How does "revenge" of nature understand the present situation of global warming?

As mentioned above, the causes of climate change may be natural internal processes, external coercion, or artificial continuous changes in atmospheric composition and land use. There are both natural factors and human factors. Natural factors are hard for us to change, but what about human factors? Global warming is a problem that worries everyone in the world. What should we think and do? ……

Too many climate and environmental problems need to be solved. But before solving the problem, we should see the whole picture. Then, let's introduce the problem of global warming to you.

Causes of climate warming

Global warming refers to the phenomenon that the temperature of the earth's atmosphere and ocean rises over a period of time, mainly referring to the temperature rise caused by human factors. Probably because of excessive greenhouse gas emissions.

Global warming causes the sea level to rise.

Because people burn fossil minerals to generate energy or cut down forests to burn, many greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, are produced. This gas has high permeability to visible light from the sun, high absorption to long-wave radiation reflected by the earth, and can strongly absorb infrared radiation from the ground, which is commonly called "greenhouse effect" and leads to global warming. /kloc-for more than 0/00 years, the global average temperature has experienced two fluctuations: cold → warm → cold → warm, showing an overall upward trend. Since 1980s, the global temperature has obviously increased. The consequences of global warming will redistribute global precipitation, melt glaciers and frozen soil and raise sea level, which will not only endanger the balance of natural ecosystems, but also threaten human food supply and living environment.

The global atmosphere and surface system is like a huge "glass greenhouse", which keeps the surface at a certain temperature all the time and creates an environment suitable for human beings and other creatures to survive. In this system, the atmosphere can not only let the solar radiation penetrate to the ground, but also prevent the ground radiation loss. We call this protective effect of the atmosphere on the ground the greenhouse effect of the atmosphere. The gas that causes the greenhouse effect is called "greenhouse gas", which allows the short-wave radiation of the sun to pass freely and absorbs the long-wave radiation emitted by the surface. These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons, ozone, nitrogen oxides and water vapor, of which carbon dioxide is the most important. In the past 100 years, the global climate has gradually warmed, and at the same time, the content of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has also increased rapidly. Many scientists believe that the massive emission of greenhouse gases leads to the intensification of the greenhouse effect, which may be the root cause of global warming.

Combustion produces a lot of carbon dioxide.

Humans burn coal, oil, natural gas and trees, and a large amount of carbon dioxide and methane enter the atmosphere, which warms the earth, makes the carbon cycle unbalanced and changes the energy conversion form of the earth's biosphere. Since the industrial revolution, the content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by 25%, far exceeding all the historical records of the past 654.38+600,000 years that scientists may have investigated, and there is no sign of slowing down at present.

There are many reasons for global warming, which can be summarized as follows:

(1) The factors of population explosion.

The rapid population growth in recent decades is one of the main factors leading to global warming. At the same time, it also seriously threatens the balance between the natural ecological environment. With such a huge population, the annual carbon dioxide emitted by itself will be an amazing number, and the result will directly lead to the continuous increase of carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere, thus directly affecting the climate change on the earth's surface.

(2) atmospheric environmental pollution factors.

At present, the increasingly serious environmental pollution has become a major global problem, and it is also one of the main factors leading to global warming. Now, the study of global climate change has clearly pointed out that the temperature of the earth's surface began to rise at the end of 19.

(3) the deterioration factors of marine ecological environment.

At present, the change of sea level is on the rise. According to the prediction of relevant experts, by the middle of 2 1 century, the sea level may rise by 50 cm. If measures are not taken in time, it will directly lead to the destruction and pollution of fresh water resources. In addition, a large number of toxic chemical wastes and solid wastes produced by land activities are continuously discharged into the sea; Major oil spills in seawater and the destruction of coastal ecological environment by human activities are the main factors leading to the destruction of seawater ecological environment.

(4) Destructive factors such as land erosion and desertification.

The main cause of soil erosion and desertification is improper agricultural production. As we all know, good vegetation can keep soil erosion. But so far, human activities, such as excessive logging, land reclamation for agricultural production and overgrazing, are still seriously destroying vegetation. At present, on average, 20 hectares of forests are destroyed, 65,438+00 hectares of land are desertified and 47,000 tons of soil are eroded every minute in the world. Soil erosion reduces soil fertility and water retention, thus reducing soil biological productivity and its ability to maintain productivity; It may also lead to large-scale floods and sandstorms, causing huge economic losses to society and deteriorating the ecological environment.

(5) The factors of sharp decline of forest resources.

Worldwide, due to natural or man-made factors, the forest area is decreasing sharply.

Natural factors refer to the reduction of forest resources due to extreme weather changes or ground crustal movement. Man-made factors refer to the sharp decline of global forest resources caused by massive deforestation since entering the industrial society. According to the report of the United Nations Environment Programme, the global forest has decreased by12, mainly due to human activities.

Forest plants have good heat absorption, shading and transpiration. Forest plants transpiration a lot of water through leaves, consuming radiant heat and reflections from roads, walls and adjacent objects in the city, thus alleviating the urban heat island effect. When the urban forest area reaches 30%, the urban temperature can be reduced by 8%; When the area reaches 40%, the temperature can be reduced by10%; When the area reaches 50%, the temperature can be reduced by 13%. However, forest resources are in a sharp decline trend. According to this view, global warming factors should also be related to it.

(6) Hazard factors of acid rain.

The influence of acid rain on ecological environment has attracted more and more attention all over the world. Acid rain will destroy forests, acidify lakes and endanger living things. At present, acid rain in the world is mostly concentrated in Europe and North America. Most acid rain occurs in developed countries, but it also occurs and develops rapidly in some developing countries.

(7) Factors that accelerate species extinction.

Life on the earth is a precious resource for human beings, and the diversity of life is the basis for human survival and development. However, at present, biological species on the earth are disappearing at an unprecedented rate.

In 2008, IUCN recently released the Red List of Endangered Species in 2007. At present, there are 16306 species of animals and plants facing extinction crisis in the world, which is 188 more than that in 2006, accounting for nearly 40% of all the assessed species.

(8) Water pollution factors.

According to the water quality monitoring project of Global Environmental Monitoring System, about 10% of the monitored rivers in the world are polluted. Since the 20th century, human water consumption has increased rapidly, and the scale of water pollution has been expanding, resulting in a contradiction between supply and demand of fresh water. Therefore, the treatment of water pollution will be very urgent and important.

(9) Toxic waste pollution factors.

More and more toxic chemicals not only pose a serious threat to human survival, but also do harm to the ecological environment on the earth's surface.

(10) Changes in the Earth's periodic orbit.

The earth's periodic orbit changes from ellipse to circle, which is closer to the sun. According to the research of scientists, the temperature of the earth has been changing alternately between high temperature and low temperature, with certain regularity.

Experts from the National Climate Center of China Meteorological Bureau said that according to the predictions of many scientists in the world, in the next 50~ 100 years, human beings will completely enter a warming world. Due to the influence of human activities, the concentration of greenhouse gases and sulfide aerosols will increase rapidly in 2 1 century, which will lead to the rapid rise of global temperature, East Asia and China in the future 100, and the global average surface temperature will rise 1.4~5.8℃. By 2050, the average temperature in China will rise by 2.2℃.

"The frequent occurrence of rare foggy weather since winter is also a sign of warm winter." Experts say that the foggy weather is caused by "warm winter" and the strong cold air is very weak. The reality of global warming is constantly sounding the alarm to all countries in the world. Climate warming has seriously affected the survival of human beings and the sustainable development of society. It is not only a scientific problem, but also a comprehensive problem covering politics, economy and energy. The fact of global warming has risen to the height of national security.

The increase of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere is the fundamental cause of global warming. According to the investigation of the International Energy Agency, the carbon dioxide emissions of the United States, China, Russian and Japanese account for almost 1/2 of the global total. The survey shows that the United States ranks first in the world in carbon dioxide emissions, with an annual per capita carbon dioxide emissions of about 20 tons, accounting for 23.7% of the global total. The annual per capita carbon dioxide emission in China is about 2.5 1 ton, accounting for 13.6% of the global total.

If global warming continues,

No one can say for sure how serious the harm caused by releasing more carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in the future will be. Scientists are estimating the harm caused by climate change. However, it will not be until 2050 that we can really understand all this. Obviously, scientists and politicians will not wait for further results before taking preventive measures. The present observation and research results should be made public, so that people will not have to swallow the bitter fruit in a few decades.

The greenhouse effect has been working since the formation of the earth. If there is no greenhouse effect, the surface of the earth will be extremely cold, the temperature will drop to -20℃, the ocean will freeze and life will not form. Therefore, we are not faced with the problem of whether there is a greenhouse effect, but the problem that human beings emit a lot of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, which leads to the greenhouse effect and the rapid change of the earth's climate.

What impact will the greenhouse effect have? Due to the burning of fossil fuels and the deforestation of a large number of forests, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere has increased. Due to the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide and other gases, the global average ground temperature has increased by about 0.3~0.6℃ in the past 100 years, and it is expected to increase by 1~3℃ in 2030.

The consequences of global warming-melting glaciers

When the global average temperature rises 1℃, great changes will take place: sea level rises, glaciers in mountainous areas shrink, and the snow area shrinks. As the global temperature rises, it will lead to unbalanced precipitation, with precipitation increasing in some areas and decreasing in some areas. For example, in the Sahel region of West Africa, severe drought began at 1965; Since 1965, the precipitation in North China has decreased year after year. Compared with 1950s, the precipitation in North China decreased by 1/3, and the water resources decreased by 1/2. The area affected by drought in China is 400 million mu every year. In normal years, irrigation areas in China lack 30 billion cubic meters of water every year, and cities lack 6 billion cubic meters of water.

Generally speaking, if global warming continues, the following consequences are likely to occur:

(1) When glaciers melt, the sea level will rise, leading to the loss of coastal wetlands, mangroves and coral reefs. Seawater invades the freshwater groundwater layer along the coast, and the coastal land is salinized, which leads to the imbalance of natural ecological environment in the coast, estuary and bay and brings disaster to the coastal ecological environment system.

In recent years, due to the greenhouse gas emission and the greenhouse effect of the accelerated melting of Antarctic glaciers, it has been observed that alpine glaciers from Patagonia to Switzerland are melting. In South Asia, the question is not whether glaciers are melting, but how fast they are melting. Although many adverse effects of global warming may not become very serious before the end of 2 1 century, glacial meltwater in Nepal, India, Pakistan, China and Bhutan may soon bring people trouble.

A research report of the International Snow and Ice Commission (ICSI) pointed out: "The glaciers in the Himalayas are retreating faster than anywhere else in the world. If the current melting rate continues, these glaciers are likely to disappear before 2035. " Saeed Bosco Wong, head of the International Snow and Ice Commission, said: "Even if the glacial meltwater dries up within 60~ 100 years, the scope of this ecological disaster will be shocking."

Glaciers in the eastern Himalayas in the Ganges River basin have melted the most, and those distributed on the "roof of the world" from Bhutan to Kashmir have retreated the fastest. Take the 3 km long barna Glacier as an example. This glacier is one of many glaciers formed by the collision between the Indian subcontinent and the Asian continent 40-50 million years ago. Starting from 1990, it retreated half a kilometer. After the severe sub-arctic winter in 1997, scientists had predicted that this glacier would expand, but it retreated further in the summer of 1998.

(2) The water area has increased. Water evaporation is also more, the rainy season is prolonged, and floods are more frequent. The chances of being flooded increase, the degree and severity of being affected by heavy rain increase, and the life of reservoir dams is shortened.

(3) The rising water temperature may melt the ice and snow in the Antarctic continent and the Arctic Ocean. Polar bears and walruses will be extinct.

(4) Many small islands will disappear without a trace.

(5) Infected with infectious diseases such as malaria. Paul Epstein of Harvard University's Institute of Emerging and Recurrent Diseases noticed that plants also moved with the snow line, and plants on mountain peaks all over the world were moving upwards. With the warming of mountain peaks, the higher altitude environment is more and more conducive to the survival of mosquitoes and microorganisms such as plasmodium.

Since 1987, tropical infectious diseases such as West Nile virus, malaria and yellow fever have broken out in Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Arizona, California and Colorado in the United States, which has repeatedly confirmed experts' scientific inference that some tropical diseases will spread to colder regions due to climate warming.

(6) Due to thermal inertia, the existing greenhouse gases will continue to affect our lives.

(7) The increase of temperature will affect people's fertility, and the activity of sperm will decrease with the increase of temperature.

(8) As mentioned above, due to the rising temperature, the global sea level has been rising at the rate of 1 ~ 2 mm per year for the past 100 years, and it is predicted that the sea level will continue to rise by 30~50 cm by 2050. And this will flood a lot of low-lying land along the coast. In addition, due to climate change, climate disasters such as drought, flood and low temperature have intensified, resulting in global economic losses of more than tens of billions of dollars every year. What a great economic loss it will be if the problem develops at this speed and no measures are taken!

(9) Another study on global warming is even more surprising. As the Arctic ice sheet melts, rainfall increases and wind types change, a large amount of fresh water is flowing into the Arctic Ocean, thus destroying the Gulf Stream. It is these warm currents that bring warm surface water from the Caribbean to the northwest of Europe, making Europe a warm climate. Once the Mexican warm current is cut off due to global warming, the temperature in northwest Europe may drop by as much as 5~8℃, and Europe may face a new ice age!

The research was conducted by the Scottish Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen, which analyzed more than 65,438+07,000 salinity measurements from Orchid Islands to Faroe Islands waters since 65,438+0893. In the past 20 years, the salinity and concentration of deep seawater flowing to the south have become smaller and smaller, which indicates that more fresh water has flowed into the region from the North Atlantic. These new data fully prove the computer model designed by German scientists about three years ago for the first time.

The content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rising sharply, and the world population will reach 654.38+000 billion before 2050. David Tillman of the University of Minnesota said: "Our world is moving towards replacing the existing free natural resources with man-made facilities. However, we haven't mastered the knowledge about natural ecosystems. In the Permian extinction 245 million years ago, 96% of species became extinct. Later, with the emergence of many new species, the earth finally recovered its rich population, but this process has gone through 1 100 million years. Wilson said: "Some people think that nature will revive everything that human beings have destroyed." As the saying goes, "As long as there is enough time, everything can happen." Maybe nature can really restore everything, but this long process is meaningless to modern human beings anyway.

Mark Twain once said that the most touching feature of the weather is its change. 1 After many centuries, we are still trying to predict the weather accurately, but we have little effect in controlling the climate. However, the damage to the environment is unprecedented. Climate warming will cause many problems.

(1) ecology. (1) Global warming leads to sea level rise and precipitation redistribution, which changes the current world climate pattern. ② Global warming affects and destroys the biological chain and food chain, bringing more serious natural consequences. For example, there is a migratory bird that flies from Australia to northeast China for the summer every year. However, due to global warming, the temperature in Northeast China is rising and the summer is prolonged, so the time for this bird to leave Northeast China is shortened and the time for returning to Northeast China is delayed accordingly. As a result, a pest eaten by this migratory bird flooded and destroyed a large area of forest. ③ Extreme events related to the environment, such as droughts and floods, have increased.

(2) politics. Limiting carbon dioxide emissions is equivalent to limiting energy consumption, which is bound to have a restrictive impact on all countries in the world. Whether developing countries reduce emissions or developed countries reduce emissions has become the focus of discussion among countries. The greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries are increasing, and the problem of "emission reduction" after 20 13 will inevitably focus on developing countries. The scientific problem of preventing global warming will inevitably lead to the problem of "North-South relations", thus making the climate issue an international political issue.

(3) climate. Global warming has increased precipitation in Chinese mainland, especially in the middle and high latitudes, and reduced precipitation in some areas such as Africa. Frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate events (El Nino, drought, flood, thunderstorm, hail, storm, high temperature weather and sandstorm, etc.). ) has increased in some areas.

Effects of global warming on crop growth (4) Ocean. With the increase of global temperature, the amount of water vapor evaporated in the ocean has greatly increased, which has aggravated the warming phenomenon. The reduction of the total heat capacity of the ocean can restrain global warming. In addition, because the ocean releases excessive carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the real culprit is the plankton community in the ocean.

(5) crops. The impact of global warming on crop growth has both advantages and disadvantages. (1) Global temperature changes directly affect the global water cycle, causing droughts or floods in some areas, resulting in reduced crop production. Too high temperature is not conducive to seed growth. The increase of precipitation, especially in arid areas, will actively promote the growth of crops. The increase of carbon dioxide content with global warming will also promote the photosynthesis of crops, thus increasing the yield.

Slow down global warming.

Global warming has changed the earth in many ways, and some changes themselves will also inhibit the global warming trend.

(1) Global warming makes some ice and snow on the earth melt, and the total amount of global liquid water increases. However, the specific heat of liquid giant aerial forest water is higher than that of ice and snow. The increased heat due to the greenhouse effect did not significantly increase the temperature of water, because the total amount of liquid water on the earth increased. Although the increased heat due to the greenhouse effect significantly increased the temperature of rocks and land on the earth, it did not significantly increase the temperature of the whole earth because of its heat exchange with liquid water on the earth, which offset the greenhouse effect to some extent and delayed the melting of ice and snow on the earth.

(2) The global warming makes the green plants on the earth grow vigorously. Their photosynthesis absorbs more carbon dioxide (the main part of greenhouse gases) than before the global warming, and fixes some greenhouse gases, so that these greenhouse gases no longer prevent the heat on the earth from radiating outward, which also offsets the greenhouse effect to some extent.

Global warming increases the total amount of liquid water on the earth, and green plants absorb more greenhouse gases, thus delaying the trend of global warming and helping to achieve balance. Of course, with the easing of the global warming trend, the increment of liquid water and main greenhouse gases absorbed on the earth is getting smaller and smaller. If the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide is not reduced, the earth will heat up again, causing a new round of total liquid water increase and the growth peak of green plants on the earth, thus delaying the global warming trend again. Therefore, without reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, the above balance will be alternately formed and broken, making the earth's temperature fluctuate more than before, rather than increasing monotonously; If we reduce or fix the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, we can calm the fluctuation of the earth's temperature.

Scientists put forward a bold idea to build an artificial space ring around the earth, consisting of small particles or spaceships, to shield tropical sunlight and regulate the temperature of the earth.

However, some opponents believe that this idea will definitely have some side effects. A particle belt that can effectively scatter sunlight will make every night sky as bright as a full moon. Moreover, the budget of this plan will be staggering, possibly reaching 6 trillion to 200 trillion dollars, which even NASA, the most well-funded scientific research institution in the world, can't afford. If the bulk particles are replaced by spacecraft, the budget may be less, and it is estimated that it can be reduced to about 500 billion US dollars.

Since the birth of the earth, the atmospheric temperature has fluctuated several times, and various factors such as solar radiation, cloud cover and greenhouse gases have affected or are affecting our climate. If you put a particle belt or spacecraft around the earth, a shadow will appear over the equator. In order to deploy these particles, you must use some special control spacecraft to look after the particle swarm like a sheepdog.

Some scientists have pointed out that reducing sunlight will reduce the temperature of the earth, and some ground or space systems can completely achieve this goal. However, some scientists pointed out that it is still impossible to calculate how much sunlight the earth can absorb and how much sunlight is reflected back into space, which is a key step in implementing the above plan.

The British "Observer" recently quoted researchers as saying that prehistoric farmers who cut down trees and reclaimed the first field changed the content of greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere, and the global temperature gradually increased. Qian Wei Rudiman, a professor at the University of Virginia in the United States, said: "If it were not for the greenhouse gases brought by early agricultural activities, the current temperature of the earth would probably be the temperature of the Ice Age." Studies show that without human intervention, the earth will be 2℃ lower than it is now, and the spreading ice sheets and glaciers will affect many parts of the world. Some gases emitted by human beings, such as carbon dioxide, methane and chlorofluorocarbons, have the function of absorbing infrared radiation. These gases are called "greenhouse gases". They exist in the atmosphere in large quantities, like a hood, blocking the heat emitted from the ground, like a "greenhouse", which leads to the increase of the surface temperature. Scientists believe that controlling greenhouse gas emissions may control global warming and prevent disasters such as ecological balance destruction, agricultural variation and glacier melting.

Of course, according to modern environmental science research, the correlation between greenhouse effect and global warming is still being further explored. However, people do feel the abnormality of global warming. In this regard, scientists suggest that controlling greenhouse gas emissions may be a preventive measure.

Human activities that emit greenhouse gases include: all fossil energy combustion activities emit carbon dioxide. Among fossil energy sources, coal has the highest carbon content, followed by oil and natural gas. Gas and natural gas leak during the exploitation of fossil energy, releasing carbon dioxide and methane; Industrial production processes such as cement, lime and chemical industry emit carbon dioxide; Methane is emitted by ruminants such as rice fields, cattle and sheep during digestion; Land use change reduces the absorption of carbon dioxide; Garbage releases methane and nitrous oxide. When humans burn coal, oil, natural gas and trees, a large amount of carbon dioxide and methane enter the atmosphere, which warms the earth, makes the carbon cycle unbalanced and changes the energy conversion form of the earth's biosphere.

Forests in the world are mainly divided into three categories: frigid (northern) forests, temperate forests and tropical forests. According to experts, today's forest ecosystem is gradually formed after 8000 years of evolution of nature. Nowadays, all virgin forests have become the targets of large-scale development and utilization of logging industry. In the tropics, many forests that have disappeared now have been cut down in the past 50 years. From 1960 to 1990, more than 450 million hectares of tropical forests were swallowed, accounting for 20% of the total tropical forest area in the world. Millions of hectares of tropical forests have been degraded by logging, farmland reclamation and mineral exploitation.

In addition, illegal logging and illegal trade in wood products continue to intensify all over the world, especially in developing countries with tropical forests and countries with poor government enforcement, such as Russia. This situation is further aggravated by the demand for cheap wood products in the international market.

According to the climate model, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that the global temperature will rise by about 1.4~5.8℃ by 2 100. According to this forecast, the global temperature will change dramatically, which has never happened in the past 654.38 million+years, thus bringing potential significant impact on the global environment.