Introduction
In today’s modern world, we as consumers are caught up by how quick the world is advancing and not seeing the impact, it has on our environment. Today we are seeing more and more natural disasters and shift in the climate. This is due to human and organisations affect the environment. Some suggest that industrialised nations are consuming more than the environment can give, whereas non-industrialized are not. We need to work as a planet to rectify these issues (South End Press, 2000). Environmental sustainability is a key global issue for us now and it could be catastrophic if nothing implemented to mitigate the situation we as consumers have put ourselves in. Human consumption of natural capital is where it starts, from simply
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Such as the summers are getting warmer, winters getting colder, melting off the ice caps, and rise of sea water levels. These are the basic features of what climate change is and what climate change is doing to our environment and what impact it can have on us as consumers but have a major impact on organisations. Evidences have shown that GHG emissions have been rising each year in the past decade and it making a major impact on our environment. The primary cause for this is due to human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels, which is the primary cause (Department of Climate Change & Energy Efficiency. (2011). Scientists say that if we omit 600 billion tonnes by 2050 we will have a good chance of staying within the 2 degrees Celsius barrier. However, if we exceed this amount of emissions climate change could be so severe that this could be the biggest challenge for society (Department of Climate Change & Energy Efficiency. (2011). This evidence shows that we as consumers are having a major impact on the environment and if we don’t either adapt or mitigate this problem we could see that the world we live in today could be no longer in the future. Climate change is important for consumers and organisations to address, because if they do not a major loss financially could occur for the organisation. Bazerman states that climate change can be described as a ‘predictable surprise ‘and as a ‘wicked …show more content…
Natural disaster such as flooding, drought, bushfire, earthquakes and tsunamis can have a big effect on organisations. An example, the past decade Australia had one of the biggest natural disasters (drought). This effect had a major impact on sport and recreation facilities such as; grounds were not suitable for play and unable to water grounds due to water restrictions. This natural disaster could occur again and many other natural disasters could occur. This evidence states that it is an importance for an organisation to address and be prepared for climate change. Organisations have to address this by either adapting or mitigating the problem, they cannot solve or fix climate change but they can mitigate their impact on the environment and do their bit to stop climate change from getting
Global Warming, much of what does or does not happen forty years from now, rests on our actions or inactions taken between now and then. The crucial question is whether we should pour all our resources into mitigation – reducing our carbon emissions. According to scientists who study the climate, there are other environmental problems; “we now face a global crisis in land use and agriculture that could undermine the health, security, and sustainability of our civilization”. 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. We cannot dispute that automobiles, factories, and power plants, displace an unprecedented twenty tons of carbon monoxide per person per year.
For a significant number of years it has been evident that global temperatures were rising and that human activity is a major contributing factor to this rise. The rise in temperature is not only heating the planet but having an adverse effect on the global climate.
It’s been said by many and thought by others, countless times before. “It’s not that bad. The media and these environmentally obsessive individuals are over exaggerating the negative global climate change impacts”. After all the planets warming has potential to produce positive outcomes as well. It has even been argued that carbon dioxide is not a pollutant; rather it is an essential component for photosynthesis, a process that indirectly supports human life deeming the greenhouse effect as normal. Furthermore the warming of the planet would result in less harsh and cold winters; in turn this would mean fewer deaths, predominantly among vulnerable groups such as the elderly. Environmentally this could potentially produce greener rainforests and enhanced plant growth in the Amazon, increased vegetation in northern
Thus with the effect of climate change, business are affected with the different natural calamities. Businesses in any line are affected as natural disaster can affect in any way.
Climate change is a term used to describe the increase in the average temperature of the earth’s surface and has been a major problem recently. Our world is constantly changing and therefore so is our climate, as our country industrializes we create more greenhouse gases from the immense human activity being produced. “These gases get into the atmosphere when coal, natural gas and oil is burned for energy and over the last century the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil has increased the concentration of carbon dioxide… the clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and other human activities has increased concentrations of greenhouse gases.”(NASA 1). Climate change is causing global warming that causes the earth to heat up rather than
One of the most compelling and difficult environmental problems society faces today is climate change. People do not realize how much the environment has changed for the worse in the last ten years, until they are told that the last two decades of the 20th century have been the hottest in the last 400 years, according to climate studies (Conserve Energy Future). Today, the carbon dioxide levels have reached 396.81 parts per million (ppm). “Carbon dioxide (CO2) has also increased over the last 100 years-- from about 300 ppm to 370 ppm. Interestingly, the majority of these additions have occurred in the last 50 years, when temperature increases have been the slowest” (geocraft).
“In the last three decades, the United States has had an average of 80% consumption of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil; all of which contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases” (Josef). All over the world, climate is varied; however, that is not the problem. The problem is that our climate and weather patterns are changing and leaving disaster and catastrophe in its wake. The common question of debate is whether humans are the main cause of this climate change, if it is solely a natural occurrence, and what can we do about it? “Climate change refers to any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time. In other words, climate change includes major changes in temperature, precipitation, or wind
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
Humans have been destroying the planet since we were able to stand on two legs. As a society, we need to work to reverse these terrible effects that our existence has on the planet. Sustainability is one way to begin reversing these effects, while still living our daily lives. In 2006, Al Gore presented his documentary, “ An Inconvenient Truth”, as a way to show the world the evidence behind global warming, climate change and the destruction of our planet. This documentary shocked the world. It was clear that changes needed to be made, but the destruction was more intense than previously thought. SInce this revelation in 2006, companies have tried to cut down on their greenhouse emissions, as well as offered sustainable products to their customers. Through a debate of morals and
The commonly debated “greenhouse effect” refers to “the global average temperature increase that has been observed over the last one hundred years or more” (Spencer). President Barack Obama addressed the issue in an effort to highlight its severity, "We have to all shoulder the responsibility for keeping the planet habitable, or we’re going to suffer the consequences – together” (Leader). The earth’s increasing atmospheric and oceanic temperatures result in climate changes due to cumulative amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. As an outcome, researchers around the globe have established that the by-product of burning fossil fuels is the main culprit of the increasing temperatures. Global carbon emissions from fossil fuels have significantly increased since 1900, as shown above from a study carried out by the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center.
In conclusion, global climate change is a very long discussion with many ways to improve the environment, but a long journey to finding a solution. Although we can 't do away with our main sources like power plants, cars, and factories we must continue to find solutions to making our environment safer and suitable to live in. Hopefully in the near future we will have a better understanding of how to address our global climate changes, but for now, we can focus our ideas on preventative ways to not harm ourselves and our
Global Warming is a condition caused by greenhouse gases and human activities. The increased concentration of greenhouse gases due to activities such as deforestation and fossil fuel burning is causing the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans to warm up. As a result of this, global warming has some serious effects in the shape of extreme weather, species extinctions, and rising sea levels. These effects can contribute to the changes that are taking place all over the world, most of which are dangerous enough to pose a threat to the survival of life on Earth in the future.
Climate change is a long-term alteration in the statistical distribution of weather pattern over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. The world is currently experiencing drastic change in temperature. This change can be felt in the tropical climate areas where the weather is getting hotter and hotter every day. The change in global temperatures and precipitation over time is due to natural variability or to human activity. It is also caused by accumulation of greenhouse effects (Arrhenius, 1896). Should we as humans let this problem worsen? Climate change will affect everything including humans, flora and fauna, and the environment.
The burning of fossil fuels has greatly harmed our environment and is a leading cause as to why climate change has become such a threat to our way of living. In May of 2013, the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached 400 parts per million, an increase of more than 40 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. This could cause the Arctic Ocean to be nearly ice-free during the summer by 2020(Overland and Wang, 2013).
One of the most substantial problems in the world today is global warming. This gradual warming of the earth is in occurrence at an extremely slow rate but it is happening. Many scientists believe that as human’s work and release greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere, it can become dangerous for the long lasting life of humans and our environment. “Unless we take immediate action, the impacts of global warming will continue to intensify, grow ever more costly and damaging, and increasingly affect the entire planet - including you, your community, and your family” (“Global Warming Impacts”). Everyone should be knowledgeable about global warming and the dangers that it brings to our planet. This essay will examine