By See Woo

The window of opportunity to address climate change is rapidly closing, and the consequences of inaction will be dire for future generations. Climate change is a long-term variation in temperature and weather patterns. These shifts could be caused by natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions or variations in the solar cycle. However, most scientists think that this severe climate change is caused by human activities. This idea is also called an “anthropogenic greenhouse.” The reason why they think in this way is that scientists discovered, before the 1950s, that there are quite a few effects of natural things that affect climate change. Even so, the climate crisis is not caused by any natural forces again because solar output has declined, and no more volcanic eruptions have been actuated and cooled. The greenhouse gas effect (more detailed explanation below) is the most commonly assumed reason for climate change.

Causes

There are numerous causes of climate change. Each one of these has a great impact on our lives and the surrounding environment. These are the major reasons for climate change:

Generating power

The main causes of climate change are greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are generated by generating gas, oil, and coal in order to make electricity that traps the sun’s heat and blankets the Earth. Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous dioxide, and fluorinated gases are the main gases that make greenhouse gases.

Cutting down trees (deforestation)

Trees’ main purpose is to absorb the CO2 (carbon dioxide) that is floating in the air. Regardless of how important the role of trees is, people are cutting down so many trees for their own benefit. So, when they keep cutting down trees, there are no more tools to eliminate the carbon dioxide, which will be added to greenhouse gases.

Producing Food

You might ask, “What’s the problem with making food?” but the emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases result from the production of food. After all, primary, secondary, and tertiary industries all contribute to climate change for a variety of reasons.

Impacts on our lives

The impact of global warming has a great influence on our planet. Many causes have a huge impact on our lives and environment. These are the few things that are the result of climate change:

Melting Ice

Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. Warmer air causes ice to melt quickly, making survival difficult for other animals living on the Earth’s poles. Another problem that will happen is that many unknown bacteria will leach out and affect our world.

Drought

A warmer temperature causes water to evaporate, and many nations are experiencing severe drought. It causes them to have no more crops to eat or to harvest. Especially in Syria, they suffered the worst drought from 2007 to 2010. Furthermore, climate change has made water and food scarce, and war has occurred, leaving only one-fourth of the land available for agriculture.

Ocean warming and sea level rise

More and more carbon dioxide is made in the ocean because water expands a lot, and it gets warmer. As a result, the water becomes more acidic, which causes many sea animals to lose their shells, making it hard to live. Also, sea level rise can cause destructive erosion, wetland flooding, and many other natural disasters and effects on flora and fauna.

It is not a careless issue anymore. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that human emissions caused by heat-trapping gases have already caused the temperature to increase by nearly two degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius). Many nations are pouring efforts into limiting the global average temperature to below two degrees Celsius.

If we don’t take action right now, there will be no more Earth that we can live on. There is responsibility for all nations because this is the place where we live together. The problem will not be solved if small groups of people gather and campaign. On top of that, we have to face the problem, and the company, nation, and world have to be serious about this situation and start doing what we can do.

Resources

Jeff Tollfeson, “Climate change is hitting the planet faster than scientists originally thought”, Nature, Feb. 28, 2022  https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00585-

United nation, Aug. 4, 2021 https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change

United nation, Feb. 28, 2022 https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/causes-effects-climate-change

Julia Rosen, “The Science of Climate Change”, The New York Times, Nov. 6, 2021 https://www.nytimes.com/article/climate-change-global-warming-faq.html

Enel Green power, December 2008 https://www.enelgreenpower.com/learning-hub/energy-transition/climate-change-causes-consequences

Melissa Denchak, Jeff Turrentine, “What Is Climate Change?”, Sep. 1, 2021, NRDC https://www.nrdc.org/stories/what-climate-change

Rebecca Lindsey & Luann Dahlman, “Climate Change: Global Temperature”, Jan. 18, 2023 https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature