Is Global warming just a propaganda? – Part – I

Global warming as it has been told to us that it is the continuing rise in the average temperature of Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. Global warming is caused by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, resulting from human activities such as deforestation, burning of fossil fuels and other activities. 

This study or finding is not at all disputed by any scientific community either national or international, all the major industrialized countries have belief in Global warming.

History of Global warming?

Global warming has been in the news since 1970s but, it did not gain media attention overnight. Following is the

1975:  inadvertent climate modification

The first use if global warming can be traced back to August 8, 1975, in which a person by the name of Wally Broecker used a term called “global warming” in the journal called Science. He wrote in the journal that the climate was warming, his article got much attention, before him scientists used a term inadvertent climate modification. However the attention was for few months as people did not know in which direction this thing will lead them into.

1979: Charney Report

The National Academy of Sciences first used global warming in a 1979 paper called the Charney Report, it said;

“if carbon dioxide continues to increase, no reason to doubt that climate changes will result and no reason to believe that these changes will be negligible.” 

The report made a distinction between referring to surface temperature changes as global warming, while referring to other changes caused by increased CO₂ as climate change.

1988: The Fame

On June 23, 1988, NASA climate scientist James Hansen used the global warming in a testimony to Congress in Washington DC. He said;

“Global warming has reached a level such that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship between the greenhouse effect and the observed warming.”

His testimony was widely reported and afterward global warming was commonly used by the press and in public discourse. It was due to him that global warming hit the international press world-wide. The testimony made headlines, with the New York Times declaring the next day that Global warming has begun and Hansen’s testimony was seen as a pivotal moment, a point when global warming came on the public’s radar.

The Effects of Global warming

Greenhouse gases can stay in the atmosphere for an amount of years ranging from decades to hundreds and thousands of years. No matter what we do, global warming is going to have some effect on Earth.  There are many effects of global warming that is shown to us. To summarize things, following are the 10 most dangerous effects of global warming;

1. Outbreak of diseases: As northern countries warm, disease carrying insects migrate north, bringing plague and disease with them. Indeed some scientists believe that in some countries, thanks to global warming, malaria has not been fully eradicated.
2. Super cyclones: As the temperature of oceans rises, so will the probability of more frequent and stronger cyclones. We saw in this in 2007 and 2010.
3. Heat waves and drought: Although some areas of Earth will become wetter due to global warming, other areas will suffer serious droughts and heat waves. Africa will receive the worst of it, with more severe droughts also expected in Europe.
4.  Sea Levels: it will raise sea levels. There are 5,773,000 cubic miles of water in ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, if all glaciers melted today the seas would rise about 230 feet.
5. Flood threat: Flooding represents one of the most dangerous hazards to human settlements and is one of the most potentially momentous impacts of global warming.
6.  Wildfires, if any remains: As the planet continues to warm, dry areas of land that are already susceptible to wildfires are likely to be ravaged by even more frequent and destructive episodes
7. Smog threat: A powerful combination of vehicular fumes, ground-level ozone, airborne industrial pollution and the stagnant hot air associated with heat waves, smog represents an immediate and chronic health threat to those living in built-up urban areas.
8. Volcanic activity: As already noted, melting glaciations can usher in new, more frequent and more dangerous episodes of volcanic activity.
9. Severe thunderstorms: A consequence of the increased amounts of humid air generated by global warming is that more thunderstorms will be triggered.
10. Ocean life: The world’s oceans absorb roughly 30% of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide that seeps into the atmosphere, and so inevitably, as more fossil fuels are burned, ocean life will continue to suffer the negative consequences of global warming.

Famous examples of Global warming at home

In Pakistan, although the term global warming is not much popular however certain community that is of meteorologist and environmentalist blame certain abnormal or unexpected disaster on global warming. The famous example is the 2010 floods, which sub-merged a total of 20% land of Pakistan. Following are the other weather incidents blamed on global warming;

• A great number of harsh monsoon seasons.
• Great India drought of 21st century.

But then again there are always two sides of the story!

End of Part – I

Is Global warming just a propaganda? – Part II