The topic of the week is Climate Change!?!?! what is it? what's causing it? Is it a myth? To be honest I never think about it. People hear climate change and they think of the seasons changing, but that's far from being correct! The bottom line is that our planet is getting warmer, and many believe that us humans are the reason why. However there is a difference in Global Warming and Climate Change, but for the most part the two go hand in hand. This week my focus is answering some questions regarding the topic. Questions like is the climate changing right now? What are humans’ roles in the changing climate? And how climate change may affect our society and our world? Some major questions, on a major topic!
So first off, Climate Change refers to any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time. In other words, climate change includes major changes in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns, among other effects, that occur over several decades or longer.
To answer the first question, YES!! Climate Change is happening right now! We might not be able to tell but the Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.4°F over the past century, and according to the EPA, is projected to rise another 2 to 11.5°F over the next hundred years. Although 1.4 might not seem like much, small changes in the average temperature of the planet can translate to large and potentially dangerous shifts in climate and weather. So rising global temperatures are only part of climate change, triggering changes in weather and climate of ecosystems. Many places have seen changes in rainfall, which results in more floods, droughts, as well as more frequent and severe heat waves. Oceans and glaciers have also experienced some big changes, oceans are warming and becoming more acidic, and ice caps are melting resulting in rising sea levels. If Earth's climate change stays on its current path with rising temperatures, it will likely present challenges to our society and the environment in the future.
Over the past century, human activity has been at the forefront of climate change. Our day to day activities and constant growth is beginning to take its toll. We release large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere leading to the Global Warming phenomenon. The majority of the greenhouse gases we release come from the burning of fossil fuels to produce our energy. But just to build our cities and produce our food we emit gases into the atmosphere through deforestation, industry, and some agricultural practices.
These Greenhouse gases we are producing act as a blanket around Earth, trapping energy in the atmosphere and causing the planet to warm. The natural greenhouse effect has been keeping the earth warm for millions of years and is necessary for life on Earth. However, when the green house effect is mentioned today normally it is know as the accelerated buildup of greenhouse gases that are changing the Earth's climate and result in dangerous effects on ecosystems as well as us humans. Furthermore all evidence of recent climate change and global warming points at humans, and our exploitation on non renewable resources.
The choices we make today will affect the amount of greenhouse gases we put in the atmosphere in the future and for years to come. Climate Change can impact societies and ecosystems in many different ways. For example climate change can increase or decrease rainfall, influence agricultural crop yields, affect human health, cause changes to forests and other ecosystems, or even impact our energy supply. If global warming continues and escalates it could lead to major disasters and possibly human extinction. We need to start being cautious of the way we are living and try to reduce and slow the warming of the earth by making better decisions. It can be done with enough of the worlds efforts put together in reducing fossil fuel consumption. There is some skepticism about Climate Change and global warming and wherever or not it is real or not. The majority of that skepticism is in the United States which one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases. I believe the reason for that is simply DENIAL. People here in the U.S. don't want to believe things like global warming are real because they would rather continue to live their comfy lives. Ill admit it, I'm one of those American's. We see that is a real thing but yet we don't do much about fixing it. 50 years from now I pray that slow or lower our fossil fuel consumption. But given what I learned in my research I don't think the Earth will be the way it is now if we continue to live this way. If no changes are made within 50 years a major disaster a major disaster is bound to happen. BUT Out of sight, out of mind is how we tend to deal with things like climate change when really it is something we should worry about. So I think that we all need to remember that really we are at bay to mother nature, which is something that has shown to be very unforgiving.
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