Global Warming

Climate is heating up day in and day out. Err! It's too cold actually! Sounds confusing? So here comes the New Year with its own colors. This New Year will hopefully bring good news. But, as we know, no news is good news. But one bad news is sure to be there. This news is actually bad for people at large without any exception. No one will be spared. It's official now. Global warming is a challenge for whole of this world. Unfortunately, no solution looks as perfect. What scientific studies have to say on this? Take it- Seven of the eight warmest years on record occurred since 2001 and the 10 warmest years have all occurred since 1995. Are solutions being found out? Well, to some extent

A bird's eye view: Over the last 100 years, the average air temperature near the Earth's surface has risen by a little less than 1 degree Celsius or 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit. Doesn't seem that much, does it? Yet it is responsible for the conspicuous increase in storms, floods and raging forest fires we have seen in recent years, say scientists. Their data show that an increase of one degree Celsius makes the Earth warmer now than it has been for at least a thousand years. The top 11 warmest years on record have all been in the last 13 years, said NASA in 2007, and the first half of 2010 has already gone down in history as the hottest ever recorded.

The study: In one of the largest of these far-reaching peer-reviewed articles, an international group of scientists has predicted that by mid century up to a third of land plants and animal species may be pushed close to extinction. The study, "Extinction risk from climate change," measured the responses to current change and habitat limits of 1103 species in many habitats, and found that climate change is "...likely to be the greatest threat in many if not most regions."

The bad news: NA certain degree of warming is unavoidable even if we managed to reduce our burden on the climate immediately. Oceans, for example, act as huge heat repositories that follow changes in air temperature with a time lag of decades or even hundreds of years. Melting ice caps reflect less sunlight than previously, so our planet absorbs more and more heat. 

The good news:The Kyoto Protocol forces industrialized countries to reduce their Green House Gases (GHG) emissions. These countries represent one fifth of mankind but are responsible for about 44 percent of all GHG emissions. There has also been some advance on climate finance. Leaders of 44 of the world's most powerful nations have boiled months of negotiations down to a three-page document that calls on both developed and developing nations to make drastic cuts in greenhouse gas. It also creates a $30-billion fund for fast-track financing for 2010 to 2012 and long-term financing of $100 billion per year by 2020 to help poor countries reduce their emissions and convert to clean energy as well as adapt to the effects of climate change. The draft also calls for a "high-level panel" to decide the contributions to these funds of every developed country. The draft also calls for the establishment of the Copenhagen Climate Fund as the entity that will oversee distribution of the money for emission reduction, adaptation and clean energy programs. There is also a stated goal to "mobilize" 100 billion dollars a year by 2020.There is also a reference to special funding for adaptation, technology development and transfer, and to prevent deforestation.