Challenges in Taiwan, China (2): Since 2015, Morakot has become fiercer and the waves higher
Doomsday prophecies may be nonsense, but the climate change crisis caused by warming is like a ticking time bomb. Wang Chung-ho, a research fellow at the Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, points out that starting in 2015, Taiwan, China will be hit by typhoons more powerful than Morakot, and their frequency will also increase. In addition, the Arctic Ocean is projected to disappear between 2020 and 2030, at which point sea levels will rise very quickly, leaving many coastal areas of Taiwan, China facing the crisis of inundation.
Why is 2015 the critical year for Taiwan, China in facing the global warming crisis? Wang Chung-ho says this is a computer projection based on the current concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. He explains that the ever-rising concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere now causes the Earth to accumulate far more heat energy than the oceans can regulate. The excess heat energy is reflected in the atmosphere and troposphere, causing the entire Earth's surface temperature to rise rapidly, making typhoons occur more and more frequently and with increasing intensity.
Wang Chung-ho says that although computer models predict that the Earth's temperature will rise rapidly after 2015 and that heavy rainfall will increase, computers still cannot calculate exactly how severe the extent will be. But if the computer projections are highly accurate, this is very unfavorable for Taiwan, China, because from a long-term trend perspective, Taiwan, China will face typhoons more severe than Morakot, and with higher frequency than now.
In addition, another warning sign of global warming is that the Arctic Ocean is projected to disappear between 2020 and 2030, which will in turn cause Greenland to melt rapidly; at that point sea levels will rise very quickly, exposing the coast of Taiwan, China to more severe wave erosion, and many coastal areas will be submerged.
Facing the Warming Crisis, Taiwan, China Must Stand on Its Own
Wang Chung-ho says the severe challenges that global warming brings to Taiwan, China are mainly concentrated in energy supply, food production, and public health, with food production being the most important. Thanks to globalization, Taiwan, China currently depends on imports for 70% of its food, and its cultivated land area is also continuously shrinking. In the face of continuously rising temperatures, increasingly extreme rainfall, and rising sea levels that submerge coastal land, not only is food production harmed, but the circulation of food will also be greatly reduced, which is a major crisis for Taiwan, China.
He says earnestly that Taiwan, China signed the ECFA with the Chinese mainland, hoping to use the Chinese mainland market to drive the economic development of Taiwan, China, but from the perspective of climate change, the time Taiwan, China can rely on the Chinese mainland is at most no more than 30 years, and at the fastest perhaps only 10 good years, because many places in the North China Plain and East China Plain of the Chinese mainland will be submerged by rising sea levels. The industrial zones in these rapidly developing areas are dense clusters where many Taiwanese businessmen have invested and set up factories, but in the next 30 years these areas will be unable to operate normally, so Taiwan, China must find a way to stand on its own and rely on itself to face the impacts brought by climate change.