Climate Change

Climate Change is going to impact everybody according to the latest IPCC report on global warming and climate change. The group’s report in 2014 about climate change says that extreme weather events will increase and crop yields will be adversely affected with the 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature. One off changes to major ecosystems are also going to happen with melting of Arctic ice and destruction of coral reefs to be irreversible. The climate change effects are going to be more severe and harder to change and adapt, if countries take more time in devising a comprehensive plan to battle climate change.

The 2009 Copenhagen summit on climate change was a huge failure with no one agreeing on binding carbon emissions and failing to arrive at a global pact on how to fight climate change. The plan was delayed till 2015 and in the interim the world has faced major weather changes. Summers have definitely become hotter and cyclones have become more extreme. Shipping lines are already planning to change their routes, as ice melts in the North. Small islands like Maldives are bracing on how to save their citizens as their homes sink under the rising waters.

Climate Adaptation

Adaptation has become the new buzzword in climate change, as global leaders have failed to come to an agreement on fight climate change. It is mostly every country by itself, as rich countries are not willing to compensate for their role in increasing carbon emissions during the past two centuries. Poor countries in Asia and Africa will bear the brunt, as the poor governments and citizens do not have the resources to adapt to climate change effects.

The biggest problem with climate change studies is that they cannot establish with total certainty on how big will the global warming be and what will be the impact. The worst case scenarios are certainly extremely alarming. A 3 to 4 degree Celsius rise in temperature will certainly be catastrophic, changing major ecosystems and leading to huge changes. Tipping points for major ecosystems are not known. It has been established that man-made developments are causing climate change. The only thing not established is how big the effect will be. There are only probability outcomes and the worst ones can even raise questions on human survival. Humankind cannot afford the worst case outcomes and should move quickly on ameliorating the causes of climate change. However, out weak kneed and short term result oriented leaders are incapable of doing so and human mind cannot think long term as well. So climate adaptation has become the buzzword which makes no sense. People will adapt to changes, since they are wired to do so. The function of an organized society is to recognize long term risks and act. But we are not doing that as the capitalist society has made us focused on the now forgetting the risks of the future.

You can read the full report here:

http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/images/uploads/IPCC_WG2AR5_SPM_Approved.pdf