Effects of global warming

Main effects of global warming

There are two major effects of global warming:

 Increase of temperature on the earth by about 3° to 5° C (5.4° to 9°

Fahrenheit) by the year 2100.
 Rise of sea levels by at least 25 meters (82 feet) by the year 2100.

More details and secondary effects of global warming :

Increasing global temperatures are the primary effects of global warming. However
they are causing a broad range of additional, secondary effects :

 Sea levels are rising due to thermal expansion of the ocean, in addition to
melting of land ice.
 Amounts and patterns of precipitation are changing. The total annual power of
hurricanes has already increased markedly since 1975 because their average intensity
and average duration have increased (in addition, there has been a high correlation of
hurricane power with tropical sea-surface temperature).

Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns have also global effects on

extreme weather events: They increase the frequency, duration, and intensity of
floods, droughts, heat waves, and tornadoes. Other effects of global warming include
higher or lower agricultural yields, further glacial retreat, reduced summer stream
flows, species extinctions. As further effects of global warming, diseases like malaria
are returning into areas where they have been extinguished earlier.
Cause and effect for global warming
Cause of global warming

Almost 100% of the observed temperature increase over the last 50 years has been
due to the increase in the atmosphere of greenhouse gas concentrations like water
vapour, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and ozone. Greenhouse gases are those
gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect (see below). The largest contributing
source of greenhouse gas is the burning of fossil fuels leading to the emission of
carbon dioxide.

The greenhouse effect

When sunlight reaches Earth's surface some is absorbed and warms the earth and
most of the rest is radiated back to the atmosphere at a longer wavelength than the
sun light. Some of these longer wavelengths are absorbed by greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere before they are lost to space. The absorption of this longwave
radiant energy warms the atmosphere. These greenhouse gases act like a mirror
and reflect back to the Earth some of the heat energy which would otherwise be lost
to space. The reflecting back of heat energy by the atmosphere is called the
"greenhouse effect".

The major natural greenhouse gases are water vapor, which causes about 36-70%
of the greenhouse effect on Earth (not including clouds); carbon dioxide CO 2, which
causes 9-26%; methane, which causes 4-9%, and ozone, which causes 3-7%. It is
not possible to state that a certain gas causes a certain percentage of the
greenhouse effect, because the influences of the various gases are not additive.
Other greenhouse gases include, but are not limited to, nitrous oxide, sulfur
hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and chlorofluorocarbons.

Global warming causes by greenhouse effect

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (see above) act like a mirror and reflect back
to the Earth a part of the heat radiation, which would otherwise be lost to space. The
higher the concentration of green house gases like carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere, the more heat energy is being reflected back to the Earth. The emission
of carbon dioxide into the environment mainly from burning of fossil fuels (oil, gas,
petrol, kerosene, etc.) has been increased dramatically over the past 50 years, see
graph below.

Global warming - it's about you

  

Slowly but surely the information about global warming seems to reach the most
obstinate ignorants. Therefore let's sum up the current knowledge:

 The global warming does indeed exist and it was mainly caused by
humankind who is even still accelerating it.
 From global warming we expect a rise of the average temperature leading to -
among other things - melting of glaciers and melting of the polar ice, increase of the
mean sea level as well as generally more of extreme weather events and nature
disasters like droughts, floods, tornadoes, etc.
 Only a drastic reduction of the waste gas emissions in the very near future
can stop this trend.
 CO2 (Carbon dioxide) emissions belong to the most important causes of
global warming. CO2 is inevitably created by burning fossil fuels like e.g. oil, natural
gas, diesel, organic-diesel, petrol, organic-petrol, ethanol.
 Recent investigations have shown that inconceivable catastrophic changes in
the environment will take place as soon as the concentration of CO 2 in the atmosphere
reaches the level of about 450 ppm. Today's concentration is already at 380 ppm and it
raises on average 2 - 3 ppm each year, so that the critical value will be reached in
approximately 25 to 30 years from now. See here for some graphs.

In the past, there was more or

less a direct relation between
the energy consumption
(mainly fossil fuels) and the
welfare of a country. This has
so far prevented many
countries from taking serious
actions to reduce their
consumption of fossil fuels. As
of today however, this relation
is not true any more. Germany
is a good example of a country
where the CO2 emissions have
been decreasing for several
years despite of a growth of the economy.
In the Kyoto conference many countries have agreed to reduce their CO2 output until
the year 2012, on average to 5% below their respective emissions of the year 1990.
The USA - as the largest CO2 producer world wide - and most developing countries
refused to sign this agreement.

Global phenomena are difficult to reach consensus about

Already today it becomes apparent, that a lot of western countries will largely miss
their promises concerning the CO2 reduction. Several signer countries have even
increased their CO2 output since the conference.

With this background, discussions have recently started about potential scenarios
after the end of the Kyoto agreement, that is after the year 2012. The goal is to move
also the USA as well as the developing countries into some sort of obligations.

However, even if it should be possible to sign new, similar agreements for the time
after 2012, it is doubtful whether they would be more respected than the ones from
Kyoto. This would only be different if sanctions were automatically imposed on those
countries, whose CO2 emissions per person still exceed a certain CO2 level after a
given transitional period. In the negotiations, each country would of course claim to
be qualified for a higher CO2 emission per person than the other countries. Almost
any country would fight for an emission level as high as possible. This would of
course defeat the original purpose of the reduction agreement.

We are now at the core of the problem: Global warming is a typical global
phenomena, where the causer of the emission does not automatically suffer from it
himself. Cause and effect are separated both in time as well as geographical.

For non-global phenomena, this is different. Let's for example take a chemical
accident with poisons: The immediate environment of the plant will be contaminated,
human beings, animals and plants in the close environment are harmed. The
damage is almost immediate and clearly visible. For this reason, laws are legislated
and strictly imposed for storing and handling of chemical poisons, .

Personal responsibility
 If you increase your personal petrol or gas consumption for this year by say 1'000
litres because you use the car more often, will this lead to natural disasters? And if
yes, where? Nobody will be able to take you to the court, because it is not possible
to prove a direct relation between your increased yearly consumption of fuels and a
drought in Africa. This does not change the fact, however, that the CO2 emission
produced by your car does indeed contribute to the global warming. No doubt, you
and I are responsible for the climate change, too.

The following testimonies are typical:

 Me alone, I cannot change anything, why should I then change my personal

behavior?
 I respect the laws, I don't do anything illegal. I am not against your saving
energy, but leave me in peace with your ideas.
 My energy requirement is modest. I won't change before the big polluters
have changed their behavior.

These declarations share a fundamentally wrong assumption that we are not fully
responsible for what we do. But the contrary is true: We are indeed fully responsible
for everything we do or do not do! The fact that we don't get fined or taken into prison
for certain deeds does by far not mean that these deeds do not have a big impact on
our personal future life.

Life is about you and your behaviour (and not about the behaviour of others)

The goal of all human beings is to live in joy and perpetual harmony with oneself and
with the environment, to be able to enjoy life free of sorrows and fears. We approach
this goal step by step over a series of incarnations. (see here ).

Let's compare this with classes in school or with a study at the university: Based on
your performance within the current semester, you can either advance to the next
higher level or you will have to repeat the current level until you meet a certain
performance criteria. In a similar manner our behaviour in daily life decides whether
we approach the above mentioned goal of perpetual harmony with ourselves and
with our environment or not.

Hence it should become evident that harming or even destroying nature - i.e. our
environment and basis of being - does at the very end hinder ourselves most: We
harm or destroy exactly what we eventually wanted to get in unison and harmony
with.

In regard of the common rude and thoughtless dealing with nature, the above may
sound rather hopeless for our future. For your personal development however, only
your personal behavior counts and not the behavior of "average people" or of a
certain majority. It's only about you! Therefore it is possible to develop yourself when
you limit your negative footprint of your life here on earth (e.g. consumption of
resources, pollution of the environment) to an acceptable level. This is your
contribution to solving the problem.

On the other hand, it is impossible to get in perpetual harmony with yourself and with
your environment if you do not limit your negative footprint to an acceptable level. It
is also a matter of respect towards nature and all its creatures.

There is absolutely no reason at all to wait for laws or incentives from the
government before you start with your personal contribution. Who, he does this
immediately and by free will, will automatically get better conditions for his or her
personal future - be it in this or in next incarnations. For the personal development,
only decisions made by free will really do count. There will be very little effect on
your personal development if you buy a more economic car because you cannot
afford the fuel for a larger car any more. However, if you decide to buy a more
economic car of your own free will because you want to reduce your negative effects
on the environment, as reverence for the nature, then this will certainly have positive
effects on your personal future.

Swindling is impossible - personal responsibility cannot be escaped from

Above we mentioned the similarity to a school or university. There is a teacher or

professor who judges the students and their exams. However, who does judge our
behaviour in our daily life? Who or what does decide about our personal future, how
happy and content we are, how secure we feel?

This is exactly that part in ourselves, which makes "life" in us, differentiate human
beings from dead material and which shapes our individuality. It is sometimes called
"higher self", "spirit", "mind", "soul", "God in us", etc. It is not important how we call
this part of us, however it is very important to recognize that it is part of ourselves.
Therefore it is impossible to swindle or to escape from the personal responsibility.
For you cannot hide anything from yourself!

The analysis and judgement of our decisions is taking place permanently and leads
to corrections on our way of life: In order to learn what we are still missing, "life" will
in the future confront us with situations that will give us the chance to try again. And
it will repeat either in this or in future incarnations until we indeed do learn what we
need to learn. (for further information have a look here ).

Take your personal responsibility serious (also) regarding the pollution which your
existence and behavior either directly or indirectly creates. You do not only help
prevent the earth from collapsing, but you do help yourself, too. If you personally
take responsibility, you won't loose anything. On the contrary, you and everybody
else is just gaining advantages.