CLIMATE CHANGE

Are due to natural causes and, in the last 150 years, it also considers human action, whose influences on climate are still the subject of scientific debate. Climate change is a global variations of the Earth's climate. They are produced at different time scales on all the meteorological parameters: temperature, precipitation, cloudiness, temperature of the oceans.

You use the term "climate change" as a synonym for global warming is a term used to indicate the stages of change in average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans due to natural causes such as solar cycles, the Earth's movements, changes weathering. The oceans and the inhabitants of the ocean will inevitably be exposed to the impacts of global warming and climate change. According to scientists, global warming will lead to a rise in water temperatures and sea levels and changing currents.

Currently, the Mediterranean region is characterized by mild seasons and extremes where it produces 60% of olive oil, 45% grape, 20% of citrus and 12% of cereals, but this could change because due to climate change which would cause drought alternating with periods of intense rainfall and storms, such as downloading large amounts of water that the soil will not be able to absorb, thereby upsetting this cycle, approximately 30% of Italian territory risks turning into desert and like it even all the shores of southern Europe and northern Africa.

In the future the level of the Mediterranean could increase at least 20 centimeters. So the population of the area will be more and more divided between rich and poor, because the industrialized countries fail to meet these challenges. Global warming is endangering entire ecosystems and life as we know it because of the intensity and frequency of so-called "extreme events (hurricanes, floods).

A very big problem for the future of our planet is the melting of polar ice. If no measures are taken this phenomenon will have serious consequences, such as increased rainfall and flooding, overflowing rivers, reduced availability of freshwater and epidemics such as cholera and malaria.

Since the Industrial Revolution man has used fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas to meet energy needs. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas along with methane. Deforestation and changes in the use of land contribute to this problem: trees, for example, are natural 'carbon sponges’ because they absorb CO2 and release it when they are destroyed. If all greenhouse gas emissions stopped today, their effects would last some centuries because of the long life of these gases. Scientists have suggested a threshold limit of around 2 degrees of increase, so the phenomenon is not irreversible. This means that there is still time to choose the future of our climate.

Only together we can save the world! Comenius group and teachers: Calderone Maria Jose Lazzarini Maria Rosaria Livoti Mariella Montecristo Giacomo