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Climate Changes And Climate Change

Decent Essays

The concept of climate change has been around for quite a while. The earliest mention of climate change dates back to the 19th century. Swedish scientist, Svante Archenius was the first scientist to study the effect of CO2 on climate. (Rodhe et al 1997)
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines climate change as “A change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g by using statistical tests) by changes in mean and/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically, decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings, or anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in the landuse”
The UNFCC also defines climate change as “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over time periods.”
Climate change is influenced by the greenhouse effect which is the increase of Carbon dioxide, Methane, Ozone and Nitrogen Oxide. On one hand, the presence of these gases in the atmosphere make the earth habitable with respect to regulating the earth’s temperature. However, an increase in the concentration of these gases results in trapping energy in the atmosphere and this in turn increases earth’s temperature. “Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown since pre-industrial times, with an increase of 70% between

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