Everyone knows that the climate of the world throughout the existence of planet Earth has been changing all the time. The periods of the tropics and subtropics were replaced by global icing, and vice versa. How did this happen and what awaits us all, our children and grandchildren in the near foreseeable future?
How the climate of the countries of the world changed in the 19th and 20th centuries
Based on English engravings of the early 19th century, it is clear that at that time freezing of the Thames in winter was a common occurrence, which speaks of frosty winters in Europe. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, people started talking about warming in the world as a fait accompli. The volume of Arctic ice has decreased by almost 10% compared to the 19th century. By the 20-30 years of this century, the average temperature on Svalbard rose by almost 5 degrees, as a result of which agriculture appeared on the island, and the Barents and Greenland seas became available for shipping. According to various sources, in the twentieth century, the climate of the world became the warmest in the last millennium. And besides, due to climate change over the past 20-30 years, various natural disasters such as landslides, tsunamis, hurricanes and floods began to occur almost four times more often.
Causes of climate change
Until now, no one can say with absolute certainty the causes of warming and global climate change on the planet, but most scientists still tend to think that one of the main reasons is a person and his life. Of course, there are many other reasons, such as solar activity, astronomical factors, etc. But earlier, the change in the average annual temperature has changed for millennia. And because of the ever-increasing activity of mankind, for a climate of the world to change, a century, or even several decades, is enough.
What can we expect in the future
To predict what the future climate of the world will be, scientists are building computer models that simulate all the changes that may occur. Based on the results of these simulations, we can conclude that if the intensity of the influence of human life on nature does not change, then by the end of this century the average annual temperature will rise by 4 degrees Celsius compared to the 19th century. If the human influence on nature continues to increase, by the end of the 22nd century the difference in average temperature compared to the 19th century may be already 7 degrees. Such a serious rise in temperature looks threatening.
Some parts of the globe will turn into completely unsuitable for human life, and the best climate in the world will be on the territory of modern Antarctica or at the North Pole. Let us take, for comparison, the time of the last glaciation that took place 20,000 years ago. Then the average temperature on the earth was only 4 degrees lower than now and as a result, the entire territory of present-day Canada, all the British Isles and most of Europe were covered with ice.
Avoiding the disastrous effects of warming
As discussed above, one of the main causes of future warming is the influence of human life on nature. It is necessary to minimize this effect, namely, to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This can be done at the state level, for example, by increasing the tax per ton of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. There is an even more effective way to solve this problem. This is the financial and legislative stimulation of organizations involved in the development and use of alternative energy sources, as well as the restriction of the construction of thermal and power plants operating on coal, gas or oil waste. The future lies with alternative energy sources and it is quite possible to avoid global climate change.