Myths and truths about global warming are very common when we talk about the subject. To the climate changes Have they always happened? Are cold snaps a sign that the planet isn't warming after all?
This type of speculation ends up raising more doubts than certainties on the subject. Therefore, to understand what is true or false, the iFood News made a compilation of what has already been clarified about global warming.
What is global warming?
To remember: global warming is a long-term phenomenon caused by gas emission, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), which cause the so-called greenhouse effect.
These gases are released into the atmosphere and concentrate around the Earth. In doing so, they prevent solar radiation reflected from the planet's surface in the form of heat from dissipating. This is why the planet's average temperature increases.
Causes and consequences of global warming
The use of fossil fuels, the forest deforestation and vegetation fires are among those responsible for global warming.
Its effects are devastating. One of them is the melting of polar ice caps, leading to rising sea levels and putting coastal cities at risk.
Other consequences are the increase in occurrences of natural disasters, such as storms and droughts, the desertification of natural areas, the extinction of species and the damage to food production due to compromising agricultural land.
However, there is no point in being alarmed, frightened and paralyzed by fear. It's needed act to combat global warming. And, to take effective action, first of all we need to know a little more about this evil that affects us.
Myths and truths about global warming
Now that we have clarified the main causes of the matter, see some myths and truths about global warming:
Global warming is not just human responsibility
True
However, it is estimated that human activities are responsible for 90% of the phenomenon. A much smaller portion (10%) is caused by natural causes, such as variations in the solar cycle.
Climate change like today has always existed
Myth
The climate on Earth has never been stable. There were periods, more than 3 million years ago, when average temperatures on the planet were 3ºC higher than at the beginning of the industrial era.
However, the big difference is that these climatic variations occurred gradually.
In just over 60 years, industrial civilization increased the concentration levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by 30%.
Cold waves prove that global warming does not exist
Myth
Climate instability causes scenarios of extreme heat and cold spikes as well.
Some scientists, for example, correlate the escapes from the polar vortex that caused the extreme cold of the 2019 winter in the United States to the weakening of the jet stream winds, a phenomenon caused by rising temperatures in the Arctic.
Half a degree of global warming makes a big difference
True
Already in Paris Agreement, in 2015, the countries' government leaders committed to keeping global warming below 2ºC in relation to pre-industrial levels, with the aim of making every effort to restrict this increase to 1.5ºC.
Does half a degree more or less seem like a small difference? When it comes to global warming, it is not.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report It shows just how impactful half a degree more can be.
The extinction of vertebrate animals, for example, doubles their size. And the scale of the problem of melting ice in the Arctic is multiplied tenfold.
Forests are the largest source of oxygen production in the world
Myth
Frederico Brandini, from USP's Oceanographic Institute, explains that seaweed in the oceans is responsible for most of the volume of oxygen produced on the planet. Trees actually “breathe” and consume almost as much oxygen as they produce.
Global warming worsens the problem of world hunger
True
By affecting areas dedicated to food production, global warming also increases the issue of hunger.
That's what happened in 2021 in Madagascar, according to officials from the UN World Food Program (WFP).
That year, the African island was hit by an unprecedented drought, which damaged harvests and left more than 1.3 million people in a state of acute malnutrition.
Electric cars are the solution to global warming
Myth
Without a doubt, they represent an important advance in relation to the fleet powered by fossil fuels. But it is not possible to point to them as a definitive solution for the emission of greenhouse gases, as their manufacture also generates pollution.
According to Davi Bertoncello, specialist in urban mobility, 46% of the environmental impact caused by a electric vehicle occurs during the production period of the car and battery.
Meanwhile, the use of non-polluting modes, such as bicycles, can mean an even greater advance in combat to global warming.
Global warming will worsen the world's water scarcity crisis
True
Global warming affects the planet's water cycle, causing increased evaporation and changing the rainfall regime.
Dry regions tend to have even less humidity, and, in regions that are already humid, the incidence and severity of floods will increase, as scientist Mike Meredith explains regarding the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2021 report.
These changes reduce the volume of drinking water available for consumption.
Global warming affects industrial regions most
Myth
Global warming, as the name suggests, is a phenomenon that affects the planet as a whole.
The air that is breathed in the regions where factories are concentrated obviously has a lower quality. But the effects of polluting gas emissions go much further, harming even places little inhabited by humans.
We just need to remember the melting of glaciers as one of the results of global warming.
Companies need to help combat global warming
True
The battle against global warming is not just for governments or civil society organizations.
At COP 26, in 2021, the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) reinforced the role of companies in the mission to reduce polluting gas emissions.
At the time, the group took a position in relation to the cause with the document “Entrepreneurs for the Climate”.
How iFood works to combat global warming
Firstly, with the advance compensation for CO emissions2 in deliveries, carried out since 2021.
When an order is placed on iFood, the emissions from that delivery have already been compensated, based on the metrics of the volume of polluting gases emitted per kilometer driven in the delivery operation and the projection of orders in the future.
Furthermore, in 2021 the company assumed the public commitment to become neutral in pollutant emissions making at least 50% of deliveries through clean modals. In Rio de Janeiro city, This goal has already been achieved.
Finally, iFood's third front of action against global warming is forest regeneration.
At the beginning of 2022, the iFood started planting 50 thousand seedlings in Porto Feliz (SP) and Marabá Paulista (SP), in partnership with SOS Mata Atlântica and using resources raised in the app with customer donations.
