Climate change is changing our economy, health and communities in diverse ways. Scientists warn that if we do not aggressively curb climate change now, the results will likely be disastrous. Global warming has been in the spotlight for some time now, and one process that is blamed for the increase in the global warming is the greenhouse effect. This essay will discuss what exactly greenhouse gases are, and what are the causes and effects of climate change.
According to Kortmann, R., Peijnenborgh, E. (2007), sunlight is one of the major sources of energy for living organisms. Apart from helping us with various energy needs, it also helps in keeping the atmosphere warm. When sunrays strike the surface of the earth, they are partly absorbed, and partly reflected back into the atmosphere. These reflected rays, known as infrared radiations, are captured by 'greenhouse gases', which helps in keeping our atmosphere warm. These greenhouse gases are carbon-monoxide, carbon-dioxide, methane, and water-vapors. Although, these gases form only around 1% of our atmosphere, they are extremely vital in maintaining the ecological balance and sustaining life on this planet. Without the presence of these gases, the temperature of the earth would be 30°C lower, which means that survival of living species would not be possible.
The greenhouse effect can be thought of as a process through which nature maintains a balance in the atmosphere. However, human activity in the past hundred years or so has caused an increase in the percentage of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which has in turn increased the average temperature on earth. In the atmosphere, gases such as water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, and methane act like the glass roof of a greenhouse by trapping heat and warming the planet. These gases are called greenhouse gases. The natural levels of these gases are being supplemented by emissions resulting from human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, farming activities and land-use changes (Garnett, 2006). As a result, the Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere are warming. Even small rises in temperature are accompanied by many other changes. Rising levels of greenhouse gases are already changing the climate.
The most significant greenhouse gas is CO2. When fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas are burnt, CO2 is released into the Earth's atmosphere. The cutting down of forests also increases the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, as growing forests remove CO2 from the atmosphere by absorbing it in wood, leaves and soil. This CO2 is released back into the atmosphere when forests are burnt (Garnett, 2006). The human activities of deforestation and fossil fuel use are the major anthropocentric causes of climate change.
Since the mid-1800s, the average global temperature increased by about 0.6 degrees C, impacting the entire world (Acts, 1998). According to McCarthy (2001), during the 20th century the global mean sea level rose by 10 to 20 cm, the overall volume of glaciers in Switzerland decreased by two-thirds and Arctic ice thickness in late summer and early autumn decreased by about 40%. Other significant observed changes include: i) a 40-60% decrease in total available water in the large catchment basins of Niger, Lake Chad and Senegal; ii) the retreat of 70% of sandy shorelines, and iii) a northward movement of some 100km of Alaska’s boreal forest for every 1 degree C rise in temperature.
Moreover, current climate change has already made “refugees” of two communities. The Lateu settlement, located in the Pacific island chain of Vanuatu, and the Shishmaref village, located on a small island in Alaska, were recently relocated – the former to escape rising sea levels, the latter degrading permafrost (McCarthy, 2001). It's clear that there are connections between climate change and the movement of people, but the connections are not as clear as the "climate refugee".
According to Acts (1998), Computer models
impacts Main article: Economic impacts of climate change Aggregating impacts adds up the total impact of climate change across sectors and/or regions.[126] Examples of aggregate measures include economic cost (e.g., changes in gross domestic product (GDP) and the social cost of carbon), changes in ecosystems (e.g., changes over land area from one type of vegetation to another),[127] human health impacts, and the number of people affected by climate change.[128] Aggregate measures such as economic…
Natalie Sesco English 1 Uri Hertz May 17, 2012 Environmental Issues Everyone talks about climate change and how the Earth is slowly deteriorating, but no one seems to have specific examples. In Linnea Saukko’s “How to Poison the Earth,” she does use specific examples of what is causing climate change. She uses satire with a hint of sarcasm in her essay. She gives the reader specific examples of how to poison the Earth, but not really wanting to poison the Earth…
Developing countries contribute less to climate change than developed countries and should, therefore, take less responsibility for dealing with it. To what extent do you agree with this statement? Climate change is an important issue, which affects all people around the world to a greater or lesser extent. The significance of this problem is that the effect might be tremendous in its scale and totally unpredictable. According to IPPC (2001), environmental changes accelerate the appearance of melting…
Climate Change: There are a number of global problems happening for example terrorism, spread of infectious diseases, poverty, economic crisis, proliferation of nuclear weapons, and increase in armed conflict but none of these problems is much bigger than climate change. I have a strong conviction that Climate Change is a major global problem that possesses the greatest threat to human existence on earth and thus we need to pay a lot attention to this climate change in every part of the world because…
Climate Change Issues Climate change is an issue that will affect every part of the planet, every area will be affected in some way. The earth runs in a cycle what happens at one end will eventually affect another. In recent decades glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plants and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner. The natural equilibrium of nature is changing; it has taken millions of years of evolution for planet earth to reach the inhabitable…
I am really interested on the topic of climate change, so I found listening to Emily speak about this topic through advocacy very beneficial. What I found specifically beneficial was that she actually went through the process of ways to truly make a difference, where most speakers tend to just provide information about the issue. There are three ways that she went through to help reduce the effects of greenhouse gases and decrease the rate of increasing global temperatures, which were through individual…
climate change is an issue that is affecting people all over the world. Climate change From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For current and future climatological effects of human influences, see global warming. For the study of past climate change, see paleoclimatology. For temperatures on the longest time scales, see geologic temperature record. Page semi-protected Atmospheric sciences ShipTracks MODIS 2005may11.jpg Atmospheric physics Atmospheric dynamics (category) Atmospheric chemistry…
The Climate Change Debate 1. Article Review – ‘Perception of Climate Change’ by Hansen et al. This article investigates the phenomena climate change and its aim is to use statistical data to support that climate change is real. An aspect of climate change named as ‘climate dice’ is mentioned in the article which referred to the chance of extreme weathers such as unusually cool or warm seasons. In the past three decades, there has been evidence of increasing climate dice ‘loading’ occurring…
“We have to face the reality of climate change. It is arguably the biggest threat we are facing today.” (William Hague). Climate change is the change in the patterns of the global climate, caused by the increase levels of carbon dioxide that are produced. The tropical forests that are being destroyed and the fossil fuels that are used every day are two of the causes of the large quantities of carbon dioxide that are released into the atmosphere. Climate change is an issue that affects us all and…
Environmental Changes have become one of the major threats to the world in the last decade. Climate change, for instance, does not only impact a single state at a domestic level, but it also influences nations’ well-beings at an international level. Therefore, it is significant for scholars, and politicians to have a valid understanding of the relationship between human and nature, since humans are one of the influencing variables that cause environmental changes. Many studies have been done to explain…