Global warming is the result of the increase in the concentration of carbon and other gases in the atmosphere, caused by human actions. This increase raises the temperature on Earth, which leads to global climate change. It is not just about slow and gradual increases in heat, but about sudden and extreme changes in the factors that affect the climate as a whole, rain and wind patterns, the frequency and intensity of extreme events, the level of the oceans , etc.
In everyday life, we do not feel the gradual increase in temperature, which was one degree every hundred years. What we notice are extreme events, which are increasing in intensity and frequency. The volume of water in Brazilian rivers and reservoirs has been decreasing, but they only realized that in the 2002 blackout and when São Paulo almost ran out of water in 2014. These droughts have happened before, but now they are more frequent and intense. At the same time, the rains fall out of season and have also been stronger. The floods and landslides in the Serrana Region of Rio de Janeiro in the summer of 2012 were the country’s greatest climate tragedy. Precipitation is nothing new, but its frequency and intensity are.
Agriculture is one of the sectors most vulnerable to climate change. Each farm grows what the climatic conditions allow. When the climate changes, the entire production system changes. Soybean, the main agricultural crop in Brazil, will have its area suitable for cultivation reduced by 50% or more, depending on the climate scenario. A similar situation threatens agriculture in Argentina and in all other countries.
The rise in mean sea level is one of the most threatening impacts. Global warming causes snow and ice in mountains and glaciers to melt, raising sea levels. The North Pole is not on top of a continent, it is a mass of floating ice, so its melting will not affect the volume of water as much, but Antarctica is on a continent, and each block that breaks off will raise the sea level . If all the ice in Greenland melts, the level will rise 3 meters; in the case of Antarctica, the sea will rise 58 meters! The increase in CO2 in the atmosphere has also increased its absorption by the oceans, which have become more acidic, destroying corals and causing domino effects.
The Amazon is the focus of world attention for its role in regulating the climate and for all that it represents in terms of global ecology. Deforestation does not contribute anything in economic terms and causes gigantic damage in terms of climate and biodiversity – it should be noted: economic and financial losses. The Amazon has always absorbed more carbon than it emits through photosynthesis. With deforestation, it now emits more than it absorbs.
The planet has existed for 4.5 billion years. The hominids, our closest ancestors, appeared only 2 million years ago. Contrary to what they lived through, the climate has been exceptionally stable and friendly for the last 10,000 years: the Holocene. It was this climatic stability that allowed tremendous human evolution. It would not be a bad idea to respect these conditions, to leave the conditions that we have been given to our descendants. The human species thanks you.
*Sergio Margulis is a mathematician with a master’s degree from Impa (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics) and a doctorate in Environmental Economics from Imperial College London (1988). He was an environmental economist at the World Bank (1990-2012), is a professor at PUC and a senior research associate at the International Institute for Sustainability and WayCarbon.
by Sergio Margulis
