The earth is warming, from North to South Pole, everywhere in between too. The mercury is already raised over 1 degree Fahrenheit globally, and even more in Polar Regions that are more sensitive. The impacts of elevating temperatures are not waiting for far-flung future. They have started to happen right now. Signs are evident overall and some of them are indeed surprising. The heat is not just melting sea ice and glaciers, but it is also changing the precipitation patterns, and setting animals on the move.
Let’s see at a glance some of the rapid and most evident changes that are already visible worldwide, as a result of rising temperature due to global warming.
- Ice is melting globally, in particular at South & North poles. This includes ice sheets wrapping up Greenland and West Antarctica, mountain glaciers, and Arctic sea ice.
- According to the researcher Bill Fraser, the number of Adélie penguins found on Antarctica has shown significant decline, from 32,000 pairs to 11,000 within last 30 years.
- The rise in sea level is happening faster since the last century.
- Some foxes, alpine plants and butterflies have shifted farther north or ahead, which are cooler areas.
- Precipitation, i.e. snowfall and rain, has also increased all over the world, on an average.
- Spruce bark beetles are extinct now in Alaska, and credit goes to over 20 years of warmest summers. The insects have killed around 4 million acres of spruce trees.
- The rising temperature year by year, especially in the Asian and African regions, breaks the record of the previous years. The extreme heat waves of around 50 degree centigrade (Note: Water boils at 100 degree centigrade) all through the Asian, in particular Middle East and Africa are causing increasing number of casualties.
- Developing countries in the world like those in Asian and African regions are totally dependent on non-renewable energy resources, which are depleting at a faster rate, causing even more usage of energy resources, leading to various economic, social and environmental issues, which eventually result in more global warming. The non renewable energy resources that are used for generating energy or electricity in these regions include fossil fuels, water, oil and gas, coal etc.
- If global warming is not controlled and resources are depleting with the same rate, following extreme changes are sure to happen by the end of this century:
- Sea levels have been predicted to rise in between 10 and 23 inches by the end of the century, and constant melting at both the poles would add 4 and 8 inches.
- Hurricanes and other forms of storm are expected to be stronger. Species depending on one another would lose their sync. For instance, plans could bloom before their pollinating insects are active.
- Droughts and floods would occur more frequently. Regions where people are dying of droughts, such as Ethiopia, rainfall could further decrease by 10 percent within next 50 years.
- Fresh water would become scarce. If the Quelccaya ice cap located in Peru keeps on melting at the current rate, it would be vanished by 2100, leaving millions of people without drinking water and electricity.
- Diseases like malaria would spread. Significant changes would occur in Eco system; some species would be shifted to north, while others that don’t able to move might become extinct.
These impacts are not limited to environment, rather these directly and indirectly impact the economic and social structure and progress of the nations. People would not be able to have fresh drinking water, fresh meat, vegetables and fruits to eat, since global warming leads to disturbed aquatic and green life. They won’t even be able to generate energy for running industrial and agricultural applications that are necessary for economic growth, since the non renewable resources with which energy is generated would be depleted completely.
The best solution in this scenario, as recommended by the environmental experts and economists that they have come up with after years of research, is shifting to renewable resources for generating electricity, which are not just cost effective but environmental friendly as well.
The Importance of Renewable energy environmental friendly solutions
A number of renewable energy resources that are environment friendly as well are available, which include wind and solar energy. These resources are constantly present and would never run short for energy generation.
Most of the renewable energy is obtained directly and indirectly from the sun. The solar energy or sunlight can be used for power generation and heating buildings, homes and water, solar cooling and a lot of industrial and commercial uses.
The heat of sun also drives the wind, whose energy can be trapped in wind turbines. This wind and heat of sun cause water to evaporate, which turns into rain and snow and flows downhill into stream or rovers. The energy can also be captured by using hydroelectric power.
There are also renewable energy resources that don’t come from the sun. The geothermal energy traps the earth’s internal heat for a range of uses including electricity generation and for cooling and heating buildings. In addition, the energy of the tides of the ocean comes from gravitational pull of sun and moon upon the earth.
The renewable energy resources would not only help reducing the global warming but these solutions would also result in a number of economic benefits, including generation of electricity and power, production of clean green friendly energy, accelerated industrial and commercial operations, more employment opportunities, cost cutting and acquiring high energy efficiency.
Going green will help build relationships and clients who live by the same ethos, therefore creating business in the local economy and healthy connections. Even if your core business is not deep rooted in the renewable energy sector, making the switch to renewable energy could still provide your company with an additional stream of revenue. Government grants are available to help business make the switch to renewable energy and go green, as well as interest-free loans to help fund the switch.