Climate Change And Global Warming

During the past several hundred years, civilization has made rapid progress in industries like air travel, automobiles, and energy production. These developments were made without consideration of the long-term effects that their emissions may have on the planet. Changing weather patterns are now wreaking havoc around the world, and scientists attribute this to human-caused climate change. During President Obama’s State of the Union address in 2015, he stated that, “No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change,” (“Remarks by the President”). Warming temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change have disastrous consequences that pose a threat to humanity and the environment.

Global warming is defined as the recent increase in the world 's temperature that is believed to be caused by the increase of certain gases (such as carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere. There are many different theories on whether global warming is similar or not to climate change. Simplistically, climate change is different because climate change is defined as a change in global or regional climate patterns or, 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, having been measured over long periods of time, due to the changes in Earth’s orbit and organic carbon which reflect sunlight. Global warming and climate change are not to be confused because global warming is caused mainly by anthropogenic factors like the emission of carbon dioxide gas and use of fossil fuels whereas climate change is completely natural, however, according to Milan Radovanovic, “it is clear that the anthropogenic factors dominate the increasing temperature and the natural ones have the maximum influence…” (Radovanovic). Therefore, “the contribution to global warming from natural forcings and from natural internal variability is in the range between -0.2 to 0.2 [degrees] celsius over the period 1951-2010…” (Radovanovic). Natural factors have had the most effect on global temperature in the past 59 years totaling a 0.4 degrees celsius increase in

Look around. Every day, everyone will witness some sort of carbonic emission in some form dispersing into the atmosphere. You hear enough about it on the news, whether you care or not. However, the question lingers: is it even that big of a deal? Most likely, if you are a Republican, you will say that Democrats are blowing the whole climate change situation out of the water, or that the warming of our earth is completely natural. Notice how they switched it from global warming to climate change; that is because their previous assumptions and models have not been completely accurate, right? On the other hand, if you are a Democrat, you are most likely seething over the statements you just read and want to do anything you can to prevent this possible catastrophic disaster. 97% percent of climate scientists agree that Climate Change is here and now, caused by all of us… right? Democrats are also more likely to target and blame carbon emissions on the rising temperatures. Nevertheless, William McDonough, a famous urban planner, says that targeting carbon is a purely political move. Further, carbon should be a useful resource for humans, and an imbalanced carbon cycle is to blame. In fact, McDonough claims this imbalance is the result of poor and inadequate urban designing. Are any climate change believers right? Or are Donald Trump and friends correct in pointing the finger at the problem and saying, “wrong!” First and foremost, let us explore the partisan views on the issue.

Climate change is evident throughout the world and is a major issue. It is no secret that our planet is getting warmer. Global warming is now recognized in the scientific community as a real problem. There are multiple aspects that are causing this issue. Majority of the warming is caused by greenhouse gases. Volcanic eruptions and changes in the intensity of solar radiation have offset the warming partially. It is estimated that average annual temperatures will increase 3.5°F-9.5°F by the century’s end.

The first argument examined on the man-made global warning side is that increasing greenhouse gases caused by human activities is causing directly observed climate changes. The first resulting climate change discussed is warming global surface temperature. There has been an increase in global surface temperature of 0.74 degrees C since the late 19th century. In the last 50 years alone the temperature has increased by 0.13 degrees C per decade. North America and Eurasia have seen the largest increase in warmth. However, some areas of the earth have actually cooled some this past century (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para6). After the mid 20th century 70% of the global land mass saw reduced diurnal temperatures. From 1979 to 2005 the maximum and minimum temperatures have shown no change; both indicate warming (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para10). Furthermore, borehole temperatures, snow cover, and glacier recession data all seem to agree with recent warming (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para11).

It has been observed through various researches that in the last century, average temperatures across the globe increased by over 1.3°F with an increase of more than two times in the Arctic. (Bates, Kundzewicz, Wu, & Palutikof, June 2008). The results of climate change can also be seen in changing precipitation patterns, increases in ocean temperatures, changes in the sea level, and acidity and melting of glaciers and sea ice (USEPA, 2014).

Former President of the United States, Barack Obama, once said that “No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.” In fact, scientific evidence for climate change is undeniable and the effects of climate change are beginning to be felt all around the world (“Global Climate Change”). Furthermore, evidence to support these claims for climate change can be found anywhere from the tops of mountains to ice cores drawn from the bottom of the earth. For these reasons, the causes, effects, and solutions of climate change need to be understood, so that all people of the next generation still have a suitable habitat to live in.

Climate change looms large over our rapidly growing and continually changing world. No longer are the adverse effects of this menacing global issue a mere ominous projections, they are starting to become a very concrete reality. Countries are today experiencing rising sea levels, which compromises coastal infrastructure, prolonged drought, squeezing food supply and agricultural productivity, as well as extreme storms. Rising temperatures have already led to vast reductions in the size of the Arctic. There is now no doubt amongst scientists that anthropogenic activity has been the primary catalyst to the

It is widely held that climate change is real and happening now Case (2006) as global average temperature has warmed about 0.8°C within the past century. Coupled with this, the past three decades has witness a global average warming of 0.6°C (Hansen et al., 2006). This is largely to due to human induced factors (IPCC, 2001). A recent report produced by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences confirms that the last few decades of the 20th century were in fact the warmest in the past 400 years (National Research Council, 2006). The IPCC also projects that if greenhouse gas emissions, the leading cause of climate change, continue to rise, the mean global temperatures will increase 1.4 – 5.8°C by the end of the 21st century (IPCC, 2001). In a similar

Climate change is the single biggest environmental and humanitarian crisis of our time. Our Earth’s temperature is climbing at an alarming rate. Earth 's average temperature has risen by 1.4°F over the past century, and is projected to rise another 2 to 11.5°F over the next hundred years. The planet is seeing the devastating effects of a warmer earth; warmer oceans, melting ice caps, and rising sea levels. As these and other changes become more pronounced in the coming decades, they will likely present challenges to our society and our environment.

The first section of this paper establishes what exactly naturally occurring climate change is. What are the underlying causes? What happens when climate change occurs? Most importantly how do we know this? The second section of this paper seeks to use our new found knowledge of natural climate change. It builds upon the premise of the first section and the ideas introduced there. Since we know the natural causes of climate change we can draw conclusions relating to the impact and influence that humanity is having on climate change. It is by first establishing naturally occurring climate changes legitimacy and causes and then linking these causes to our now current anthropogenic climate change This second section is also the more controversial, nobody disputes naturally occurring climate change, but as soon as causation is assigned to humanity and particular sections within; it becomes a vigorously debated topic. By first establishing climate change as a naturally occurring

Our world’s climate is rapidly changing, and those changes will have an enormous impact on our planet’s people, ecosystems, cities, and energy use. Average global air temperatures are already roughly 1.5 degrees higher than they were at the start of the 20th century, and “have risen about 1 degree over just the last 30 years,” According to the New England aquarium. Climate change can best be described as the long-term change in average weather conditions, including temperature, precipitation and wind. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), which is comprised of the world’s largest leading scientific experts in the field of climate change, “our climate is undergoing dramatic changes as the direct result of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that act like a glass roof around the earth, trapping in the heat that would otherwise escape to space – this commonly referred to as the ‘greenhouse effect’.” Ascending worldwide temperatures have been accompanied by adjustments in weather and climate. Countless places have seen changes in rainfall, leading to more droughts, floods, and extreme rain; in addition to more critical and recurrent heat waves. Earth’s glaciers and oceans have mastered numerous changes- our seas are becoming acidic and warming, ice caps are dissolving, and sea levels are increasing. As these alterations become more prominent in the succeeding future, they will likely present challenges to our society as well as our

In the last 100 years, Earth’s average temperature has risen by 1.4°F. The rising global temperatures have caused changes in weather and climate. Global warming refers to the ongoing rise in the average temperature near Earth’s surface. This is causing a climate change, which refers to any significant change (major change in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns) in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time (several decades or longer). Due to this, it is projected that the temperature will rise from 2 to 11.5°F in the next hundred years (US EPA, 2014). The “drivers,” which are the principal causes making this occur, are very controversial. It is debated whether a change in temperature is due to the work of

A meeting discussing global warming and the ongoing climate change (and the impact CO2 emissions have on the growing problem) has been in session in Peru for the past few days. Dozens of world leaders are gathering to discuss possible changes that can be implemented to halt the increase in temperature seen around the globe. However, many prominent scientists have stated that it may be too late for these world leaders to make any significant impacts (Associated). These scientists, and many other people around the world, believe that humans have contributed significantly to global warming, and as a result mankind needs to do whatever it can to combat this ongoing crisis. Nearly 3,500 miles away from Peru, United States Senator James Inhofe is in Washington D.C., representing Oklahoma in the United States Senate. Senator Inhofe is one of the loudest preachers of the belief that global warming is not the dire threat that so many scientists make it out to be. Inhofe has claimed that it is “arrogant for people to believe human beings are able to change what He (God) is doing in the climate” (Tashman). The Senator believes that only God controls the climate and the environment, and to even think that humans are impacting the earth’s climate is misguided (Tashman). These two opposing viewpoints bring with them questions of religion, politics, human responsibility, and ultimately the fate of the planet. On one side, there are those who say that the science is so concrete, and the

Climate change and global warming are terms often tossed around in common parlance by non-scientists in the western world as having a singular meaning: that the planet is warming up, that humans may (or may not) have caused it; that something must be done at once. Climate change is presented and discussed as a single phenomenon, disingenuous to its multifaceted nature. Complicated and sometimes seemingly random, climate change is both chaotic and complex, characterized by nonlinearity, feedback loops and emergent phenomena. Rind (1999) defines a complex system as one where there are “multiple interactions between many different components.” Earth’s climate is the same way: clouds, wind, precipitation, sunlight and geography—each affect climate, but each also affects the other, and so forth—interactions that form an intricate latticework of mutual dependency.