In the statistical distribution of weather condition and its perfect pattern in an amount of time ranging from decades to centuries to millions of years, a substantial, long-lasting and drastic change is largely known as Climate change. It may be a change in more or fewer extreme weather events or in the distribution of weather more or less the average conditions or in average weather conditions. With the usage of theoretical models and observations methods, scientists, experts and specialists in this particular field actively works in order to perfectly understand past and future climate under certain situation and circumstances.
Climate change, or global warming, is a major issue affecting many species around the globe. Climate change can be caused by burning fossil fuels, breeding cattle that create methane, cutting down forests which absorb carbon dioxide, and the extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere trapping the sunlight. These factors warm up the earth, and in the past century the earth has warmed by an average of about 1°. This doesn’t sound like much however on a global scale it’s huge and scientists predict a rise of up to 6°C in this century if greenhouse gasses are not cut drastically. Climate change is not just about the arctic sea ice melting, there are many other implications such as, severe storms, floods, and droughts; the sea becoming more acidic; rainforests dying, and drastic rise in sea levels. There are current strategies in place which are tackling climate change in general such as renewable energy and low carbon transport however there are also management strategies that are specific to species directly affected by climate change. When considering the species affected, many will think of the obvious species such as the polar bear and species living in cold habitats with snow and ice. This essay will address the impacts of climate change on an obvious species, the snow leopard, and a not so obvious species, sea turtles, and evaluate whether the current management of these species will be adequate to protect them in the future. It will also discuss alternative or additional management options that might help these species persist under a changing climate.
It was not until 1950, that the carbon dioxide level exceeded the average and almost doubled according to NASA. In the article written by NASA, it was stated that there is different amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere that started to appear in the mid-nineteen century. These gases are produced by the greenhouse effect and other different mankind activities like the burning of fossil fuels, clearing of land for agriculture, and industry. Humans contributed in the change of the natural effects of the greenhouse. The burning of fossil fuels like coil, oil, and other fuels is the number one way that mankind has changed the greenhouse effect. The number one chemical that fossil fuels contain is carbon. When carbon is released to the atmosphere, it mixes with oxygen to create a harmful chemical, known as carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is the most harmful chemical to the atmosphere because this chemical traps heat in the atmosphere which cause temperatures to increase(Climate Change
Climate change is triggering major changes in our planet. A simple rise or fall in general temperature can have a large effect on precipitation patterns and the frequency of storms. The rise in the sea level, which has been accounted for and is constantly rising has been the result of melting of ice and glaciers.
As the Earth warms sea levels rise. Melting glaciers add to the problem by dumping even more fresh water into the oceans. “The IPCC estimates that melting ice caps and glaciers accounted for about 25% of sea level rise from 1993 to 2003” (edf, 2014). Rising seas threaten to destroy low areas and islands, erode shorelines, damage property and destroy ...
Sea levels are also affected by global temperature change. Because the polar ice caps are melting and that’s causing more water to be on earth and causing our sea levels to rise. Our Sea levels have been rising and have risen 4 inches within the last century. Which causes less land for us because in will be overtaken by new water rising from the ice melting away. We’d have to go to higher grounds, the less the land the less people we can have. Ocean animals will be harmed when the cold water comes down if they're not suppose to be in cold water and cold water animals will be harmed because they're not suppose to be in warmer waters. The polar bears and other arctic animals will become extinct once there habitat is gone. Tectonic plates are affected too it doesn’t only move land but also the sea. It can cause tsunamis and earthquakes.
As stated before climate change is a change in global or regional climate patterns. Climate change is expected to have the largest impact on the oceans and other large bodies of water especially through flooding and droughts. A few effects from climate change include rising sea levels due to thermal expansion and melting of glaciers, which will warm the ocean surface, and increase core temperature. Going back to Holthaus’ article he states that, “Possibly worse than rising ocean temperatures is the acidification of the water. Acidification has a direct effect on mollusks and other marine animals with hard outer bodies” (Holthaus). Acidification is the lowering of the oceans pH level, and this happens from carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. Climate change is effecting significant streams, because water levels in rivers and the rising temperatures are killing fish, especially salmon, that are unable to survive in these rivers. Holthaus says, “Salmon are crucial to their coastal ecosystem like perhaps few other species on the planet. A significant portion of the nitrogen in West Coast forests has been traced back to salmon, which can travel hundreds of miles upstream to lay their eggs. The largest trees on Earth simply wouldn 't exist without salmon” (Holthaus). With the warm and low level of water, there would not be any salmon and, without these salmon populating the rivers there would not be an
In an era of rising technology and increasing population, demands on the environment are continually being pushed to new levels. As a result, it becomes important for us to expand our knowledge about the environment and take appropriate actions to protect this element of most importance to human existence. One component of our environment experiencing some of the greatest abuse due to humans is the air. Air pollution has been on the rise ever since the beginning of industrialization. The climbing number of factories and use of cars worldwide are the major culprits of this environmental hazard. There are various gases released into the air that can be considered air pollutants, but one of the most prevalent and dangerous to the environment is carbon dioxide (CO2). Up to 95% of the CO2 produced is the result of natural processes (Burnett & Matthews Jr., 1998). The rest is a direct result of human activity, primarily through the burning of fossil fuels in the production of energy
Global Warming changing the earth’s climate is already having an effect on the world’s water supply in many ways, and is predicted to be much worse. Global Warming and climate change will influence water temperatures, weather systems and for the amount of water in streams and rivers. A change in the world’s water is a concern for the whole world. Climate change will affect both the quality and the quality of water, algae and bacteria will grown in areas where they are not normally found, and in other areas, salinity of the water will rise. A rise in atmospheric temperature will speed up the pace of the water cycle, it produce more rapid evaporation leading to more intense storms, floods and drought. In some cases, areas can become susceptible to becoming wetter and drier than normal, experiencing increased flooding in the winter and more drought risks in the summer.
Climate change, otherwise known as global warming, has grown more apparent in recent years, with increased natural disasters, significantly warmer temperatures and unreasonably long seasons. Global warming is one of the main concerns that scientists have been researching for the past century. Scientific evidence shows that global warming is caused by human behaviors. Due to the amount of human-induced carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that have been released into the air, the earth is becoming a highly poisonous place to live on. Earth’s climate has been constantly changing ever since the Industrial Revolution, when innovations began and factories were built, which emitted mass air pollution. As more technological advances continued the years after, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air also increased. According to the UPI Space Daily News, “Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) - the main cause of global warming - increased by 45% between 1990 and 2010, and reached an all-time high of 33 billion tonnes in 2010” (Writers 1). The 1900s through the 2000s is the time period in which humans caused the most air pollution by creating vehicles and other industrial machinery. In the contemporary time period, human activities that contribute to climate change consist of hydraulic fracturing, rice cultivation, the increase of fossil fuel burning, and the rise of deforestation.
The Earth’s biosphere is being affected by climate change in numerous ways. The interactions that occur between the hydrosphere and atmosphere are leading to changes in our ocean’s chemistry that could be devastating to humans in the future generations to come. Climate change is the modification in the climate patterns. The effects of climate change have become particularly apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and have been substantially contributed to by the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.
The earth is a complex system, which continues to evolve and change. Climate change and global warming are currently popular in the political agenda. But what does “climate” really mean? The difference between weather and climate can be conveyed in a single sentence: “Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.” Based on research of the geologic record, we know that climate change has happened throughout Earth's history and at present, ever-increasing evidence points to the roles that humans play in altering Earth systems. The Earth and its atmosphere receive heat energy from the sun; the atmospheric heat budget of the Earth depends on the balance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing radiation from the planet; which has been constant over the last few thousand years. However present evidence seems to suggest that the recent increase in temperature has been brought about by pollution of the atmosphere, in particular the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide, mostly through Anthropogenic Forcing (human activity) and other various internal and external factors. I...
More people are more familiar with the term “global warming” instead of “climate change.” However, scientists prefer “climate change” because the term gives the public a more complete sense of what is going on. The Earth is not merely warming up. Because of the excessive amount of carbon dioxide, other phenomena occur as well. For instance, as the concentration of carbon dioxide increases, the acidity of the ocean also increases. When the pH changes in ocean water, the organisms living in it will be affected because they are not used to the new environment that is changing rapidly. Anot...
Oceans are one of the most difficult areas to measure and take data from in our environment. However, we must first explore whether the oceans are actually being affected by global warming or not. Scientists have tried to use computerized models of our Earth’s oceans in order to make predictions on global warming effects. Teams of oceanographers have also been compiling ocean temperature readings from 1948 to 1996 in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans. The study done by this team came to the conclusion that ocean temperatures below 300 meters have been raised a tenth of a degree Fahrenheit since the 1950s. Also, closer to the surface, ocean waters have increased in temperature by about 0.5 degrees (Pawelski, 2000). The principal author of this study and chief of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Climate Laboratory, Sydney Levitus, said, “These temperature changes may seem small, but they represent very large changes in heat content of the ocean, and this heat will eventually find it its way back to the atmosphere.” (Pawelski, 2000). Thus, although these temperature changes in the ocean seem small, they can have quite a large effect on our Earth’s atmosphere. Levitus also mentions that a large portion of global warming that seems to be absent in our atmosphere is actually in our oceans. We have found the “missing warming” in our oceans and now it is necessary that we try to reduce it (Kerr, 2000). From Levitus’ study alone and also from recent att...
According to the Canada’s Action on Climate Change, Climate change is a long-term shift in weather conditions identified by changes in temperature, precipitation, winds, and other indicators. Climate change can involve both changes in average conditions and changes in variability, including, for example, extreme events. Climate change is one of the biggest crisis in the earth. It will cause a huge damage to the eco-system and human. We are the victims of the climate change. However, we are the one who cause the climate change.