Climate Change Is The Single Greatest Threat Facing Our Planet

I believe climate change is becoming a more serious issue as the year’s progress. As we all know the summers are getting hotter and the winters seem to not end fast enough. One reason I believe plays a big part in the changes is the big hand that humans have on the Earth. Every year, there are tons of CO2 being released into the atmosphere. This CO2 comes from a number of things such as: fossil fuels like coal or oil, energy generation, transport, and households. Climate change is affecting so many people and the nature all over the world. There are several little things that can be done by every person to make a big difference in the long run. For starters, let’s avoid CO2 emissions by stopping the air plane costs of sending businessmen to meet in person with video conferencing instead, and improve energy efficiency. Other solutions can be as simple as stopping forest loss and replacing high-carbon coal with low-carbon gas. Limiting climate change can be done, but it is up to the community to make it happen.

It is often said that humans are the largest threat to Earth, but not because of violence between one another. Humans are the largest threat to Earth because we as a species pollute the air, land, and water of the very planet we call home. Without Earth all life as we know it will cease to exist. Global warming is the product of the pollutants created by mankind. If mankind as a whole does not change its ways we will ruin our one and only planet that is suitable to sustain life. In Warm, Warmer, Warmest an article by Nicholas D. Kristof argues that that “stopping global warming should be the paramount struggle of our time”(Warmer). While researching this topic I used multiple resources to better understand what Nicholas Kristof is explaining in his article. I first looked at a government run website that helped explain global warming and how it is affecting us today. Then I looked at news articles from different news organizations. Lastly I watched a video that explained why we can no longer ignore global warming. All of those resources helped me better understand my research topic and I feel that I have gained more knowledge about global warming.

Is global warming a moral dilemma? Is it the public policy problem from hell? In "The Environmental Issue from Hell," Bill McKibben uses many of such phrases en route to arguing for a new approach to global warming. By discussing hell and morals, the reader’s mind is already equating it with two heavily debated issues. Therefore, we begin to question their existence and how we should deal with the subjects. McKibben wisely chooses these disputes to represent his main concerns: the ways in which consumerism affects the global ecosystem, and the impact of humans on the environment. McKibben presents a solution on how to handle each of these environmental issues, utilizing both the people and the government.

Global warming is the number one concern on the planet right now (Ankara 1). Ankara University suggests that “the most common definition of global warming is the process in which Earth’s temperatures increase due too many human activities” (“The Impact of Global…” 1). A basic background of how climate change is provoked is that it is caused by fossil fuels and carbon dioxide being released in the air due to many human activities. This event can potentially harm the human population and put many ecosystems around the world to extinction. Marine ecosystems, in general, are parts of the Earth’s hydrosphere, which make up large parts of the Earth and contain magnificent biodiversity from beautiful fish to the

All over the world mankind commonly references mother Earth as important and fragile and even locally there are second graders at Cornerstone elementary singing Native American songs describing how “the Earth is our mother, we must take care of her.” The rising issue of global warming, scientifically known as climate change, is slowly becoming a worldwide epidemic that only 53% of Americans are even worried about, according to a 2014 survey by the IPCC. The definition of climate change is a change in global or regional climate patterns, 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. The first studies of climate change and human carbon dioxide emissions started in 1896 by a man named Arrhenius. The interest was renewed during the cold war era when several satellites were launched and more data taking resources were available. 1970 was host to the first Earth day and since then global warming has gained more and more awareness and understanding. The cause of the average global temperature is due to the greenhouse effect, in which the suns heat and energy heats the Earth’s surface then gets absorbed by greenhouse gasses and re-emitted in all directions warming the surface and the atmosphere. With more than 1300 scientists on the IPCC team

In his speech at the 2016 Oscars, Leonardo DiCaprio declared that climate change is the planet’s most severe threat and encouraged his audience to “work collectively together and stop procrastinating” about the issue (Mooney). That seems ironic coming from the guy who played Jack, a character that drowned because of a giant iceberg, but I guess Leo understands the titanic effect climate change is having on the world. So what exactly is climate change? Climate change consists of variations in the average weather patterns of a region. This is mainly caused by a layer of greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, that blanket the atmosphere, trapping heat on earth’s surface. NASA reported that global temperatures have risen 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit

There is an issue on this planet that will define this generation. The issue is climate change. Global warming. A world on the collapse as our oceans are acidified, our air polluted, our forests disappearing, and human rights issues getting worse. It seems that people are not aware of how big climate change actually is. It’s not something that only takes place on the ice caps or in the forests on the far corners of the world. This is an issue that happens here, and now. It’s real. It’s happening.

Climate change is the biggest human induced threat on the environment; it threatens animal and human life, as well as the economy. After climate change was discovered in the early 1800’s, scientist immediately started research on ways global warming could be solved. This helped because if it was primarily caused by the earth, than it would prove to be difficult for humans to try to save themselves from something that was inevitable. This all led to the beginning of many different proposed solutions. In 1955, congressmen in the United States proposed the idea of The Air Pollution Control Act, which later became The Clean Air Act of 1963. The purpose of this act was to mitigate greenhouse gases, more specifically as Grossman explains it "[limited] emissions from mobile and stationary sources and imposed other regulatory requirements." This may seem like it would be a primary solution to the problem, but the problem with this solution was that it did not have a strong enforcement. Meaning that in order for this to have been effective each state in the United States would have to map out how hard they needed to apply this law. In other words, states like Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles would have to emphasize the law stronger than any other city because they, among others, are emitting high amounts of greenhouse gas. Since this had little to no effect on climate change, the government moved towards greenhouse gas (GHG) permits and reporting; this meant that businesses that

This is the question I would like to address. Each day individuals commit actions of miniscule value that arguably contribute to climate change.

Climate change is a growing concern in today’s world. We often hear about worldwide temperature rises, and how they are caused by pollution. We are warned about some of the potentially catastrophic consequences of rising temperatures in the future. However, climate change has already begun to occur. (NASA, “Climate Change Effects: The consequences of Climate Change”). Therefore, there is significantly more talk about solutions to climate change. These solutions will reduce the causes of climate change, and also prevent any future damage or destruction caused by climate change. However, we must first understand how climate change is caused, and how it affects the Earth, in order to see how these solutions will help solve it.

Climate change is one of the world’s biggest threats. Climate change has been and currently still is affecting the planet. It affects the environment, animals, plants, the ecosystem and it affects humans as well. However, even though climate change affects humans, we also play a big part in contributing to climate change. For example, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has gone up due to the burning of fossil fuels (from human activity) as well as deforestation (clearing or removal of trees) which requires human participation (Reece). The rise of CO2 affects the global temperature and human activities only add to the climate change. As stated before, climate change not only effects humans, it also effects plants and animals. For instance, with climate change happening, plants and animals are experiencing drastic changes in their habitat. Therefore, plants and animals have to migrate to an environment better suited for them. (Reece). Climate change has also had an effect on the arctic as well as plants, animals, humans, etc. It is said that climate change is known to be the greatest threat to the arctic as we know it. For example, the arctic sea has already experienced the largest amount of warming in 2012 and it is suggested that within a few decades or so there may not be any more ice. Henceforth, the habitat for seals, polar bears and other mammals will be decreasing and their species will be at risk (Reece 2011). There have definitely been some significant changes that

It is best put bluntly: climate change has become the most pressing issue of our time. It is a concern so urgent that many say we have already passed a point in which we cannot recover; we can merely hope to minimize the damage. It is an issue that has found its way to the forefront of many governmental platforms, regardless of political affiliation. Most recently, APEC - Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation – held its yearly summit in Beijing, the capital of the world’s greatest polluter: China. However, the progress attained by this conference is what has newspapers, such as the Washington Post, calling it the “best APEC summit ever. (cite)” China and the United States – the world’s largest emissions polluters – took a very encouraging step forward as both agreed to a motivated joint plan that plans to drastically cut carbon emissions. Frequently seen as “antagonists (cite)” in the in the realm of greenhouse emissions, this initiative is being viewed as one of the largest in recent memory. The hope is that smaller countries will see the commitment from world leaders such as the United States and China and will in turn become motivated to reduce emissions as well. There seems to be an abundance of benefits in terms of energy but there could also be hidden benefits to this agreement, more specifically, what does this initiative tell of U.S.-China relations, both present and future? Unsurprisingly, there are many ways to answer this question and to do so without the

Climate change is a global challenge and will require global cooperation on how to share the burdens of tackling this problem. Overwhelming evidence confirms that anthropogenic climate change is, and will, have catastrophic consequences on humanity and the planet humanity depends upon. Therefore rapid action is required. Climate change burdens consist of mitigation, adaptation and compensation, and there needs to be agreement among states on how to fairly share these burdens. If burdens are distributed based on fair and just principles, then states and individuals will be more likely to comply with their duties. Consequently, normative theorising is necessary to solve the burden-sharing problem, which is a major obstacle to a global climate change response. One such principle is ‘if you broke it, you should fix it’, which can be approximated as the historical polluter pays principle. The question of whether there is a ‘better alternative’ to this implies questioning if there is a more fair and just alternative burden-sharing principle. Therefore, a method of determining global justice ought to be used to establish which principle is the most just response to allocating climate change burdens. This essay will evaluate the polluter pays principle using an expanded Rawlsian method to determine which principle would be selected behind a global veil of ignorance, based on the argument that country of birth is morally arbitrary and represents a global undeserved inequality. This

“Look at climate change; don’t put your head in the sand. Understand that it is going to have profound effects on our resources” - Hillary Clinton

Global warming is the number one concern on the planet right now (Ankara 1). Ankara University suggests that “the most common definition of global warming is the process in which Earth’s temperatures increase due too many human activities” (“The Impact of Global…” 1). A basic background of how climate change is provoked is that it is caused by fossil fuels and carbon dioxide being released in the air due to many human activities. This event can potentially harm the human population and put many ecosystems around the world to extinction. Marine ecosystems, in general, are parts of the Earth’s hydrosphere, which make up large parts of the Earth and contain magnificent biodiversity from beautiful fish to the largest aquatic creatures in the