The Effects of Climate Change

 

I received a suggestion from a chit-chat friend called Ms. Sonia Soon in a WhatsApp message that I write an article on climate change in Malaysia when I casually mentioned I do not know what subject I should write next in my blog.

Thank you for your suggestion sister Soon.

I shall not dwell on climate change in much detail here as I do not have the data from the Meteorological Department to back up any drastic climatic changes in this country as evidence.

Malaysia is such a small country especially not industrialized significantly to effect such global changes on weather, rainfall and temperature.

There may be changes, but these changes would be so small, so we may not think it significant for the moment, except for transient El Nino effect which brings a reduction between 20 % to 40 % in rainfall and a heatwave Malaysia experience as a result which is predicted to end by November 2023. However, globally the picture may be different.

For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that climate change, deforestation, and urbanization are some of the major risk factors behind the increasing number of outbreaks of viruses such as dengue, Zika, and chikungunya around the world.

Studies by WHO showed that dengue in South America alone is moving further south to countries such as Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay. Their studies showed the incidence of infections caused by these mosquito-borne illnesses, which thrive in tropical and subtropical climates, have grown dramatically in recent decades. WHO noted that cases of dengue in Asia have increased in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore due to warmer climate. According to WHO, incidence of infections caused by these mosquito-borne illnesses, which thrive in tropical and subtropical climates, have grown dramatically in recent decades.

Climate change gives rise to increased precipitation, higher temperatures and higher humidity, conditions under which mosquitos thrive and multiply. There is new research, which shows that even dry weather enables mosquitoes to breed. Scientists say dry weather makes mosquitos thirsty and when they become dehydrated, they want to feed on blood more often.

“This is really worrying because this shows that climate change has played a key role in facilitating the spread of the vector mosquitoes down south”.

A former colleague of mine who was a medical entomologist told us many years ago that mosquitoes found in the tropics are moving northwards and southwards from the equator and were found as far northwards as Shanghai?

This is only just a small part of the effects of climate change.  

Earth is warming globally from the North Pole to South Pole due to greenhouse effects from carbon dioxide emission.  The global average surface temperature has increased by more than 0.9 degrees Celsius since 1906 especially in the polar regions. The effects of rising temperatures are felt right now from melting glaciers and sea ice.

Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. Mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and the Arctic Sea are melting. In Montana's Glacier National Park, the number of glaciers has declined to fewer than 30 from more than 150 in 1910. Much of this melting ice contributes to rising sea-levels.  Global sea levels are rising at 3.2 millimetres a year. The rise is occurring at a faster rate in recent years and is predicted to accelerate in the coming decades.

The rising sea level affects coastal regions, shifting precipitation patterns, causing wildlife to migrate elsewhere. For instance, some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have migrated farther north or to higher, cooler areas.

It has also confronted species such as the Adelie penguin in Antarctica, where some populations on the western peninsula have disappeared by 90 percent.  

It also  gives rise to  disease-carrying mosquitoes, ticks, jellyfish, and crop pests to thrive. Booming populations of bark beetles that feed on spruce and pine trees, for example, have devastated millions of forested acres in the U.S.

Climate change causes complex shifts in our weather and climate systems. These changes incorporate not only rising average temperatures but also extreme weather events, shifting animal populations and their habitats, among other outcomes. It affects crucial water supply, agricultural, crop production and food supply, rising cost of living, among others.  

All of these changes are emerging as humans continue to add heat-trapping greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. A slight rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may stimulate plant growth, perhaps crop production also only to a small extent, but this is off-set by a lot of other  disastrous events

Greenhouse effect from carbon dioxide and methane emission is caused by our human population growth, animal farms and industrialization which destroys the natural environment, not the other way round – greenhouse gas emissions cause increased human growth and industrialization?

But I think industrialized countries like China, Japan, Korea, Canada, the United States, and some over half a dozen other European countries like Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, including Brazil, Turkey and Singapore, etc would be the major players that may finally destroy this Earth not from war or disease as already briefly mentioned, but from other effects of over their development and industrialization

These are the economies  that contribute most to climate changes from fossil fuels usage, carbon dioxide emissions and greenhouse effects. Probably even traditional farmlands where farm animals are kept may have the same effect through methane emission Methane gas has a highly potent greenhouse effect.  If emitted by farm animals over a long time, it has 80 times more potency in warming the climate than carbon dioxide. Methane has accounted for around 30 per cent of global warming since pre-industrial times and is proliferating faster than at any other time from records kept between 1980s till August 2021. The fastest doubling of the world population was recorded between 1950 and 1987:

It was a doubling from 2.5 to 5 billion people in a mere 37 years which is a little more than one generation. This period was marked by a peak population growth of 2.1% in 1962.

However, greenhouse gases and their effects are just one of the factors where humanity is going to land up. There will be many other changes in the environment followed by a lot of disastrous social and economic impacts as we are being cooked on this planet once global warming accelerates and I shall deal with this issue in the future.  

However, I did mention a little bit on climate change from overpopulation. I believe its consequence due to over human activities would be worse than mere changes in the climate.

The dreadful consequence of an unchecked overpopulation such as in India within a short time would overshadow the effects of a much slower increase of the world temperature.

Climate change is just one result from overpopulation. The very rapid increase in human population and its impact on the environment on this beautiful blue watery planet is likened to cancer cells destroying the entire beautiful workable human body. Our overgrowth would change this life-embracing world of ours into a barren, hot and inhospitable world like Mercury and Venus

My earlier thoughts on this dilemma of overpopulation was published below.

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=Climate+change

I remember writing an article on the amount of heat needed to boil off all the oceans on this beautiful blue planet into a waterless and barren planet, and the time it takes to do this.

Ah, here it is! I just found the link below that explains. This scenario in all probability shall come to pass. It will be far worse and faster than the slower boil from greenhouse effect and any climate change.

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=Heat+to+boil+off+the+oceans

I hope I managed to give this short answer to Ms Sonia Soon who requested it.