Today global temperatures rise and break records almost every month. This past August has been the warmest since there are global temperature records back in 1880. These are not isolated cases or events, this is becoming a trend.
Several official agencies set 2014 as the warmest year with higher average temperatures. And in our case, in Spain, this year we have lived in summer the longest heat wave and the hottest July in history. How can all this affect us?
Earth is warming
Global warming it is already something unquestionable. There are still people who deny the existence of climate change and changes in ecosystems (like Donald Trump), but the phenomenon is more than evident. Since the 1950s, many changes have been observed in the environment and in global temperatures. The atmosphere and oceans have warmed, the volumes of snow and ice are decreasing at an unprecedented rate, the sea level is rising… they are direct consequences of this global warming.
There are reports issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, for its acronym in English) of the UN in which all these records are reflected. In the fifth report of this panel, which was presented at the end of 2014, you will find the key data that is being used for all the negotiations for the Paris climate summit. This Paris Agreement is expected to produce the necessary guidelines to be able to fight climate change, which is already causing havoc and damage in all parts of the planet, manifesting itself in the form of extreme meteorological phenomena.
Scientifically there are no arguments to deny warming and there is no government in the world that says otherwiseTherefore, this is a fact.
Man's actions on the planet's climate
People may wonder why the planet is warming. But the answer is very simple: humans and their activities are warming ecosystems. The main causes of global warming are greenhouse gas emissions, especially from the energy sector, transportation and changes in land use (problems linked to deforestation).
There are other causes of global warming of natural origin such as volcanism, variations in the Earth's orbit and axis or solar cycles. However, these influences are very inconspicuous in the global climate. The problem is that we emit more CO2 than the planet is capable of digesting. Scientists point out that carbon dioxide concentrations have reached levels never seen before in the last 800.000 years. And several experts point to the need to leave unexploited a third of the planet's oil reserves, half that of gas and 80% of the coal that still remains to be extracted from the bowels of the Earth if it is to avoid reaching a critical heating point.
The oceans are unprotected
There are regulations that regulate the activities and protection of the oceans, however, only 3% of the seas and oceans enjoy some type of protection. The human activities of fishing exploitation produce that 90% of the world's fish species are detrimental to overfishing.
Beyond the 200 miles of the Exclusive Economic Zone of each State, the seas are not protected, therefore, the activities carried out there are not regulated by any type of regulation. To alleviate this situation, the international commitment is to reach the protection 10% of the oceans in 2020 and 30% in 2030.
In addition, global warming is causing acidification in the oceans. The IPCC estimates that the increase in CO2 since 1750 has caused the marine pH to decrease by 0,1 units since then. And, although the effect on biodiversity has not been sufficiently studied, it is feared that this acidification process will end up punishing marine species as well.
As we have summarized in this post, the effects of climate change are devastating for our lives, that is why measures must be taken now to solve and avoid all these problems.