Climate change is the gradual change of regional or global climate patterns mainly attributed to increased amounts of greenhouse gases accruing from carbon emissions due to fossil fuels. According to Jaszewski et al., (2011), earth’s climate has changed severally in its history including the ice age approximately two million years ago. Climate change brings with it debilitating effects not only to the environment but also to the people and the landscape of countries and regions affected. As such, this paper seeks to provide a meticulous discourse on climate change and the coherent factors associated with it such as the impacts and how to mitigate them.
How and Why Climate Change Occurs
Climate change accrues from several salient reasons owing to a number of causative agents. One of the major causative agents is global warming which is the rise in global temperatures due to increased emission of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants that absorb the solar radiation bouncing off the earth’s surface. Rather than escaping, the absorbed solar radiation is trapped and cannot escape into the atmosphere thereby causing the planet’s temperatures to rise drastically; a phenomenon referred to as the greenhouse effect. From a country’s perspective, the United States is the leading producers of carbon dioxide globally owing to its use of fossil fuels to produce electricity. The country produces a whopping 2 billion tons of CO 2 which is the leading source of heat-trapping. Other than burning fuel for electricity, the US transport sector is the second leading source of carbon emission producing about 1.7 billion tons of CO 2 annually (MacMillan, 2016).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Other than global warming, human activities also play a major role in climate change. The activities include the use of agricultural technology to increase economic aspects such as meat production, or deforestation which consequently increases the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Manufacturing processes as human activities also emit pollutants and dangerous gasses into the atmosphere which further contribute to global warming and ultimately climate change. Some of the emitted gases contributing to the greenhouse effect include methane that accrues from decomposing animal and plant matter, Nitrous oxide produced through the use of organic and commercial fertilizers or production of nitric acid, Carbon dioxide as discussed, water vapor that acts as a feedback mechanism, and chlorofluorocarbons that mainly originate from industrial activities.
Consequences of Climate Change
According to Shaftel (2017), there is more than 95% probability that greenhouse gases such as CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O produced by human activities have been the main cause of the increased earth’s temperatures as observed in the past fifty years. As such, the deleterious consequences and effects of the gases in causing global warming and ultimately climate change have trickled down to affect both the environment as well as the humans themselves. The effects of the climate change may be welcomed in some areas of the world especially the cold areas, but in some areas, especially developing countries, the impacts are worse and unwarranted. Consequently, climate change brings about adverse changes in weather conditions in the sense that, while some areas experience abundant rainfalls, some experience drought conditions. In dry populated urban areas, the intense heat raises the demand and use of air conditioning which in turn raises the demand for electricity detrimentally leading to blackouts or brownouts since the electricity demanded exceeds the available capacity (Trenberth et al., 2000).
Increased temperatures and heat also lead to rampant medical cases and emergencies that accrue from heat stroke especially in houses that cannot afford air conditioning. Ironically, the increase in demand for electricity proportionally increases the burning and use of fossil fuel consequently increasing greenhouse gas emission creating an endless cycle of suffering. Climate change also causes severe weather conditions such as flooding or storms that drastically affect human activities such as agriculture and settlement through displacement of individuals. The storms or floods also destroy or reduce crop yields as well as damage fundamental services such as telecommunication, transportation, water supplies, and energy supplies. Other than increased rainfall patterns in tropical regions, climate change also causes drought and aridity. For countries in the southern part of Africa, climate change has caused longer dry seasons and rainfall uncertainty forcing farmers to adapt through switching crops, planting more trees, and diversifying their livelihoods.
Further effects on humans have been observed in developing countries such as Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia where lake levels have significantly dropped thereby affecting fishing and water supply. In other regions such as Asia and Latin America, melting glaciers as a result of global warming has altered stream flows resulting to floods thereby affecting settlement as a human activity (Ludwig et al., 2007). Floods subsequently bring about waterborne diseases such as malaria and cholera that affect human health. Impacts of extreme events or weather conditions such as droughts due to climate change are particularly felt in countries with low adaptive capacity. These regions have poor infrastructure and economy hence cannot adequately respond to the extremities in weather especially drought thereby militating the poverty levels within the regions. Countries, especially in the sub-Saharan Africa that depend on agriculture for sustainability, are consequently shoved into poverty by droughts thereby giving rise to a myriad of debilitating factors. The poverty increases hunger and makes water scarce thereby increasing the mortality rate due to starvation and diseases such as cholera due to contamination of water.
Further effects of the phenomenon are felt on the landscape and environment through degradation of grasslands, especially in Sahel and Southern Africa regions. These regions have also been linked to increased risks of extinction for many animal and plant species as well as habitat fragmentation. The extreme temperatures further cause aridity and desertification of several regions, especially in the sub-Saharan Africa. Owing to the increased temperatures, glacial landscapes in the polar, Asian and Latin American regions are affected by melting glaciers which subsequently increases floods in the lower regions. Also, the East African coast is affected through the degradation of its coral reefs thereby affecting the entire marine ecosystem. In Asia, climate change causes disasters such as Tsunamis and landslides that permanently degrade and reshape the landscape resulting into food shortages and migration. Finally, countries like Jamaica are at a high risk of losing their Port mangrove wetland owing to the rise in sea level whose waters are acidic and warm (UNFCCC, 2007).
Combative Efforts
In a bid to curb the debilitating effects of the phenomenon, there have been several combative efforts. First, implementation of a green economy system in South Africa has proven to be a fundamental and significant way of combating the climate change. A green economy refers to the notion or precept of an economy being in tune with its natural environment. A green economy ensures that regardless of the short-term or long-term influential factors, the economy remains ecologically healthy. Such an economy emphasizes the reduction of greenhouse gases emission thereby achieving a low-carbon economy. This is further fortified by the advancement of technology especially in the transport sector thereby cutting down carbon emission (Segal & Cloete, 2012).
One of the effective ways of combating climate change is ensuring that the concentration of greenhouse gases is stable and reduced to levels that would not significantly affect the climate system through anthropogenic interference. As Warner (2013) asserts, this has been the long-term objective of the UNFCCC. To this end, most of the mitigation strategies suggested include carpooling rather than using the public transport system. Other than carpooling, walking or riding a bike are effective methods in reducing the overall carbon emission as well. Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle also referred to as the three Rs have in the past shown their effectiveness in combating climate change and pivotally continue to do so. Since carbon dioxide is the biggest culprit in global warming, planting trees is a sure and crucial way of combating climate change since the trees inherently absorb the gas for their primary process of photosynthesis. Further combative strategies include using less electricity as well as adopting alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, and geothermal energies. Cows are the leading producers of methane gas, as such, it is recommended to reduce the overall consumption of beef.
Conclusion
Climate change is a global concern especially because of its adverse effects as illustrated in the paper. Despite the effects being felt most in developing countries, developed countries such as the United States also receive the bitter end of the phenomenon. The impacts are felt across the board, from landscape degradation to environmental destruction and health effects on humans and their activities. Nevertheless, consorted efforts from every individual are required in combating the deleterious effects of the phenomenon. Specifically, the focus should be on reducing the dependence on fossil fuels and adopting clean and alternatives energy such as wind, solar, or geothermal. Ultimately, more research needs to be conducted to fill in the gaps and come up with better and more efficient ways to protect the planet ensuring its future prosperity and survival.
References
Jaszewski, J., Costa, H., Turgeon, A., Teng, S., Carangelo, A., McDaniel, M., Sprout, E., & Boudreau, D. (2011). Climate Change. National Geographic Society. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/climate-change/
Ludwig, F., Van Scheltinga, C. T., Verhagen, J., Kruijt, B., van Ierland, E. C., Dellink, R. B., ... & Kabat, P. (2007). Climate change impacts on Developing Countries-EU Accountability (No. PE 393.511). European Parliament. Retrieved from www.cgd.ucar.edu/staff/trenbert/books/ChangingClimate.pdf
MacMillan, A. (2016). Global Warming 101: Everything you wanted to know about our changing climate but were too afraid to ask. NRDC. Retrieved from https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101
Segal, N., & Cloete, B. (2012). Combating climate change: How might “green” growth facilitate or hinder SA’s developmental objectives?". Centre for Development and Enterprise, ISBN: 978-1-920653-02-6. Retrieved from www.dnaeconomics.com/assets/.../COMBATING_CLIMATE_CHANGE-3.pdf
Shaftel, H. (2017). Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. NASA. Retrieved from https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/
Trenberth, K. E., Miller, K., Mearns, L., & Rhodes, S. (2000). Effects of changing the climate on weather and human activities (No. Folleto 83.). Sausalito, CA: University Science Books.
UNFCCC. (2007). Climate Change: Impacts, Vulnerabilities, and Adaptation in Developing Countries. Information Services of the UNFCCC Secretariat. Retrieved from https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/publications/impacts.pdf
Warner, K. (2013). Climate Change and Global Warming: The role of the International Community. United Nations University. Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTNWDR2013/Resources/8258024-1352909193861/8936935-1356011448215/8986901-1380568255405/WDR14_bp_Climate_Change_and_Global_Warming_Warner.pdf
