RISKS OF GLOBAL WARMING

AND CLIMATE CHANGE

AMANI SHAMI
NIKI BLISS- CARROLL
CLEVELAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE
SHELBY, NORTH CAROLINA
 o Global Warming has become such a serious issue, that going
green will no longer repair the earth

INTRODUCTION o Many species of animals and plants are dying off

o Human race is at risk
HISTORY OF
GLOBAL WARMING
AND CLIMATE o Global warming occurs when Carbon Dioxide and other harmful
chemicals reach the Earth’s atmosphere and ozone layer and causes
CHANGE Earth to physically warm up (Johnson).
o Ripple Effect
ISSUES

o Instant dying of Great Barrier Reefs- James Cook

o Melting of Polar Ice Caps and Glaciers- Donald R.
Prothero
o Increase Rainfall/ Greenhouse Gases- University of
Potsdam
o Ecological Drought- Lanzhou University
 SO, WHAT ARE THE
RISKS OF GLOBAL
WARMING AND
CLIMATE CHANGE?
WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?
GREAT BARRIER REEFS
 o “The increasing prevalence of post-bleaching mass mortality of
corals represents a radical shift in the disturbance regimes of
GREAT BARRIER tropical reefs, both adding to and far exceeding the influence
of recurrent cyclones and other local pulse events, presenting
REEFS a fundamental challenge to the long-term future of these iconic
ecosystems” (Cook).
 GREAT BARRIER REEFS

o 2016 Record breaking heat wave

o Staghorn & Tabular Corals
o Cyclones
 o “In February-March 2002, the Larsen B ice shelf - over 3000 square
km (the size of Rhode Island) and 220 m (700 feet) thick- broke up in
just a few months, a story typical of nearly all the ice shelves in
Antarctica. The Larsen B shelf had survived all the previous ice ages
and interglacial warming episodes over the past 3 million years, and
even the warmest periods of the last 10,000 years- yet it and nearly
all the other thick ice sheets on the Arctic, Greenland, and Antarctic
POLAR ICE CAPS & are vanishing at a rate never before seen in geologic history”
(Prothero)
GLACIERS
POLAR ICE CAPS
AND GLACIERS

o Disappearing at an alarming rate

o Could be gone in next 10 years
o Causing species to die off
o “It was predicted thousand years
ago that this would happen. It’s
just inevitable with the way
humans live now and the amount
of carbon dioxide that is being put
out into the earth’s atmosphere”
INCREASE RAINFALL

o Too much rainfall can cause Agricultural loss

o “This increase in record-breaking rainfall is explained by a statistical model which accounts for the
warming of air and associated increasing water holding capacity only” (Investigators at University of
Potsdam, page 73).
GREENHOUSE GASES

o A greenhouse gas is “a gas that contributes to the greenhouse

effect by absorbing infrared radiation, carbon dioxide, and
chlorofluorocarbons” (Wikipedia Contributors).
o Major threat to human life
GREENHOUSE
GASES
FYI

o "We found traceable evidence for 467 pathways by which human health, water, food, economy,
infrastructure and security have been recently impacted by climate hazards such as warming,
heatwaves, precipitation, drought, floods, fires, storms, sea-level rise and changes in natural land cover
and ocean chemistry” (University of Hawaii).
ECOLOGICAL DROUGHT

• Drought can cause lose of human food supply

o Death of animal and plantlife
 o “Drought is a serious ecological problem around the world, and
it’s impact on crops and water availability for humans can
ECOLOGICAL jeopardize human life. Although a drought has always been
common, the drought risk has become increasingly prominent
DROUGHT because of the climate warming and that has occurred during
the past century” (Lanzhou University).
ECOLOGICAL DROUGHT
CONCLUSION

o Over the past several years, the Earth’s atmosphere has been warming up and it has caused
catastrophes, species to die off, and the melting of the Earth’s ice caps and glaciers. It is important to
become and stay educated on global warming and the risks it causes humanity and earth, because if
humans do not stop progression of climate change, no one will, and the human species will die off
completely. It is time that humans join together and save not only the species, but the place humans
call home; Planet Earth.
8 EASY WAYS TO STOP GLOBAL WARMING

o Drive Less
o Recycle
o Buy Energy Efficient Appliances
o Turn off lights
o Plant a tree
o Eat less beef
o Use less paper towels and more fabric napkins
o Use a reusable water bottle instead of plastic water bottles
ANY QUESTIONS?
WORKS CITED
• "Global Warming and Climate Change; James Cook University Details Findings in Global Warming and Climate Change (Global
Warming Transforms Coral Reef Assemblages)." Global Warming Focus, May 14, 2018, pp. 336. ProQuest,
https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2036912920?accountid=10163.
• Prothero, Donald R. "How we Know Global Warming is Real and Human Caused."Skeptic, vol. 17, no. 2, 2012, pp. 14-22,64. ProQuest,
https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1018739677?accountid=10163.
• "Global Warming and Climate Change; Investigators at University of Potsdam Describe Findings in Global Warming and Climate
Change (Increased Record-Breaking Precipitation Events Under Global Warming)." Global Warming Focus, Oct 19, 2015, pp. 73.
ProQuest, https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1722244118?accountid=10163
• "Global Warming and Climate Change; New Global Warming and Climate Change Study Results Reported from Lanzhou University
(Management of Drought Risk Under Global Warming)." Global Warming Focus, Jul 25, 2016, pp. 136. ProQuest,
https://login.proxy039.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/180595022 3?accountid=10163.
• "Greenhouse Gases; Studies from University of Hawaii Yield New Information about Greenhouse Gases (Broad Threat to Humanity
from Cumulative Climate Hazards Intensified by Greenhouse Gas Emissions)." Global Warming Focus, Jan 07, 2019, pp. 249.
ProQuest,
• Wikipedia contributors. "Greenhouse gas." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 26 Mar. 2019. Web. 2
Apr. 2019