What is climate change?
-a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.
Background information on climate change:
-Changes in the earth's climate has been going on for the past hundreds of thousands of years.
-Until about the 19th century, climate change was naturally occuring and not affecting the earth in a negative way.
-In the 19th century the Industrial Revolution occured and up until present day, climate changes have been mainly caused by human activity.
-The industrial revolution meant machines would do most of the work humans did in the past hundreds of thousands of years.
-Engines were invented which are used in everyday facilities, burn off fossil fuels which harms the earth and contributes to climate change/global warming.
Human activities that affect the atmosphere:
-driving cars
-mining
-deforestation -urbanization
-burning fossil fuels
Consequences of climate changing:
-Predicted impacts include:
Solutions for climate change:
Skeptical Claim- It is not warming, it is actually getting colder
Climate Myth:
"In fact global warming has stopped and a cooling is beginning. No climate model has predicted a cooling of the Earth – quite the contrary. And this means that the projections of future climate are unreliable." (source: Henrik Svensmark)
-The earth is actually warming, the average global temperature has increased 0.8 degrees Celsius(1.4 degrees Fahrenheit), according to (https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/DecadalTemp). Two thirds of that warming has occurred since 1975, at a rate of 0.15 to 0.20 degrees Celsius per decade.
-a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.
Background information on climate change:
-Changes in the earth's climate has been going on for the past hundreds of thousands of years.
-Until about the 19th century, climate change was naturally occuring and not affecting the earth in a negative way.
-In the 19th century the Industrial Revolution occured and up until present day, climate changes have been mainly caused by human activity.
-The industrial revolution meant machines would do most of the work humans did in the past hundreds of thousands of years.
-Engines were invented which are used in everyday facilities, burn off fossil fuels which harms the earth and contributes to climate change/global warming.
Human activities that affect the atmosphere:
-driving cars
-mining
-deforestation -urbanization
-burning fossil fuels
Consequences of climate changing:
-Predicted impacts include:
- droughts-can hurt agriculture/affect life cycles of plants/animals/humans
- storms-cause physical damage to communities/areas
- heat waves-can dehydrate humans and animals
- rising sea levels-can mean disaster for coastal cities across the world
- melting glaciers-cause sea levels to rise as well as hurt animal species who live in the arctic
- warming oceans-can destroy the places animals and humans live and can wreak havoc on people's communities
Solutions for climate change:
- Forego Fossil Fuels-the most daunting challenge as the use of fossil fuels in the world is so common.
- Less Transportation-using public transportation lowers the rate of greenhouse gas emissions, biking, walking, and working from home are all reachable possibilities to help lower greenhouse emissions.
- Consume Less-cutting back on consumption will result in less fossil fuels being burned to extract, produce, and ship across the world.
- Stop cutting down trees-Timber harvesting accounts for 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere. That's 20 percent of human made greenhouse gas emissions. Improved agricultural practices with paper recycling and forest management would lower greenhouse emissions.
Skeptical Claim- It is not warming, it is actually getting colder
Climate Myth:
"In fact global warming has stopped and a cooling is beginning. No climate model has predicted a cooling of the Earth – quite the contrary. And this means that the projections of future climate are unreliable." (source: Henrik Svensmark)
-The earth is actually warming, the average global temperature has increased 0.8 degrees Celsius(1.4 degrees Fahrenheit), according to (https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/DecadalTemp). Two thirds of that warming has occurred since 1975, at a rate of 0.15 to 0.20 degrees Celsius per decade.
This graph shows the change in global surface temperature from 1880 up until the projected year of 2020. 18 of the 19 warmest years on Earth have occured since 2001. 2016 ranks as the most hottest year on record.(Source:NASA/GISS). So the earth isn't cooling by any means, it's temperature is gradually increasing year by year.