GLOBAL WARMING ALARM

Goddard Institute of Space Studies' Graph of the Increase of Global Temperatures 

Since prehistoric times, the Earth was either warm or cold periodically.  Climate changed when the planet received smaller or larger amounts of sunlight due to sudden shifts in earth’s orbit or when the sun’s energy waxed or wained.

But since the mid-1920s another factor has influenced the world’s climates, the human factor.   Global warming has increased very rapidly over the past century due to greenhouse gases released by people burning fossil fuels, such as crude oil, coal, and natural gas.   The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report concludes:  “It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of global warming since the mid-20^th century.”

The emission of greenhouse gases, which are carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, gradually poison the earth’s atmosphere.  The results are global warming, the rising of sea levels, frequent extreme weather conditions such as heatwaves, the expansions of deserts and considerable surface temperature increases in the Arctic.  All the above contribute to the melting of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice, also, high temperatures bring either more rain and snowfall or drought and wildfires.

Climate change will certainly diminish the production of crops, lessening food supplies.  Also, rising sea levels may flood coastal areas and thus force the abandonment of many seaside cities.  Environmental change will surely extinguish or relocate many species, as their ecosystems change, such as those that inhabit coral reefs, mountains and the Arctic.

Unfortunately, because the gasses continue existing in the atmosphere, climate changes and their effects will persist for many centuries more, even if the greenhouse emissions are stopped. According to Wikipedia  “possible responses to climate warming include mitigation by emission reduction, adaptation to these effects and maybe climate engineering."

Every country in the world are members of the United Nations Framework  Correction of Climate Change (UNFCCC) and they have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are absolutely necessary and that global warming should be limited well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

The September 2019 strikes against climate change known as Global Week for Future are a series of international strikes and protests against climate change and global warming.  These will culminate, on the 27^th September, with the United Nation Climate Change Summit together with a full week, from the 20^th to the 27^th September, of international strikes for a proposed worldwide climate strike, called the Earth Strike.

According to Wikipedia and the press, the protests will take place across 4.500 locations, in 150 countries.    The 20^th of September protests were the largest climate strikes in world history.  The organisers reported that over 4 million people participate in the strikes, worldwide.   In Greece, according to Mrs Natalia Tsoukala, people protested across the nation, the largest protests being in Athens.   Students holding placards with humorous and provocative messages protested against climate change at Syntagma Square.  While participating in the worldwide student movement called Fridays for Future, they protested against the inadequate response to climate change by world leaders.  

Greek Students Holding Placards Against Inadequate Response of World Leaders to Climate Warming 

So let us all help as individuals, together with governments and institutions, to save our earth from the dangers of climate change so that the generations to come will live in a healthy atmosphere, free from greenhouse gases and other toxic elements. 

Unfortunately, two people were, recently, caught in a severe lightning storm in the Peloponnese and were killed by a thunderbolt.  These deadly elements are more frequent, lately, and they could be instigated by climate change.

(Thanking UNFCCC, Wikipedia, IPCC,  the Goddards Institute of Space Studies and Mrs Natalia Tsoukala for the valuable information for this post)

     By Nikos Krideras
      This Beautiful Seaside Village Could be  Flooded by Climate Change