A Review of Climate Change, Impacts, and Mitigation Strategies

What is Climate change?

Climate change is the long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These changes occur naturally due to the sun's activity or significant volcanic eruptions. However, since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels (like coal, oil, and gas), which produce greenhouse gases (GHGs). These activities have long resulted in emissions and accumulation of GHGs in the earth's atmosphere. These gases blanket the earth, trapping the sun's heat beneath, thus leading to a gradual increase in the earth's temperature, consequently leading to global warming and climate change.

From history, accurate record keeping of the earth’s temperature for 1880-1980, the temperature had risen by 1-degree centigrade (Etieyibo, 2022). This temperature reflects an average increment of 0.07 degrees Celsius per decade. The scholar further reveals that this rate has changed from 1981, with the increase more than doubling to an increase of 0.18 degrees Celsius every ten years. Nine out of the ten warmest years since 1880 have occurred from 2005 upwards, with the five warmest occurring from 2015 upwards. This global increase in temperature has intensified the frequency of weather-related disasters like extreme cold, heat waves, droughts, floods, and storms, causing them to dominate the disaster landscape in the 21st century (Maino & Emrullahu, 2022). The opponents of climate change have argued that there has been a global slowdown in the temperature increase, but many studies have disputed this observation (Risbey et al., 2018). It is even open that the impacts of global warming are already harming people globally. The experts warn that global warming must be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2040 to create a future that preserves global life through fewer droughts, wildfires, floods, tropical storms, and tornadoes/tsunamis-disasters that collectively form the core of climate change. Although the effects of climate are felt by everyone worldwide, they are experienced most intensely by the underprivileged, the economically marginalized, and people of color, given that climatic changes cause poverty, displacement, hunger, and social unrest.

The Process of Global Warming

Global warming all starts with CO2 along with other GHGs accumulating in the atmosphere and forming a blanket-like cover over the earth. The GHGs absorb the solar radiation bouncing off the earth's surface instead of letting the radiation escape into space. These GHGs comprise CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapour, and synthetic fluorinated gases (Ghaboun et al., 2022). The gases last for years and centuries in the earth's atmosphere, trapping the heat and causing the planet to get hotter. Initially, the climate on the earth has been caused to change by natural cycles and fluctuations for the past 800,000 years (Rohling, 2019). However, global warming is linked to human activities and, more specifically, the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, gasoline, and natural gases. For example, research has revealed that in the US, the largest source of GHGs is the transport sector (29%), production of electricity (28%), and industrial activity (22%). According to a report by Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Country and Sector (Infographic) | News | European Parliament (2018), in Europe, 77.01% of the GHGs come from the energy sector, with transport accounting for a third of this. The GHG emissions from agriculture account for 10.55%, industrial processes and product use account for 9.10%, whereas the waste management sector accounts for 3.32%. In the case of Asia, the region emits about half of the world's GHGs, with the agricultural sector being the primary source of these gases. The region is the largest rice producer, emitting methane (Aryal, 2022). Countries like China, India and Mongolia heavily rely on burning coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, as the source of their energy yet (Asia-Pacific, the Gigantic Domino of Climate Change, 2021).

Therefore, to address climate change, there is a need to reduce the causes of emissions, including but not limited to the use of alternatively cleaner fuels globally. Regarding this, countries worldwide have committed to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement by setting up new standards to help lower emissions. Another strategy is to decarbonize energy through an equitable transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy sources like wind and solar to power cars and maximize energy efficiency in our places of work and homes.

Is there any relationship between global warming and extreme weather?

Research has shown that rising temperatures are causing longer and hotter heat waves, heavier rainfall, frequent droughts and more destructive hurricanes. In 2015 California experienced its worst water shortage in about 1,200 years, a disaster exacerbated by global warming (Dong et al., 2023). Scientists predict that the odds of similar incidences occurring in the future have more than doubled over the past century. Moreover, extreme weather conditions like heat waves, droughts, and heavy rainfalls are all climate change products. With the high global temperatures, a category three storm can pick up more energy and become a more lethal category four storm. The US has experienced its fair share of climate change-related damage, losing approximately $ 1 billion in 2020, whereas the 2017 disasters caused a near loss of $300 billion with 3,300 deaths (Constable et al., 2020). The economic cost is too hard to take, which explains the urgency with which the climate change crisis must be addressed to safeguard the global economy.

Elsewhere, heat waves have caused an economic shutdown in India, with some parts reaching more than 49 degrees Celcius. Fueled by climate change, the heat waves endanger the development of countries like India at 90%, possibly reversing its progress on poverty alleviation, health and economic growth (Debnath et al., 2023). A study by Regan (2023) revealed that some areas of India had been reported to have power shortages, higher dust and air pollution, and increased glacial melt in the Northern part of the country. A record twenty-four thousand people have died of the heat wave in India since 1992, with the impact projected to get worse as the heat waves intensify their frequency and lethality with the aggravating climate crisis (Regan, 2023). The researcher further connotes that, given that heat waves decrease outdoor activity by 15%, the crisis has knock-on effects on the country's economy (Regan, 2023). It is worrying how the government sometimes downplayed the intensity of the heat waves in its climate vulnerability assessment.

Generally, from 1998-2017, over 166,000 people died of heatwaves, with 70,000 deaths recorded in Europe's 2003 heatwave (Heatwaves, n.d.). The study reported that the global number of people exposed to heat waves increased to over 125 million in the 200-2016 period. For example, in the US, heat waves have been ranked six out of the top ten deadliest disasters in the country since 1980. The disaster had an average death toll of 600 people annually from 1999-2009. The US has managed the heat waves better since the last severe one was reported in 1990. The success could be due to better forecasting, heat-health early warning systems, and increased access to air conditioning for the US population.

Droughts and intense heat will immensely impact the 180 million people in impoverished parts of Africa. Scientifically, human health is supported at 35°C wet-bulb temperature. Beyond this temperature, the human body struggles to cool itself. Coupled with poor settlement schemes in most African cities, the risks from heat waves could be severe. Reports have shown that there were 12,000-19,000 annual heat-related child fatalities in the years 2011 and 2012 (Skosana & Spooner, 2022). There is also the growing risk of mosquito-borne infections like malaria.

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