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How Warmer Nights are Reshaping Our Future

As nighttime temperatures steadily rise due to climate change, the world is experiencing unexpected consequences. This essay explores how warmer nights affect human health, agriculture, ecosystems, and energy use.

INFORMATIVE BLOG

Saanvi Patra

5/17/20254 min read

Imagine a world where even the nights can’t cool down—this is the new climate reality we face as rising minimum temperatures reshape life on Earth. The rise of minimum temperatures, or warmer nights, is going to have profound effects on our planet. Our planet will soon find itself having profound effects facing immense issues with altered plant growth cycles, heat stress, and strained water resources. These changes highlight the urgent need for measures to adapt to our evolving climate. The increase in temperature has many various factors to which it is due, however, the true reason for this increase is human activities, which include majorly carbon emissions. Along with this, it is essential to track these increments in temperature, as it helps us understand the extent of climate change and develop strategies to combat the negative effects.

It is vital to recognize the role of human actions in this phenomenon. Humans are the main cause of climate change, because of our activities such as — burning fossil fuels, producing livestock, and deforestation, which release heat-trapping greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere.These greenhouse gases have caused global temperatures, overall, to spike up over these past few years. However, there are also other contributors, such as natural phenomena. This includes changes in the sun, emissions from volcanoes, and variations in Earth’s orbit. Global warming has been accelerating rapidly over the past few years due to a combination of intensified human activities and natural phenomena. The rising of minimum temperatures in our environment, over the past few years, is accountable to the heightened emission of greenhouse gases caused by industrial growth, urbanization, and increased reliance on fossil fuels. The global economy's shift towards rapid consumerism has resulted in excessive carbon dioxide and methane emissions, largely from transportation and agriculture.

Nevertheless, the rising global temperature affects all living things or organisms, but not equally. The effects of climate change build upon one another to harm our ecosystems, our environment controls how each organism thrives and how they interact with one another in the biosphere. In ecosystems, temperature changes disrupt precipitation patterns, food availability, and habitats, forcing species to adapt or perish. Apart from ecosystems, the hike in temperatures also impacts our agriculture greatly. ‘Beyond a certain range of temperatures’, crop yield reduces, as crops speed through their development process, causing the crops to produce less grain. The increase in temperatures causes the transpiration in the plant to occur at a faster rate, which may lead to the plant drying out and perishing. However, the effect of these temperatures supersede agriculture, ‘contributing to many observed changes in weather and climate extremes. For example, when the temperature rises in the environment, the threshold of water vapor within the air increases, which, in turn, increases the intensity of heavy rainfall. As stated by the World Meteorological Organization — ‘more frequent and more intense weather events, such as severe heatwaves, and heavy precipitation lead to increased impacts on more vulnerable populations.

This extreme warmth in our environment also has acute effects on our health. This consists of respiratory diseases, impacting our lungs and heart, water-borne diseases, and heat related illnesses, such as heat strokes. Many scientists even believe that this climate crisis is on the verge of undoing 50 years’ worth of progress, with global health and poverty reduction. With regards to the issue of poverty, the economic impact comes into picture. The global economy has also not been spared from the effects of the rising temperatures. A recent study conducted shows that a 0.04°C increase in global temperature per year could reduce world real GDP per capita by more than 7% by 2100. However, it’s the developing countries that are facing the true blow of this matter. This is due to the heavy reliance of these countries on primary sector industries, which rely on climate-sensitive factors, like rainfall and the overall temperature, including industries like agriculture and fisheries. The middle-class families of these countries are the ones who end up facing the brunt.

Governments and organizations worldwide can take certain steps to mitigate these negative effects. Governments and industries should prioritize renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, and adopt sustainable practices like using eco-friendly materials, composting, recycling, and reusing resources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Certain governments have already started taking steps to do so, such as: India. India’s government has met 50% of its energy requirements by 2030. The government also launched several green initiatives such as The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), which outlines eight National Missions on climate change. By taking such measures, the global society may be able to overcome this problem. However, countries must work together in unity, in order to completely eradicate this issue as rising temperatures represent a significant global externality. This means that one country’s emissions affect all countries. International cooperation can help support developing and vulnerable countries, accelerate the transition to clean technologies, and support sustainable development. The United Nations (UN) has already taken several pivotal steps such as the COP28 agreement, which addressed international climate commitments to limit global warming. Nonetheless, it’s not just governments or governments who should take these steps; the people of the global society must play their role as well. We can take small steps, like opting for public transport, installing solar panels on roofs, and eating more plant-based meals. By taking these mere courses of actions, we will overcome this problem.

Personal responsibility toward societal well-being from the impending effects of global warming must also be safeguarded. With collective action driven by a sense of individual responsibility, mitigating and adapting to make their future sustainable will be a possibility. The time for action is presently here; after all, it is indeed our world that we have all depended upon.