Climate change, climate crisis, global warming… We have heard these terms often in recent years. In the news, on social media Chances are you come across something on this topic every day. quite high.

So what do these news reports say? Global average temperature In 2030 it will increase by 1.5 degrees, this is our limit of no return and everything will continue to get worse. Forest fires, deadly heat waves, floods, submerged cities… Wait a minute… Will just a 1.5 degree increase cause this? How can a temperature increase of 1.5 degrees, which occurs every day, shake the world so much?

It has crossed everyone’s mind at least once…

”Are all these people seriously concerned about a 1.5 degree temperature rise? What is 1.5 degrees? Here’s the proof: there is no such thing as a climate crisis!”

Anyone who looks at the topic superficially has probably thought of a sentence like the one above. Because Average temperature increase of 1.5 degrees The idea that it could cause disasters may sound a bit strange. But in reality the situation is not like that. Let’s explain it one by one.

To take a closer look at what’s going on, let’s first focus on one word: ‘average’

The phrase “average temperature increase” used in studies of climate crises is rightly confusing to those who don’t know what it means and makes them ask the questions we mentioned above. So what does this mean? ‘average temperature increase’?

In fact, the word “average” gives us everything we need to understand here. This expression used in reference to the climate crisis is: worldwide average temperature of a year there stands that. This does not mean that temperatures around the world have risen by only 1.5 degrees, or that there is a 1.5 degree increase in a particular daytime area.

The climate crisis does not affect every part of the world equally. Although there are serious temperature increases in some regions, In some regions earlier for storms that are stronger than ever beforecauses cold waves.

This increase of 1.5 degrees, for example Average 3 degrees at mid-latitudes will show up. At colder latitudes, during the coldest night An average rise of 1.5 degrees means 4.5 degrees will show itself as an increase.

It is also necessary to avoid this misconception; at temperatures Rises that do not sound high, such as 1,2,3 degrees, are already important. Because these small changes on many issues such as humidity, precipitation, etc. It has an effect. Even a small shock to the balance sheet has major consequences.

”So, aren’t temperatures rising everywhere? Then global warming is not real!”

Another question mark about the climate crisis and global warming starts here. Because temperatures around the world are not rising much and some places are experiencing even more intense storms and floods, Is global warming not real?

One of the most common misconceptions about the climate crisis is The idea that this crisis is affecting air temperatures around the world in the same way. However, this is not the case. As we said above, every region of the world is affected differently. We have also seen the consequences of this in our country.

On the one hand, especially in recent years with extreme heat and forest fires while fighting With the Black Sea flood disaster Were alone. During the winter, many regions experienced heavy snowstorms not seen in years, and cities were left without electricity.

None of this is a coincidence; It’s all about the climate crisis. But To better understand the subject Let’s take a look at what exactly climate change is.

To clear up any confusion, what exactly is climate change and what does it mean?

Climate change refers to the unbalanced long-term changes in climate around the world. Although it has become an agenda that is being talked about among the public in recent years, it is not being considered by scientists. for more than 30 years This problem is investigated and its effects are calculated. So it is not a new issue.

So what happened that the climate started to ‘change’? This is where the human factor comes into play. From the end of the 19th centuryWith the Industrial Revolution and all subsequent ‘developments’, the use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil increased.

Fossil fuels act like a blanket surrounding the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures. emission of greenhouse gasses started producing. Furthermore, when several factors, such as the increasing world population and the ever-increasing amount of energy used, the decline of the world’s forests due to urbanization, and the fact that livestock farming became an industry, came together, the respective warming accelerated and its effects increased.

As a result of warming, the humidity in the atmosphere began to rise. this too It disrupted the precipitation balance. Events such as more hurricanes and excessive rainfall began to occur. In other words, while warming scorched some parts of the world, heavier “rains” and extremely cold weather occurred in several regions due to the effect of the same warming.

To better understand the problem, let’s take a look at the disasters that occurred in 2021;

• In February 2021, a major event took place in Texas, USA. cold wave and snow storm happened. The people, who suffered power outages for days, had major problems because their homes and necessary equipment were not suitable for this type of climate. There were deaths. Extreme rainfall and cold weather waves were also effective in our country during the winter months of 2021. Similar problems with power outages occurred in Turkey.
• Hundreds of deaths in China, Sudan and Europe in 2021 floods that result in death happened. Living spaces were damaged by these floods due to heavy rainfall, and their effects continued for weeks. A similar series of flood disasters has occurred in our country. Many provinces in the Black Sea region experienced extreme weather conditions that led to deaths.
• July 2021, warmest month ever recorded in world history happened. Record temperatures were recorded in the US, Canada and Europe. Excessive heat welded there were deaths. Temperatures rose to 54 degrees in some areas.
• Forest fires have revealed horrific scenes in various corners of the world in 2021. Many countries such as Italy, Canada, India, Pakistan, USA and Australia will be in 2021. with major forest fires while you struggle The largest fires took place in our country.
• Especially hurricanes It brought life in the US to a standstill. Hurricanes that cause billions of dollars in damage are among the largest hurricanes in history. there were deaths.

Unfortunately, we will feel the effects of climate change more and more every year. To prevent this, experts saybelieves that the average temperature increase should be stopped at 1.5 degrees. The reason for this is that they calculated the extent to which the effects would increase exponentially once the average temperature increase reached 2 and subsequently higher temperatures.

Although governments and major corporations around the world are trying to reduce their carbon footprint to prevent climate change Although they have announced several precautionary measures, research results from scientists show that the consequences of the crisis are worsening and happening faster than expected…

Sources: climate.nasa.gov, npr.org, Reuters, Onay.org, climaterealityproject.org, United Nations, BBC, yaleclimateconnections.org, EU Science Hub