Environmental Studies: Assignment II

Climate change and its economic impact

~~Navleen Singh
2K18/SE/087

Climate change is the disruption in the long-term seasonal

weather patterns​ that is caused by global warming. The
average temperature has risen around 1 degree Celsius, or 1.9
degrees Fahrenheit, since 1880. That’s faster than at any other
time in the Earth’s history.

Temperatures aren't rising uniformly. The temperatures in the

Arctic and Antarctic are rising faster than those in temperate
and tropical areas. As a result, portions of the polar vortex have
split off and blocked the jet stream. That’s a river of wind high in
the atmosphere that races from west to east at speeds up to
275 miles an hour. It’s made the jet stream wobble.

Climate change should be called climate destabilization. It's

created more extreme and frequent blizzards, heat waves, and
other forms of extreme weather. This extreme category
includes tornados, wildfires, hurricanes, blizzards, floods and
landslides, heat waves, and droughts. It also includes violent
storms, whether they be dust, hail, rain, snow, or ice.

Global warming is the planet's response to higher levels of

greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They create a blanket
that traps the heat from the sun and sends it back to the
planet’s surface. Humans caused the current crisis by burning
fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases.
As of December 2019, NASA-recorded carbon dioxide levels
were 412 parts per million.​ The last time levels were this high
was 2.6 million years ago during the Pliocene era.​ Back then,
the Arctic was 7.7 C, or 14 F, warmer in the summer than it is
now. As a result, it was only frozen during the winter. With less
ice, sea levels were 30 meters, or 98 feet, higher than today.

Since 1980, extreme weather has cost $1.6 trillion.1 Munich

Re, the world's largest reinsurance firm, blamed climate change
for $24 billion of losses in the California wildfires.

​ It warned that insurance firms would have to raise premiums to

cover rising costs from extreme weather. That could make
insurance too expensive for most people.

Scientists estimated that, if temperatures only rose 2 C, the

global gross domestic product would fall 15%. If temperatures
rose to 3 C, the global GDP would fall 25%. If nothing is done,
temperatures will rise by 4 C by 2100. Global GDP would
decline by over 30% from 2010 levels. That's worse than the
Great Depression, where global trade fell 25%. The only
difference is that it would be permanent.

Natural disasters have already cost 23 million working life years

since 2000. Efforts to stop climate change would create 24
million new jobs by 2030.

Climate change creates mass migration around the world.​

Immigrants are leaving flooded coastlines, drought-stricken
farmlands, and areas of extreme natural disasters. Since 2008,
extreme weather has displaced 22.5 million people, according
to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. By
2050, climate change will force 700 million people to emigrate.

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Global Warming and its Economic Burden on

Agriculture

Global warming, the phenomenon of increasing average air

temperatures near the surface of Earth over the past one to two
centuries. Climate scientists have since the mid-20th century
gathered detailed observations of various weather phenomena
(such as temperatures, precipitation, and storms) and of related
influences on climate (such as ocean currents and the
atmosphere’s chemical composition). These data indicate that
Earth’s climate has changed over almost every conceivable
timescale since the beginning of geologic time and that the
influence of human activities since at least the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution has been deeply woven into the very
fabric of climate change.

Many climate scientists agree that significant societal,

economic, and ecological damage would result if global
average temperatures rose by over 2 °C (3.6 °F) in such a short
time. Such damage would include increased extinction of many
plants and animal species, shifts in patterns of agriculture, and
rising sea levels.

Global warming could also lead to an increase in pest insect

populations, harming yields of staple crops like wheat,
soybeans, and corn. While warmer temperatures create longer
growing seasons and faster growth rates for plants, it also
increases the metabolic rate and number of breeding cycles of
insect populations.

The agriculture sector in India is vulnerable to climate change.

Higher temperatures tend to reduce crop yields and favour
weed and pest proliferation. Climate change can have negative
effects on irrigated crop yields across Agro-ecological regions
both due to temperature rise and changes in water availability.
Rained agriculture will be primarily impacted due to rainfall,
variability, and reduction in number of rainy days.

Government of India has initiated various actions to mitigate

affects of climate change:

● Varieties and cultivars tolerant to abiotic stresses are

developed under the strategic research component of
NICRA.

● The technology demonstrations aim at enhancing the

adaptive capacity of the farmers and also to cope with
climate variability in the vulnerable districts to achieve
climate-resilient agriculture. Under NICRA climate-resilient
technology demonstrations are implemented in 151
climatically vulnerable districts of the country.

● District Agriculture Contingency Plans have been prepared

by ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad for 648 districts in the country
to address the adverse weather conditions.