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Common Ground

Global Warming

By Dr. WilliamsPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
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When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for nations to come together for the common good of humanity. When over sixteen thousand scientists recently agreed on one aspect of the future of our planet, mankind has to take heed and recognize the severity of our predicament in relationship to our world around. No longer can we sit idly by and let greed take precedent over common sense. Our world is fast becoming inhospitable due to our continued lack of concern for the future.

It was as far back as 1992 when 1,700 independent scientists took it upon themselves to warn the world that humanity and the natural world are on a trajectory toward catastrophe if the environmental damage that we had done to the planet was not stopped. Sad to say since 1992 the environmental damage to our planet has only gotten much worse. The devastating effects of CO2 emissions continue to cause irreversible damage to the planets ego systems which in turn have endangered the very existence of all life forms.

The grave reality has yet to sink in to many political leaders. Here in the United States many of the population have known of the severity of what we have done to our world but, the political will is very much lacking to combat and tackle the serious issues at hand. When we have leaders who openly deny the severity of what is really happening to our world just exasperates the growing crisis that climate change is causing. And, when over sixteen thousand noted and renowned scientists all agree on the very fact that mankind has made conditions all around the world that much worse either through blatant greed, or denial humanity will suffer a most horrendous fate. It has already started.

The human events of today warrant immediate action by every industrial nation to pass legislation to cut CO2 emissions by more than 75% within the next year. That alone won't be enough to stave of the disaster that lies in wait. When the Montreal Protocol was signed and even with the Paris Climate Change Accord the planet is still getting warmer, sea levels are continuing to rise, more violent weather patterns continue to cause untold damage and loss of life, not to mention the trillions of dollars in damages all brought on by the effects of man induced climate change. Yet, there are still too many leaders that don't accept the facts that thousands of scientists state. Every scientist states we had better take more drastic steps now to negate the effects that climate change is doing to our world.

With the world getting warmer is there still time to prevent disaster? If there is not a groundswell of public pressure to change human behavior now, the planet will indeed sustain substantial and irreversible harm. Look at the facts for they tell what is actually going on on our planet. Since the early 1970s carbon emissions have increased by over 93%. Of that 93%, 85% comes from fossil fuel combustion. This confers that human activity accounts for the vast majority of the total of greenhouse gas emissions. The results are substantial because global temperatures have only increase every year. 2016 was the warmest year on record and the projected forecast is that 2017 will have been even hotter.

Another very disturbing factor is that the Trump administration continues to state at climate change initiatives are a waste of money. Believe it or not this Administration completely dismisses all those scientists facts and openly suggests that climate change is nothing more than a hoax. Everyone of these over 16,000 scientists conclude that with rising temperatures is creating the growing food and water shortages that are already occurring in so many parts of the world. Rising temperatures increase the severity of coastal flooding due to sea levels rising. When seas levels rise mass migrations suddenly occur which causes a hell of allot more dire emergencies. But, when you have leaders like Trump, these problems will only get worse.

Scientists also conclude that since 1992 there has been 75% increase in the number of ocean dead zones. Warmer water and pollution in our oceans, large lakes and rivers cause devastating carnage to marine life that either die or are driven away because these zones lack sufficient oxygen. Human activity is the direct cause of why there are so many dead zones all around the world. What this means is that the worlds food supply is in grave danger of becoming extinct if these dead zones increase. The United States under the Trump Administration continues to thwart efforts to stop the effects these dead zones have.The blatant disregard for the preservation of marine life is one of the biggest concerns mankind faces today.

Not only are dead zones attributing to the decline of marine life but when so many people around the world need to supplement their diet with wild caught seafood are now finding it next to impossible to. Since 1992 the decline of wild caught fish has seen a drastic rise. Now, when the influx of GMO fisheries taking over the market, they don't have the overall health benefits that wild caught fish have. Combine this with global warming continuing wild seafood could and probably will cease to exist just within the next 50 years. Already there are over 2,500 species of fish that are listed on the endangered species list.

The need is more than apparent to focus on what climate change is doing to our world. Since the early 1990s the planet has seen an over 30% reduction in the amount of available fresh water. If conservation efforts and industry levels of pollution don't change the world will be faced with a humanitarian crisis of biblical proportions. Wars will erupt, famine will be on a global scale, and pandemics will be unavoidable. To date, over 30% of the world's aquifers are now being over-exploited. The United States has to invest in a national water transfer infrastructure initiative to combat the growing inefficiencies that exist in America today. But, with the present Administration and a Republican led Congress, there is a snow ball chance in hell of that occurring.

What mankind has done to our planet is nothing short of unconscionable. Not only through global warming but the deforestation that has been reducing the worlds forests to the point of no return has been increasing drastically every year. In fact since 1990, the world has lost more that 130 million hectares of forests. That is roughly the the size of all of the southern half of Africa. When so much deforestation still happening there continues to be more of an impact of climate change all around the globe.

What all this means is that we had better usher in policies now to combat the destructive nature of humanity in relation to our environment. There is no choice left but to act and accept the facts that we have only ourselves to blame for the predicament the whole world is in. A common ground for all humanity is that we must act decisively now with urgency to defeat the effects of the damages we have inflected in the environment, on our planet and our civilization. There are concrete steps to do so but we have to act as one nation to make it happen. The common ground for all is urgently needed to save ourselves from ourselves.

science
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About the Creator

Dr. Williams

A PhD in Economics. Author of National Economic Reform's Ten Articles of Confederation.

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