Global warming and climate change are among the leading challenges facing the modern world. Both phenomena have received considerable public interest and have become subjects of concern for international bodies, such as the UN, as well. Discussions have been had and legislation has been passed regarding the two on the international and domestic levels.
Frequently, the two terms—”global warming” and “climate change”— are used interchangeably. However, although they are undeniably linked, they refer to two different events and must not be confused for one another. The contemporariness of the topic and its consequences require students and educators to have a clear understanding of these ideas. For help on essays about climate change and global warming, read on to find out about the difference between the two and how they are related to the greenhouse effect.
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The Greenhouse Effect
Image Credits: Efbrazil / Wikimedia Commons (licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)
In order to comprehend global warming and climate change, one must first understand the greenhouse effect. This phenomenon was recognized in the early 1900s and named so after the effect that the presence of certain gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), has on the global temperature.
The earth’s atmosphere is composed of several different gases and solid particles, some of which are invisible to the naked eye and all of which are able to float in the air. When the rays of the sun hit the surface of the earth, some of the heat they carry gets absorbed by the land and water, while the rest get reflected back up. However, even once these rays begin to travel away from the earth, they do not escape the earth’s atmosphere without divesting some more of their heat energy. The particles in the atmosphere along with certain gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), have the capacity to hold on to some of the heat of solar rays. These often continue to exist in the atmosphere over long periods of time, thus keeping that heat trapped around the earth. This is known as the greenhouse effect, and the gases that contribute to it are called the greenhouse gases.
This phenomenon ensures an environment that is conducive to the growth and survival of life on Earth. The most prominent greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, and it tends to remain inert in the air for a long time, unless it is used up for photosynthesis.
What is Global Warming?
The earth’s climate has not been consistent over the billions of years since the formation of the planet. Its surface temperatures and those of the atmosphere around it have undergone noticeable changes since the beginning, with the occurrence of events such as the Ice Age.
This continuous shift in the climate conditions of the earth is due to a phenomenon termed “global warming.” Accurate record keeping of the earth’s average temperature began toward the end of the 19th century, and it was then that a note was made of the gradual trend of temperature increases over the course of several years. This increase of the earth’s temperature over the long term is called global warming.
However, a drastic change in the trend was noticed, starting in the mid-20th century. Earlier, the rise was about 0.13°F per decade; since the 1980s, this rate of increase has nearly doubled, coming up to around 0.32°F per decade. This has resulted in global warming becoming one of the key concepts studied in climate and environmental sciences today.
Global warming is an outcome of the greenhouse effect. The rise in temperature is possible only due to the heat-retentive properties of greenhouse gases. Though related, the greenhouse effect and global warming are not the same—the latter is an effect of the former.
An otherwise natural phenomena, global warming has become exaggerated as a result of human activities since the Industrial Revolution.
Both these phenomena are natural ones, but they have recently been exaggerated by human activities. The Industrial Revolution is widely regarded as the main culprit; the massively increased scale of production created an increased reliance on fossil fuels. When fossil fuels such as coal and oil are burnt, they release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Thus, the Industrial Revolution led to a compounding of the greenhouse effect. Since then, the development of other technologies reliant on the burning of fossil fuels (such as cars) has piled on. This, combined with large scale deforestation around the world, has exacerbated the greenhouse effect in recent years. The result is a sharp increase in the rate of global warming.
What is Climate Change?
Weather and climate are the terms used to refer to the atmospheric conditions of a region. They include phenomena such as precipitation, humidity, and wind patterns. Weather is short term and changes day to day. Climate, on the other hand, is defined as the average weather patterns experienced by the region over a period of time.
Climate, too, experiences shifts and changes over a long period. For instance, over the course of a year, a particular region witnesses different seasons and the different types of climates that are associated with them. However, the term “climate change” refers to the changes that take place across even longer periods of time—decades and even centuries.
Just like with global warming, a rapid increase in the rate of climate change has been observed in recent years. Global warming and the changes in temperature it causes are, in fact, a factor of climate change. However, the term “climate change” encompasses several more events, such as melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and the observation of more and more extreme weather events in various parts of the globe. Even natural occurrences, such as El Nino and volcanic activity, have grown more violent in the ways they are expressed in nature.
The Importance of Climate Change and Global Warming
Both climate change and global warming are naturally occurring shifts in global atmospheric conditions. However, over the last century, both phenomena have become intensely aggravated due to human activities.
In the natural course of events, both of them would have gone largely unnoticed by casual observers of weather, subtle enough to only be traced through weather records maintained over several years. But now, their consequences are obvious as the world witnesses hotter summers and colder winters across the board. Year after year, weather patterns become increasingly erratic. Events such as floods, droughts, storms, and forest fires are becoming more common, with more dramatic results.
This upheaval in the environment affects humans as well as the plants, animals, and other creatures that live on Earth. Food and water supplies get hit as agriculture is suddenly subject to a drastically altered climate. Extreme temperatures render certain areas as almost uninhabitable, even as they impact health.
The accelerated rate of climate change in recent years is believed to be the cause of the increasingly extreme weather events taking place in various parts of the world.
Thus, these consequences of climate change and global warming have made the two phenomena the key areas of study for contemporary environmental sciences, as well as the subjects of international discourse and legislation as the search is on for solutions to stop or at least mitigate them.
