Aspects Of Global Warming Research Articles

Using Ai to Help Reduce the Effect of Global Warming

This paper explores the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in mitigating the effects of global warming, which stands as one of the most pressing and complex challenges of our time. The purpose of this research is to examine how various AI technologies, including machine learning, neural networks, and big data analytics, can be leveraged to enhance climate modeling, optimize energy systems, improve agricultural practices, and support carbon capture and storage efforts. By conducting a comprehensive literature review, this paper aims to highlight current advancements, practical applications, and relevant case studies that demonstrate the potential of AI to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote sustainable practices across different sectors. The study synthesizes findings from recent academic research, industry reports, and real-world implementations to provide an in-depth analysis of the benefits and challenges associated with integrating AI into climate action strategies. The methodology involves a thorough examination of the existing literature, identifying key areas where AI has shown significant promise in addressing various aspects of global warming. This includes enhancing the accuracy of climate predictions, optimizing the efficiency of renewable energy systems, improving precision agriculture techniques, and increasing the effectiveness of carbon capture and storage technologies. The conclusions drawn from this research underscore the transformative potential of AI in combating global warming. The findings highlight the necessity for interdisciplinary collaboration, advancements in AI technologies, and the development of supportive policy frameworks to maximize the impact of these innovations. The paper emphasizes that while AI offers significant potential to address global warming, realizing this potential requires addressing several challenges, including data quality and availability, integration with existing systems, ethical considerations, and economic and policy barriers. Furthermore, this paper discusses the critical role of AI in enabling more effective climate adaptation strategies. As the impacts of global warming become increasingly apparent, AI-driven tools and solutions can help communities and ecosystems adapt to changing environmental conditions. This includes providing early warning systems for natural disasters, optimizing resource allocation during climate-related crises, and supporting the development of resilient infrastructure. In addition to technological advancements, the paper also explores the importance of public engagement and citizen science in enhancing the effectiveness of AI applications in environmental monitoring and climate action. By involving citizens in data collection and environmental monitoring, AI models can access more diverse and localized data, improving their accuracy and relevance. Public engagement can also raise awareness about AI's role in addressing climate change and foster greater support for sustainable practices. Overall, this paper provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of AI applications in mitigating global warming, offering insights into the future directions and emerging trends in this rapidly evolving field. The research highlights the need for continued innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and supportive policy measures to fully harness the potential of AI in the fight against global warming and to ensure a sustainable future for all. DOI: https://doi.org/10.52783/pst.464

Global Warming: A Comprehensive Examination

Global warming, a phenomenon characterized by the gradual increase in the Earth's average temperature, has emerged as one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. This scientific journal article delves into the multifaceted aspects of global warming, encompassing its causes, consequences, and potential solutions. By exploring the latest research findings, we aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of this critical issue and underscore the urgency for collective action to mitigate its adverse effects.

Knowledge and Awareness of Global Warming and Its Effect on the Environment among Applied Science Private University Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate global warming awareness among Applied science Private University students. A total of 365 students were tested using a questionnaire covering four aspects of global warming including causes, effects, evidence, and solutions. The study included students of science and humanities faculties in all academic years of both sexes, and a significant dependency ratio (p < 0.05) was recorded. The results showed that female students had greater knowledge of the global warming effect than male students, that academically superior students with excellent grades had more knowledge of the four aspects covered by the questionnaire than their lower-level peers, and that students from science colleges were more familiar than humanities students with the causes. and solutions related to global warming. In addition, students who received environmental development courses at the university were more knowledgeable than the rest of the students about the effect, cause, and evidence of global warming, which indicates a direct positive effect of university education.

Retrospective assessment of the association between urban air pollution and children’s respiratory functions in Rome: Insights for developmental environmental health

Background & aimsNaturogenic aspects of global warming are amplified by the anthropogenic effects of the persistent exponential global population growth. Urbanization without proper planning escalates serious all-time disease pathologies in vulnerable populations, such as children, through pollution of toxic gases. We illustrate these associations with a retrospective study of respiratory heath in children living in downtown Rome when this dense urban center recorded one of the highest air pollution levels in Europe. MethodsLung and respiratory function parameters were evaluated from 2006 to 2007 in a cohort of 90 children including two age subgroups (>10 years and <10 years). Additionally, historical air pollution data from 2006 to 2008 and 2020–2021, collected from urban traffic and urban background stations in Rome, was obtained to allow for a correlational analysis between air pollution and children's respiratory health. ResultsSevere impairments on the Mead Expiratory Flow Rate were revealed alongside an increase in allergenic atopics. Historical data showed no differences between measurements from urban background and traffic stations for PM10, PM2.5, NO, and NO2, and no significant time trends. However, although both declined over time, CO measurements were consistently higher from traffic than background stations. ConclusionsOur correlational study indicates that decreases in respiratory health and function may be associated with air pollution, leading to increased susceptibility to viral infections, such as COVID-19, especially in vulnerable populations. In this context, vulnerable populations’ environmental health and disease prevention, also linked with climate change, could be addressed by focusing efforts on combatting urban pollution.

Fertilizer quality and labile soil organic matter fractions are vital for organic carbon sequestration in temperate arable soils within a long-term trial in Switzerland

Agricultural management of soils has led to severe losses of soil organic matter (SOM), accompanied by an increased release of CO2 into the atmosphere and a reduction of soil fertility. Especially under the aspect of global warming and the increasing demand for food, there is a need for sustainable management options increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) storage in agricultural soils, but knowledge gaps exist regarding C persistence in, and its transfer between functional SOC pools, within different farming systems. Here we report on impacts of different farming systems on the temporal dynamics of SOM fractions within the DOK long-term trial (Switzerland), from 1982 to 2017. A purely minerally (CONMIN), a minerally and organically (CONFYM), and a purely organically fertilized farming system (BIODYN) were compared with an unfertilized control (NOFERT). We separated archived soils from the Haplic Luvisol (0–20 cm depth) into particulate (POM) and mineral-associated OM (MAOM) fractions, via physical fractionation, and analyzed the chemical composition of selected fractions via solid-state 13C CPMAS-NMR spectroscopy. We demonstrate that under none of the analyzed farming systems, additional SOC was sequestered in the clay-sized MAOM fraction (<6.3 µm) over a period of 36 years. In all fertilized systems, the amount of SOC in this pool did not change, but strongly decreased in NOFERT (-27%). Bulk SOC increased in BIODYN (+13%) and CONFYM (+5%), but decreased in CONMIN (-8%) and NOFERT (-20%). As no additional SOC accumulated in the clay-sized MAOM fraction, this implies that bulk SOC increases were solely stored within labile POM fractions. NMR spectra showed comparable POM chemical compositions between different systems. Differences in fertilizer quality (BIODYN = composted farmyard manure vs CONFYM = stacked farmyard manure + mineral fertilizer) and the omission of pesticides resulted in better conditions for POM stabilization and consequently significantly higher C contents of occluded POM (oPOM) within aggregates, in BIODYN. However, this labile fraction is at high risk of being lost within a few days, as illustrated by the strong annual oPOM-C content fluctuations depending on the timing of soil sampling after harvest. The highest post-harvest oPOM-C losses in BIODYN indicate the higher dynamics compared to CONFYM. It is anticipated that only sustainable fertilization methods with continuous application of solely organic fertilizers in the long-run can maintain SOC in the labile POM fractions at elevated levels, thereby ensuring soil fertility. It also illustrates the need for prevention of major losses by careful management of the labile POM fractions, as this OM could associate with fine mineral particles at a later stage and thus contribute to OC sequestration in the stable SOC pool. Overall, the potential of arable soils to accumulate stable OC for long-term sequestration is questioned.

The energy sector and environmental pollution

The report examines the historical and forecasting aspects of global warming, the structure and dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions and emissions of hazardous gases in Ukraine. The main provisions of the Strategy for Environmental Safety and Adaptation to Climate Change until 2030, as well as the National Plan for Reducing Emissions from Large Combustion Plants until 2033 are analyzed. Data on the dynamics of primary and final energy use, on the amount of global investments in energy efficiency, as well as data on energy efficiency of primary energy resources and the degree of carbon content of renewable and alternative energy sources are given.

A review on converting plastic wastes into clean hydrogen via gasification for better sustainability

This review paper focuses on converting plastic wastes into clean hydrogen via gasification for better sustainability. In this regard, various aspects of hydrogen production from plastic wastes are discussed and comparatively evaluated, including the state-of-the-art and comparative evaluation, environmental and economical dimensions, global warming aspects, policies and strategies, a case study including energetic and exergetic performance evaluations, challenges and opportunities, and future directions possibly in the area. Additionally, this paper outlines what contributions it makes to the current literature about hydrogen production from plastic wastes by using gasification technologies. Moreover, this paper provides a detailed case study indicating exergetic sustainability aspects for hydrogen production from plastic wastes by applying plasma gasification whose data are taken from the literature. As a result of this case study, some exergetic sustainability indicators are studied for evaluation and comparison purposes. The exergetic sustainability index is found to be decreasing from 0.77 to 0.41 with the fact that exergetic efficiency drops from 0.43 to 0.28 while the environmental impact factor rises from 1.29 to 2.41 with the increase of waste exergy ratio from 0.56 to 0.70. Furthermore, plasma co-gasification can be recommended as an environmentally-benign solution for clean hydrogen production from plastic wastes. Highlights Plastic wastes is an important source of hydrogen. Gasification can efficiently be deployed for hydrogen production from plastic wastes. In order to evaluate potential gasification techniques, energetic, economic, environmental, and sustainability aspects should be considered. Plasma gasification appears to be more efficient and effective solution over other methods for higher amount of hydrogen production from plastic wastes.

Geoelectrical properties of saline permafrost soil in the Adventdalen valley of Svalbard (Norway), constrained with in-situ well data

Direct Current (DC) Resistivity and Induced Polarization (IP) response of six profiles were measured using the Gradient electrode configuration in Adventdalen, Svalbard, to characterise the near-surface stratigraphy of the soil and to account for geotechnical and environmental aspects of global warming in the arctic region. In addition, Wenner array data was collected for the selected profiles to examine its effectiveness as compared to the Gradient array, given the characteristics of the study site. Two commercial inversion software programs, Res2DINV and AarhusINV, were used for the inversion of the DC resistivity and IP data, to compare the software. Physical soil properties, including porosity, water saturation, water salinity, freezing temperature and grain size distribution, previously measured from samples retrieved from wells along the studied profiles, were integrated in this study to investigate the correlation with geoelectrical properties of the sediments inferred from the DC resistivity and IP data.Results from processing of the Wenner array DC resistivity data provided higher resolution as compared to the Gradient array data, especially from deeper parts of the models, due to its higher signal-to-noise ratio. The Wenner array data also indicated better inversion result for the IP data as distinctive anomalies were better indicated in data from Wenner array survey. The Wenner array data also provided a realistic trend for the anomalies, thanks to the symmetrical geometry of the electrodes during the survey, although at the cost of time and higher expenses. Inversion results proved that AarhusINV resolved the geometry of the subsurface layers with higher resolution compared with the Res2DINV. However, the two inversion algorithms use slightly different parameters for the processing and for presenting the results, thus only allowing qualitative comparison. Based on the interpretations of the DC resistivity and IP data, four distinctive zones were identified from the surface to the maximum depth of 26 m, consisting of (i) unfrozen active-layer-(silts and sands), with intermediate resistivity values 200–300 Ω·m; (ii) frozen soil with 3–10 m thickness and resistivity values between 2500 and 5000 Ω·m; (iii) unfrozen soil (cryopeg) with high salinity and low resistivity of 40 Ω·m; and finally (iv) clayey-unfrozen soil sediments with low resistivity ranging 10–20 Ω·m, at depths between 13 and 26 m. The IP data allowed for the delineation of a low chargeability zone near the surface and a high chargeability zone at greater depth which denote the active layer, lower parts of unfrozen soil sediments and cryopeg respectively, within the top 10 m of the subsurface.The 3D subsurface model of the study area was created based on interpretations of the DC resistivity and IP data and was constrained by the description of the subsurface stratigraphy from nearby wells, which provided detailed information about the vertical stratigraphy of the study area. In addition, a good correlation was observed between the studied physical properties of the sediments and the DC resistivity data for the intersecting profile SVAER04, as the interface between high and low resistivity data at ca. 10 m depth coincided the sedimentary formation with intermediate-fine grain size, high porosity, high water saturation and high salt content. Our findings show that joint application of the geoelectrical surveys and laboratory analysis of soil samples are an efficient complement to each other. These methods can be used as an alternative to each other to investigate larger areas where achieving high resolution data is not necessary.Our study results underline the importance of choosing the right survey design for collecting the DC resistivity and IP data. Contribution of the IP data in this study mostly concerns the shallow parts of the subsurface due to the low signal-to-noise ratio at greater depths, and frozen ground which limited the ion mobility and hence the IP response. An appropriate inversion program coupled with integration of the physical properties of the sediments, can be successfully applied to characterise the near-surface morphology of the sedimentary formations to address the geotechnical and environmental challenges related to the permafrost in the Arctic.

Solely economic mitigation strategy suggests upward revision of nationally determined contributions

Solely economic mitigation strategy suggests upward revision of nationally determined contributions

A canonical metacommunity structure over 3 decades: ecologically consistent but spatially dynamic patterns in a hurricane-prone montane forest.

The Anthropocene is a time of rapid change induced by human activities, including pulse and press disturbances that affect the species composition of local communities and connectivity among them, giving rise to spatiotemporal dynamics at multiple scales. We evaluate effects of global warming and repeated intense hurricanes on gastropod metacommunities in montane tropical rainforests of Puerto Rico for each of 28 consecutive years. Specifically, we quantified metacommunity structure each year; assessed effects of global warming, hurricane-induced disturbance, and secondary succession on interannual variation in metacommunity structure; and evaluated legacies of previous land use on metacommunity structure. Gastropods were sampled annually during a 28-year period characterized by disturbance and succession associated with 3 major hurricanes (Hurricanes Hugo, Georges, and Maria). For each year, we evaluated coherence (the extent to which the environmental distributions of species are uninterrupted along a common latent environmental gradient), species range turnover, and species range boundary clumping; and conducted co-occurrence analyses for each pair of species. We used generalized linear mixed-effects model to evaluate long-term responses of the metacommunity to aspects of global warming and disturbance. Metacommunity structure was remarkably stable, with consistent patterns of species co-occurrence. Disturbance, warming, and successional stage had little effect on metacommunity structure. Despite great temporal variation in environmental conditions, groups of species tracked their niche through space and time to maintain the same general structure. Consequently, metacommunity structure was highly resistant and resilient to multiple disturbances, even those that greatly altered forest structure.

Energetic, economic, and global warming aspects of fluidized bed drying of the medicinal plant Echium Amoenum Fisch. &amp; C. A. Mey

AbstractThis research aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the drying conditions in a pilot‐scale fluidized bed dryer by considering energetic, economic and global warming aspects. Echium amoenum Fisch. &amp; C. A. Mey. E. amoenum petals were dried at a temperature range of 40–60°C and air velocities of 0.5 to 1 m s−1. According to the results, the air velocity has a positive effect but the drying temperature has a negative impact on the specific energy consumption (SEC), the production cost and the GHG emissions. It was observed that the case of 0.5 m s−1 air velocity and 60°C drying temperature, the production cost, the SEC and the GHG emissions were minimized. However, considering the quality of the dried E. amoenum petals the optimal conditions were obtained at 60°C drying temperature and 0.91 m s−1 air velocity. Under these conditions, GHG emissions, production cost and SEC of dried E. amoenum petals would be 60.56 g CO2 kg−1, $38.87 kg−1 of dried E. amoenum petals and 29.87 MJ kg−1 of evaporated water, respectively.

A Greener Synthesis of Fe-N-C Catalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

The world is faced with an ever-increasing energy demand that, under the aspect of global warming, must be covered by renewable sources such as wind- and solar energy. However, the main challenge linked to these sources is to provide a continuous energy supply, demanding highly efficient energy storage and conversion devices.One promising conversion technology are fuel cells. [1] These usually rely on expensive and rare platinum group metal (PGM) catalysts for the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In order to serve the human energy demand, cheap and scalable fuel cell systems are required. The class of M-N-C (M = Fe, Mn, Co) type catalysts shows particularly good catalytic behaviour comparable to PGM based catalysts. However, promising catalysts are usually synthesised from toxic materials with solvent and energy intensive methods. [2]Here, we present a synthetic approach towards Fe-N-C type catalysts, that uses only non-hazardous chemicals, produces no wastewater and is more energy efficient than classical approaches. We used iron hydroxide as iron source for its lower environmental impact as compared to ferric chloride. Cyanoguanidine (non-toxic) was chosen over cyanamide (toxic) as a pore forming agent and nitrogen source. Tryptophan was used over PANI and the like for its availability from natural sources with no need for toxic precursors. Instead of classical wet chemical approaches we used a solvent free mechanochemical synthesis. And by using vulcan carbon as electron conducting scaffold, we were able to carbonize at 750 °C, increasing the overall energy efficiency. The catalytic activity towards the ORR of the obtained catalysts was determined by rotating disc electrode measurements in acidic and basic media. With a 100 mV lower onset potential, their performance in an alkaline environment is good but not quite comparable to Pt based catalysts.Future studies will focus on the correlation of nitrogen content as well as porosity of the catalysts with their electrocatalytical behaviour.[1] I. Staffell, D. Scamman, A. Velazquez Abad, P. Balcombe, P. E. Dodds, P. Ekins, N. Shah, K. R. Ward, Energy Environ. Sci. 2019, 12, 463–491.[2] H. T. Chung, D. A. Cullen, D. Higgins, B. T. Sneed, E. F. Holby, K. L. More, P. Zelenay, Science 2017, 357, 479-484. Figure 1

Future threat from the past.

Global warming is one of the major challenges facing humanity. The increase in the Earth’s temperature and thawing of ancient ice release viable viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms which were trapped for thousands and millions of years. Such microorganisms may belong to novel microbial species, unknown genotypes of present pathogens, already eradicated pathogens, or even known pathogens that gained extremely robust characteristics due to their subjection to long-term stress. These worries drew more attention following the death of a child by ancient anthrax spores in Siberian in 2016 and the reconstruction of smallpox and Spanish flu genomes from ancient frozen biological samples. The present review illustrates some examples of recently recovered pathogens after being buried for millions of years, including some identified viable ancient viruses, bacteria and even other forms of life. While some pathogens could be revived, genomes of other ancient pathogens which could not be revived were re-constructed. The present study aims to highlight and alarm the hidden aspect of global warming on the international public health, which represents future threats from the past for humanity.

Mosquito larvae that survive a heat spike are less sensitive to subsequent exposure to the pesticide chlorpyrifos

While extreme high temperatures are an important aspect of global warming, their effects on organisms are relatively understudied, especially in ecotoxicology. Sequential exposure to heat spikes and pesticides is a realistic scenario as both are typically transient stressors and are expected to further increase in frequency under global warming. We tested the effects of exposure to a lethal heat spike and subsequently to an ecologically relevant lethal pulse exposure of the pesticide chlorpyrifos in the larvae of mosquito Culex pipiens. The heat spike caused direct and delayed mortality, and resulted in a higher heat tolerance and activity of acetylcholinesterase, and a lower fat content in the survivors. The chlorpyrifos exposure caused mortality, accelerated growth rate, and decreased the heat tolerance and the activity of acetylcholinesterase. The preceding heat spike did not change how chlorpyrifos reduced the heat tolerance. Notably, the preceding heat spike did lower the lethal effect of the pesticide, which makes an important novel finding at the interface of ecotoxicology and global change biology, and adds a new dimension to the “climate-induced toxicant sensitivity” (CITS) concept. This may be due to both survival selection and cross-tolerance, and therefore likely a widespread phenomenon. Our results emphasize the importance of including extreme high temperatures as an important transient global change stressor in ecotoxicology.

A perspective on fossil fuel based flue gas emission reduction technologies

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to specify the role of coal‐fired power plants (CFPPs) in the formation of global emissions/harmful pollutants and to discuss the benefits of current and future technologies to minimize environmental damage. In this regard, pollutant/emission reduction technologies from CFPPs are discussed in detail by considering the environmental and global warming aspects. Pollutant gases from CFPPs around the globe have always been the most important source of environmental concern in societies. In particular, due to the burning of the coal without taking the necessary precautions, the nitrogen in the coal and combustion air and the combustible sulfur components in the coal content are oxidized and released to the atmosphere as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx). Another pollutant from power plants is carbon monoxide (CO). CO is a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas that can remain in the atmosphere for a long time. In addition, significant amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) occur by virtue of the combustion of coal. CO2 emission is in the class of greenhouse gases causing global warming. As a result of this study, the factors causing the formation of harmful pollutants in CFPPs are determined and present and potential suggestions are provided for the environmental sustainability of such facilities. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Medical and social aspects of global warming

The problem of global warming has been increasingly attracting attention. According to the World Meteorological Organization, the last four years have become the warmest in the history of a century of observations, which is a clear sign of ongoing climate change. As a result, various climatic cataclysms (downpours, typhoons, storms, floods, etc.) are increasingly observed. The climate change is caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In these circumstances, the most susceptible cities are those occupied by growing population. They suffer from the so-called «heat island effect». Climate change has been described as affecting the health of the planet’s population and people’s lifespan. Children are extremely sensitive to the threats posed by global climate change. The effects of climate change create certain weather situations and conditions. Using one of the weather classifications, we determined the frequency with which different weather types occurred during the 25-year period in the city of Ternopil. It turned out that in the context of global warming, the number of days with the type III weather increased dramatically. Therefore, when posing the question of the impact of current climatic conditions on human health, it is quite reasonable to identify changes in life processes in these meteorological situations. An assessment of psychoemotional state of young people showed worsening of mood, mental activity, interest in performing mental work, increasing anxiety in the type III weather. Attention, memory, thinking, and the latent period of complex visual-motor reaction also worsened in this type of weather. A study of the physical performance of swimmers showed its decrease in type III meteosituations. The respiratory system in young healthy individuals in the third type of weather responded by reducing the patency of the bronchi, its reserve capacity, the deterioration of blood oxygen saturation. At the same time, a decrease in the functional reserves of the cardiovascular system against the background of the imbalance of autonomous regulation of cardiac activity was observed. An increased vestibular sensitivity was revealed. Based on the obtained results, we believe that the study of the effect of global warming on the human body should be carried out taking into account not only one meteorological factor – temperature, but their complex in the form of weather types. Important medical and social issues of food security forecasting, drinking water supply are considered. Keywords: global warming, types of weather, health. For citation: Tsymbaliuk VI, Vadzyuk SN. Medical and social aspects of global warming. Journal of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine. 2019;25(4):439–47.

Robust Regional Warming Amplifications Directly Following the Anthropogenic Emission

AbstractAmplified regional warming suggests that some regions suffer more from global warming. However, present knowledge is still not enough to understand this paramount aspect of global warming. By using climate model simulations, we first highlight that regional warming amplifications directly following anthropogenic emission would torment many undeveloped countries. Then, we find that cloud has the largest contribution to polar amplification, rather than the frequently blamed sea ice decline. The summertime sea ice decline plays the second role in generating strong wintertime polar amplification via lagged energy release. Our findings also propose that heat uptake by the deeper ocean greatly favors the terrestrial amplification. Additionally, the cloud also shows its importance in helping dryland amplification. Our findings suggest that these robust regional warming amplifications are very likely inevitable under anthropogenic emission, therefore strictest global mitigation is required to prevent unacceptable warming over the high risk regions.

Global Warming and Socioeconomic Activities: Impact of Labor Productivity

Climate change (global warming) has various impacts on human society and economic activities. One of the important aspects of global warming impacts is labor productivity through temperature increases. Higher temperature negatively affects the efficiency at work. In addition, the impact can vary by region because of differences in the economic structure and the climate conditions. The purpose of this study is to evaluate global warming impact on future economic activities through changes in labor productivity. To evaluate the global warming impact on future economic activities, we used a computable general equilibrium model considering the relationship between temperature and labor productivity. To calculate the future temperature, we used the MAGICC6 (Model for the Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Induced Climate Change version 6). For the future scenarios, we used business-as-usual (BaU) and 2°C scenarios. In the global level, gross domestic product (GDP) was 0.19-0.32% smaller for the BaU scenario when the global warming impact was considered, while the impact on GDP was smaller for the 2°C scenario (around 0.02%). However, the impact differs by region. For primary energy supply, the total supply was 0.33-0.63% smaller for the BaU scenario when the global warming impact was considered, while the impact was slight for the 2 °C scenario (0.01-0.02%). Consequently, CO2 emissions were also affected. In the BaU scenario, CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and industrial process were 0.34-1.18% smaller when the global warming impact was considered. These results suggest that larger the temperature increases, the larger the impact. However, although the degree was not large, it is indicated that the socioeconomic impacts to achieve the 2 °C target were smaller than previously believed.

The great derangement: climate change and the unthinkable

Amitav Ghosh has written a remarkable book that provides thought-provoking insights on the collective inability of writers, scholars and policy-makers to grapple with the global climate crisis. Ghosh notes that history has shown that nature, even in its ‘unpredictable’ form, was not always far removed from literature and politics. How, then, has the culture of narratives and politics rendered the interconnectedness of Gaia unthinkable? This is the central question explored by Ghosh in his book. Modernity and science, the author points out, have promoted cultures where instinctive awareness of the earth's unpredictability has been gradually displaced by the predictability of bourgeois life. According to Ghosh, nature and the unheard in modern narratives have been sidelined, while everyday bourgeois life has moved into the foreground. But he also argues that capitalism-centric narratives of the climate crisis overlook an important aspect of global warming: empire and imperialism. Empires' quest for power and security through mastery and conquest led to the building of cities near oceans. Coastline cities including Mumbai, Madras, New York, Singapore and Hong Kong—all brought into being through processes of colonization—are now among those that are most directly threatened by climate change. The colonial art of governmentality through coercive and protectionist measures ensured that colonizing countries had a strong hold over technologies, along with production and consumption of commodities, leading to global inequities. Capitalism and imperialism are dual aspects of the same reality, where authority and markets interact with each other in processes of wealth circulation.

Greater increases in temperature extremes in low versus high income countries

It is commonly expected that the world’s lowest income countries will face some of the worst impacts of global warming, despite contributing the least to greenhouse gas emissions. Using global atmospheric reanalyses we show that the world’s lowest income countries are already experiencing greater increases in the occurrence of temperature extremes compared to the highest income countries, and have been for over two decades. Not only are low income countries less able to support mitigation and adaptation efforts, but their typically equatorial location predisposes them to lower natural temperature variability and thus greater changes in the occurrence of temperature extremes with global warming. This aspect of global warming is well known but overlooked in current international climate policy agreements and we argue that it is an important factor in reducing inequity due to climate impacts.