Climate change is happening and it’s caused by human reckless attitude towards the environment, doubters such as formal U.S President Donald Trump Jnr. knows that this is truth most evident. The evidence is overwhelming our planet is changing faster than it ever has before, the evidence is irrefutable greenhouse gas emission are choking our planet and placing billions of people in danger, scientist say global heating is affecting every region on earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible. Here aresome events in 2019 demonstrating how earth’s climate has gone completely off the rails.
The Polar Bear Invasion
Sometime in May 2019, 52 hungry polar bears occupied a small work settlement in remote Russian Arctic Archipelago, much to the displeasure of the town’sresidents. It’s not uncommon for polar bears near Russian’s southern coast where they regularly converge for the winter seasonal sea hunt, but thinning sea ice caused by global warming likely drove the bears inland in search of food. The allure of edible waste in the town’s garbage bins and dump sites likely stopped the bears from migrating further northand prompted regional officials to declare a state of emergency.
Scientist Measure More Carbon in the Atmosphere
Same month in 2019 scientist measured more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than ever been for 800,000 years .The level of greenhouse gas reached 415 parts per million (ppm) as measured by the National oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NDAA) at its Mauna loa observatory in Hawaii. During the ice age, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere where around 200 ppm, and during the interglacial period. The planet is currently in an interglacial period- levels where around 280 ppm, according to NASA. Humans are burning fossil fuels causing the release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and as a result every year, the earth sees about 3ppm more carbon dioxide in the air, more carbon dioxide in the air than in 800,000 years.
The Arctic Permafrost is Rapidly Disappearing
In June 2019 Canadian Arctic layerof permafrost that scientist expected to remain frozen for the next 70 years have already begun thawing down. The once-frozen surface is now sinking cheese images revealed, from above it looks like Swiss cheese satellite images revealed. This was shocking news because climate experts had predicted that air temperature wouldn’t be warm to melt the frozen ground until 2090. However researchers believe that higher summer temperature, low levels of insolation vegetation and the presence of ground ice near the surface to the exceptionally rapid and deep thawing.
Alaska Got Hotter
Sometime in June 2019 for the first time in recorded history, Anchorage Alaska reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degree Celsius) that sweltering temperature recorded on the 4th of June 2019 meant that the normally snowboard city which is just 270 miles (595kilomiters) from the arctic circle, was hotter than New York.(NYC hits 85f that day according to timeandate.com). The previous record breaking in Anchorage was 85f (29c) which occurred June 14th 1969, according to ktua, an Anchorage broadcast station affiliated with NBC News.
More than 200 Reindeer Died of Starvation
The summer of 2019 researchers found more than 200 reindeer on the island of Svalbard in Norway. The animals starved to death because climate change disrupted their access to the plant they typically eat. After heavy December rain hit the ground the precipitation froze, creating ice caps. A thick layer of ice that prevented the reindeer from reaching vegetation in their usual winter grazing pastures and the reindeer eventually starved to death.
July the Hottest Month Ever Recorded
July 2019 was really hot it was at least as hot as the previous warmest month ever recorded in June 2016 and it may have been hotter. The record puts 2019 on the top of five hottest years in history (Europe was very hot in June 2019).
Greenland Ice is Melting
A staggering 217 billow metric tons of melt water flowed off Greenland’s ice sheet into the Atlantic Ocean in July 2019.The worst day of the melting was July 31 when 11 million tons melted ice poured into the Ocean. This massive thaw represents some of the worst melting since 2012, according to the Washington post. In 2019, 97% of Greenland ice sheet experienced melting by July of that year, 56% of the ice sheet had melted, but temperatures 15-20 F above average have been higher than during the 2012 heat wave, July 2019 melt alone was enough to raise global average sea levels by 0.02 inches (0.5 millimetres), according to the post.
Drying up of Africa’s Victoria Fall
Africa’s iconic Victoria’s falls stranding from Zimbabwe and Zambia is running dry, another victim of climate change. The tourist attraction is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and it may cease to attract hordes of visitors if the present situation continues.Experts told tharare.com that the dryness was as a result of years of brutal drought in the region. The impact of climate change on Africa is severe because of adverse direct effect, direct effect vary widely across the continent, some regions are getting wetter and some regions are getting drier and hotter. In more than one report made by IPCC and various independent research bodies predicts that Africa will suffer most of climate change impacts, a continent that contributes less than 5% in global carbon emission.
United Nation University published that Africa has been dealing with the impacts of climate change since the 1970s, the report says that Africa is already experiencing significant increase in temperature, particularly in the Sahel and parts of South Africa, more frequent and intense tropical storms, also part of the continent will see a 20% increase in cyclone activity. The projected impact on human security include between 75-250 million people exposed to water stress in the coming years, and many as 1.8 billion by the end of the century. Coastal regions in the continent like the Niger Delta region of Nigeria will suffer seasonal flooding, and Agriculture fed by rain is to see 50% decrease. These facts and figures underlines the direct ramification climate change has on the social fabric of Africa.
All of these events of 2019 should be a warner to world leaders and the U.N to jettison all political sentiments and accelerate climate action, the developed world should take up more climate ambition for they constituted a major part of the problem. Climate change is not something to play with, climate change effect on the world will make covid-19 a child’s play, African leaders should shun corruption knowing that Africa is at the forefront of it all (climate change). Governments at all levels should show transparency, increase climate finance and take mitigation seriously, launch more innovative programmes on adaptation and mitigation on Africa a continent that contributed less in global emission but suffers most from man’s induced climate change.