Business Integration and Global Warming - Essay Example

Business Integration The Climate is changing continuously and there is nothing we can do to stop it, what we can do is preventing the negative. Global Warming has become a major problem in the previous years mainly because of the way that it has impacted the climate and resulted in climate changes around the world. In this paper, I will be discussing climate changes and how they affect not only the environment but also their impact on life and agriculture. Global Warming The main problem that will be discussed is Global Warming and the view people hold about it. Scientists have been going on about global warming becoming a problem for the Earth and its climate, that by now most people believe it to be a myth. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has come out with a report in 2007 which has tried to provide evidence for this phenomenon. According to this report, the average temperature on Earth in 1905 was 14ºC and since then has increased at a rapid rate of 2.5 annually. The warming period in the last 50 years has been double of that of the last 100 years. (Norcia 2008) There have been critics of these findings who suggest that such numbers are not abnormal, some critics or global warming skeptics have even said that the IPCC report is not based on science but instead it is based on some ‘new faith based religion.’ (Norcia 2008) There are three main greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; carbon dioxide, nitrus oxide and methane. The levels of all three gases has been increasing rapidly. Specifically, carbon dioxide has increased by 35 per cent, nitrus oxide has increased by 18 er cent from 1750 to 2005 and methane has increased 142.2 per cent from 1750 to 1990 and then 2.4 per cent in 2005. These rates are more than those shown in the ice cores and other geological data. (Norcia 2008) We can notice the change in the temperatures over the last couple of years, it has gotten fairly hot. The climate swings can be in both directions, warm and cold, but mostly there has been an increase in the temperature. There have been a few cold seasons as well but these remain insignificant in front of the high temperatures that the world all around has been expereincing. According to the findings of the IPCC report it is not the natural causes which have led to higher temperatures, it is rather human activities which have led to the phenomenon of global warming. Humans have increased their use of fossil fuel, deforestation and use of excessive fertislizers which has led us to theis problem. Many of the effects of global warming are being felt around the world, the glaciers have been thining, there have been numerous hurricanes around the globe, the sea level is rising faster than anticipated and if itcontinues at the same rate, some of the countries will disappear. This situation will only worsen if the greenhouse gases are not controlled, if their rates keep increasing more extreme conditions will be felt around the world. Effect on Global Temperature Global Warming has left its affect on the global temperatures. Around the world, countries have been expereincing higher temperatures as compared to previous years. There have been certain anomalies in the temperatures that have been measured. The year 2005 was known as the hottest year. Global warming is not only increasing temperatures in areas where humans reside, but measurement has also been done of remote areas with no population and the impact of global warming can be felt there as well. There is a change in the surface temperature inferred from borehole temperature profiles. Also temperatures have changed in the alpine glaciars and there is more breaking of ice which is also contributing to the increase in the sea level. (Hansen 2006) The main source which is contributing to the global climate is the tropical pacific. The tropical pacific is the main source of heat that is transported to the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Thus is the Pacific is warmer than usual, it has an effect on the global climate through the oceans. The Pacific waters are mixed with Antarctic Intermediate Water and become part of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Thus, even remote areas which are no where nearby the Pacific are also influenced by the climate changes in the Pacific. (Hansen 2006) The Indian Ocean has also become comparatively warmer than its usual temperatures in the past few decades. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has set its objective to achieve stabilization of GHG concentrations” at a level preventing “dangerous anthropogenic interference” (DAI) with climate. The problem here is that climate change constituting DAI has not been defined clearly. (Hansen 2006) The advanatge that we have is that we know the history of the Earth and when we relate this to the global temperatures we can better understand the dangers that the Earth will be facing in the future. This global temperature is useful in assessing the proximity of the DAI. Two factors should be kept in mind when defining DAI, i.e. seal level and extinction of species. These two factors are important because they both have terrible consequences and practical irreversibility on human time scales. Two different scenarios exist when discussing climate change, i.e. the usualy, thus referred to in the article as ‘business as usual,’ and the alternative scenario. A rise in the sea level in the alternate scenario can have devastating repercussion on the human race as most of the land that we live on will go underwater and difficult to inhabit. Also with the increase in population, there is a higher requirement for land. Extinction of species and animals is also very important because it has an effect on the survival of other species. All things in Earth are interconnected and the extinction of any one of this species will lead to the extinction of others as they may be a food source for them. Agriculture and Climate Change Agriculture is very important to human survival. Most of the land on Earth is used for agriculture. Food production around the world needs to meet the projected human population and the consumption of food per capita. One of the major concerns is that agriculture is linked with the climate and any change in the climate will have a change or will impact the production of food around the world. The need for adaptation of agriculture to the climate change arises from the increase in the greenhouse gas emissions, lack of progress in the development of an agreement which will focus on the reduction of these emissions, high global temperatures and their negative impact on the current agricultural activities and opportunities for agricultural investment. (Howden 2007) The benefits of agriculture adaptation are many. It will allow farmers to make better decisions as they will be more informed. This is certainly true about short term decisions, while the level of uncertainty is still high when it comes to long term decisions. Also, many policies which are constructed for drought or other such issues are done so in isolation, they do not consider the climate changes that are taking place globally. When there will be integration between environmental issues and the climate change, the new policies and strategies will be more dynamic and will be able to cope with a higher level of uncertainty. The idea is to enable the decision makers to use the climate change information in such a manner that it reduces the harmful affects of the climate change on the agricultural production and can even lead it to be beneficial for the farmers. This will lead to a revolution of change as humans will not be adapting to the climate instead they will be managing it by making it beneficial for themselves. Currently statistical techniques are being used to forecast the climate and help in agricultural management decisions. In the future this will only be possible if the local climate is in sync with the broader scale climate phenomenon. Many models have been developed and over the years, the forecasting techniques have improved and have increased in their utility and usage. Many changes have been suggested in the article and these can be applied to improve the current conditions, but in the end there is still an element of uncertainty and inefficiency and lack of action can be associated with this uncertainty of the environment. Predicting the climate changes can help improve the response strategies keeping in mind the cultural and socio-economic factors. The change that needs to be brought about has to be more systematic than just farm level activities. It has to be at all levels with a change in management, science and policy and not just the farm practices. Conclusion Global warming is a phenomenon which is being experienced world wide and it is because of this phenomenon that we are experiencing climate changes around the world. If we continue to emit large amounts of greenhouse gases into the environment, the negative effects will continue. Also if we as decision makers can not understand these changes then we will not be able to derive any benefits from them. Bibliography Hansen, J., Sato, M., Reudy, R., Lea, D.W. et. al. Global temperature Change. July 31, 2006. http://www.pnas.org/content/103/39/14288.full (accessed April 1, 2010). Howden, S.M., Soussana, J.F., Tubiello, F.N., Dunlop, M., et. al. PNAS. August 16, 2007. http://www.pnas.org/content/104/50/19691.full (accessed March 31, 2010). Norcia, Vincent di. Global Warming is Man-made. September 10, 2008. http://livinggreenbarrie.com/LvGnGlblWarmgIPCCRpt.pdf (accessed March 31, 2010). Read More