Week eleven: Effects of Climate Change

What are some of the possible effects of this Global Climate Change?

The primary effect of climate change is that the climate we have known for generations, will not be the same in the future. We humans have been living with a stable climate for as long as memory goes, but we will be living in a rapidly changing climate in the future. This means for instance that there will be loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer and severer heat waves. The IPCC states that net temperature rise in this century will be from 1.8 to 5.5 degrees compared to 1990 levels. This will be beneficial in some regions and harmful in others. Overall though, this will mean more of a loss than a gain to humanity. The greatest challenges for the world are:

Less fresh water available and thus water stress

Reduced yields and thus food shortages

Changing and thus unreliable climate patterns with many threats to coastal areas

Acidification of oceans and a reduced supply of fish

As Climate change may vary per region, so may its effects. not every region of our planet will be evenly affected. But the whole planet will feel its effects.

http://climate.nasa.gov/effects