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What is global warming and climate change
What is global warming and climate change
What is global warming and climate change
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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...
Antarctic’s ice melt and accelerating sea level rise, the growing number of large wildfires, intense heat wave shocks, severe drought and blizzards, disrupted and decreased food supply, and extreme storm events are increasing to happen in many areas world wide and these are just some of the consequences of global warming. The fossil fuel we burn for energy coal, natural gas, and oil plus the loss of forests due to disforestation, in the southern hemisphere are all contributors for climate change. In the past three decades, every single year was warmer then the previous year and the warmest 12 years were recorded since 1998. We are overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and trapping the heat and recently, the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere reached 400 pmm. Not just environmental issues are rising due to carbon dioxide increase but more and miscellaneous issues are appearing as climate change becomes more severe. For example, regional models and local analyses agree that Mongolia has become noticeably warmer and the climate change effect is damaging their millennial of historic nomadic lifestyle and even came to the peek of extinction. The Mongolian nomadic pastoralists became highly vulnerable to many an unusual climate impacts and extreme temperature fluctuation that have led to inadequate pasture land and loss of enormous number of livestock, often faces hostile environmental conditions that led o entrenched pastoral poverty. This essay focuses on how the climate change impacts the qualitative and quantitative value of indigenous culture and nomadic life style, and how the economy struggles in the magnitudes of massive migration of nomads to urban area while it fails to value t...
From the mid-twentieth century, the dynamics of climate change started to be observed and Gujarat has remained no exception to this phenomenon. Scientific discourse initially dubbed these environmental changes as cyclical patterns but soon it they were identified to be a trend. Gujarat is an area with semi-arid zones and entails thelongest coastline. These peculiar features make the state comparatively more prone to climate change. Agricultural growth, food security, human health, biodiversity, and overall development could be at serious risk if the matter is not addressed upon in a punctual and logical way.
Climate change is a long term change in the earth’s climate. Climate change is attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels. There are 328,000,000 cubic miles of seawater on the planet, covering approximately 71 percent of the earth's surface. Ninety-seven percent of all water is in the oceans. The other three percent is divided amongst the two percent ice and one percent fresh water. Making earth’s waters composed mostly of salt water. Salt water covers most of our planet indicating climate change to have a giant impact on our oceans. Taking a closer look at the ocean and our water in general can reveal several clues to the greater effects of climate change and what other ways climate change can affect our planet. (2)
It is now a well-documented scientific fact that both the 20th and 21st centuries have experienced a general trend in terms of global warming. Scientific research and evidence clearly indicate that the earth’s surface temperatures are gradually increasing. There have been a variety of theories pertaining to the fundamental causes of global warming. However, one of the outstanding beliefs is that human activities are distinctively responsible for global warming. Although this phenomenon is not experienced on all regions around the globe, the average temperatures on the globe have increased by 0.7°C since 1900 (Hansen et al., 2006).
Global climate change and its apparent effects have been the subject of much discussion for a number of years. It is often claimed that this change is too advanced and the damage caused by it is irreversible, meaning that any efforts by us to undo this are in vain. Although I agree that our planet has become unalterably changed, I don’t entirely concur that this change is now completely beyond repair.
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).
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.
Global warming, which is an increase in the average temperature of the earth, has many factors that have to be considered to what is the culprit in an increase in temperature. According to Utah researchers, Eldredge and Biek, the earth is currently in an ice age with temperatures colder than they have been throughout some of earth’s history. Going through cycles of above or below average temperatures is very normal for the earth as many different factors go into the temperature including ocean and atmospheric temperatures, volcanic eruptions, and the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Eldredge and Biek, 2010). Knowing that the earth goes through cycles of warm and cold weather makes it difficult to have a definitive answer of how much human activities actually contribute to the warming of the earth. With the amount of carbon Dioxide that humans emit into the atmosphere, almost all scientists agree that human activity is having a profound affect on global warming. Stanford researchers Lobell, schlenker, and Roberts present data showing an increase of .13 degrees Celsius every decade since 1950 with an expected increase in temperature per year due to carb...
Future environments on certain parts on Earth have been foreseen, and global warming seems to be a leading game changer in it. The term “global warming” and “increased global temperatures” have been a hot topic for years now, but what are they? Global warming is simply, the gradual warming of the Earth. Climate change is also synonymous to global warming. The Earth getting warmer is not at all new; “Since 1951, Earth’s climate has warmed by about 0.6 degrees Celsius…” (Spotts). However, prior to the presence of humans, climate changes happened completely from natural causes such as changes in volcanic eruptions, natural changes in greenhouse gas concentrations and solar energy changes (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency).
When looking at the Earth, it becomes readily apparent that cycles are an important theme. Earth is a closed system. Meaning only energy can pass into and out of its atmosphere with the exception with few meteorites that enter and the manmade objects we eject. Earth has the water cycle, the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the rock cycles and Earth itself cycles around the sun. It is easily understandable then that Earth climate also undergone many cyclic changes from one extreme to another within its vast history. In this paper, the focus in on the climate events that occurred from 65 Ma to present day Earth (Cenozoic era), some ways in which this information about climate can be collected and possible implications for the future
all the time. The greenhouse effect is a natural process that keeps the earth at temperatures that
Climate change is caused due to the release of few carbon compounds into the atmosphere, which drastically brought the weather changes all over the world. Climate change is not confined to a single region. It has become an important issue all over the world for the past few years.
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.
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.
Many people might think that anthropogenic influences are the only cause of climate change on Earth. However, there are many factors which are unnoticed by the human population that contribute to this crucial issue. For example, the most common phenomenon is global warming, which is a factor in the progression of climate change over time. This means that climate change has not just happened for a year, but throughout the Earths climatic history. In the modern era, this has been a controversial issue at which people only think that human activity is a primary cause of climate change, but there is a consensus view of this problem.