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How Economies Grow and Change (concepts and corresponding key terms)

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How Economies Grow and Change (concepts and corresponding key terms)

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Economies will suffer more as the temperature rises. There will be more pressure for services or items that are unable to meet the high demand due to a lack of resources. The damages that global warming causes become more constant and cost the economy much more as global warming progresses. According to Morgan Stanley, climate disasters have cost North America $415 billion in the last three years, much of that due to wildfires and hurricanes.

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How Climate Change Impacts the Economy

The Fourth National Climate Assessment, published in 2018, warned that if we do not curb greenhouse gas emissions and start to adapt, climate change could seriously disrupt the U.S. economy. Warmer temperatures, sea level rise and extreme weather will damage property and critical infrastructure, impact human health and productivity, and negatively affect sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries and tourism. The demand for energy will increase as power generation becomes less reliable, and water supplies will be stressed. Damage to other countries around the globe will also affect U.S. business through disruption in trade and supply chains.

A recent report examined how climate change could affect 22 different sectors of the economy under two different scenarios: if global temperatures rose 2.8˚ C from pre-industrial levels by 2100, and if they increased by 4.5˚ C. The study projected that if the higher-temperature scenario prevails, climate change impacts on these 22 sectors could cost the U.S. $520 billion each year. If we can keep to 2.8˚ C, it would cost $224 billion less. In any case, the U.S. stands to suffer large economic losses due to climate change, second only to India, according to another study.

We are already seeing the economic impacts of the changing climate. According to Morgan Stanley, climate disasters have cost North America $415 billion in the last three years, much of that due to wildfires and hurricanes.

In 2017, Texas's estimated losses from Hurricane Harvey were $125 billion; Hurricane Sandy caused about $71 billion of damages in 2012. And while it's not yet possible to directly link climate change to hurricanes, warmer temperatures and higher sea levels are known to enhance their intensity and destructiveness.

"Science advances also give us more detailed spatial information to say which assets and operations are in harm's way with climate change-for example say, just how many buildings will be inundated due to sea level rise," said climatologist Radley Horton, associate research professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. But the indirect economic impacts may be felt long before an actual disaster.

"For example, it's not just whether a building is underwater or not," he said. "What's important are the harder-to-define things like when does societal risk perception shift? It may be that buildings lose their value before the water actually arrives, once people realize that eventually the water's going to arrive. We need deeper thinking about the interconnection between physical and social systems."

Here are some of the many ways that climate change will likely affect our economy, both directly and indirectly.
Agriculture
The sector most vulnerable to climate risk is agriculture.

Environmental economist Geoffrey Heal, a professor in the Columbia Business School, explained that although agriculture makes up a fairly small part of the total U.S. economy, "locally these effects could be big. There are about a dozen states in the Midwest that are very dependent on agriculture and they could take quite a big hit."

They already have. Extreme rainfall events have increased 37 percent in the Midwest since the 1950s, and this year, the region has experienced above normal amounts of rain and snowmelt that have caused historic flooding.

Many fields have washed away and livestock have drowned; Nebraska alone lost $440 million worth of cattle, and as of March, Iowa had suffered $1.6 billion in losses.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expects the coming months to bring even more flooding, which could impact our food supply. To date, farmers have only planted 67 percent of their corn crop compared to last June, when they had planted 96 percent. This lost yield could cause prices for animal feed and ethanol to rise, and potentially disrupt marketplaces at home and abroad. As a result of climate change impacts, the Midwest is projected to lose up to 25 percent of its current corn and soybean yield by 2050.

In addition to flooding, increased heat and drought will likely reduce crop yields. According to a 2011 National Academy of Sciences report, for every degree Celsius the global thermostat rises, there will be a 5 to 15 percent decrease in overall crop production. Many commodity crops such as corn, soybean, wheat, rice, cotton, and oats do not grow well above certain temperature thresholds. In addition, crops will be affected by less availability of water and groundwater, increased pests and weeds, and fire risk. And as farmers struggle to stay afloat by finding ways to adapt to changing conditions, prices will likely increase and be passed along to consumers.
Infrastructure
Much of our society's critical infrastructure is at risk from flooding. "Sea level rise could potentially cause a loss of value of assets in the trillions of dollars-probably anywhere from two to five trillion dollars-by the end of the century," said Heal. "That's loss from damage to housing, damage to airports on the coasts, damage to docks, the railway line that runs up and down the East Coast all of which is within a few feet of sea level, damage to I-95 which runs also along the coast. And that's just the East Coast. If you take a global perspective, this is repeated around the world." Much of this infrastructure will likely need to be repaired or replaced.

Military bases are also vulnerable. According to a 2016 report published by the Center for Climate and Security policy institute, sea level rise could flood parts of military bases along the East and Gulf coasts for up to three months a year as soon as 2050. Inland military installations near rivers are also vulnerable, because they can overflow with heavy precipitation, which is expected to become more common as the atmosphere warms. Extreme weather will necessitate more maintenance and repair for runways and roads, infrastructure and equipment.

In addition, our communication systems will be affected. A 2018 study found that over 4,000 miles of fiber optic cable as well as data centers, traffic exchanges and termination points - the lifeblood of the global information network - are at risk from sea level rise. According to NOAA's sea level rise projections, this infrastructure could be underwater by 2033 because most of it is buried along highways and coastlines. When it was built 25 years ago, climate change was not a concern, so while the cables are water resistant, they are not waterproof. New York, Miami and Seattle and large service providers including CenturyLink, Intelliquent and AT&T are most at risk. Threats to the internet infrastructure could have huge implications for businesses in the U.S.
Human health and productivity
If temperatures rise 4.5˚ C by 2090, 9,300 more people will die in American cities due to the rising heat. The annual losses associated with extreme temperature-related deaths alone are projected to be $140 billion.

Increasing warmth and precipitation will also add to the risk of waterborne and foodborne diseases and allergies, and spur the proliferation of insects that spread diseases like Zika, West Nile, dengue and Lyme disease into new territories. Extreme weather and climate-related natural disasters can also exacerbate mental health issues. The most vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, children, low-income communities and communities of color, will be most affected by these health impacts.

Temperature extremes are also projected to cause the loss of two billion labor hours each year by 2090, resulting in $160 billion of lost wages. Because of heat exposure, productivity in the Southeast and Southern Great Plains regions is expected to decline by 3 percent, and some counties of Texas and Florida could lose more than 6 percent of labor hours each year by 2100. According to a 2014 Rhodium Group study, the largest climate change-related economic losses in the U.S. will be from lost labor productivity.
Tourism
Two billion dollars could be lost in winter recreation due to less snow and ice. For example, rapid warming in the Adirondack Mountains could decimate the winter activity sector, which makes up 30 percent of the local economy.

In addition, as water temperatures increase, water quality could suffer due to more frequent and more intense algae blooms, which can be toxic, thus curtailing recreational water activities and freshwater fishing. More frequent and severe wildfires will worsen air quality and discourage tourism. Sea level rise could submerge small islands and coastal areas, while deforestation and its destructive impacts on biodiversity could make some tourist destinations less attractive.
Businesses and the financial market
Climate change and its impacts across the globe will threaten the bottom line of businesses in a variety of ways. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather, both in the U.S. and in other countries, can damage factories, supply chain operations and other infrastructure, and disrupt transport. Drought will make water more expensive, which will likely affect the cost of raw materials and production. Climate volatility may force companies to deal with uncertainty in the price of resources for production, energy transport and insurance. And some products could become obsolete or lose their market, such as equipment related to coal mining or skiing in an area that no longer has snow.

Whether in the U.S. or abroad, new regulations such as carbon pricing and subsidies that favor a competitor may affect a business's bottom line. A company's reputation could also suffer if it's seen as doing something that hurts the environment. And investors and stakeholders are increasingly worried about the potential for "stranded assets"-those that become prematurely obsolete or fall out of favor, and must be recorded as a loss, such as fossil fuels that many believe should stay in the ground or real estate in a newly designated flood plain.

In 2018, the Carbon Disclosure Project asked more than 7,000 companies to assess their financial risks from climate change. The CDP found that, unless they took preemptive measures, 215 of the world's 500 biggest companies could lose an estimated one trillion dollars due to climate change, beginning within five years. For example, Alphabet (Google's parent company) will likely have to deal with rising cooling costs for its data centers. Hitachi Ltd.'s suppliers in Southeast Asia could be disrupted by increased rainfall and flooding. Some companies have already been impacted by climate change-related losses. Western Digital Technologies, maker of hard disks, suffered enormous losses in 2011 after flooding in Thailand disrupted its production.

PG&E became liable for fire damages and had to file for bankruptcy after its power lines sparked California's deadliest wildfire last fall. And GE cost its investors $193 billion between 2015 and 2018 because it overestimated demand for natural gas and underestimated the transition to renewable energy.

"The movement away from fossil fuels will have a big impact which could affect banks and investment firms that have relationships with the fossil fuel industry," said Heal. "For example, the stock market value of the U.S. coal industry in 2011 was something like $37 billion. Today it's about $2 billion. So anybody that lent a lot of money to the coal industry 10 years back would be in trouble. One of the things worrying those in the financial field is that this could happen to the oil and gas industry. So people who have invested in them or lent money to them are potentially at risk."
Climate change and opportunity
The good news is that climate change also presents business opportunities. The Carbon Disclosure Project reported that 225 of the world's 500 biggest companies believe climate change could generate over $2.1 trillion in new business prospects.

There will be more opportunity in clean energy, resilient and green buildings, and energy efficiency. Hybrid and electric vehicle production and the electric public transit sector are expected to grow. Construction of green infrastructure and more resilient coastal infrastructure could create many new jobs. Carbon capture and sequestration and uses of captured CO2 present opportunities, especially in light of the new 45Q federal tax credits. In addition, there are forward-thinking new businesses-witness the dramatic rise of Beyond Meat, the company selling plant-based burgers at Carl's Jr. and A&W.

As the Arctic sea ice melts, new shipping lines will open up for trade, substantially cutting transport time. The warming Arctic could also offer more prospects for oil and gas drilling. Weather satellites and radar technology will be in demand to monitor extreme weather. Air conditioning and cooling products will be needed around the world. Biotech companies are developing new crops that are resistant to climate change impacts. Pharmaceutical companies expect increased demand for drugs to combat diseases such as malaria and dengue and other infectious diseases. And the market for military equipment and private security services may expand because the scarcity of resources could trigger civil unrest and conflict.
What individuals, businesses and governments can do to protect themselves
How much climate change will hurt the economy depends on what measures we take to adapt to and prepare for it.
Individuals
Individuals need to consider the implications of climate change when choosing where to spend and invest their money. And be aware that while a particular risk may not seem to be factored into prices yet, things could turn on a dime when the realization of risk sinks in, resulting in a massive redistribution of wealth. So it's best not to buy or move to an area near wild lands, which have a higher risk of wildfires. Don't move into a flood zone or buy real estate in an area that's vulnerable to sea level rise. And in any case, purchase flood and fire insurance, and diversify your investments.

Individuals should also think about different opportunities in terms of new places that people are moving to. And, if possible, people who work outdoors in construction, agriculture or tourism should consider alternative jobs within the sector or new industries to work in.
Businesses and financial entities
Businesses need to scrutinize their operations carefully. "There's a groundswell towards the view that any companies that fail to study their exposure to extreme weather and fail to disclose the types of vulnerabilities, including indirect ones, are going to have a hard time in the future," said Horton. "Are companies looking at what's coming down the road and making strategies to deal with it? I think investors are going to demand that and the companies that don't do that are going to have trouble getting underwriting, getting infrastructure funded by the Moody's of the world, and getting insurance." He added that he's seen a change in the last three or four years in what his students are demanding and believes that young people in the future will not work for companies that are not thinking about climate change.

Banks and funds need to analyze where their investments are and see if they are vulnerable to climate change. Have they invested in someone who has coastal property, or given a loan to a fossil fuel company or in agriculture operations that might be affected by climate change? Sixty-three percent of financial risk managers surveyed now believe climate change is a major concern. As a result, "The total value of funds that have integrated environmental, social and governance factors into their investment process has more than quadrupled since 2014, rising to $485 billion as of April," reported the Wall Street Journal.
Governments
Governments should proactively think about the risks their communities face before disaster strikes.

They should be investing in resiliency measures such as hardening infrastructure, improving water resources, building redundancy into important systems, moving people out of harm's way and improving health care services. "You want to do it before the disaster but you also need to be cognizant that the only time people will listen seems to be right after a disaster," said Horton. "Those are also the times when money's available to rebuild."

Government leaders are currently debating whether the country can afford the Green New Deal (an ambitious plan to address climate change) or something like it. The question should be, 'can we afford not to afford it?' Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University, wrote in an op ed, "We will pay for climate breakdown one way or another, so it makes sense to spend the money now to reduce emissions rather than wait until later to pay a lot more for the consequences... It's a cliché, but it's true: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

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Warming temperatures, rising seas, and more extreme weather are going to cost us. But they'll create new business opportunities, too.

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Many people migrate to other countries to escape the effects of global warming. Global warming has caused people to leave their homes for reasons like flooding, forest fires, droughts, and pest invasions. There are areas less affected by these issues causing the migration of populations.

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This article expresses that the elderly population is most affected health-wise by global warming. The older population will decrease because of their vulnerability when exposed to higher temperatures.

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(October 2001) More sizzling summers. Rising sea levels. Increasingly violent storms and floods. These are just a few of the many potential impacts of climate change projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a scientific body created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Association and the United Nations Environment Programme. The IPCC has discovered changes in regional climates, including temperature increases, and expressed "high confidence" that these changes are affecting many different kinds of ecosystems. ¹ The IPCC has also reported "new and stronger evidence" that most of the warming of the past 50 years is attributable to human activities, particularly emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

What does climate change mean for the well-being of human communities around the globe? There are many answers to this broad question - every community is different, with its own vulnerabilities and capacity for adapting to change. Even so, by looking at projected climate changes in combination with expected changes in the world's human population, it is possible to gain greater insight into this complicated issue.

An Array of Impacts

The IPCC has already described a variety of potential climate change impacts on human communities, without taking into account population trends. Some of the most prominent adverse effects could include

A greater risk of flooding for many communities, due to heavier rainfall from more intense storms as well as rising sea levels as polar ice caps melt

An increase in deaths due to heat stress

A reduction in crop yields in most tropical and sub-tropical regions for most projected increases in temperature

Decreased water availability for populations in many water-scarce areas

An increase in the number of people exposed to vector-borne (e.g., malaria) and water-borne (e.g., cholera) diseases due to changes in temperature and precipitation patterns

Increased energy demand for space cooling.

Notably, not all of the projected impacts are negative. Some of the beneficial effects that have been projected include

Increased crop yields in some regions at mid-latitudes for temperature increases of less than a few degrees Celsius

Potential increases in timber supply from forests that are managed in ways that take advantage of climate changes

Increased water-availability in some water-scarce regions

Reduced winter mortality in mid- and high-latitudes

Reduced energy demand for space heating due to higher winter temperatures.

These changes, if they come to pass, will not occur in a vacuum. Instead, they will occur in tandem with changes in the size, composition, and distribution of the world's human population. In many cases, these demographic changes could either exacerbate or alleviate the impact of climate change on human communities. Examining three major population trends - urbanization, aging, and growth in less developed countries - suggests that, on balance, demographic change will make humanity more vulnerable to climate change than it is today.

Urbanization

Each year a higher percentage of the world's population lives in urban areas. The UN projects that 50 percent of humanity will be living in urban areas for the first time ever by the end of this decade. By 2030, this figure is expected to reach 60 percent. This trend is due both to rural-to-urban migration as well as natural increase (the number of births minus deaths) in urban areas. Urbanization can be seen both in the proliferation of towns and cities, which is the main pattern in China, as well as the expansion of existing urban areas. In 1975, only five cities had more than 10 million inhabitants; by 2015, there will be 24.

Despite a wide range of regional variation, the trend of urbanization is apparent in every major world region (see Figure 1).

Figure 1
Regional Trends in Urbanization

Note: The definition of "urban" varies by country, so the projections here are suggestive of regional differences in urbanization rates rather than a definitive documentation of them.
Source: UN, World Urbanization Prospects: The 1999 Revision, 2000.

The trend toward urbanization could influence the impact of climate change in several ways. For example, congestion and heat-absorbing asphalt make cities generally hotter than the surrounding countryside. As more people inhabit urban areas, the number of people vulnerable to heat stress is thus likely to rise: a problem that will be compounded by rising temperatures due to climate change. Higher temperatures are particularly difficult for cities that have less experience with intense summer heat. The heat wave that hit Chicago in July 1995, for example, contributed to the deaths of more than 500 people.

Of course, in some cases the flow of people from rural to urban areas may actually increase access to air conditioning, as has happened in cities like Hong Kong and Taipei. Such improvements are critically dependent on increasing affluence and development, however. Sprawling shantytowns, like those that surround Sao Paulo and Jakarta, offer little refuge from rising temperatures.

Since urban areas feature high concentrations of people, they are also more deadly during natural disasters. If climate change leads to more frequent and intense storms and floods, high-density population centers will be among the most exposed. In November 1998, Hurricane Mitch devastated Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and a number of other Central American cities, killing several hundred and possibly thousands of people. One report estimated that the mudslides unleashed by the storm had destroyed more than 48,000 homes in Tegucigalpa, 20 percent of the city's total. Such urban catastrophes could become more common.

Cities in less developed countries are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. As noted by Martin Brockerhoff in PRB's Population Bulletin, "An Urbanizing World," many cities in the less developed world were established in coastal areas most suitable for trading - Mumbai (Bombay) and Shanghai are prime examples. Since rising sea levels, flooding, and storms disproportionately affect coasts, they represent an even greater threat to the urban residents of these cities. In addition, less developed countries often have less stringent building standards, making their cities particularly dangerous places to be when natural disasters strike. Many of the homes that were destroyed by Hurricane Mitch, for example, were hovels built on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa.

Aging

Another key population trend in the 21st century will be aging. Due to the post-World War II baby boom in Europe, the United States, and Japan, as well as falling fertility rates in less developed countries after 1970, many countries will have to contend with populations that contain rising proportions of older citizens. This trend is most pronounced in Japan, but it is also notable in a number of other countries, including both China and India (see Figure 2).
Figure 2 Population Aging Worldwide
Source: UN, World Urbanization Prospects: The 2000 Revision, forthcoming, 2001 (medium scenario).

The implications of population aging for the impact of climate change are not entirely clear, but there are at least two issues that should be considered. First, older people are physically more vulnerable to extreme heat, so population aging could exacerbate increases in heat-stress mortality brought on by climate change. Higher temperatures also exacerbate outdoor air pollution such as ozone, which also disproportionately affects older people. On the other hand, older individuals are also more vulnerable to cold weather, so a warming trend in colder latitudes could decrease winter mortality rates, particularly in countries such as Russia.

A second issue to consider is the pressure posed by an aging population on public finances. Population aging implies a relative decrease in the number of working-age individuals and a relative increase in the number of retirees, a situation that could lead to falling tax revenues and increasing demand for public services. In Japan, the pronounced aging underway has influenced the government's credit rating as analysts worry about how the country will care for its increasing number of elderly citizens. Even in countries with no social security system, population aging would be likely to erode the government's financial position as tax revenue declines. The fiscal constraints imposed by aging populations will make it more difficult for governments to finance measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Population Growth in Less Developed Countries

The world's population currently increases by 83 million people each year, but only 1 million of them live in more developed countries. The population of the less developed world is thus growing much more rapidly than that of more developed regions. Today, citizens of less developed countries outnumber those of more developed countries 4.9 billion to 1.2 billion. In 2050, those figures will be 7.8 billion and 1.2 billion, respectively, according to PRB's 2001 World Population Data Sheet. Of the nearly 3 billion people the world will add in the next 50 years, South Asia and Africa will each account for roughly 1 billion.

The concentration of population growth in less developed regions means that an increasing number of people live in countries with the least ability to adapt to climate change. The range of measures that could be needed to mitigate the impacts of climate change run the gamut: air conditioner purchases, changes in agricultural practices, construction of houses on stilts, relocation programs, development of storm and flood early warning systems, and replenishment of eroded beaches, to name just a few. Besides lacking the financial resources to undertake many of these measures, many less developed countries also lack the scientific expertise, effective public institutions, infrastructure, and technology needed to make adaptation measures work. Consequently, the brunt of the deleterious impacts of climate change will be borne by countries with an increasing proportion of the world's population.

Bangladesh provides a dramatic example of this problem. With 134 million people, it is already one of the world's more populous countries, and its population is projected to surge to 209 million by 2050. The Ganges-Brahmaputra river delta in particular is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Yet this delta, which occupies much of southern Bangladesh, is also tremendously vulnerable to climate change. The impact of rising sea levels could be disastrous, causing extensive flooding and erosion as well as salinization of agricultural land and freshwater supplies. According to the UN Environment Programme, a 150-centimeter rise in sea levels could displace more than 30 million people. Bangladesh can scarcely afford to tackle these problems on its own: With a gross national income of only $47 billion in 1999, Bangladesh's economy is the same size as that of Peru, even though it has five times as many people.

To be sure, while the residents of industrialized countries may not be as hard hit as those of less developed countries, climate change would not leave the more developed world unscathed. In the United States, for example, parts of southern Florida and Louisiana would be submerged by a one-meter rise in sea level. And there could be unwelcome indirect effects as well. If less developed countries are disproportionately hurt by climate change, the political backlash against industrialized countries that are leading carbon-emitters (particularly the United States) could be considerable. Less developed countries are already making a variety of demands for compensation, a movement likely to gather strength as climate change continues and its effects are felt more strongly.

On balance, the three population trends examined above - urbanization, aging, and growth in less developed countries - seem likely to increase humanity's vulnerability to climate change over the next several decades. While certain aspects of climate change could prove beneficial to some communities, the most obvious silver lining - warmer winters at colder latitudes - will not help most people in the less developed world. Given this prospect, the tasks of preventing future climate change and identifying inexpensive means of adapting to it appear all the more pressing.

The Science of Climate Change

Most of the sun's radiation passes through Earth's atmosphere to warm the planet. Earth's surface in turn reflects this energy back toward space in the form of infrared (heat) radiation. Certain gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide and water vapor, absorb and re-emit this energy, which slows the process of releasing the solar energy back into space. This natural trapping of heat keeps the planet surface warmer than it would otherwise be, making it more hospitable to life.

Over the past two centuries, all kinds of human activities - from powering steam engines or driving a car to air conditioning a house or surfing the World Wide Web - have added to this "greenhouse" effect. The Industrial Revolution, particularly the widespread use of fossil fuels such as oil and coal, has led to the release of enormous amounts of heat-absorbing gases into the atmosphere. The four greenhouse gases whose atmospheric concentrations are most influenced by human activities are

Carbon dioxide or CO2 (produced by burning solid waste, wood and wood products, and fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal)

Methane or CH4 (emitted by livestock or by the decomposition of organic wastes in municipal solid waste landfills)

Nitrous oxide or N2O (generated by the combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste)

Chlorofluorocarbons (also called CFCs, manufactured by industry for use in coolants and insulation).

Global emissions of carbon dioxide from human activities have increased more than 1000-fold, from 660 million to 931 billion metric tons between 1795 and 1995, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC). As a result, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have risen substantially over the past two centuries.

The implications of rising levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have received a great deal of scientific attention over the past decade. In 1995, the IPCC concluded in its Second Assessment Report that "the balance of evidence suggest[ed] a discernible human influence on the global climate" - a determination that helped lead to the setting of greenhouse gas emissions targets in the Kyoto Protocol.

The IPCC's Third Assessment Report, completed in October 2000, cited "stronger evidence" than ever before linking human activity to climate change. It also argued that man-made greenhouse gases have probably already "contributed substantially to the observed warming over the last 50 years." The IPCC also revised its forecast of the amount of global warming that is likely: If greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed, Earth's average surface temperatures can be expected to increase by 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius (2.5 to 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100, substantially more than the panel estimated in its 1995 report.

In response to a request from the Bush administration, an expert panel at the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) conducted an evaluation of the state of climate change science in early 2001, leading to the publication of Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions. This report agreed with the IPCC's assertion that greenhouse gases were accumulating in the atmosphere as a result of human activities, leading to rising surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures. The report also stated that the climate changes observed over the past several decades were "likely mostly due to human activities," though a "significant part" of these changes might also reflect natural variability. Regarding future climate change, the NRC panel noted that "human-induced warming and associated sea level rises are expected to continue through the 21st century," although current projections "should be regarded as tentative and subject to future adjustments."

Bingham Kennedy, Jr. is a former associate editor at the Population Reference Bureau.

Reference

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, a Report of Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Geneva: IPCC, February 2001), accessed online at www.ipcc.ch, on August 15, 2001.
For More Information
For the Assessment Reports cited in this article, visit the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at www.ipcc.ch

The U.S. Department of Energy's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) website can be found at cdiac.esd.ornl.gov

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Climate Change Impacts and Emerging Population Trends: A Recipe for Disaster?

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(October 2001) More sizzling summers. Rising sea levels. Increasingly violent storms and floods. These are just a few of the many potential impacts of climate change projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a scientific body created in 1988 by the World Meteorological Association and the United Nations Environment Programme.

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Sources of Data Used to Measure Quality of Life

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Sources of Data Used to Measure Quality of Life

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Happy Planet Index (HPI) is the proper source of data to measure quality of life when involving global warming. This method allows us to track environmental progress around the world. The Happy Planet Index gives us the tool to pinpoint countries that need to make more environmentally friendly advances to slow or change global warming for the better.

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When it comes to global warming there are many diverse opinions. There are some who believe that global warming is a hoax and a political scam, while others are terrified by global warming and want to do their part to stop it. Some view the idea of sustainability as something that is detrimental to the economy and the immediate financial gain a company gets. Sustainability to others means that we are trying to create a symbiotic relationship with the Earth.

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Global warming has been hightened by Ecological/ Environmental Globalization. Ecological Globalization has caused an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, ocean acidification, and many other issues. With the increase of greenhouse gas emissions the ozone layer experiences what is called the "greenhouse effect" which causes our natural sunblock (the ozone layer) to deplete. With less the deleption of the ozone layer earth is more exposed to heat.

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Places like Greece, South Korea, France, and Spain are extremely affected by global warming. Developing countries are more likely to suffer worse from heat related issues because they have less developed technology.

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Factors that Contribute to Quality of Life

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Factors that Contribute to Quality of Life

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Quality of life is being drastically effected by global warming. Issues like infectious diseases, heatwaves, and loss of agricultural productivity are proven to be caused by global warming. These issues lower quality of life for millions of people.

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