ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

6
Climate Change and
International Relations
Global Warming and Climate Change: An Introduction
Nature has had its own mechanism of keeping the earth surface temperature
within comfortable limits for human civilization to survive and progress.
However, over the past five to six decades, modern industrial activities have
caused a steep increase in Greenhouse Gases (GHG) in the atmosphere,
trapping the heat on the earth surface and causing global warming. While
natural climate variations have existed for millennia, anthropogenic climate
changes since the world wars and the fast pace of industrial revolution, are
the main causes for accelerated warming of the earth’s environment and its
adverse effects on a global scale.
Nine of the ten hottest years on record were in the past twelve years. In
recent months, extreme rainfall and floods have affected all parts of the world
from the Mississippi Valley, to Kedarnath in the Himalayas, and the US’ east
coast (Super-storm Sandy) devastating human lives and causing tens of billions
of dollars in damages. Climate change is already happening and affecting the
daily lives of thousands. Our planet is heating-up and carbon pollution from
fossil fuel based energy is sending heat-trapping emissions daily into the air.
About 90 million tons of carbon pollution enters the atmosphere every day.
That means a hotter world for all of us now, in coming years and a very
hostile and unstable environment for the next generation, in the future.