The earth has experienced climate change for the entirety of its existence. For billions of years, this change has occurred at a relatively slow pace, with exceptions being caused by events such as large scale volcanic eruptions. Now, humans are the cause for high rates of climate change and damage to the environment. This is beginning to have damaging effects on not only us, but the world around us, and we are only just started to take action. Efforts to reduce climate change would be more realized if not for the resistance of many due to misconceptions, money, and a reluctance to change. Short- and long-term solutions are being developed by the brightest minds, but they will not work without
We often hear the words “global warming” and “climate change” on the news and in politics, but no one seems to explain what they really are and the major effects they are having on the world. We just know that they are “bad” and needs to be “stopped”. What really is climate change and how has it come to be such a major problem in today’s world?
Climate change has been active since the first days of Earth. Under definition climate change means “a long-term change in the earth's climate, especially a change due to an increase in the average atmospheric temperature.” (Dictionary). Climate change can be seen making an impact all over the world. There are many theories and beliefs as to why the climate is currently changing, but there is no hard evidence that makes the real cause of climate change clear. There are many possible causes to the changes in climate that we see, but none are known for sure. These possible causes include global warming, such as burning fossil fuels, and even solar related issues such as the position of earth and our sun. We know climate change is occurring because of unusual changes that are currently happening on our planet right in front of our eyes. Drought, polar ice caps melting, the extinction of animals, floods, and food and water shortages, are just a few of these abnormal changes. Majority of average day people do not take climate change seriously, they just don't see it as a grave issue. We should really start seeing it as one, or these brutal and possibly fatal surges of odd weather will continue to get worse.
Interesting fact: 86 percent of American adults drive cars and 72 percent believe that people need to limit emitting greenhouse gases (Winke). Where is the connection between American thought and action regarding climate change?
In recent years, scientists have discovered that humans are causing climate change, day after day. Human activities such as burning fossil fuels, or chopping down trees are not only harming our air, they are also causing the earth’s temperature to dramatically rise. According to The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, "global mean air surface temperature increased by 0.5 degrees Celsius in the 20th century and is projected to further increase by 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius in this century” (Shaobing, Jianliang, Sheehy, Laza, Visperas, Zhong, Centeno, Khush, & Cassman 9971). With such high rising temperatures comes the rise of greenhouse gases. It is an accepted fact that climate change is natural, but what is not natural is the human-caused effect of greenhouse gases. “The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has progressively increased over the last century or so. For example, [CO2] has increased from pre-industrial levels of 280 ppm to 379 ppm” (Craufurd & Wheeler 2529). Raising C02 is weakening our air, our environment, and even our precious lives. With such high t...
According to the American Meteorological Society, there is a 90 percent probability that global temperatures will rise by 3.5 to 7.4 degrees Celsius (6.3 to 13.3 degrees Fahrenheit) in less than one hundred years, with even greater increases over land and the poles. Such shifts in temperature could and will trigger widespread disasters in the form of rising sea levels, violent and volatile weather patterns, desertification, famine, water shortages, and other secondary effects including conflict. Therefore, avoiding the worst consequences of climate change will require large cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions. While it is futile denying that the industrial revolution happened in Europe and afterwards in the US and these two continents released much more greenhouse gases while the rest of the world was living a mainly agrarian life, they shouldn’t be the only ones to bear the costs of mitigation and adaption today.
“Global climate change” is the hippest buzz phrase for radical environmentalists, dutiful scientists, industry heads, and policy-makers alike. Philosophically, it is proof that the environment is humanity’s connective tissue; whether your life’s work is spent tilling a field, manufacturing steel, or conducting conference calls, global climate change affects you. The gravity of this human-environment issue is highlighted in the headlines of the EPA’s “Science and Policy News”: “Researchers See ‘No Doubt’ of Human Influence on Climate,” “Climate Change May Be Greater Threat to Biodiversity than Habitat Loss,” “Largest Arctic Ice Shelf Breaks Up” (http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/NewsandEventsScienceandPolicyNews.html). To ensure the further sustainable progress of humanity, it is critical that we work to understand our relationship to climate and its changes.
Our world is always changing, so is our climate. Some changes are apparent, others not so much. Climate change is an important issue of concern in the twenty-first century. Environment, if it changes at all, evolves so slowly that the difference cannot be seen in a human lifetime (Wearth, 2014). Mostly all scientists predicted that it would take thousands of years for the planet to warm up due to emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels called greenhouse gases. But in the past 200 years, things began to change. The rate and the amount of warming that is happening on this planet are unprecedented. Wearth says, “People did not grasp the prodigious fact that both population and industrialization were exploding in a pattern of exponential
This change can be subtle or drastic, but as truth may have it we life in a global society where the climate is changing drastically, weather patterns are becoming increasingly unstable, the ice caps in colder regions are beginning to melt, earthquakes are growing stronger in magnitude and becoming more prevalent. As of today all the signs and studies have proven true, human activities definitely have a large role to lay in the growth of global warming, by the continuous creation of factories along with the growth of greenhouses, toxic gases consisting of carbon dioxide continue to be distributed into the atmosphere, and with this continuous growth comes the destruction of plants which are responsible for purifying the air by taking in the carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, it is easy to see why; and although few have come in defence of human beings to place this claim on the stage to be closely analysed and debunks, unfortunately for them all the facts presented so far have added up in support of the claim. Mankind may be on a dangerous path to destruction, but not for long this is not how thing must remain, and as time would have it, it is not too late. We may not have the abilities to turn back the hands of time; but rather we can proceed with tim into a better tommorow, increase educational engagement in the sciences, by teaching children at a younger age about climate change during their introductions into chemistry, biology, and earth science. Inclined with the education of the student a focus on better interacting with the environment to improve habitats for animal and teach the importances in reducing the damaging toxins in the air and on the ground. following these steps may not have a great effect right away; however in the long rich , by following these steps we can give birth to a future where the children we know today will grow to become environmental specialist, engineers, social
“Our generation has inherited an incredibly beautiful world from our parents and they from their parents. It is in our hands whether our children and their children inherit the same world” (Richard Branson). This quote is a brief rewording of the issue we have today with global warming. For those who are not aware of what global warming is, it is when too much carbon dioxide is added into the atmosphere. Global warming can cause sever hurricanes, intense weather, and many other natural disasters. For example, the lack of protection to our species and natural resources has led to many conflicts around the world. The lack of conservation of natural resources and need for habitat protection has had a major impact on the environment also. The idea of going green is a great way to help our planet and to help our future generations. As stated in the opening quote our parents and their parents passed down this beautiful world for us, so we need to take care of it because we will be inheriting this beautiful world to our children and their children. According to the Toronto Star “Global warming will doubtlessly lead to global warring over resources. Add in extreme weather and rising sea levels and it’s a volatile mix that promises extreme violence and suffering” (Zerbisias3). Global warming is a major issue today that needs to be taken into great consideration by everyone due to the fact that what we are doing today is only going to affect the future generations. Global warming is leading to many problems such as lack of resources, severe climate changes, intense heat waves, and economic consequences.
Although others have questioned the validity of the assertion that human actions are responsible for current global climate and environment predicaments, it remains an undeniable fact that the current changes we are experiencing in the global climate and environment is as a result of our actions and the inactions to alter these adverse actions. The adverse effects of climate and environmental change and the rapid rate of damage emanating from this phenomenon place an urgent call on us, as individuals and society, to change our behavior (Ehrlich & Ehrlich 2012, Patchen 2006, Schellinhuber et al. 2006). Although in the last decade many people around the world have been trying to bring relevant changes in policy and behavior in the form of political parties, non-governmental organisations and lobby groups; however, a great number of people seem to be unperturbed about climate and environment change and as such ...
The first part of this essay discusses what the human species has done to deal with the problem of climate change. While some improvements have been made, the problem has not been addressed aggressively enough to stop the damage. What is amazing about this is the denial of so many people that problems exist. If they do realize the risks, they are simply not taking actions to contain the damage.
Rather than worry too much about emissions, we should accept the world is going to get warmer anyway and adapt to global warming by building better flood defenses and developing drought resistant crops.
With his new role as the President of the United States, Donald Trump has several plans that he hopes to implement within the next four years of his presidency. Among these plans are his visions for the issue of climate change, a highly debated topic between government officials and members of the scientific community. Trump, along with several conservative christian congressmen, does not believe that climate change is a human caused issue. Many of them claim that it is a hoax, with Trump even claiming that climate change was “created by the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive” (Source). As a result, Trump plans to repeal many of the actions President Obama set forth for climate change during his presidency. Specifically,