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Climet Change

What is “Climate change”:

In the context of the green house effect, the phrase Climet Change, refers to long-term changes in the average climate, such as changes in average temperatures.

There is widespread agreement among the worlds’ leading scientists that:

• Climate change is underway
• The changes are occurring ever-more rapidly
• Human activities, most importantly the burning of fossil fuels, are the primary cause of the climate change we are experiencing now.

These human activities have increased the amount of "greenhouse gases" in the atmosphere, especially carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. This in turn is causing a rapid rise in global temperatures and altering the climate.

Climate change is already causing large, measurable impacts on the entire planet.

For example, there is already evidence of:

• Rising temperatures
• Shrinking glaciers and ice sheets
• Increasingly violent storms
• Altered weather patterns

These changes have been extremely rapid and are already producing profound challenges worldwide.

Moreover, unless we act immediately to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, climate change will continue to intensify long into the future.

The range of likely future effects of climate change includes:

• Continued increases in average global temperatures
• Rising sea levels
• Increasing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events
• Widespread plant and animal extinctions
• Impacts to human health
• Threatened water supplies
• Economic disruptions

Meeting the challenge posed by climate change will require action at multiple levels. National governments around the world must work together to craft comprehensive international climate agreements and national policies. State and local governments must examine what can be done in their respective areas of responsibility. Most importantly, each of us must take steps to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and thereby our impact on the climate.

 

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CAUSES of Climet Change

Ultimately, climate change is the result of a change in the balance between the solar energy trapped by the Earth and its atmosphere and the solar energy released into outer space. As this energy balance changes, so changes the climate.

The Earth’s atmosphere contains trace amounts of gases that absorb and emit long-wave radiation (heat). The “greenhouse gases” play a powerful role in maintaining the Earth’s energy balance. Greenhouse gases act like a blanket around the earth: by trapping heat they keep the planet some 30 degrees C (54 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than it would be otherwise. Up to a certain point, this “greenhouse effect” is a very good thing. Indeed, without some greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, temperatures would plummet and life as we know it would cease to exist!

However, the Earth can definitely get too much of a good thing! Numerous human activities are making the atmospheric blanket “thicker”, trapping heat and raising the planet’s temperature. Prior to industrial revolution, for example, greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere remained relatively constant over time. Since the mid-18th century, however, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have risen by 30%, and are increasing at an average rate of 0.4% per year. Not surprisingly, in the last century the average global temperature rose by 0.6 degrees C (1.1 degrees Fahrenheit) and will continue to climb.

Even small rises in temperature can be expected to produce major climatic alterations, such as changes in cloud cover, precipitation levels and patterns, the length of seasons and wind patterns. While there is still significant scientific uncertainty about what exactly the effects of climate change will be, some climate change is now inevitable because of past and current emissions. Changes, at a minimum, will be difficult and disruptive; some scientists fear that they may be catastrophic.