By
Kwabe Victor
Its evident levels of climate warming have significantly
been on the rise in the past year as statistics record the highest rates of
carbon dioxide and methane in 2021.
The global temperature last year has stricken 1.11
degrees Celsius that’s way above the pre-industrial average, this year the
temperatures are almost hitting the threshold of 1.5 C.
With the high ice sheet melting rates, there was a recorder
push in the sea levels to above the normal rates as the oceans became warmest
ever which also saw a rise in the acidity levels.
State of Climate Report
As stated by the World Meteorological Organization, the
oceans have faced a rapid change in their levels and acidity all entailed by
the climate change evidenced by the report on the state of the global climate.
The WMO is mandated with monitoring the Earth’s climate
on a global scale so that reliable information is available to support
evidence-based decision-making on how to best adapt to a changing climate and
manage risks associated with climate variability and extremes.
Global climate indicators range from key information for
the most relevant domains of climate change: temperature and energy,
atmospheric composition, ocean, and water as well as the cryosphere.
General Petter Taalas, WMO Secretary, the climate is
incessantly changing before our eyes and the heat is trapped by human-induced
greenhouse gases that will warm the planet more for several generations to come.
A warning from the United Nations Climate assessment to
humans was the need for cutting drastically its greenhouse emissions or face increased
catastrophic changes in the world’s climate.
Temperatures of last year have been slightly above the
2020s that were equally low because of the cooling effects of La Nina in the
Pacific, though the year was still among the top seven hottest years on record.
Effects of Climate Change
Oceans are the most affected by the warming and the
numerous emissions since the bodies of water absorb around 90% of the Earth’s
accumulated heat and up to 23% of the carbon dioxide emissions that are a
result of human activity.
The change in climate to a warmer state has been so rapid
and its reversing may probably take up to centuries and millennia to achieve.
The sea level has risen 4.5 centimetres (1.8 inches) in
the last decade, with the annual increase from 2013 to 2021 more than double
what it was from 1993 to 2002.
WMO has enlisted some of the individual extreme
heatwaves, wildfires, floods, and other climate-linked disasters around the
world, noting reports of more than $100 billion in damages.
The continental United States saw its hottest-ever
summer, with hundreds of heat-related deaths recorded.
The Dixie fire burned 3,900 square kilometres (1,500
square miles), making it California’s largest-ever wildfire.
Solutions
to Climatic Changes
Re-greening is the top priority as it has been evident
through the use of the green building in Singapore, whereby the buildings are
availing spaces for the planting of vegetation and large windows that allow for
free air circulation.
Vegetation assists in the sequestration of carbon
decrease the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and subsequently reduces the
greenhouse effects which is a mitigation that leads to low global warming.
Through adequate vegetation cover, there will be the
cooling of soil, decreasing the evaporation of water from the soil leading to
increased water availability for plants, animals, and humans.
Transition to renewable clean energy, advocating for
desisting from the use of fossil fuels as the cars go electric and this
electricity can be obtained from wind farms, Hydroelectric setups and major set
up of solar harvesting farms.
Reworking on the highly degraded lands through the supply
of water effectively from the pumps activated by the wind turbines’ energy
could assist offer enough water supply in arid and semi-arid areas.
