Global Warming: A Threat to the Planet

GLOBAL WARMING: A THREAT TO THE PLANET.

Human activity is subjected to weather major upheavals. The evaluation of all information related to climate change is effected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). According to their latest report of 2007, global warming is unequivocal because it appears with evidence in the observation of the increase in global average temperatures of the atmosphere and ocean, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising average sea level.

The high concentration of greenhouse gases generated by human activities cause global warming. Their concentration in the atmosphere keeps increasing since the beginning of the industrial era. If today, the state of scientific knowledge and models used by climatologists cannot make fine predictions at the regional level, they predict the overall global large developments that need expect. However, predictions regarding human and environmental consequences are alarmist: disturbance of Gulf Stream, wildfires, ice caps thaw, disappearance of plant and animal species, decrease of water resources, increased flood risk, droughts, forced migration of population, resurgence of diseases...the reality of the risk and the phenomenon is now almost a consensus.

The economic, political, social, environmental, even moral stakes, being major, they arouse numerous debates, on an international scale, as well as controversies.

Governments, businesses and individuals, through knowledge of trends, can make decisions and strategic policies most relevant to limit the impacts of climate change. The IPCC reports are the main base of information and discussions and the Kyoto Protocol provides mechanisms (carbon market, clean development, joint implementation) to reduce gases emissions, this one not making the unanimity in different parts of the world (case for USA which don't accept the difference in emissions restrictions between developing and developed countries). The predictions of the IPCC and the Kyoto Protocol have prompted the development of new industries using new technologies such as wind turbines, biofuels, transportation, and cars that run partially or completely on electricity. These new activities compete with the economy based on oil and cause significant political tensions and conflicts of interests.

Solving the problem of global warming involves taking into consideration not only the parameters directly involved in global warming, namely the emission of greenhouse gases, but also all the environmental information, as well as social and economic indicators according to the principles developed in the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, which identified three pillars of sustainable development: environmental, social, and economic.