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What are the potential effects of global warming in terms of climate change and how can they be arrested?

Global warming is a problem that threatens the whole world. Though it has had little noticeable impact on the world so far, its potential impact could be disastrous which is why global warming has become an issue ever present in the media and for governments. Global warming is not a new phenomenon. The sun warms the Earth's surface and to stop it over-heating the heat energy is radiated back through the atmosphere and into space. Gases such as carbon dioxide and methane trap some of this heat thereby warming the lower atmosphere, which in turn warms the Earth's surface. This is the 'greenhouse effect' and is essential to life, as without it the earth would be so cold it would be uninhabitable. However global warming is attributed to the greenhouse effect as the increase in greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere by humans slowly warm the Earth, potentially changing the world's climate to more erratic, forcing many species into extinction, and making life much harder especially for people in developing countries (Woodford, 2006).

The prime potential consequence of the global warming in the context of climate change is the rising of the sea level. It happen when more sunrays in form of infrared will be trapped in the atmosphere by the greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide. Cores of polar ice show that carbon dioxide is much, much higher than ever before in a quarter of a million years. It was once thought that such things went in cycles but not anymore as carbon dioxide content keeps growing higher (Al Gore, 2007). Then, the ice sheets, glaciers and icecaps like Greenland and west Antarctica will melt little by little and will directly increase the volume of the sea water. The melting process of the icecaps will become faster when larger surface area of the sea is exposed to the sunrays which result to a warmer ocean. Hence, the sea level will also increase as the water expands when it being heated (Woodford, 2006). According to Al Gore in an Inconvenient Truth, the major city like Beijing and country like Netherland will entirely awash in the sea if Greenland is completely melt. The melting of either icecap could raise global sea levels by approximately 20 feet (6 m), flooding coastal areas and producing 100 million refugees (Al Gore, 2007).

As the product of the global warming, our planet experiencing the 10 hottest years in atmosphere’s records which was occurred in the last 14 years (Al Gore, 2007). With the hot temperature that keeps rising, more frequent heat waves will be produced in the air (Riebeek, 2007). Massive heat waves can be a disaster to us especially in this condition of atmosphere. It was already happen in India and the European countries in 2003 and killed thousands of people. Other than the continents in the world, the ocean also face rising of temperature in recent years. According to Al Gore, the warmer ocean will produce a stronger storm. The process is really simple. When the storm went through warmer water, the wind velocity and the moisture content will increase. So, the storm will contain much energy and become a deadliest hurricane. In 2004, big hurricane has made all time record in various countries.

Eventually, there is still hope to address this global problem if we act right now. The damage is still reversible. What to do in the face of this global threat? We must reduce the emission of carbon dioxide (Woodford, 2007). Use or support the development of alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, tidal, and, yes, nuclear. Drive only hybrid and electric cars. The government should subsidize public transit and fares. Save energy in your houses. You can start by turning off the lights when not needed. All of the citizens in the world should take a big heed before it's too late. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, humankind has about ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send the entire planet's climate system into an epic destruction involving extreme weather, droughts, floods, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything ever experienced – a catastrophe of our doing.