Global warming: Are we doing enough to stop it?

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Global warming: are we doing enough to stop it?
Most people have heard the issue of global warming, but the major question whether we are doing enough to curb global warming. Global warming was the defined by (IPCC 6) as the gradual increase in the average temperature of the earth and its expected continued rise. (IPCC 10) notes that the average global temperature has risen with about 0.8Oc with much of the increase happening in the last the decades. They further noted that scientists are more than 90% certain that the increase is caused by anthropogenic activities such as deforestation and combustion of the fossils fuels leading to the accumulation of the green house gases. Green house gases as defined by (Grubb: The Kyoto Protocol, FEEM) are those gases in the atmosphere that absorb and emit radiations that are within the range of the thermal infrared. He further wrote that when these gases emit the radiations absorbed, the temperatures on the earth’s surface become higher than if the earth is only heated by the sun’s direct radiation (Grubb). noted that they are referred to greenhouse gases as they lead to an effect similar to that in a greenhouse. There are numerous greenhouse gases but the most significant one is carbon dioxide. Increase in the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere means that more infrared radiation are absorbed and emitted to the earth surface. This in-turn means an increase in the global temperatures.
Carbon dioxide levels have increased due to the human induced activities such as the destruction of the carbon sinks and the combustion of the fossil fuels. The major carbon sink as explained by (IPCC 15) are the forests, that their have been decimated as people try to get building materials, firewood and land to settle. Industries emit a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through burning of fossil fossils for energy. Motor vehicles also release a lot of greenhouse gases through their exhaust pipes.
The impacts of global warming are diverse and can have great magnitude to the humankind. The effects as noted by (Easterling et al 97) may either be ecological, physical, or socio-economic. They further explained that the ultimate physical impact of climate change is the expected rise in the sea level following the melting of the glaciers and snow. The rise in sea levels is in-turn expected to result to great losses as the coastal towns could be submerged in water. (Easterling et al 105) observes that there has been a trend of extreme weather conditions such as the cases of heat waves. (Easterling et al 105) based on expert judgment projected that there will be an increase in the area affected by drought, rise in the sea level and changes in the tropical cyclone.
Generally, the impacts of global warming affect everyone globally but with varying degree depending on the vulnerability and sensitivity as noted by (Confalonieri et al 370). They noted that the adverse impacts of global warming will fall disproportionately on the developing countries. The poor, the young children and the elderly will suffer greater impacts with the increased global temperatures. There are expected impacts on the food security with (Easterling et al 105) observing that there is an expected increase in the people at risk of hunger in comparison to situations of no climate change. Climate change is expected to have impacts on human health. A study by World Health Organization referred to by (Confalonieri et al 375) shows that climate change is to blame for 3% of diarrhea, 3.8 of dengue fever and 3% of malaria death globally in 2004. The organization found that this was about 0.2% rise in the total attributable mortality in 2004 with 85 % of this deaths being that of young children. Despite the projected positive impacts on health, negative health effects of global warming as observed by (IPCC 48) will outweigh the positive ones. Extreme events as noted by (Confalonieri et al. 375) include heat waves, drought, fire outbreaks and cold waves. Heat waves as noted by (Confalonieri et al. 375) have already started being experienced with a heat wave in Europe in August, 2003 resulted in the deaths of about 35000 people. They note that the frequency and mortality from heat waves is expected to increase with increased global warming. (Confalonieri et al. 380) further noted that global warming is projected to result in an increase in occurrence of flood. Fire outbreaks are also expected to increase with rise in the average global warming destroying large tracks of forest lands.
Given the impacts of global warming, there has been a debate on who is to blame for this problem. The major industrialized countries bear the greatest responsibility for global warming given the fact that they have many industries that release more greenhouse gases to the environment in relation to their developing counterparts as observed by (Grubb). He pointed out that United States and China lead in greenhouse gases emission. However, most countries in the world contributing to global warming with the third world countries contributing to the destruction of the forests in search for farming and settlement land.
The major question everyone asks is whether countries are doing enough to curb global warming and mitigate its effects. There have been various convections that have been held to map out strategies of combating global warming. There was the Kyoto protocol, a report by the intergovernmental panel on climate change and various other meetings organized by the United Nations. During all the convection there have been proposals to ensure that global warming is curbed. However it remains to be seen whether countries are doing enough in implementing the agreements and if not assess the reasons for the same.
In all the agreements aimed at combating climate change, their basis is on reducing the carbon emissions through reduced burning of fossil fuels and increasing the world forest cover to increase the carbon sink. Consequently there has emerged a stand off with the developed countries refusing to implement the agreements as noted by (Grubb). He observes that these countries argue that implementation of the agreement on climate change would slow down their economies as this calls for tighter regulations on industries to limit their emissions. Developed countries feel that if they implemented tighter regulations on their industries, some industries may be pushed out of business since they solely depend on fossil fuels for their industries as written by (Grubb). This would in-turn lead to loss of employment opportunities and also revenue for the government. The major dilemma therefore is how countries can strike a balance between environmental protection and development.
On 11th December, 1997 there was a convection held in Japan referred to as the United Nations Framework Convection on Climate Change with the aim of fighting global warming. During the convection the now famous Kyoto Protocol was adopted with a goal of stabilizing greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere to a level that would prevent human-induced interference to the climatic system as noted by (Liverman 279). The protocol came into force on 16th February, 2005 and as noted by (Liverman 279)191 nations had signed and ratified the protocol by September, 2011 with United States conspicuously failing to sign the accord. Other countries that have not ratified the protocol include Afghanistan, Andorra and South Sudan. Under the accord, 37 Annex 1countries; those states classified as industrialized or in the transition agreed to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% from the 1990 level...