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| Eco Info | Global warming |
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Global warming is caused by the build up of greenhouse gases which trap heat within the atmosphere causing the planet to heat up. It is a normal occurrence for the planet to heat up every few thousand years but we are already at the hottest the planet has been in the last two thousand years and it looks like it will get hotter if we don't do something about it. The effects of global warming are numerous but predominantly result in changes to weather and geographical issues. There are already changes in weather patterns at can be attributed to the additional heat in the atmosphere. In the future, storms will become more violent and rainfall will become heavier and more frequent. This will result in flooding in areas where there was previously little chance of flooding. Areas which had floods will be more severely affected with serious damage occuring. Areas which previously did not have droughts will begin to have droughts more regularly. And areas that had droughts before may have more serious droughts lasting for longer. This changing of ecosystems will perpetuate across the globe with many species of plants and animals becoming extinct. The glaciers are already melting at an ever increasing rate. This means that there will be no mountain streams feeding rivers in the future. Rivers will dry up and large settlements of people will be forced to move to new areas. There will be large amounts of melt-water flowing into the seas and this could contribute to rises in sea level. The additional heat will definitely cause the level of the sea water to rise purely due to expansion. Rises of several metres are predicted. This will affect low lying cities on the coast of every continent. Big cities such as London, New York, Cape Town and Hong Kong will lose many square kilometres of developed land. Agricultural land will be destroyed and submerged under salt water creating additional food shortages.
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