This blog post examines the impact of global warming, which has accelerated since the Industrial Revolution, on ecosystems and humanity, and whether the international community’s response is sufficient.
Global warming refers to the phenomenon of the average temperature on the Earth’s surface rising. Global warming has occurred in the past, but the global warming we are talking about here mainly refers to the warming observed since the Industrial Revolution. This is because the causes of global warming in the past and after the Industrial Revolution are different. Global warming in the past was a natural phenomenon that occurred when the average annual temperature of the Earth repeatedly rose and fell in cycles of 400 to 500 years. On the other hand, post-industrial warming is caused by human activities that have resulted in changes to the climate system due to a surge in the use of fossil fuels, which has reduced the amount of radiant heat emitted to outer space.
The main cause of global warming is known as the greenhouse effect caused by greenhouse gases. Solar energy that reaches the Earth from the sun passes through the atmosphere and is then radiated back into the atmosphere. The radiated energy is absorbed by greenhouse gases such as water vapor and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This causes the radiated energy on the Earth’s surface to stay near the surface more than in the upper atmosphere, causing the temperature to rise. At this time, the Earth’s surface temperature will be higher than in the absence of the atmosphere if the same amount of solar radiation is received. This phenomenon is called the greenhouse effect.
The greenhouse effect can be easily understood by comparing it to a greenhouse. The plastic covering the greenhouse allows light to pass through but blocks heat. The heat generated by the light entering through the plastic heats up the inside of the greenhouse, but the heat cannot escape through the plastic. The temperature inside the greenhouse continues to rise, and the plastic covering the greenhouse acts like greenhouse gases. Just as the thicker the plastic, the higher the temperature inside the greenhouse, the same is true for the temperature of the Earth’s surface as greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increase.
Greenhouse gases that cause the greenhouse effect include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons. Water vapor is water that has evaporated from the sea, lakes, and the earth’s surface, so it does not have a significant impact on the greenhouse effect. On the other hand, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons, and nitrogen directly affect the amount of greenhouse effect. The burning of fossil fuels, tropical forest fires, livestock farming, methane from agricultural expansion, refrigerants, pesticides, and cleaning agents, and nitrogen from chemical fertilizers are all increasing rapidly, and the greenhouse effect caused by these gases is also becoming more significant. Among them, carbon dioxide has the highest concentration and contributes the most to the greenhouse effect.
Global warming is causing abnormal weather events, which are resulting in natural disasters such as rising temperatures in the Arctic and Antarctic, shrinking glaciers, floods, droughts, and rising sea levels. These natural disasters are having a major impact not only on the environment but also on society and the economy. As global temperatures rise, natural ecosystems are changing, including the early flowering of trees, the early laying of eggs by birds, changes in the habitats of insects, plants, and animals, increased bleaching of coastal areas, and a decline in biodiversity. In addition, the frequency of natural disasters is increasing, and the number of deaths from these disasters is steadily increasing. Diseases closely related to climate change, such as malaria, bacterial dysentery, and tsutsugamushi, are also on the rise, threatening human health. Climate change caused by global warming is also causing changes in market supply and demand, and has a negative impact on industrial sectors such as energy and transportation.
According to the IPCC, an international organization dedicated to climate change research, global temperatures are expected to continue to rise over the course of the 21st century unless international efforts are made to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations. According to the IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report, global warming is expected to progress at a rate of approximately 0.2°C/decade over the next 20 years. This is 210 times faster than the temperature increase observed over the past 100 years, and much faster than the changes over the past 10,000 years. The current concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which is about 368 parts per million, is expected to increase to 490 to 1,260 parts per million in the 21st century, and the global average temperature is expected to rise by about 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius between 1990 and 2100. In addition, the average sea level is expected to rise by 8 to 8.8 cm from 1990 during the 21st century, and low-lying areas, including Korea, are likely to be submerged by seawater.
The international community is aware of the seriousness of global warming and is making efforts to prevent it. In 1985, the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme declared that carbon dioxide is the main culprit of global warming, and in 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was formed to conduct research on climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted at the 1992 Rio Conference, aims to stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to prevent abnormal weather events caused by global warming. At the first Conference of the Parties held in Berlin, Germany, in 1995, it was recognized that the existing convention’s reduction obligations were insufficient to prevent global warming, and at the third Conference of the Parties held in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted, with the main content being the reduction targets for developed countries after 2000. The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement that legally binds countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and sets specific targets for global warming prevention.
The Korean government has also established and implemented policies to prevent global warming. A representative policy is the greenhouse gas emissions trading system. This system allows the trading of greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve greenhouse gas reduction targets efficiently and at a low cost by using market mechanisms. This system allows emitters to selectively utilize greenhouse gas reduction investments or purchase of emission permits according to the carbon price, providing more flexibility than direct regulation. In addition, the Korean government has introduced the Clean Development Mechanism, a system in which developed countries promote greenhouse gas reduction projects in developing countries and receive credits for the results. In addition, the city has introduced and is operating a greenhouse gas and energy target management system and a regulation on the fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions of automobiles. It is also working to prevent global warming by establishing a greenhouse gas statistics system, training personnel specializing in greenhouse gas management, conducting R&D projects to respond to climate change, and promoting a citizen’s movement for green living.
As such, most countries around the world are aware of the dangers of global warming and are working to prevent it at the government level, as is the case in South Korea. However, the efforts of individual governments are not enough to prevent global warming. Therefore, the international community is calling on citizens around the world to take an interest in global warming and take action to prevent it.
