Reasons and Effects of Climate Change

Introduction

Climate change is a complex issue, but one thing is for sure it’s humankind’s responsibility to be accountable for their actions and develop solutions to the negative effects of climate change. Some people believe that climate change is a natural phenomenon, but this is simply not true, especially when the rate of change is the issue. There is a plethora of evidence that suggests that humankind are the main contributors to carbon dioxide emissions, which is one of the factors that result in rapid climate change.

Regardless of what is believed about climate change, the effects can be through tropical storms, seasonal shifts, floods, and droughts have on humankind, animal habitats, and agriculture and that humans should have policies in place to reduce how often these occur.

The Case for Climate Change

Climate change is happening whether we like it or not and the evidence show that humankind is the main contributors. Humankind main contribution to climate change is the burning of fossil fuels and carbon-based materials. This causes carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere. Types of fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. According to Stern (2008), about 30% of carbon dioxide emissions result from burning oil and coal is used in more than 50% of electrical plants (Stern, 2008). It’s not just fossil fuel burning that releases carbon dioxide, deforestation is the other activity done by humans that release Carbon dioxide. Trees and plant cycle in carbon and cycle out oxygen and cutting them down release large portions of carbon dioxide into the air this effect increases if they are burned down. The facts of climate changes and humankind’s contribution are evident even though there are Skeptics. There are climate skeptics in the world that have brought of objections one of them being there is no evidence of notable climate change. This is simply not true The best evidence for climate change is a record of the earth’s surface temperature. According to Stern (2008), the best records are NASA GISTEMP and CRU direct surface temperature analysis (Stern, 2008). Another objection that climate skeptics will have is that climate change is the natural way thing and has always been happening. Once again this isn’t true and the Skeptics with this object need to identify what exactly is causing this natural cycle and provide a consistent theory of what we are experiencing today. Some may not see the rising in temperature as a problem, but this is not the only thing to consider we must also consider how fast it’s increasing. This affects humankind all around the globe and it’s our responsibility to reduce this effect. The infrastructure of humankind is best suited for specific weather patterns and sea levels. Climate change is a humanitarian issue just as much as it’s a fact. With climate change comes the rising of sea levels from the exterior of glaciers which increases flood risk for places that are below sea level. Because of this, if a region was to get flooded it would displace entire regions of people becoming environmental refugees. Climate Change doesn’t only affect humankind in a vacuum it also has a devastating effect on agriculture and habitats of plant and animals.

How Climate Change Effects Plant and Animal Life

People don’t often think about how climate change affect them let alone how it affects plant and animal life. The number of different things affected by climate change would include the timing, location, and productivity of the crop and these effects could be positive or negative. The impact that climate change has on agriculture is not only devastating it’s also increasing. This is especially bad for the U.S since we are so dependent on our agriculture and our agriculture depends on the climate. Because of the critical dependence of the agricultural system on climate and because of the complex role agriculture also has a complex role regarding economic systems in a rural and nation scale. According to (Watts et al; 2015) agriculture in the U.S is part of the global economy and the exports of agricultural is more than the imports, which result in balanced trade, but climate change will affect how much goods will be available for exporting and importing and prices. Climate change results in more frequent and longer lasting events like drought and flood which will reduce how much produce can be gathered from the crops. Because of these wetter climates and an increase in warmer temperature weeds are allowed to thrive under these conditions. Weeds take the resources such as water, nutrients and light away from crops. This will result in a lack of food security. Food security can be broken down into four categories the stability of the source, how available the food is, can it be accessed, and how the food can be utilized. Even though this sounds bad, there are ways to adapt agriculture to climate change. One way is for farmers to change the selection of crops. This not only increases the fertility of the soil, but it also helps keeps away pests. Other strategies to adapt agriculture is to incorporate livestock and innovation in the tools that farmers use. There are several species of animals are on the verge of extinction due to climate change. these would include, but not limited to polar bears, sea turtles, moose and salmon. Polar bears are a vulnerable species because the increasing loss of their ice habitat and sea turtles suffers from several human activities that result in them being an endangered species. When climate change is involved in the temperature of sand alters which alters the sex of the hatchlings. As main contributors to climate change it’s our responsibility to find solutions to these problems and make policies to decrease our contribution.

Fighting Against Climate Change

Fight climate change is not only difficult because the solutions require extensive research, time, and money it’s also difficult because, like any other problem it’s easier to ignore that there is a problem especially if the person is not directly affected by it. Fortunately, there are people and countries trying to combat the carbon dioxide emissions of their region. The UN came to an agreement called The Kyoto Protocol, which stated that developed countries would have reduced the collect emissions produce 5.2% below 1990 emissions. The time in which countries had to do this was from 2008 to 2012. A policy that has been placed on business to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions is a carbon tax. A carbon tax can be defined as a tax placed on goods and services based on how much carbon dioxide they emit. Policies are not the only solution to climate change and the effect it has on the world. Humankind could increase our ability to track weather pattern to evacuate vulnerable regions and control floods by restoring wetlands. Humans could also reduce the pressure they place in the ecosystem.

Conclusion

There may be many solutions, but they all start with humankind taking responsibility for their actions. Whether it be through taking actions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, adapting to a life with climate change, or passing policies that will ensure the safety of wildlife and ecosystems. Humankind has to recognize the dangers that their actions have agriculture, the economy, and the wellbeing of another in less hospitable regions due to climate change. There no denying the science the behind the carbon dioxide emissions that humankind produce. There is also no denying that that rapid change in climate causes floods and tropical storms that displace people and wildlife.

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