The Causes And Effects Of Climate Change

Global warming is the steady heating of Earth’s land, oceans, and atmosphere caused primarily by human activity. Climate change is one of the world’s biggest challenges right now, from people actively arguing that it doesn’t exist- to other’s who don’t care enough to do anything about it. There’s evidence showing that climate change is happening and affecting our world now and from what it seems, if action isn’t taken, major consequences will soon arise. Most of the world’s land mass has experienced a 0.2-1.0 degree Celsius average temperature increase since the 1970s, the temperatures of the Artic has increased at almost twice the mean global rate. Climate change is caused by human factors such as greenhouse gases and ozone depletion and because humans are so dependent on fossil fuels in their day to day lives, the issue at hand is only going to get worse.

Though the center of much debate, one undeniable fact is that climate change is occurring and affects every part of planet Earth. Some effects are actually positive, such as higher rates of photosynthesis in trees due to absorption of more abundant CO2 and warmer temperatures. However, most of the negative effects of climate change outweigh or counteract positive growth. Negative effects of climate change are affecting the land, water, plants, and animal life on planet Earth.

Human health is slowly diminishing, the ocean and sea levels are increasing dramatically, and plant life around the earth is vanishing- all due to the longly debated topic of climate change. Climate change is no myth; it’s a further analysis of how our planet is suffering the negative effects of human carelessness, which can be observed through the glaciers worldwide. Due to fossil fuel consumption and deforestation, greenhouse gasses are beyond regular amounts and affecting the glaciers, causing them to melt and increase ocean and sea levels.

What really causes climate change? Is it human cause or is a natural process that is happening? I think that us as humans contribute more to climate change then natural causes.

Climate change and the impact it will have on the Earth are a real and increasing cause of concern. Rising sea levels and sea temperatures, increases in the frequency of extreme weather events and increased acidity in the ocean are some of the things that will have a devastating impact on human agriculture. Unless something is done to change these things, lesser developed countries; many and most of which are majority Islamic, will face food shortages, disease and famine, resulting in people displacement, mass refugees and death. Islam is practised worldwide, majority of those countries where the Islamic faith is practised, are poorly developed countries.

Humans may be causing the world to end? According to Melissa Davey, “Greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans over the past 45 years, on the the other hand, ‘have increased the rate of temperature rise to 1.7 degrees Celsius per century, dwarfing the natural background rate,”’...(Okco 2). Furthermore, scientists have proved that simple chemistry, the monitoring of climate control, and the ruling out of natural factors were an essential part in proving how this had hurt our climate. Climate change will be disastrous if not changed.

Climate change can affect plants and animals that live in a delicate environment. Climate change affects populations of plants and animals in random ways. These changes in plant and animal habitat could affect migration patterns (Cohn 2). Plants will be more affected by a change in scenery more than animals because plants depend on the right temperature and rainfall in order to stay alive. Another reason that plants will be affected more is that plants stay in one place and animals can move if the habitat is hazardous to their health (Cohn 2). Comparing the present and expected future range of the species is one way to examine the consequences of climate change. Margaret Davis is an American palynologist and paleoecologist who received a B.A from Radcliffe College, Ph.D. in biology from Harvard University and an honorary M.S from Yale University. She served as president of the Ecological Society of America and the American Quaternary Association and as chair of the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1982. Davis used computer models to estimate a change in range of beech, yellow birch, hemlock, and sugar maple trees (Cohn 2). The results that Davis found are that the four species of trees would have to move 500 kilometers to sustain the same habitat to remain in order to stay healthy. The beech forests which thrive in southeastern United States would cease to exist (Cohn

“The Living Planet report calculates that humans are using 30% more resources than the Earth can replenish each year” (Jowit, 2008). Despite this shocking information, the scientific community around the world are not focus only on a future lack of resources, but also with the possible cause and effects of climate change. Both topics are directly related with the future of human life. Since people need the nature to provide them food, fresh water and material to produce their daily thing, the lack of resources is a reality. In addition, according to the article “The Consequences of Climate Change” published by NASA scientists had predicted loos of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves as some the effects of climate change by 2100 (NASA, n.d.). Thus, it is clear that there is an agreement that both issues will seriously affect the future of humanity. However, the scientific community has doubts about which of these themes is crucial for the survival of human beings. Taking into account how quickly the natural resources have been consumed, the effects will be felt earlier than the climate change outcomes.

Climate change has been a gripping issue in current times as it presents the world with debate over not just the fate of the environment, but also political priorities, foreign affairs, media coverage, and public opinion. The concern for environmental health has grabbed the attention of people around the world and called for stricter regulations on gas emissions and pollution, but has also driven a wedge between populations. Climate change is an issue wrapped in political controversy and studied on a geographical level. Looking at how groups view and understand the research and concept behind this issue will help one better understand the environmental effects humans have on the world.

Climate change is happening, slowly but surely. Our earth is warming and the evidence is clear. Rising global temperatures have been displayed through floods, droughts, or intense rain in parts of the world. As we have established earlier, 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 patterns, among other effects, that occur over several decades or longer (Climate Change: Basic Information). There are various causes, challenges, and consequences of the climate change.

As a global community, we are faced with many challenges, however climate change is a primary concern. The impact that climate change will have on populations is severe and worsening, and it is largely our fault. Human activity such as burning of fossil fuels, increased population as well as deforestation has caused an increase in gas emissions within the atmosphere, resulting in global warming (NSW Government, 2017). Fossil fuels such as coal, gas, oil, petroleum and liquefied petroleum gas are used in everyday life for transportation, electricity and heating (Origin, n.d.). Worldwide, we use a vast amount of fossils fuels every day. In fact, worldwide, we use around 89 billion barrels of fuel, daily (Origin, n.d.). This vast amount of fossil fuel consumption is drastically effecting our environment and worsening our climate and as a result, our current population, our developing and island nations as well as our future generations will significantly be affected.

Climate change is a natural occurrence that happens every so couple of years. The greenhouse effect increases the level of CO2 being released into the atmosphere,which is what triggers global warming. The collection of released CO2 increase temperature. Global warming melts the ice in colder places like Antarctica. This Increases the amount of water that flows in the oceans and rivers. Earth has a balance, so if there is a process and warming then there is a process of cooling. We call these cooling periods ice ages. Ice ages freezes parts of the oceans in the Antarctic, this decreases water vapor.

The history of climate on the earth is developed with immense changes that have occured way too quickly within decades and even the past few years. We know climate change “refers to a broad range of global phenomena created predominately by burning fossil fuels , which add heat trapping gases to Earth’s atmosphere” (NASA). These include long-term changes in the global distribution of weather patterns. The changes in these conditions hugely affect not just us, but the environment as well. A major effect from climate change is known as global warming. According to NASA global warming is the “upward temperature trend across the entire Earth since the early 20th century...due to increase in fossil fuel emissions since the industrial revolution” (NASA). Concerns for climate change as the outcome becomes more and more vivid.

Over the years, it has been evident through the reported news that the weather in many parts of the world is unpredictable. Climate change is a large-scale, long-term shift in the planet's weather patterns or average temperatures (Met Office, 2015). Climate Change has not always been political until it has gained the attention of many politicians across the world to advocate a change in countering climate change during the late 1970s. There are issues such as climate migration and strain relationships between countries have resulted from global warming. Since then, politicians, scientists, and world leaders have come together to find feasible solutions to try mending the damages done. This essay will look at how improving relations between countries, implementation of improved policies and educating societies may be feasible solutions to face climate change.

Climate change is a major issue that has been gaining political debate over the past few decades. According to Britain’s former Chief Scientific Advisor David King, climate change is “the most severe problem we are facing today—more serious even than the threat of terrorism” (Worldwatch.org). Research shows that the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere has been increasing at an alarming rate. This change has not only sparked the rapid melting of polar ice caps, which are subsequently raising sea levels, but it is also believed to be the cause of extreme weather patterns such as heat waves, droughts, and most recently, hurricanes. With the rise of sea levels being coupled with warmer temperatures, ideal conditions are created for hurricanes to not only form, but also greatly intensify. The general understanding many researchers have is that climate change is at least partially caused by human activity. Where the difference in opinions emerge, is how great of an effect humans have on global warming.