Global Dimming

                 We always have been informed and alerted about the consequences of the global warming, but this specific phenomenon it is not only one which is happening at the current moment. Nowadays, the world has been suffering several results of our irresponsible attitudes against nature, which have concluded in undesirable events for the whole humanity and the world we live in. Global dimming has been proven to be an equal threat than global warming and we have to give it the real relevance it deserves.

                Global dimming is a phenomenon that consists on the gradual reduction of the sun irradiation which enters at the Earth’s surface. The consequences of this reduction are that the world is not receiving enough light; therefore, it has been producing a drop in the regular temperatures, as it has been observed since the 1950s.

                This climate change was discovered by Atsumu Ohmura, in the mid-1980s. He compared the average temperature of that decade with previous ones from 1950. Also, Gerry Stanhill made researches about this topic all around the world, published many articles and coined the term as “global dimming”.

                The probable cause is the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and wood which not only produces invisible carbon dioxide –the principal greenhouse gas responsible for global warming—but also tiny airborne particles of soot, ash, sulphur compounds and others pollutants that made clouds more reflective, so the incoming sunlight is reflected back into space and less reaches the face of the Earth. In addition, pollution dims the surface of the ocean by absorbing solar radiation.

                The consequences are highly tragic, because this phenomenon is produced by a chain effect: the contaminated air of Europe and North America does not allow sunlight to reach the ocean, which generate a fall in its temperature. Since the ocean is colder, the water resists evaporation and the required amount of rain is failed to reach The Sahel, Northern Africa.  It is now disclosed that the complex famines of 1970s and 1980s were caused by the less number of rains. "My main concern is global dimming is also having a detrimental impact on the Asian monsoon," says Professor Veerhabhadran Ramanathan, one of the world's leading climate scientists. "We are talking about billions of people." The monsoon rains of Asia provide rainfall to almost half of the world’s population. If Global Dimming is able to decrease the number of rains then half of the world’s population –around three billion people— will be starving.

                In our opinion, this is an unknown issue and we have to pay more attention to it, because it has caused more tragedies than the overexposed global warming. We, as Latin-Americans, are not an influent part of the cause of this catastrophe, but it is our duty to raise awareness about it