Climate change

CLIMATE CHANGE

• Climate change occurs when changes in Earth's climate system result in new weather patterns that last for at least a few decades, and maybe for millions of years. The climate system is comprised of five interacting parts, the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, and lithosphere.
• The climate change phenomenon refers to seasonal changes over a long period with respect to the growing accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
• Global climate  has been changing and the trends indicate that the world might experience the increasing intensity of climate change in the form of hotter and longer summers coupled with shorter and warmer winters.
• Some of the climate change indicators are-
• Average national and global temperatures
• Global precipitation trends
• Drought
• Ocean heat
• Sea surface temperature
• Melting glaciers, Arctic sea ice and Antarctic sea ice
• Heat related illnesses and deaths
• Lyme disease
• West nile virus
• Wildfires
• Climate change has brought many environmental risks to human health, such as ozone layer depletion, loss of biodiversity, increased pressures on food-producing systems and spread of infectious diseases. The three main categories of climate change impact on human health are:
  (a)   Direct impact (e.g. as a result of heatwaves, large-scale air pollution, natural disasters).
  (b)  Impact on ecosystems and environmental relationships (e.g. damage to agricultural crops, overabundance of mosquitoes, depletion of marine species).
  (c)   Indirect impact (e.g. poverty, displacement, conflict over resources such as water, post-disaster epidemics).
    
• Hence it is evident that trend with respect to climate change is  incresingly intense.