Climate Change literature Review

Document Type:Thesis

Subject Area:Other

Document 1

Since the Industrial Revolution, Carbon (IV) Oxide levels had increased by approximately 38% while the levels of methane in the atmosphere had increased by about 148%. According to statistics from The National Aeronautical Space Agency (NASA), the planet’s mean surface temperature has increased to approximately 2. 0 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th Century, as a consequence of rising levels of Carbon (IV) Oxide and other human-made emissions into the Earth’s atmosphere (NASA, 2018). Data from NASA for the years 1880-2016 indicates that the warmest years have been the last two decades of the 21st Century, with the year 2016 being the warmest. Global warming refers to the abnormal rapid increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s surface, mainly as a consequence of greenhouse emissions resulting from human activities.

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Democrats, on the other hand, have a tendency to support measures that they believe would reduce these emissions. This debate has been extended to the industrial sector, with some organizations in the extractive industry showing inadequate or lack of commitment towards addressing this topic. Despite the antagonism witnessed among the political class regarding this topic, a Survey conducted in 2016 by the Yale Program on Climate Communication established that approximately 58% of the people living in America believe that climate change is real, with approximately 57% concerned about it. The same report established that 35% of the American population is extremely worried about this phenomenon, with a similar percentage being of the opinion that human activity is the primary factor leading to global warming and climate change.

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The aim of this paper is to make additional contributions to this debate, by presenting a body of literature based on previous research addressing this topic, and to present the evidence contained in the specific literature, that indeed, global warming has occurred over the recent years and that its consequences can be felt and quantified. In order to fully understand the occurrence and impact of global warming, the 2017 World Meteorological Organization’s report can be complimented by pre-existing literature. Due to its drawback of generalization, it would be prudent to link it to previous research that focused on a specific country, Saudi Arabia. Almazroui, et al conducted a study, “Recent climate change in the Arabian Peninsula: Seasonal rainfall and temperature climatology of Saudi Arabia for 1979–2009.

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” The research used data from surface observations, CPC Merged Analysis of Precipitation (CMAP), Climatic Research Unit(CRU) AND Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) to study the climatology of the Arabian Peninsula for the aforementioned period (1979-2009). The distribution of seasonal of rainfall and temperature with time was obtained from the observed, CMAP(2. 5 mm during the wet and dry seasons respectively over this period. On the other hand, there was a linear increase in temperature by 0. 51⁰ C and 0. 71 ⁰C during the wet and dry seasons respectively during the period under study. The researchers noted an increase on the southern part of the Peninsula, particularly within the environs of the Red Sea in the past two decades, relative to the second last decade of the 20th Century.

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DeNicola et al argue that water scarcity is an issue that appertains to both its availability as well as quality, significant indicators of health. Besides drinking water supply is interconnected with food availability and security, as well as health and sanitation, which have a significant contribution to the global burden of diseases and infection. The report finds that Saudi Arabia has developed and employed an effective water-management system, mitigating the effects of water scarcity. This is mainly attributed to the fact that Saudi Arabia is well endowed with financial and economic resources that it can easily channel to address this challenge. However, countries in dire circumstances and with minimal financial and economic resources might by worst affected by the detrimental consequences of climate change on the supply of water and the health challenges that might arise from the same.

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The daily temperatures from the start of May to the final day of October were recorded. The monthly temperatures for each year were also calculated. In this study, eight causative agents of diseases occurred, including five bacterial species (Flavobacterium columnae, Yersinia ruckeri, Serratia Spp. , Aeromonas salmonicida and atypical A. salmonicida) (Karvonen et al, 2010). Wang and Chameides argue that it is not easy to link these individual events or phenomena to global warming, but the increase in their frequencies, as well as simultaneous worldwide occurrence, is sufficient evidence that they can be linked. The report relies on secondary sources of data, highlighting the key extreme events that have occurred in the recent past, pointing out to the disappearance of glaciers, severe heat waves across Europe and India in the year 2003, as well as persistent droughts and wildfires.

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Based on the report, some of the key ecological impacts of climate change include the evident damages caused to coral reefs, shifting in species annual cycles, decline in populations of animals in the arctic as well as a reduction in the population of amphibians. In order to fully analyses, the effects of the change of climate on water sources, Kundzewicz et al propose a framework that can be used to assess and reduce uncertainty, as well as steps that could improve uncertainty communication, e. g. Increasing the level of public awareness on this issue would be a crucial first step towards addressing this matter. Industrialized nations should take the first step by shifting to green energy and reducing the levels of greenhouse emissions, since it is the developing nations that are bound to bear the brunt of climate change, as established by researchers.

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