Marsa Climate Change

People in jest shout out “Global warming!” when attempting to explain spontaneous weather. While for a long time weather seemed to be unpredictable and a force of nature itself, there are scientific explanations for the drastic changes in climate that the world is experiencing. It is “a threat that’s been completely neglected, marginalized and ignored by the global health community…yet in terms of our well-being, [and] our survival, it is absolutely the top public health issue that we should be talking about” (Marsa page 5). Beyond the obvious consequence of changing weather patterns there exists a chain of reactions that can trigger extreme catastrophic events resulting in severe physical, mental and emotional trauma to citizens as well as

Climate change or global warming is explained by the enormous addition of carbon dioxide amounts into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. These “greenhouse gasses” cause a hothouse or greenhouse effect by absorbing the infrared heat or radiation from the sun. This prevents the Earth from cooling off and gradually raises the average temperature of the planet. Other contributers include “urban heat islands” where the black asphalt and the buildings absorb heat during the day and hold it in through the night, building up the heat collection while ultimately heating up the city or urban area. These areas can be five to ten degrees warmer than non-urban places. Evidence that contributes to the global warming concept include the retreating of the sea ice, the melting of the permafrost and glaciers, migrating species, earlier spring thaws and ocean acidification. Linked to every environmental change is a direct consequence to human beings, so there is no ignoring the problem and hoping it goes

It all starts with the climate. For example, if the ocean surface is one degree warmer, the Gulf of Mexico does not provide any water towards rainfall. When the Gulf of Mexico doesn’t provide water, then the great plains region experiences a drought. When the great plains region experiences a drought dust storms develop. Illness and diseases are then carried on these dust clouds causes widespread death and sickness. In another case, more carbon dioxide leads to more acidic oceans. This leads to marine life loss such as the starfish off the California coast within the last two years. The loss of sea creatures in an area alters the ecosystem as well as the entire food chain amongst sea creatures eventually spreading to humans. As this book was written in 2013 the ideas and concepts along with the information and data are recent and have not been disproven. The issue of global warming is the prevalent issue of our generation and only continues to become more danger to future generations. This book is a crucial piece of environmental history that is a fantastic learning aid with its enriching information and