**1. Introduction**

Global warming is a disastrous phenomenon compounded by the human activities often drilled by the greed and corporate paradigm of thinking. Its totaling effect in the long run might threaten the survival of mankind and any other species for that matter. Many nations recognize it as serious immediate threat and they forms the associations and organizations to combat against it. However, there are few cynical nations, owing to several reason, economic reason being dominant. But, with passage of time, it has become so apparent that even a rational high school student can comprehend the status and need of action, it is very evident to a layman, that the temperature of the earth, be it in any season is gradually increasing and the people working in the field are awe struck by the crops ability to grow in new higher unnatural altitudes. The lexicon "global warming" might be new to them but they have already felt its consequences.

Climate is very essential concept, owing to dependence of existence of life on it. Living beings survive on food, food is produced by plants and growth of plants depends on climate. So, erratic change in the climate will put billions of lives at stake. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that we discuss, monitor and make sure that the climate for different regions remains at its natural range. Many literatures suggest that global warming caused by the global warming gases emitted enormously by the manufacturing factories and automobiles industries are the cause of erratic climate [1–6]. Global warming if unchecked will influence the climate of world to the point that earth tipping point is reached, where the surviving earth cannot further sustain any lives in it, changing the course of history preceded by mass extinction of species in the world. Owing to the likelihood of paying a bigger price latter due the simple negligence in time, it is duties of all the global citizens to be mindful about it and do come together to find the effective solutions to mitigate the problem that is ever going to be bigger as it gets delayed. It would be grave mistake to decide not to heed on this global immediate call, for it has the ability to either make or break our collective future.

There is two school of thoughts with regard to urgency of the matter, where one school of thought believes that understanding the climate change is complex and it is extremely difficult to predict the future of climate in this complex universe, and are skeptical about the anthropogenic global warming, suggesting that the information that is known about weather and its causes is not enough to predict the future climate and the climate model are far from precision [7]. However, another school of thought, expresses its concern and urgency to save the earth form untimely destruction, advocating the need to limit the production of the global warming gases that enhance the chances and intensity of occurrence of the erratic weather [7, 8]. In this modern era, people spent more time looking into screen than looking into sky for weather. As a responsible global citizen, it is our moral obligation to explore the underlying truth and make informed decisions locally. Thus, this study explored the available literature on the global warming and climate change in terms of its urgency.

#### **2. Literature review**

Global warming is the term that was introduced or used for the first time by climatologist Wallace Broecker in his article *"Climate Change: Are we on the Brink of pronounced Global warming?"* Global warming is observable increase in the global temperature of earth (both land and water) and climate change is the effect brought about by the process of warming globally or in general, overall long-term change in our climate, including sea level rising, extreme weather, and ocean acidification. However, the term global warming and climate change are used interchangeably but there is difference in it, global warming is more sensitive and more diverging which results in less advocacy by some subpopulations [9]. Further, Krauss [3] clearly puts it in the context when he quotes Lorenz, "Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get." (p.158). Krauss [3] argues that just because there is an anomalous cold day in Washington, DC does not mean that global warming is not happening. Likewise, just because there is an ultra-hot week in Washington, DC also does not validate global warming.

The solar radiation from the sun is balanced by the thermal radiations reflecting from the earth; this interaction balance and determines the surface temperature of the earth. The incoming solar radiation from the sun is independent but the outgoing thermal radiations depends on the earth's surface temperature and the presence of greenhouse gases, which absorbs some of the thermal radiations. Greenhouse

#### *Global Warming and Climate Change (GWCC) Realities DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97820*

gasses (GHG), such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides, water vapor, ozone and chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) are responsible for trapping of heat. For instance, water vapor (40%) is responsible for absorbing majority of thermal radiation from earth, followed by carbon dioxide (30%), methane (20%) and other gases (5%) [7]. So, it indicates that outgoing thermal radiation is mostly absorbed by water vapor and carbon dioxide. Likewise, the change in composition of water vapor due to human activities are negligible, so it implies that the greenhouse gases produced by human activities are likely responsible for the most of the trapping of heat [10, 11].

However, some authors [12] argues that the heat trapping by the CO2 is not significant and rather it is likely that sun radiations are responsible for the global temperature rise. Again, the debate on whether the sun radiations or GHG is responsible for the global temperature continues, recently, Herring [13] refuted the claim that likeliness of sun radiation as the cause of global warming might not be true. He argues that, it is possible that sun can warm the earth provided that the pattern of the solar intensity increases over the years. Likewise, the sunspot data do indicate that there was a small increase in the amount of sunlight from late 1800s to the mid-1900s which experts estimates that it could have contributed at the most up to 0.1°C of the 1.0°C (1.8°F) of warming observed since the pre-industrial era. However, there has been no significant net change in the sun's energy output from the late 1970s to the present (see **Figure 1**), which is when the most rapid global warming was observed. Further, scientists rule out the significant role of sun in global warming due to the fact that if the sun energy output had intensified then it is logical to expect all the layers of earth's atmosphere to be warmed, which is not the case that is been observed. Rather, satellite and weather balloons observation showed that more warming in the lower atmosphere (troposphere) and cooling in the upper atmosphere (stratosphere) [13]. This pattern of differential warming is what is been expected due to result of increasing GHG trapping heat.

The main source of global warming gases is the burning of the fossil fuels and it is observed that a nation with the abundance of the availability of the fossils fuels tends to depend more on fossil fuels than the nations with low abundance of fossils resources [5]. Global energy consumption with regard to fossil fuels are staggeringly high, and its prediction for the coming years are also projected very high, as reflected in the world energy outlook report of 2012 and 2013. Thereby the production of greenhouse gases will be soared and ultimately it might bring about the increase in the global temperature of the earth. Likewise, the rising population's

#### **Figure 1.**

*The peaks and valleys in solar geomagnetic activity since 1900, based on the number of sunspots observed on the face of the sun each day (orange dots). Graph by NOAA Climate.gov, based on data from the WDC-SILSO, Royal Observatory of Belgium (source: Herring [13]).*

demand for fuel, as well as the need for economic growth and a higher standard of living, are both factors to consider. Lack of political will and institutional failure in to make and enforce effective environmental policies, as well as a lack of related knowledge and Rampant disinformation, have all hampered action against global warming and reduction of the global warming gases [7]. Furthermore, the global temperature rises correlates with the rising pattern in the consumption of the fossil fuel, indicating the likeliness of the GHG warming the earth [3].

With the increase in the concentration of the greenhouse gases it will act like a thick blanket in the atmosphere where it will absorb the solar radiation. The carbon molecules and the oxygen molecule in the carbon dioxide undergoes vibration like stretching, bending, and this action absorbs the solar radiations [1, 2]. Thereby hindering the reflection of solar radiation by the earth making the earth surface temperature warmer.

Many studies affirms that the GWCC is a worrying thing. For example, a study done by Suonan et al. [14] suggests that due to global warming there will be more than worse phenological alteration in some places like in Tibetan Plateau, more than what is predicated or known. This idea makes us think of worst situation if the temperature of the earth keeps warming up. Moreover, the global sea level has risen by about 8 inches since 1880, and it's projected to rise another 1 to 4 feet by 2100 (as a result of melting of ice), thus the danger of storm surges and high tides would increase the flooding in many regions [8].

Shrinking of glaciers, early breaking up of ice on rivers and lakes, shifting of plant and animal and premature flowering are some of the observable effects global climate change had on environment. Moreover, effects that scientists had predicted in the past are now occurring: loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise, more intense heat waves. Scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for decades to come, largely due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which includes more than 1,300 scientists from the United States and other countries, forecasts a temperature rise of 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century [15]. Moreover, the IPCC predicts that increases in global mean temperature of less than 1.8 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (1 to 3 degrees Celsius) above sea levels will produce beneficial impacts in some regions and harmful ones in others. Net annual costs will increase over time as global temperatures increases [8].

However, not everyone believes that the earth's surface temperature is rising, and even if global warming is true, not everyone accepts that human activities are the primary cause. Also, not everyone agrees that climate change is a problem. As a result, critics and deniers of global warming and climate change do not see the need to take steps to delay or reverse these trends [5, 7]. USA disengaging from Kyoto protocol and Paris agreement on climate showed the polarity of attitude of nations and people towards the GWCC issue. Moreover, at number of climate summit, member countries failed to agree to number of "Environmental targets" in recent years (Kyoto, Copenhagen, so on) [5].

Extend to which the idea of global warming and climate change have reached to the mankind largely depends on their exposure to the main stream medias and social media. It is found out that the social media network does plays vital role in spreading the knowledge and awareness of the GWCC and it is also indicated that they understand the concept better when they are expose to those terms in positive or negative light [16]. However, as watchdog it is responsibility of media and social media to uncover the truth, but some studies suggest that newspapers aren't doing much to convince the health impact of GWCC to the public [17]. Moreover, in the study done by Shapiro and Park [18], they found out that people responses to the GWCC in social media particularly their reactions to YouTube video of GWCC are

general and shows little or no concern about GWCC, which indicates many people aren't so convince about the reality of GWCC.

On the contrary, the very existence of 175 plus active organization on climate change [19], and 100 plus top websites on climate change [20], indicates the concern and the urgency expressed by the people around the world. Study done by Liu et al. [21] also affirms that many congressmen do believe GWCC as real thing. Further, IPCC asserts that scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal, global temperature rise, warming of oceans, shrinking of ice sheets, rising of sea level, acidification of ocean, and declining of Arctic sea ice are some of the events that conveys the story of the happening event so called Global warming and climate change [8]. In addition, study done by Allen and McAleer [22] suggests that the of negative emotions or indifference to global warming might be due to lack of clear logical framework and confusion of short-term variations in localized weather with the long-term global average climate change.

The happenings of global warming can be traced through using the technique of observation and examining the rise in the land surface temperature, borehole temperature profile, sea surface temperature, and sea level [7, 8, 23]. If there are increase in all those four independent parameters, it is the indication that the global warming is occurring [7]. This increase is attributed to the increase in the global warming gases, CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have risen from 0.028 percent in pre-industrial 1750 to 0.043 percent today. Until recently, it was thought that stabilizing CO2 levels in the atmosphere at about 0.055 percent by 2035 will be enough to keep global warming below 2°C. However, 3°C is becoming more possible, which will induce wreaking havoc on human colonies, coral reefs, rain forests, and polar ice caps. To keep temperature rises below 2°C, urgent international action is required, which means keeping CO2 levels below 0.045 percent. Only if governments can negotiate on cooperative national and international action can this become a possibility [23].

Despite the two school of thought on the urgency and status of GWCC, the evidences from the surface temperature, sea level rise, sea surface temperature, and borehole temperature profile indicate that the global warming is happening and it is going to be a major threat in the future, which will be discussed in the result and discussion section in detail.
