The World Earth Day is celebrated as an annual event by the people all across the world on April 22 in order to increase the awareness among people about the environment safety as well as to demonstrate the environmental protection measures.
First time, the World Earth Day was celebrated in the year 1970 and almost 192 countries observe it annually. The theme of the World Earth Day 2017 is “Environmental and Climate literacy”.
People from all over the world celebrate the Earth Day with great enthusiasm and interest on each April 22 since 1970 to save the natural assets of their earth. More than 20 million Americans took part in the event celebration and make the streets, parks and auditoriums busy in order to display their themes based on public health, environmental issues, industrialization, deforestation and so many. Students from thousands of colleges, universities and other educational institutions actively take part in the protest against increasing earth issues such as the day to day environment deterioration, air and water pollution, ozone layer depletion, industrialization and deforestation etc.
The earth’s average temperature has increased about 1 degree Fahrenheit during the 20th century. One degree may sound like a small amount, but it’s an unusual event in our planet’s recent history. Earth’s climate record shows that the global average temperature is stable over long periods of time. Furthermore, small changes in temperature correspond to enormous changes in the environment. For example, at the end of the last ice age, when the Northeast United States was covered by more than 3,000 feet of ice, average temperatures were only 5 to 9 degrees cooler than today.
Higher temperatures substantially reduce economic growth in poor countries but have little effect in rich countries. Again, higher temperatures appear to reduce growth rates in poor countries, rather than just the level of output. Also, higher temperatures have wide ranging effects in poor nations, reducing agricultural output, industrial output, and aggregate investment, and increasing political instability. An analysis of decade or longer climate shifts also shows substantial negative effects on growth in poor countries.
In developing countries like India, climate change is an additional burden because ecological and socioeconomic systems are already facing pressures from rapid population, industrialization and economic development. India’s climate could become warmer under conditions of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. The changing climate impacts society and ecosystems in a broad variety of ways. For example, climate change can alter rainfall, influence crop yields, affect human health, cause changes to forests and other ecosystems, and even impact our energy supply.
The effects of global climate change could be potentially serious over the next century causing serious threats to the agricultural production. Climate change will also pose a major risk to human health and safety, especially among poorer communities with high population densities in areas like river basins and low-lying coastal plains, which are vulnerable to estimate related natural hazards such as storms, floods, and droughts. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is currently in its sixth assessment cycle. During this cycle, the panel will produce three special reports, a methodology report on national greenhouse gas inventories and the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). The world’s leading experts working under the aegis of the IPCC have recently concluded that increases in global mean surface temperature during the past century are unlikely to have been caused entirely by natural effects, and that changes in both average temperature and the geographic, seasonal, and vertical patterns of temperature indicate the influence of human actions on global climate.
(Dr Senapati is Professor and Head, Department of Chemistry Trident Academy of Technology, Bhubaneswar-751024. He is an Executive Council Member, ISTE, New Delhi and can be contacted at dr_senapati@yahoo.com)