CLIMATE CHANGE 8
Writingto inform: Climate change
Abstract
Theeffects of climate change are adverse and are being felt in everycorner of the earth. It is, therefore, crucial to empower people withknowledge about climate change to avoid more effects from the same.This information will be of significant contribution in helpingunderstand the causative factors and the necessary measures that aidin preserving the climate. The purpose of this paper is to write aninformative report on climate change to the students at CMU. Theinformation on climate change is crucial to the students since theyare the future generation on the planet and through the information,they may find efficient ways of solving the challenge throughcampaigns to stop processes resulting in climate change.
Writingto inform: The effects of climate change
Therehave been modifications in the environment through industrializationprocesses, urbanization, and growth of the population as Berliner(2003) asserts. The result of these activities is mainly an increasein the level of carbon dioxide emissions into the environment. Theprimary reason behind these increased emissions is a result ofburning fuels and the high rates of deforestation. The influence ofthe activities and actions of human beings causing environmentalpollution result in the emissions of certain gasses such as thecarbon dioxide and methane which are crucial because of the effect ofthe greenhouse. To understand how climate change occurs and itsimplications on the environment, it is necessary to understand theprocesses and activities resulting in climate change. It is evidentthat there are carbon dioxide and other gasses such as nitrous oxideemissions, which are anthropogenic and are critical to the greenhouseeffect. According to Dutt and Gaioli (2007), there is sunlight andother invisible radiations reaching the earth with most of it passingthrough the atmosphere to reach the surface of the earth. Afterreaching the surface of the earth, there is a reflection of asignificant amount of the radiation back to the atmosphere. There isthe absorption of remaining radiation to the surface of the earth,after which, heating occurs. After the heat, there is a radiation ofthe heat from the earth into the atmosphere through infraredradiation (Smith and Twisselmann, 2006). There is thepresence of certain gasses in the atmosphere, preventing the escapeof the infrared radiations from the surface of the earth into thefree space. This phenomenon results in the greenhouse effect. Thegreenhouse effect is a result of the atmospheric pressure in the air.Because of this fact, there is an increase in the level of thetemperatures in the atmosphere up to a point in which there is anattainment of an equilibrium between the outgoing infrared radiationsand the ingoing solar radiations (Robinson Et al., 2006). Thisprocess is referred to as the greenhouse effect because it iscomparable to the manner in which the greenhouse results in anincrease in temperatures inside it. The absorption of the outgoinginfrared radiations is by the greenhouse gasses (Dutt and Gaioli,2007). Most of these greenhouse gasses, for instance, methane andcarbon dioxide occur naturally in the environment. The greenhouseeffect has always been around for the releasing of these radiationsand heating the atmosphere and consequently, the surface of theearth. This simply implies that the greenhouse effect is crucial forthe existence of life on the earth planet without which life wouldhave been impossible due to very low temperatures. Therehas been a progressive and gradual increase in the averagetemperatures of the surface of the earth. This increase isattributable to the increase in the level of the greenhouse gasconcentrations in the environment. The rise in the averagetemperatures is what is known as global warming, but commonlyreferred to as climate change (McKibben, 2009).
Climatechange is serious
McKibben(2009) presents a need for an immediate action if there is a desireto save the planet of the earth from the catastrophe of the climatechange. This shows how the impacts of the climate change are adverse.It is, however, unfortunate that it might be late for any action tobe taken to save planet earth from the adversities of the climatechange. The damage from the effects of climate change is evident allover the world. Currently, the natural balance of thegreenhouse effect is no longer in existence. This is because, afterthe onset of the industrial revolution, the emissions of thegreenhouse gasses have been considerably on the rise, resulting in aconsiderable rise of their concentrations in the atmosphere of theearth. When the emissions of the greenhouse gasses are as a result ofthe activities of human beings, they are sometimes referred to asanthropogenic emissions and sometimes incorporate emissions of gasseswhich do not occur naturally in the atmosphere. The main natural,anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions include carbon dioxide,nitrous oxide, and methane while the man-made anthropogenicgreenhouse gasses include hydrofluorocarbons and chlorofluorocarbons(Kolmes and Butkus, 2007). The increase in the level of theconcentrations of these greenhouse gasses is as a result of diversereasons. The activities of fossil fuels burning such as oil andcharcoal have contributed to a significant rise in the level of thecarbon dioxide in the atmosphere (Dutt and Gailoli, 2007). Equally,there are certain processes of the industry, which result in theemission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere such as themanufacture of cement. Deforestation has also resulted in theincrease in the amounts of carbon dioxide released into theenvironment. It is known that trees aid the absorption of carbondioxide in the atmosphere during the processes of photosynthesis.When the number of trees is diminishing due to deforestation, itimplies that there is a low absorption of carbon dioxide resulting inan increase in the emission of the gas in the atmosphere increasingits concentration. There is emission of methane and nitrous oxidethrough solid wastes and some agricultural activities which arecurrently on the rise, hence increasing the number of emissions andsubsequently its concentration into the atmosphere (Smith andTwisselman, 2006). The increase in the concentrations of the level ofthe man-made greenhouse gasses is a result of industrial processesand use of products containing the gasses.
Therole of climate changes in the economy
Itis unfortunate that the governments of developing countries and somedeveloped countries acknowledge the impact of the climate change, butconsistently keeps engaging in activities that fuel it. Their basisfor non-action is the impact the activities have on the economy, suchas employment creation and poverty alienation. It is unfortunate thatthey do not look at the broader picture whereby curbing the damagesof climate change eats much of the country’s gross domestic productas opposed to taking precautionary measures to curb the actionsresulting in climate change. Other governments assertthat climate change strikes a balance between the losses and gainswhich McKibben (2007) terms that as a wishful thinking. For a longperiod of time, the impacts of the climate change have always strucka balance between the winners and loser. For instance, although it istrue that climate change has resulted in floods in some parts, otherregions which experienced rains throughout had instances of sunnydays due to the impact of climate change. However, studies and modelssuch as the Pentagon report of 2003 show that every person on theplanet will at some point suffer due to climate change.
Discussion
Climatechange is not necessarily an environmental problem or concern.Despite the fact that the environmentalists raised an alarm on theissue of climate change, there is little they can do to help aleviatethe problem. There is no law in existence guiding theenvironmentalists to take measures against issues such as theemission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and there are nochances of fighting climate change since they lack the equipment. Insuch a situation, the chances of making any difference in fightingclimate change are at the bare minimum. The bitter truthis that at the moment, it is almost impossible to reverse the damageof climate change on the planet. The temperatures have gone way toohigh for any reversal to be done. The rise in temperatures is beyondwhat our expectations, and as well as the estimations of thescientists. There is a myriad of catastrophes such as floods anddroughts on the rise due to climate change. There is also theimplication of the increase in the prevalence of diseases such asdengue fever in places where mosquitoes could not survive beforeeffects of climate change. It is a sad reality that there is no hopeof the end of these catastrophes not unless there is a change in ouractions of which our behaviors shows no signs of change. However, thestakeholders with concerns in the climate issues have set forums,such as the G8 summit, to instigate measures aiming at reducingclimate change and its effects.
References
Berliner,M. (2003). Uncertainty and Climate Change. StatisticalScience. 18,4, 430-435
Dutt,G. and Gaioli, F. (2007). Coping with climate change. Economicand political weekly. 42,42, 4239-4250.
Kolmes,S. and Butkus, R. (2007). Science, Religion, and Climate Change.AmericanAssociation for Advancement of Science. 316,5824, 540-542.
McKibben,B. (2009). Climate Change. Journalof Foreign Policy. 170,32-38.
Robinson,J. Et al. (2006). Climate Change and Sustainable Development:Realizing the Opportunity. Ambio,35,1, 2-8.
Smith,P. and Twisselmann, B. (2006). Climate Change. BritishMedical Journal. 332,7556, 1509.