาหกรรม และเป็นผู้บริจาคที่ใหญ่ที่สุดเดียวที่โลกร้อนขึ้น เทคโนโลยีประสิทธิภาพพลังงานให้เราใช้พลังงานน้อยไปเหมือนกัน — ขึ้นซึ่งระดับการผลิต บริการ และความสะดวกสบาย วิธีการนี้มีศักยภาพมากมายเพื่อประหยัดเงินและพลังงาน และสามารถใช้งานได้อย่างรวดเร็ว• Greening การขนส่ง: ปล่อยของภาคขนส่งได้เพิ่มขึ้นในอัตราเร็วกว่าใด ๆ อื่น ๆ ใช้พลังงานภาคกว่าทศวรรษ หลายอย่างมือ รวมถึงปรับปรุงประสิทธิภาพ (ไมล์ต่อแกลลอน) ในทุกโหมดการขนส่ง การสลับเชื้อเพลิงคาร์บอนต่ำ และลดรถไมล์เดินทางสมาร์ทการเจริญเติบโตและระบบขนส่งมวลชนที่มีประสิทธิภาพมากขึ้น• Revving up renewables: Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and bioenergy are available around the world. Multiple studies have shown that renewable energy has the technical potential to meet the vast majority of our energy needs. Renewable technologies can be deployed quickly, are increasingly cost-effective, and create jobs while reducing pollution.• Phasing out fossil fuel electricity: Dramatically reducing our use of fossil fuels—especially carbon-intensive coal—is essential to tackle climate change. There are many ways to begin this process. Key action steps include: not building any new coal-burning power plants, initiating a phased shutdown of coal plants starting with the oldest and dirtiest, and capturing and storing carbon emissions from power plants. While it may sound like science fiction, the technology exists to store carbon emissions underground. The technology has not been deployed on a large scale or proven to be safe and permanent, but it has been demonstrated in other contexts such as oil and natural gas recovery. Demonstration projects to test the viability and costs of this technology for power plant emissions are worth pursuing.• Managing forests and agriculture: Taken together, tropical deforestation and emissions from agriculture represent nearly 30 percent of the world's heat-trapping emissions. We can fight global warming by reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and by making our food production practices more sustainable.• Exploring nuclear: Because nuclear power results in few global warming emissions, an increased share of nuclear power in the energy mix could help reduce global warming—but nuclear technology poses serious threats to our security and, as the accident at the Fukushima Diaichi plant in Japan illustrates to our health and the environment as well. The question remains: can the safety, proliferation, waste disposal, and cost barriers of nuclear power be overcome?
• Developing and deploying new low-carbon and zero-carbon technologies: Research into and development of the next generation of low-carbon technologies will be critical to deep mid-century reductions in global emissions. Current research on battery technology, new materials for solar cells, harnessing energy from novel sources like bacteria and algae, and other innovative areas could provide important breakthroughs.
• Ensuring sustainable development: The countries of the world—from the most to the least developed—vary dramatically in their contributions to the problem of climate change and in their responsibilities and capacities to confront it. A successful global compact on climate change must include financial assistance from richer countries to poorer countries to help make the transition to low-carbon development pathways and to help adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The planet is warming, from North Pole to South Pole, and everywhere in between. Globally, the mercury is already up more than 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius), and even more in sensitive polar regions. And the effects of rising temperatures aren’t waiting for some far-flung future. They’re happening right now. Signs are appearing all over, and some of them are surprising. The heat is not only melting glaciers and sea ice, it’s also shifting precipitation patterns and setting animals on the move.
Some impacts from increasing temperatures are already happening.
• Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice.
• Researcher Bill Fraser has tracked the decline of the Adélie penguins on Antarctica, where their numbers have fallen from 32,000 breeding pairs to 11,000 in 30 years.
• Sea level rise became faster over the last century.
• Some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have moved farther north or to higher, cooler areas.
• Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average.
• Spruce bark beetles have boomed in Alaska thanks to 20 years of warm summers. The insects have chewed up 4 million acres of spruce trees.
Other effects could happen later this century, if warming continues.
• Sea levels are expected to rise between 7 and 23 inches (18 and 59 centimeters) by the end of the century, and continued melting at the poles could add between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters).
• Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger.
• Species that depend on one another may become out of sync. For example, plants could bloom earlier than their pollinating insects become active.
• Floods and droughts will become more common. Rainfall in Ethiopia, where droughts are already common, could decline by 10 percent over the next 50 years.
• Less fresh water will be available. If the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru continues to melt at its current rate, it will be gone by 2100, leaving thousands of people who rely on it for drinking water and electricity without a source of either.
• Some diseases will spread, such as malaria carried by mosquitoes.
• Ecosystems will change—some species will move farther north or become more successful; others won’t be able to move and could become extinct. Wildlife research scientist Martyn Obbard has found that since the mid-1980s, with less ice on which to live and fish for food, polar bears have gotten considerably skinnier. Polar bear biologist Ian Stirling has found a similar pattern in Hudson Bay. He fears that if sea ice disappears, the polar bears will as well.
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