Global Warming and Extreme Weather
Experts in climatology warn of the dangers of climate change.
Does global warming cause extreme weather events?
Since the beginning of the new millennium, the planet has been hit by innumerable extreme weather phenomena. In 2003, Europe experienced the hottest summer in its history. China suffered a severe drought and large displacements of land. Western Russia has experienced very hot summers. In 2011, the United States was affected by 14 extreme weather events. In Japan, Australia and Pakistan, unprecedented levels of rainfall were also recorded.
In the midst of all these great droughts, torrential rains and heavy snow, we have just seen Irma, a category 5 hurricane that broke the record as the most powerful hurricane in the Atlantic with winds of up to 185 miles per hour.
The question we must ask ourselves is: can these extreme weather phenomena be attributed to global warming?
Most researchers say yes, that global warming makes the climate more extreme. They suggest that the natural variability of the climate can produce heat waves, hurricanes and intense rainfall.
Scientists predict that, if the CO2 emissions that humans generate continue to grow, the intensity and frequency of this type of meteorological phenomena will also increase.
A recent study by a team of German researchers from the Institute for Climate Impact Research in Potsdam and published in the journal Nature Climate Change, has revealed that the recurrence of these phenomena is not coincidental, but there is a relationship between global warming of human origin and torrential rains or heat waves.
What causes global warming?
Global warming is an increase in the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere. Scientists say that the cause of warming is the increase in greenhouse gases that result from human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels (oil, coal, gasoline and natural gas) and also deforestation.
What is the greenhouse effect?
The sun sends its light and heat, its energy, to the Earth. The earth absorbs that heat. Some of that emitted energy goes into space, but the greenhouse gases prevent all the heat from going out into space, thus heating the planet.
Greenhouse gases are the most efficient in absorbing heat. Among them is CO2, which is what humanity in its consumption of resources has increased to levels never seen before and causes global warming.
If humans do not do our part to prevent global warming from continuing, the extreme weather events will be increasingly higher, which will have serious consequences for agriculture and for life in general.
What you can do
- Waste. Separate the garbage from the things you can reuse and what you can recycle.
- Domestic energy. Turn off the lights when you leave a room. Use LED, fluorescent or low consumption bulbs. Turn off the devices and disconnect them completely. Remember that a connected device also consumes, even if it is not turned on.
- Use less the car. Walk, use a bicycle, use public transport, share the trip by car with more people. Reducing the use of your car in 15 kilometers per week avoids emitting 230 kilos of carbon dioxide per year.
- Plant trees and other plants. Do not let them cut a tree.
5. Chemical products: Minimize the use of chemical compounds such as antibiotics, fertilizers and aerosols that may contain chemicals that affect the ozone layer.
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