The Threats Posed by Climate Change

CLIMATE CHANGE
Name:
Institution:
Instructor:
The blue planet is fading into a very unfamiliar color, though very familiar to scientific predictions. Climate change has been a major highlight of the problems facing the planet in the current generation. The effects of this change can be seen and felt everywhere. There is actually no organism inhabiting the planet, which is immune to these effects. It is as a result of this, that there should be more vigilance and knowledge of the phenomenon. The climate change phenomenon caught my attention the time I saw on the news, glaciers melting, and the polar icecap receding. Since then, I became very much engaged in the issue, as it affected me too. The adversity of climate change cannot be better understood without first understanding the underlying concept of what is climate change, its causes, as well as the resultant effects it has on the environment.
Climate change can be defined as the gradual change in the weather pattern, that also leads to changes on water and land, which comes as a result of a rise in the global temperature. Additionally, climate change can be viewed as continuous process through which the planet ‘s ecosystem changes as a result of a long-term rise in the global temperature(Pielke,2004).Equally important ,it is not a process that occurs abruptly, rather, it is an ongoing, continuous process, that takes place over a long period of time. It is a dangerous process as it results to a lot more negatives on the planet and its inhabitants. In order to understand it further, it would be essential to know the impacts of climate change.
To better understand the impacts of climate change, it would be important to look at its definition, especially in relation to temperature. When the global temperatures rise even by a single degree, it has massive effects on the global ecological balance (New Scientist, 2015). First, a rise in temperature by whichever extent results to the melting of the polar ice cap, which raises the sea level by some margin. A rise in the sea levels can cause flooding in a number of coastal regions. Some coastal lowlands can even be completely submerged (New Scientist, 2015).There is also the gradual rise in global temperatures, and its effects, which is going to be addressed shortly.
Secondly, the rising temperatures result to the subsequent heating of the ocean bodies. According to meteorology, heating of large a water body results to the generation storm-generating currents. Hence, there will be a subsequent increase in the frequency of storm formation and its incidences. The effects of storms are well documented, with the destruction of property, infrastructure and loss of life, being the headlines (McCaty, 2001).Whereas this might be an occurrence in some regions of the globe, other regions might experience extreme drought and famine. This is especially so, for the inland regions. This will bring about lower food production due to less agricultural productivity.
Thirdly, climate change also results to increased incidences of heat waves. Heat waves usually come about as a result of a persistent high temperature scenario in a region, over a number of days, as well as nights (EPA, 2015). There is an increasing tenden...