Global Warming is one of the most dangerous phenomenons nowadays, and what we don’t want to see is how it could affect us and everything that surrounds us. We have been to unconscious about how we keep on damaging the world with our indifference. But we all have a question to make to our selfs.
Asap Science and Bill Ney explain to us why we have to care for our enviroment and stop being so selfish.
The water that we all drink is fresh, unsalty water.
The thing is, that only a 3% of the earth’s water is unsalty water, and of that 3%, a 70% is frozen. That’s about 30 million cubic kilometers of frozen water.
On land, this frozen water that we talk about creates glaciers, ice sheets, permafrost and snow, but in the ocean, it forms as icebergs. These are the first that will melt as the world’s temperature keep on rising.
This year, the NASA reported that the extent of water ice has been the lowest from January to June.
The Earth is getting warmer and the ice is melting and if this keeps one, boats will be able to sail from Europe to Russia without any problems.
The marine species will be roughly affected because their habitats are melting.
As the ice melts, the oil companies are taking advantage as they navigate further north, using a process called seismic blasting. It shoots air explosions under water, which have a huge impact on the ecosystem and cause physical trauma and habitat relocation for whales.
Although sea ice won’t have a significant effect when melting, 95% of the ice is land-based. In Greenland and Antartica there are enormous mountain ranges that are fully covered in ice.
If the ice on land melts, it would cause a 70-meter rise in the ocean level. Half of the world’s population lives on coasts because that’s where the commerce is, so if this was to happen, all the people would have to move. So besides the doubt about where people would move, the real question would be, who would cost it?
Tokyo, New York, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Shangai and Jakarta are all coastal cities and actually some of the world’s biggest locations. If the sea levels rose 2ft, there would be a trillion dollars worth of damages.. per year.
If the ice was to melt and the sea levels rose 10 meters, 10% of the population would be affected. If it rose 25 meters, a 20% of the world’s citizens would be prejudiced. See the numbers above and prepare to be in shock. If it rose the 70 meters that we talk about, a HUGE part of the world would be left underwater.
The ice reflects sunrise into space. If the ice melts it would reflect less sunlight into space and it would be absorbed by the ocean, which would cause a rise on the world’s temperatures, and the ocean would be fresher.
The world’s oceans are crisscrossed by a set of currents that act like a conveyor belt. These are powered by the difference of saltiness in the water, so melting ice can cause a disrupt in the currents.
This giant belt takes chemicals and nutrients around the world as it feeds plankton and fish. Half of the oxygen that we breath is made by ocean plants. If Global Warming keeps on going, Europe will lose part of its warmth and so it would be very difficult for crops to grow and everything would be a mess.
If you want to understand this better, watch the video below: