Climate change has the
potential to tip out of balance the relatively stable climate in which
civilization has been built and jeopardize the security of water. Over time,
the effects of global warming due to the human-generated buildup of greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere have become more evident. Drought intense rains and
floods occur naturally and involve many factors, That drought is now considered one of the more exceptionally dry and extreme in the state’s
history. Numerous other relationships between climate change and water exist.
For instance, climate change has warmed up water bodies and caused harmful
algal blooms to become greater problem in rivers, lakes and oceans in the US
and around the world. These naturally occurring algal blooms are supercharged by nutrient pollution, worsened by drought and warmer
waters. Excessive amounts of nutrients act as fuel for toxic algal blooms that
arrive there as heavy precipitation washes more nutrients into waters. These
blooms, such as blue green algae can damage aquatic life and can produce toxins that are
dangerous for humans and other animals to touch or drink.
Spending my 20s in the FL Keys, I watched as the local reefs began to die off in the early '90s. When I first arrived they were brilliantly colored; by the time I left, agricultural pollutants coming through the Everglades, reduced water volume in the glades, sea temperature rise all contributed to the sickly gray dying coral.
ReplyDeleteSo much dark news related to the environment! Nice job on your blogging and shedding light on these issues.
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