The effects of climate change are being observed everywhere. There are severe heat waves, sea levels are rising, there is an increase in the occurrence of wildfires, and many regions are experiencing extreme weather events. Some years ago, these consequences of global warming were preventable, but now we have to face the reality of global warming and its impacts as our elected leaders and policymakers did not care for it.
Urgent actions need to be taken to reduce global warming emissions, so consequences don’t grow more severe in the future. However, we need to prepare for the effects of global warming which have already been set into motion. Many regions worldwide have been experiencing the effects of climate change. The increase in sea level has caused flooding in many regions; there have been long periods of extreme heat events. Glaciers are melting at rates like never before and wildfires have increased too. There are regions flooding on one side and on the other, there is a drought.
With all the changes in the weather patterns, cities and communities need to plan everything with the changes in consideration. The British publication, Climate 2020, released an article by a team led by Northeastern University’s professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Auroop Ganguly. It explains how we can interpret climate data from existing science and technology and make more and more accurate predictions that can help industries and municipal corporations to prepare and reduce the effects of climate change.
Ganguly and his team are already conducting research to make such detailed predictions. They have studied extreme weather events like heatwaves, heavy precipitation, cold snaps, droughts, and high winds; outcomes of climate change that are largely unaccounted in the broad trends that are produced by current global models. Predicting that can be done by taking climate change data into consideration that will help to reduce climate change and also help us be prepared for its effects.
Mayuri Talgaonkar