Page 40 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 1
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Global Problem: Climate Change


            into consideration, the CO2 concentration since what is considered as the
            industrial period, 1750, has increased by 48%, from 280 ppm to 414 ppm,
            while the CH4 concentration has increased by 156%, from 720 ppb to 1886
            ppb, and the N2O concentration has increased by 23%.
               Another warning in the report was about the rate of increase. In this respect,
            it  is  noted  that there  has  been  a  recent  increase  in  not  only  the  amount
            of emissions, but also the rate of increase. Based on the data (GML, 2021)
            from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it is
            observed that during the decades from 1960 to 2000, an there was an average
            of 1,5 ppm increase in CO2 emissions, which was 2 ppm between the years,
            2000 and 2010, and 2,5 ppm from 2010 to 2020. Likewise, there was a rapid
            increase in temperature as it was emphasized that the period after 1970 has
            been the 50-year period that witnessed the most dramatic increase in surface
            temperatures in the last 2000 years.
               CO2 is the gas that stands out among greenhouse gases as it can stay in the
            atmosphere for years in terms of amount as well as carbon cycle. According to
            the findings of the Global Carbon Project, implemented by The Future Earth
            platform, which is supported by UNEP, since the industrialization process, with
            the addition of deforestation and land degradation, there has been 2.475
            gigatons, that is, 2,5 trillion tons of carbon emissions. Over half the emissions
            (51,2 %) of this emission took place after 1990, that is, in only the last 30 years.
               Research shows that (Ritchie and Roser, 2020a) there was a small amount
            of carbon emission to the atmosphere before industrialization. In the 1950s,
            this amount reached 8 billion tons, still remaining relatively low. However, in
            the 1990s, the carbon emissions quadrupled, reaching 22 billion tons. Today,
            according to the Global Carbon Project data (2021), there is an annual release
            of 3640 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere. This means every second,
            1,170 tons (1.170.000 kgs) of CO2 is emitted to our atmosphere.
               The remaining carbon budget to limit global temperature increase to
            +1,50°C is around 440 billion metric tons (gigatons) (Damon Matthews et al,
            2021). Taking the existing annual carbon emission of 36-40 billion tons, for a
            +1,50°C temperature increase, it can be said that we only have a short period
            of 11 years.
               On the other hand, due to climate change, there has been a recent increase
            in the number of metheorological, climatic, and hydrological disasters and in
            the resulting damage. It is certain that these disasters not only cause death,
            but also loss of property. According to “Global Climate Risk Index 2021”
            (Eckstein, 2021), between 2000 and 2019, there was over 475.000 deaths and a
            financial loss of 2,56 trillion US dollars.



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