This paper provides an overview of global warming that affects the politics, economy and society. There are also the positive and negative impacts that causes directly or indirectly by the global warming. This title is chosen for my report is because currently global warming is the issue that facing by everyone. The world is getting warmer and warmer due to the climate change compared to the past few years. There are also unexpected rains falls that will actually cause some of the diseases.
INTRODUCTION
Global warming is the biggest fear to nature and human in the 21st century. Climate change means the temperature has increase or decrease by few degrees over the past few years. The emission of heat trapping gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main cause of global warming. All the gases releases from vehicles, industry and deforestation will cause the heat trapping as thick as a blanket over the ozone layer. Global warming could bring the impact of extreme weather events such as storms, floods and droughts. According to the IPCC, burning fossil fuels is the leading cause of the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Types of fossil fuels are coal, oil and natural gas. Fossil fuel releases heat energy when they burn. Therefore, burning of fossil fuel will contribute to acid rain, smog, climate change and also health concerns. Pollutants that come from the combustion of fossil fuels include sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), ground-level ozone, particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), volatile organic compounds (VOC) including benzene, some heavy metals and a number of other pollutants.
THE IMPACT OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
THE NEGATIVE IMPACT
Firstly the main negative impact of global warming is the rise of the sea level. Rising of the sea level will lead to flood at low lying lands. Thermal expansion will occurs when the seas is warm due to the climate changes. Warm water will take more space than cool water therefore the sea’s level rises. According to National Geographic, a thermal expansion of 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20cm) of height at the oceans has already raised. Besides that, melting of glacier ice will also lead to the rise of sea levels. Rising of sea levels one of the most dangerous hazards. For example, the sea level rise of 1. 5 m (5 ft) will cause one sixth of Bangladesh to lost permanently (Environmental graffiti). The second negative impact will be the increased of diseases in humans and animals. As the climate getting warmth, here comes the diseases. Climate change will actually lead to all kind of diseases that can cause widespread of diseases or death. Some of the disease could spread and affect millions of people in the world. Diseases like Malaria, West Nile virus and dengue fever will spread to other people due to global warming or even just a small rise in temperature. In addition, some of the diseases that could also spread due to global warming are Avian Flu, Cholera, Plague, Ebola and Tuberculosis. Next, the negative impact will be the extinction of animals and plants. The most obvious extinction due to the warmer climate is the polar bears because of the loss of habitat. As the climate getting warmer and warmer, those animals that depend on only cold environment will extinct from their natural habitat. Furthermore, the carbon dioxide that seeps into the atmosphere will be absorbed by the oceans about 30% of it. Therefore, if there are more fossil fuels burned, the ocean life will suffer less of reproduction of death. As the ocean is getting warmed, there will be less reproduction of the seabirds, seals and sea lions. Coral reefs will also be affected due to the temperature of the ocean changes as coral reefs are very sensitive to temperature.
THE POSITIVE IMPACT
Firstly, the positive impact of global warming is booming business in the Greenland. There are new opportunities opened up for agriculture, fishing, mining and oil exploration due to global warming. Scientists reported that Arctic temperatures rose almost twice as fast as other place in the world. In southwestern Greenland, there is more grass growing lead to the boosting productivity of sheep farms. There are also increased in crops as they can grow vegetables due to the warmer climate. The second positive impact of global warming is there will be more food and increased of yields. This means that there will be a longer growing season as climate temperature getting hotter. Larger crops can be growing in more other location rather than just a few locations. Therefore, farmers who actually harvest their yield once a year could harvest them twice a year. In addition, plants love carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide would act as a fertilizer to the plants due to the hot temperature. This will lead to a greener environment. Animals who depend on plants will not suffer from death. Next, the positive impact of global warming is most of the people loves summer. People who afraid of winter will love to be in a summer country. As all the senior citizens whom already retired will usually travel to a country that is year round summer or during summer season because they could not stand the cold weather. Most of the English people love summer as they can sun bathing by the sea while enjoying their story books. As for children, it is better for them to stay in warm climate than cold climate because their body is weaker compared to adults.
PEST ANALYSIS
As the climate temperature keep increasing, there will be increased in friction between nations and ethnic groups in the future centuries. There will be conflict or war happen between the different ethnic groups as they would like to provide safety and shelter for their own ethnic people. However, they will even fight for food because without food consume will lead to death. Migration will also happen when the high population places become uninhabitable due to the heat. Millions of people will migrate to a better place for a better living. Climate changes will cause all those natural disaster like hurricanes or tsunami to happen. These natural disasters happen can cause up to billions of dollars in damage. For example, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami cause estimated about $10 billion of economy damage (The Star Online, 2011). Disruptions to global trade, transport and banking and finance will create havoc on the stability of the developed and developing nations. However, types of diseases will also cost money to treat and control of spreading. Climate getting warmer and warmer will actually transform the society. It would affect the harvesting where floods destroy all the crops. The increased of climate would make people to think of migrate to other places and also all kinds of diseases would spread to all people around the world. All of these would actually affect the society. Therefore, if no one else going to take action to reduce global warming, societies will be suffered in the next future.
PAST & FUTURE
PAST
FUTURE
According to the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Malaysia will experience an increase of 3–5°C in the future.
CURRENT PLANNING
GO GREEN AT HOME
There are some ways that we can do to go green at home to stop or reduce global warming. The first way is we all should plant more trees to save the earth. It is because plants take in carbon dioxide and releases oxygen. Carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas therefore planting more trees can reduce the global warming. Around the world, there are 3 to 6 millions of trees had been cut down every year for producing goods from the trees. All of us should start our own garden in our backyard by planting one or two trees or plants. This will actually make a lot of differences. The second way is to do laundry at home by using cold water rather than hot water. By using cold water, we do not need to waste the energy to heat up the water to become hot. Heating up will cause a lot of energy and it could affect global warming. In addition, we should practice not to use the drier to dry up our cloths. Drier also needs energy to run the machine. Therefore, we should dry our cloth under the sun to prevent using any energy. If every household willing to practice this way, it will save up a lot of energy being wasted. Next, the third way is stop using plastic bags for shopping. It is because plastic is non disposable. We are all encouraged to use recycle bags for our shopping. Using recycle bags is good because it can be reuse the next time for shopping. Now, most of the shopping malls is practicing this way that no more plastic bags for shoppers. Besides that, we should stop using styrofoam to pack our food. Rather than using styrofoam, we should use tupperware to pack our food. This will reduce global warming and it is good for everyone in the earth.
GO GREEN AT OFFICE
The first way to go green in the office is to use soy based ink for printing. Soy based ink is made from soybeans rather than the normal ink that made from petroleum. Soy based ink printing can actually produce more bright and clear colour compared to the normal ink printing due to the soybeans oil. Soy based ink is more expensive but it could save up a lot because it is a type of eco-printing ink. Therefore, all company should practice this way by changing their normal printing ink to soy based ink. The second way is to monitor the light usage. Everyone needs lights to work in office but we should just on the necessary lights only. We should practice to switch off the unnecessary lights in the office to save the energy. All the office should install motion sensors in rooms so that when there are some people in the room, the lights will automatically switch on. When there is no one in the room, the lights will automatically switch off. All the office should practice this rule that during lunch time, all lights should switch off because there is no one in the office. Lastly, the third way is to save water. Every office should put up a poster in every washroom to reduce the usage water. Saving water actually reduces the energy used. We all should save water by turning off the water whenever not use it. Besides that, when there are leaky faucets, we should repair it so that can prevent the waste of water. If every company willing to practice this way, it will save up a lot of water thatbeing wasted.