A Helpful Living: Climate Change
The Basics
Q: What is climate change and why should I care?
A: Well, to start, climate is defined as the typical weather in an area. This includes the temperature, rain or snow, humidity, wind and seasons of the place. Climate is very important to an area, as it is a key factor in shaping the ecosystem and an organism’s habitat (plants, animals and humans) depend on it. However, due to rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, the atmosphere is trapping heat and warming the earth, melting ice, raising the sea level and causing fires, droughts, storms, rainfall and floods. Scientists believe this trend will continue throughout the years and even increase. The earth is experiencing this change faster than anything in the last 2,000 years. This is bad for everyone around the globe as these changes can affect food production, the availability of water and pose health risks.
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange/whatis.htm
Q: What is global warming?
A: Global warming occurs alongside the greenhouse effect. It occurs when certain gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap heat. The surface of the planet is therefore warmed. The gases let light in, but heat can’t escape, like the glass walls of a greenhouse, hence the name.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-overview/
Q: OK, but what’s the difference?
A: Global warming only refers to Earth’s rising surface temperature while climate change is that and the effects of it. You could say that global warming is a symptom of climate change.
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/climate-qa/whats-difference-between-global-warming-and-climate-change
Q: What are greenhouse gases?
A: Well, the top four are Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N2O), and Fluorinated gases. CO2 makes up 76%, Methane makes up 16% and Nitrous oxide makes up 6%, while Fluorinated gases make up 2%. They are able to trap heat in the atmosphere and make the surface warmer. They allow sunlight to pass through, where it is absorbed on the surface of the Earth, but it’s supposed to bounce back to space as heat. Sadly, some of this energy is being intercepted and absorbed by the aforementioned greenhouse gases. Their structure allows them to absorb some of the escaping heat and re-emit it to Earth. This causes a rise in temperatures.
http://whatsyourimpact.org/greenhouse-gases
Q: Where do greenhouse gases come from?
A: Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, comes mostly from humans. 82% of greenhouse gases emitted from people are CO2. They are emissions from burning fossil fuels, solid waste, trees and other chemical reactions. Methane comes from landfills, coal mines, oil and natural gas operations, as well as agriculture, making up 9% of emissions from people. Nitrous oxide is from nitrogen fertilizers, burning fossil fuels and other industrial and waste management processes, weighing in at 6%. Fluorinated gases come from a vareity of industrial processes. They’re typically emitted in smaller quantities but are referred to as the most potent greenhouse gases. They make up 3% of emissions made by humans.
https://www.ameslab.gov/esha/where-greenhouse-gases-come
http://whatsyourimpact.org/greenhouse-gases/fluorinated-gas-emissions
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases
Q: So, why don’t people believe in global warming?
A: The number one reason the average person doesn’t believe in global warming is that they feel the weather is indicating otherwise.
http://www.businessinsider.com/public-religion-report-climate-change-2014-11
Q: What information is needed to make people not only believe in climate change, but become capable of rational deliberation on this topic?
A: Studies actually show that countries with high CO2 emissions are the least worried about climate change. However a total of 79% of people say that climate change is either already affecting them or will in the next few years. So, why do some still feel that climate change isn’t a problem or even that it doesn’t exist? The answer eludes me but the only thing we can do is spread awareness.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/18/what-the-world-thinks-about-climate-change-in-7-charts/
Q: Is it too late to stop this?
A: Even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, we’d not feel the effects for decades or centuries, as there is a time lag between what we do and when we will feel the effects. Mitigation (reducing the flow of greenhouse gases) and adaptation (learning to live in a different way) is the approach we need to use to respond to climate change. However, scientists are afraid of reaching that crucial “tipping point”.
https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/
Effects of Climate Change:
Q: What do rising sea levels mean?
A: This means that over the past century, readings tell us that the Global Mean Sea Level has risen from 4 inches to 8. The annual rate is now .13 inches a year which is double the average rate than has shown up in the past 80 years. Global warming has caused the oceans to absorb about 80 percent of the additional heat caused by it. When water heats up it expands, which explains the sea level rise. Glaciers and ice caps are also melting, for glaciers this means that there is a greater than average summer melting, something that normally happens during the warmer months. Even a small increase in the sea level can mean disaster for coastal communities and habitats, including destructive erosion, wetland flooding, aquifer and agricultural soil contamination and loss of habitat. More powerful storm surges can occur and hundreds of millions of people around the world will become more vulnerable to flooding.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/sea-level-rise/
Q: What does climate change mean for animals?
A: As their habitats disappear due to deforestation, rising waters and melting ice caps, animals grow thin and have to adjust to new lifestyles accordingly.
Q: What kind of extreme weather can we see from climate change?
A: Some people try to deny climate change or global warming, because they don’t think the weather is changing or that it’s just natural. This isn’t true, since 1992, 6,600 major climate disasters have happened worldwide causing more than $1.6 trillion dollars in damages and killing 600,000 people. Not all of it can be blamed on climate change, I’ll give them that, but extreme weather has been increasing over the years. In the period of 1983-1992, the average number of climate related disasters was 147 and during the past decade it has lifted to 306.
https://weather.com/science/environment/news/earth-climate-change-effects