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Some climate change effects: wildfire caused by heat and dryness, bleached coral caused by ocean acidification and heating, environmental migration caused by desertification, and coastal flooding caused by storms and sea level rise. Effects of climate change are well documented and growing for Earth's natural environment and human societies. Changes to the climate system include an overall ...
Heat waves are more likely to occur simultaneously with droughts. Marine heatwaves are twice as likely as they were in 1980. [34] Climate change will lead to more very hot days and fewer very cold days. [35]: 7 There are fewer cold waves. [36]: 8 Experts can often attribute the intensity of individual heat waves to global warming.
In the 1980s, the terms global warming and climate change became more common, often being used interchangeably. [29] [30] [31] Scientifically, global warming refers only to increased surface warming, while climate change describes both global warming and its effects on Earth's climate system, such as precipitation changes. [28]
Based on heatwaves in the West Midlands in 2003-2006, it is estimated that reflective “cool” roofs could significantly reduce temperatures by 0.3°C (about 23% of the urban heat island effect). [29] Besides changes in the environment, individual protective behaviours can also reduce the health consequences of heat.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency had issued a 100-page report on global warming and human health back in 1989. [ 131 ] [ 144 ] By the early years of the 21st century, climate change was increasingly addressed as a public health concern at a global level, for example in 2006 at Nairobi by UN secretary general Kofi Annan .
Such measurements furthered understanding of the greenhouse effect that underlies global warming and climate change. (from History of climate change science ) Image 22 Earth's energy balance and imbalance, showing where the excess energy goes: Outgoing radiation is decreasing owing to increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, leading to ...
World leaders are meeting in Paris this month in what amounts to a last-ditch effort to avert the worst ravages of climate change. Climatologists now say that the best case scenario — assuming immediate and dramatic emissions curbs — is that planetary surface temperatures will increase by at least 2 degrees Celsius in the coming decades.
Updated 2022 estimates show that even at a global average increase of 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) over pre-industrial temperatures, only 0.2% of the world's coral reefs would still be able to withstand marine heatwaves, as opposed to 84% being able to do so now, with the figure dropping to 0% at 2 °C (3.6 °F) warming and beyond.