Climate Change. Why Should I Care about It?

Climate change is the process when average climatic indexes, namely air temperature and precipitation, change. Climate change refers to such anomalies as drought, severe storms, floods, or all emergencies that we see today. 

Climate changes throughout the history of existence of the Earth. However, earlier it was caused by natural factors – solar weather, continental drift, the change in the rotation of the Earth, volcanic activity, variation of ocean currents. There has been the change of glacier periods, and the temperature in interglacial periods was like in the 20^th century.

But today the majority of the climatic academic community agrees that the human activity has more impact on the current global warming. 

If we compare them, the difference is just like between health and body temperature. In other words, temperature rise is the indicator of changes in body processes, and health is a whole system.

The climate is a complex, and global warming is one of the parameters of this complex, accordingly. The climate change is the result of the rise in temperature on the Earth. 

Yes, at this stage of climate change it’s the human and their activities that have the most impact on it.

The main reasons for climate change now are: 

• Combustion of hydrocarbon fuel (petroleum, coal, natural gas, peat, and other combustible minerals, which are extracted underground or on the surface),
• Active land development,
• Deforestation and destruction of ecosystems. 

All these cause the change of chemical processes on our planet and warming of the surface of the Earth. Afterwards, water temperature in oceans rises, glaciers melt, and these all change the climatic system.

Yes, it all happened before humans appeared on the Earth, but it was happening at a much slower pace. And now humans with their activities accelerated the process.  

Yes, huge temperature swings can have a bad impact on immunity. People with hypertension or other cardiovascular diseases may suffer from abnormal heat.

Pregnant women are at a risk because both mother and baby can have pathologies. Pensioners who often have one or more diseases can also suffer from negative consequences of climate change, heat waves, etc.

Climate change can have negative impact on little children, too – the temperature rise by two degrees on the planet increases the incidence of acute enteric diseases and food intoxication by 10 per cent. 

See also: Abnormal heat in Central Asia

Yes. Especially, agriculture. This summer, we saw that it is one of the most vulnerable spheres in terms of climate change. Severe drought in Central Asia has done major damage to the agriculture, and left many farmers without heavy crops.

In general, climate change leads to loss of water resources, namely, precipitation change their pattern, snow melts intensively at the end of winter-early spring, hydrological cycle changes, the high-water season shifts towards earlier periods, and all these have impact on the agricultural sector. 

Yes, global change of climate has not left the region unaffected. For example, in the last 45 years, the temperature in Kyrgyzstan rose by 1 degree, in Turkmenistan by 1.6 degrees, in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan by 1.4 degrees, and in Tajikistan by 0.7 degrees.

It is worth noting that drought is typical for Central Asia. But recently, draught cycles happen more frequently. Climate zones shift, in other words, warm southern climates shift northward.

According to forecasts, in the next 30 years, Bishkek can have the climate of a southern city of Kyrgyzstan – Dzhalal-Abad, and Dzhalal-Abad can have the climate of Dushanbe, and so on.

There is a theory of greenhouse warming. It is characterised by rising night temperatures and winter temperatures in the world. For example, the number of the so-called tropical nights is increasing in Kyrgyzstan. It means that the air temperature is above 20 degrees. Despite the romantic name, it is a very alarming term and it indicates that the number of uncomfortable nights is increasing.

In fact, critical cold waves occurred in previous winters, and were more common and intensive. But winters become softer in recent years. So, we face a dilemma here. On the one hand, softer winter season has a good effect on the power system, namely, network load decreases, and on the other hand, the reduced winter season has a direct impact on food security. 

Yes, there are always ways out. First, the authorities of all countries need to pay more attention to planting of trees and landscaping. It will not only improve the air quality, but also reduce thermal stresses. But we should use only those trees that are drought tolerant and resistant to other climatic events.

Strategic documents that will contain measures and costs of adaptation to climatic changes for various sectors should be also developed. The strategies must be developed for every sector – power, agriculture, education, healthcare, and so on. All these items should be financed properly.

At a global level, the leaders of all UN member countries meet every year since 1992 at the Conference of the Parties (COP). The regular 26^th conference will be held on November 1 to 12 at Glasgow, Great Britain. The main agenda is global trends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and maintain global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius.

This is relevant in terms of the recent report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). According to it, climatic changes in all regions of the world will become more obvious, leading to new dramatic consequences.

Of course, you can. First, try to burn less trees and coal. It especially concerns the residents of the private sector – people should try to shift to alternative sources of heating and use electricity sparingly.

One should avoid buying various commodities that contain many packages and plastic. Theoretically, one should give up a personal car and use public transport instead. Or, if there’s an opportunity, one should better use bicycles or walk.