The Effects of a Changing Climate Melting ice caps, intense heat waves, and rising sea levels are all clear indicators that the climate is changing. Many scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predict a temperature rise of two to ten degrees Fahrenheit over the next century (“Global”). The future forecasts also calls for greater intensity hurricanes, droughts, and an ice free arctic. The public does not believe that climate change will significantly affect them but it will and already greatly has. Many different factors come into play when trying to find a cause for the changing climate, but a major one is greenhouse gases produced by human activities. A greenhouse gas is any gaseous compound in the …show more content…
Although, replanting can reduce CO2 levels it is not enough to reverse the changes in the climate. The change in climate can also affect the rain patterns a specific region experiences. Climate change can cause more or less rain to fall throughout the year around the globe. More precipitation would occur in the northern regions of the world and much less would occur in the southern regions. This can result to flooding in the north and drought in the south. Neither of these scenarios is superior to the other. They both result in a loss of crops and damage to buildings and homes. Houses and higher built buildings would be washed away by the rushing water. This would also cause damage to vehicles, farms and landmarks. On the other hand, a drought would leave the area dry and unable to support the growth of any plants or crops. A drought would also greatly increase the chance for fires due to the lack of water in the soil and heat. Many establishments may catch fire and spread to nearby buildings. With both drought and flooding, the price of food needed for individuals would rise significantly. Any consumable goods would be scarce and there would be much competition to see what stores could buy it for the least amount of money and make the most when selling it. Farms would no longer be an option for growing food if it floods or if the crops dry out and die. Bodies of water hold many different species around the world. However, humans are
Global climate change has become an undeniable and unavoidable reality. In its latest assessment report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the international body that provides the most comprehensive reports dealing with the science of climate change, has established that warming of the climate system is ‘unequivocal’. Additionally, it concludes that human activities such as land clearing and burning of fossil fuels have increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to unprecedented levels (IPCC 2013).
Climate change is evident throughout the world and is a major issue. It is no secret that our planet is getting warmer. Global warming is now recognized in the scientific community as a real problem. There are multiple aspects that are causing this issue. Majority of the warming is caused by greenhouse gases. Volcanic eruptions and changes in the intensity of solar radiation have offset the warming partially. It is estimated that average annual temperatures will increase 3.5°F-9.5°F by the century’s end.
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.
Studies held in Svalbard have shown that the reindeer population has been decreasing it’s body mass. Reindeer born in the 1990’s weighed about 121 pounds, and those born in 2010 weighed about 106 pounds. This issue is a direct result of climate change, which is the expansion of the greenhouse effect, that is being caused by the doings of humans. Climate change indicates warmer winters means more rain. When the rain freezes, it creates a thick layer of ice above their food, which prevents the reindeer from eating, and creating serious competition for other food. The hungry females either aren’t able to give birth or produce babies that are much tinier.
It is widely held that climate change is real and happening now Case (2006) as global average temperature has warmed about 0.8°C within the past century. Coupled with this, the past three decades has witness a global average warming of 0.6°C (Hansen et al., 2006). This is largely to due to human induced factors (IPCC, 2001). A recent report produced by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences confirms that the last few decades of the 20th century were in fact the warmest in the past 400 years (National Research Council, 2006). The IPCC also projects that if greenhouse gas emissions, the leading cause of climate change, continue to rise, the mean global temperatures will increase 1.4 – 5.8°C by the end of the 21st century (IPCC, 2001). In a similar
Climate change is the single biggest environmental and humanitarian crisis of our time. Our Earth’s temperature is climbing at an alarming rate. Earth 's average temperature has risen by 1.4°F over the past century, and is projected to rise another 2 to 11.5°F over the next hundred years. The planet is seeing the devastating effects of a warmer earth; warmer oceans, melting ice caps, and rising sea levels. As these and other changes become more pronounced in the coming decades, they will likely present challenges to our society and our environment.
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
The earth is a beautiful and extraordinary planet, but are we treating it right? For the past 20 decades, temperatures have been rising along with hundreds of factors contributing to it. Climate change concerns the public as they wonder if its occurring, how much has occurred in the modern era, what has caused it, what the effects will be if we don’t do anything about it and much more. Many people and scientist agree that mankind is the number one cause of climate change. Humans have influenced this by greenhouse gases, methane nitrous oxide.
Our world’s climate is rapidly changing, and those changes will have an enormous impact on our planet’s people, ecosystems, cities, and energy use. Average global air temperatures are already roughly 1.5 degrees higher than they were at the start of the 20th century, and “have risen about 1 degree over just the last 30 years,” According to the New England aquarium. Climate change can best be described as the long-term change in average weather conditions, including temperature, precipitation and wind. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), which is comprised of the world’s largest leading scientific experts in the field of climate change, “our climate is undergoing dramatic changes as the direct result of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that act like a glass roof around the earth, trapping in the heat that would otherwise escape to space – this commonly referred to as the ‘greenhouse effect’.” Ascending worldwide temperatures have been accompanied by adjustments in weather and climate. Countless places have seen changes in rainfall, leading to more droughts, floods, and extreme rain; in addition to more critical and recurrent heat waves. Earth’s glaciers and oceans have mastered numerous changes- our seas are becoming acidic and warming, ice caps are dissolving, and sea levels are increasing. As these alterations become more prominent in the succeeding future, they will likely present challenges to our society as well as our
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
In general climate change affects the world in devastating ways. For example the reefs in the caribbean an Australia's Great Barrier Reef are in great danger because of climate change according to “Warming Signs by Andrew Klein” Also “The changing water chemistry
Climate change has been a highly discussed issue for the past couple years, especially now that the signs of climate change are becoming more visible. The change in Earth’s climate began in the 19th century when ice ages and other natural changes were first identified. The idea of the “greenhouse effect” was also introduced at this time. In simple terms, the greenhouse effect refers to the increase in earth’s temperature due to the radiation absorbed and re-emitted by greenhouse gas molecules, such as Carbon Dioxide. The re-emission by these gas molecules is what causes the planet to warm up, or otherwise known as global warming. Scientists pointed out this warming effect of carbon dioxide in the late 1960’s, though some still questioned this theory at that time. About 10 years later, the warming effect became clearer and more scientists started to support the greenhouse effect theory. By the 1990s, there was a clear statement made that not only were greenhouse gases responsible for climate change, but the contribution of human emissions of these greenhouse gases was increasing, and global warming was starting to become a severe issue. On NASA’s climate change website, they present a graph showing the carbon dioxide levels (parts per million) dating back 650,000 years. Until about 1950, the levels of this greenhouse gases were quite stable, hitting a low of about 180 ppm. But a huge spike between 1950 and 2014 took place, putting the carbon dioxide levels at 400 ppm in
The global climate change was identified late 19th century with more and more greenhouse gases released into atmosphere by human activities. Carbon dioxide, a major human-produced greenhouse gas, accounts for more than 50% of direct contribution to the present-day reinforcing greenhouse gas effect. It is estimated that over half of the carbon dioxide comes from energy sector activities. Energy demand and energy-related carbon emissions in the developing regions cause an increasingly global concern because of their significant emissions growth.
Due to recent climate change the environment has been impacted in many ways. Climate Change is a change in global or regional climate patterns attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels (Oxford Dictionary). Scientists have studied the impacts it 's having on the environment such as temperature rising, sea level rising, and increase in natural disasters. Climate change has only affected us in the 20 years due to the increase in factories cars, and CO2 we produce.
It exposes a multifaceted sectoral impact or vulnerability of the past extreme events like droughts and floods