Climate Change And Global Warming

During the past several hundred years, civilization has made rapid progress in industries like air travel, automobiles, and energy production. These developments were made without consideration of the long-term effects that their emissions may have on the planet. Changing weather patterns are now wreaking havoc around the world, and scientists attribute this to human-caused climate change. During President Obama’s State of the Union address in 2015, he stated that, “No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change,” (“Remarks by the President”). Warming temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change have disastrous consequences that pose a threat to humanity and the environment.

Global warming is defined as the recent increase in the world 's temperature that is believed to be caused by the increase of certain gases (such as carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere. There are many different theories on whether global warming is similar or not to climate change. Simplistically, climate change is different because climate change is defined as a change in global or regional climate patterns or, in particular, a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels, having been measured over long periods of time, due to the changes in Earth’s orbit and organic carbon which reflect sunlight. Global warming and climate change are not to be confused because global warming is caused mainly by anthropogenic factors like the emission of carbon dioxide gas and use of fossil fuels whereas climate change is completely natural, however, according to Milan Radovanovic, “it is clear that the anthropogenic factors dominate the increasing temperature and the natural ones have the maximum influence…” (Radovanovic). Therefore, “the contribution to global warming from natural forcings and from natural internal variability is in the range between -0.2 to 0.2 [degrees] celsius over the period 1951-2010…” (Radovanovic). Natural factors have had the most effect on global temperature in the past 59 years totaling a 0.4 degrees celsius increase in

The human race all around the world wonders if the climate is changing due to human activity or if it is just a natural occurrence. At certain parts of the Earth's surface, the climate can be observed much differently than other locations. As the years go by the average temperature of the Earth increases by little intervals. There are several different reasons why people believe the climate is changing every year. However, the increase of worldwide population and production of heat to the atmosphere is due to the increase of human activities that take place on a daily basis. Human activity is the main cause of the global climate change. The human impact on climate exceeds any known changes due to natural processes. The impact of this human activity is often misunderstood when looking at climate change.

Lately scientists and politicians have stated, that the earth is not merely warming up, it is experiencing Climate Change or shifts in long-term climate patterns. These climate shifts could include air temperature, precipitation, and weather patterns (Baranski). Vice President Al Gore, is a leading advocate of climate change. His book and documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, has been rewarded for, “informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change” (“Al Gore”).

Climate change is difficult to communicate by its very nature. Greenhouse gases are invisible, and their accumulating effects (e.g., global warming, precipitation changes, and extreme weather events) can take years before they are felt. Worldwide warming trends are hard for the average person to detect amidst the variability of everyday weather and the causes are far removed, in both time and space, from the impacts. Climate change is thus an example of “hidden hazards”—risks that, despite potentially serious consequences for society, generally pass unnoticed or unheeded until they reach disaster proportions (Kasperson and Kasperson, 1991).

When you hear the words “climate change” what comes to mind? Probably weather and the changes. Many of us watch the news or use an app on our cellphones/electronic devices to keep an eye on the weather for the day, week, or even the month. But, there is actually a difference between weather and climate. Weather is actually “the changes we see and feel outside from day to day. It might rain one day and be sunny the next. Weather also changes from place to place” (Dunbar, 2014). Whereas “climate is the usual weather of a place. Climate can be different for different seasons. Different places can have different climates” (Dunbar, 2014). This paper will focus on the ins and outs of climate change, specifically focusing on what climate change

Earth is an immeasurably complex planet, and the processes that make it so are equally as intricate. It is this same intricacy, however, that makes the Earth so vulnerable to even the slightest variation in overall temperature or change within the gases that which compose the atmosphere. What We Know About Climate Change by Kerry Emanuel aims to address this issue of Earth’s vulnerability head-on as it suggests the plausible causes for the undeniable planetary warming observed in the last century all the while proposing pragmatic solutions to discontinue the unnatural processes credited with the abnormal warming.

People usually get into a long conversation or avoid the argument in the first place when they talk about Climate Change or Global Warming. In fact, climate change is one of the most debatable subjects in the modern era. In addition, there are different views about this subject. One is from the scientific community prospect, which they believe in this phenomenon. On the other hand, there is the skepticism of the economists and investors, especially who work for large oil and gas corporations and real estates to protect their financial status. Primarily, the phenomenon of climate change represents the rapid increase of the global surface temperature. Climate Change is real because there are

In the last 100 years, Earth’s average temperature has risen by 1.4°F. The rising global temperatures have caused changes in weather and climate. Global warming refers to the ongoing rise in the average temperature near Earth’s surface. This is causing a climate change, which refers to any significant change (major change in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns) in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time (several decades or longer). Due to this, it is projected that the temperature will rise from 2 to 11.5°F in the next hundred years (US EPA, 2014). The “drivers,” which are the principal causes making this occur, are very controversial. It is debated whether a change in temperature is due to the work of

Over the years there has been a lot of controversy on if climate change is an issue that needs to be discussed and solved. There is a constant debate among scientist on if human actions are contributing the changing of earth’s climates. Climate change is defined as the change in average weather patterns for a specific region or Earth as a whole. This could include the change in an average temperature for a city or the amount a rainfall it receives (Dunbar, 2015). The main difference between weather and climate is the period of time specific patterns are recorded. Weather patterns are looked at over a much shorter period of time, meaning that these patterns are going to be more sporadic and change more frequently. Climate on the other had is recorded over a much longer period of time and usually show less drastic changes in patterns when compared to weather. Some people may argue that climate change is not an issue because Earth’s temperature is always changing do to natural effects. What people don’t realize is that human activity has effected the rate that earth’s temperature is changing, and just the smallest changes can lead to drastic consequences (Dunbar, 2015).

Climate change is a large scale change in the planet’s weather systems or its average temperature. The Earth’s climate may change within varying timescales in response to natural factors. On the scale of tens of thousands of years the climate changes through glacial and interglacial periods; whereas it changes through the timescale of years occurs due to the effects of El Niño and La Niña which temporarily change the Earth’s temperature and regional scale weather patterns. (Met office, 2015)

The Earth-atmosphere energy cycle is a structure of coordinating atmospheric components. The Köppen classification system is a simple format for generalizing climate patterns, partitioning the planet into malleable regions by average environmental conditions. Terms to describe the atypical fluctuations in the Earth’s climate include both global warming and climate change. While global warming denotes an average escalation of temperature, climate change suggests a shift in the overall pattern. Climatic zone instabilities, temperature variation, and other deviations that may interrelate with climate are described as global change. The state of global climatic equilibrium can be discerned through focusing on observable imbalances such as positive radiative forcing by atmospheric gasses, temperature fluctuations, weather phenomena and anthropologic influences.

The problem of climate change is a regular topic of debate. A debate that is rightfully being drilled into the forefront of everyone’s thoughts because the damage has started to become more apparent. The repercussion has started to manifest themselves through altered weather patterns, as the Earth’s temperate zone have become less, for lack of a better word temperate. Unless

The basic understanding of the issue of global climate change requires a thorough understanding of the definition of a climate system. The global climate system consists of the atmosphere, the oceans, biosphere, geosphere, and the cryosphere (GeoJournal, 1992). These components affect in varying degrees the flow of heat around the earth’s surface. The global climate is controlled mainly by the amount of energy received from the sun, however the internal systems also do contribute significantly to the fluctuations that occur in the climate (Herschy, 1998a).

One of the largest global conflicts of modern day society is the issue of global climate change. Throughout the years, the most notable modern research has been the recognition that humans activities are most likely accelerating the process of global climate change. Scientists have provided solid evidence of global climate change by humans in multiple studies, but others believe that climate change is caused solely by nature and the naturalness of the Earth’s cycle. Whether such evidences are providing valid proof to our society has become a serious matter for public debate. According to National Aeronautics and Space Administration, also known as NASA, over 97% of climate scientists agree that global warming is mostly likely caused by human activities. In our society today, there is a lot of misconception of the definition of weather and climate. As these two terms are often associated with each other, they are not the same. Mark Twain famously summed up the definition: “Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get”. Climate is the behavior of the environment throughout a long period of time, usually a decade, whereas weather refers to the actual temperature of the atmosphere at a particular period of time. “Climate change”, however, is “any systematic change in the long-term statistics of climate elements (such as temperature, pressure, or winds) sustained over several