Page 39 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 1
P. 39

Mehmet Emin Birpınar



            has taken place almost ten times faster than previous natural processes. The
            main factor that causes this change is undoubtedly the anthropogenic factors,
            that is, human or anthropic events (IPCC, 2014). This pace prevents ecological
            systems from repairing themselves as they fail to find enough time to recover,
            thus leading to irreparable damage.
                “2021 The State of the Global Climate Change” (WMO, 2021) issued on
            Oct 31st, 2021 by World Meteorological Organization global temperature
            increase has reached +1,20 °C compared to pre-industrial age. The findings
            of the report suggest that the last seven years have been the hottest years,
            and the rise in sea levels has reached from 2,9 mm to 4,4 mm since 2013, which
            means the pace of this rise got faster. This will undoubtedly case a disruption
            in the harmony among biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere,
            lithosphere, which are the main systems of our World, which acts like a living
            organism.
               The Increase in Greenhouse Gas Emissions

               The world has an optimum level of temperature and becomes a livable
            place as it releases the same amount of energy as it receives from its sole
            source of energy, the Sun. Another element that affects the temperature of our
            World, which is an average of -18 °C (WMO, n.d.), is the amount of gases such
            as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), water vapor
            (H2O), which exist in minute amounts in the atmosphere and thus expressed
            with low values such as ppm/ppb.
               Also called greenhouse gases, these gases capture the infra-red radiation
            reflected back from the Earth and keep it in the world. Thus, they seem to
            increase temperature. With the effects of such gasses, which act as another
            source of heat for the world, the average temperature of the world reaches
            about +15°C, providing an appropriate atmosphere for life. (American Institute
            of Physics, 2021). Due to factors such as fossil fuel consumption, deforestation,
            the change in land use for purposes such as agriculture and settlement, there
            has been a constant increase in greenhouse gasses.
               According to the “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis” (IPCC,
            2021), issued as the first series of the Sixth Assessment Report issued on Aug
            9th, 2021 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the
            concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached its highest
            values in the last 2 million years. The report, which observes a similar increase
            in other greenhouse gasses as well, reveals that concentrations of methane,
            which has 84 times as much global warming potential as CO2, nitrous oxide
            (N2O), has up to 265 times as much global warming potential as CO2, have
            been at the highest level in the last 800.000 years. When the ratio is taken



            24  Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate,
   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44