Week 8 - Global warming

Image courtesy of Origins Explained

While natural contributors to global warming certainly do exist (such as volcanic activity or variations in sunlight), their impacts are not significant enough to explain the dramatic and constant increases in average global temperature as the human population grows.

In an effort to slow this dramatic rise in global temperature, humanity banded together to invent technological solutions to this problem. In the early 2000’s, several clever strategies for renewable energy were invented and put to use on a large-scale. Humans also made passive efforts to reduce their overall carbon footprints, by engaging in activities such as recycling and increased use of public transportation.

Despite these efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, humanity’s attempts at a solution did not stand up against the long-term test of time. Over the course of several thousand years, the prolonged existence of greenhouse gas-emitting technologies led to a consistent and gradual increase in global temperature. As this temperature rose, a series of related issues became increasingly problematic.

First, the average soil moisture in common agricultural areas decreased significantly, which reduced crop yield and made food scarce. There was also a dramatic increase in the consecutive number of days without precipitation in most of these areas, which forced farmers to turn to increased technology usage as a means of compensation. This increase in technology use further worsened the rate of global climate change, eventually pushing global warming to a catastrophic level.

Once the average temperature of Earth reached a tipping point, much of its large glaciers and ice sheets began to melt with the associated warming ocean. A relevant quote from USGS mentioned the consequences of this event: “If all of the glacier ice on Earth were to melt, sea level would rise ~ 80 m (~ 265 ft), flooding every coastal city on the planet” (USGS, n.d.). As predicted, once most of Earth’s large glaciers had finished melting, the sea level had risen by more than 200 feet.

This caused much of the beach-front and coastal cities to become submerged underwater, eliminating all possibilities for resource production in those areas, and forcing those populations to migrate inland. With reduced food production from flooding, reduced soil moisture for farming, and an increase in population density away from the coastlines, a sudden drop in human survivability was inevitable.

While humanity was generally able to overcome the challenges associated with this harsh new climate, the human population on Earth was dramatically reduced. Humanity is now working on rebuilding society under these new environmental conditions, and will likely stray away from excessive production of greenhouse gases when creating new technologies.

Reference
 USGS. (n.d.). How would sea level change if glaciers melted?. Retrieved from https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-would-sea-level-change-if-glaciers-melted?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products