Hello.
We should make two things clear:
First: The best term to use is not global warming, although the planet is warming, yes, 2023 was the hottest year on record since human beings decided to take the trouble to record annual temperatures, but to use the term CLIMATE CHANGE and I'll explain why. And it has to do with the deniers.
Second: understanding the difference between weather and climate is fundamental to understanding the complexities of atmospheric conditions. Weather refers to the momentary atmospheric conditions in a specific place at a specific time. This includes factors such as temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, and precipitation. Weather is what we experience daily, and weather forecasts generally deal with these short-term changes.
On the other hand, climate refers to the average atmospheric conditions in a region over a long period, usually 30 years or more. Climate takes into account long-term patterns and seasonal variations. While weather can vary significantly from one day to the next, climate provides a more stable and consistent view of atmospheric conditions in a given area.
As for climate change, changes in the local climate can differ from changes in the global climate. Although average temperatures are rising globally, some places may experience local variations, including cooler periods amid the general warming. The Earth continues to rotate, we still have 4 seasons, and the warming is not felt all at once across the planet, it's an average. And extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and forest fires, can intensify, even if some regions don't experience a constant rise in temperatures.
This confusion between climate and weather causes deniers to use the fact that it's cold or snowing in the northern hemisphere (it is winter, after all) to say that there is no warming at all and even to comment that there has always been a greenhouse effect.
Of course, the greenhouse effect has always existed, it's what makes the average temperature on Earth not freezing, without it the temperature would be below minus 10 degrees Celsius. This greenhouse effect means that the heat absorbed from the sun is not completely radiated back into space. Like a blanket, it maintains a climate that is friendly to life on Earth. Greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide - CO2, methane or natural gas - CH4 and nitrous oxide - N2O) do this work in the atmosphere. In addition, the greenhouse effect keeps the climate from fluctuating too much, maintaining life on the planet and allowing various chemical and physical transformations to take place.
Since the Industrial Revolution, there has been an increase in the burning of forests, either to use wood or to invest in pastoral land and agriculture. There has also been an increase in the use of fossil fuels in industries, thermoelectric plants, airplanes, and cars, which has led to large emissions of these gases that have ceased to make a friendly blanket in the atmosphere and have become a real heating greenhouse since the heat radiates less after reaching the Earth, the heat is then "blocked", which causes the temperature to rise. This is global warming.
In other words, everything in life is a question of quantity.
This quantity could reach a point where it is no longer reversible, in other words, we will affect some biomes so much that biodiversity will be affected forever, with no turning back, and human beings are already feeling these effects. In addition to the record temperatures, many catastrophes are occurring more regularly.
Several world conferences have discussed the issue, some agreements have been signed and the aim by 2030 is to achieve an increase of only 1.5 degrees Celsius from the Industrial Revolution, which is considered by scientists to still be safe.
We're already at 1.48 degrees Celsius at the start of 2024.
Without wanting to be pessimistic, being very realistic, but still having a distant hope, after all, it is the reason this newspaper exists, time is very short.
I suggest we hold the authorities to account and do our bit too. That's the aim of this newspaper.
Here's a link for you to calculate your carbon footprint, and don't be surprised if you discover, as I did, that you bear a small responsibility for the carbon footprint as a whole.
Ana Lucia Cunha-Busch
IN THE FIGURE
The example of the polar vortex cooling parts of Europe, despite the warming of the Arctic, highlights how complex weather systems can influence local conditions. The change in the jet stream is also mentioned as a factor that can affect summer temperatures, contributing to extreme weather events such as heat waves.
If you look at the first diagram, there is no major warming in the tropics, the system is stable with intense cold only in the Arctic. With warming, the system becomes undulating, and the cold spreads to lower altitudes.
(It's worth noting that this is still being studied and has yet to be concluded, but the warming of the Earth is a consensus among serious scientists.)
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