What is Climate Change?
Climate change is the long-term trend of weather patterns over a period of time. Over this period, climate changes in response to natural factors like sunspot activity and volcanic eruptions, as well as human influences such as greenhouse gas emissions. It’s hard to predict what will happen because it’s hard to predict the weather, but it’s important to understand that climate change is happening.
Climate Change can be described as a combination of three factors: temperature, precipitation and other atmospheric conditions (such as humidity). Climate Change is the sum of all the changes in weather conditions that are due to human activities, including those that result from changes in land use and technology. It occurs over time periods ranging from decades to millions of years. Climate changes are natural and have occurred throughout Earth’s history.
Causes of Climate Change
Climate change is a global change in the climate which affects the Earth’s weather and ecosystem. It is also caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels and clearing forests. Climate change is caused by the emissions of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) into the atmosphere. These gases absorb infrared radiation emitted from Earth’s surface which keeps our planet warm enough for life to exist. Greenhouse gases are released by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation and industrial processes. These gases also form the atmosphere’s protective ozone layer which protects life on Earth from harmful radiation emitted by the Sun.
There are many different causes of climate change. The three main causes of climate change are human activity, the movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates and volcanic eruptions.
Climate is affected by processes that occur in space as well as on Earth. For example, solar activity affects the Earth’s climate. The Sun is the source of most of the energy that drives our weather systems, and it is expected to become less active as time goes on. Climate change also occurs because the planet has moved around in its orbit, which affects how much sunlight reaches Earth.
The rotation of the Earth also affects climate. The farther away from the equator you are, the more this effect is felt.
Solar activity and changes in the tilt of Earth’s axis have a much greater impact on global temperatures than natural factors such as volcanoes or plate tectonics. Volcanoes are not currently having a major impact on climate change, but they have in the past. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 cooled the Earth’s atmosphere for about one year.
1. Human Activity
Human activity is the main cause of climate change. It includes: Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) are produced by many different human activities, including burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. This is known as “carbon pollution”. GHGs trap heat in the atmosphere, and as a result, they cause global warming.
As we produce more carbon dioxide and other GHGs, it takes up space in the atmosphere that would otherwise be available for other gases. When this happens, these gases are able to have a greater effect on climate change.
2. The movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates
It is a natural process that affects climate change. When plates collide, they move and release energy in the form of heat and earthquakes.
As we have more people living on Earth, we produce more waste products. These waste products include: Carbon dioxide (CO2) is produced by all forms of life, and it is released into the atmosphere when we breathe. It is also produced by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. Carbon dioxide makes up a large part of our waste products.
Water (H2O) comes from the oceans and land areas where water has evaporated into the atmosphere. Rainfall is also made up of water, but only about 10% comes from rainfall and 90% comes from rivers, lakes and underground sources. We use water for farming, industry and other activities that require it. As we produce more waste products than nature can handle, it causes a lot of pollution.
In the past, our environment has been able to handle these waste products. But now we are causing more pollution than nature can handle and this is why climate change is happening. Climate change has many effects on the Earth’s climate. It affects our planet’s temperatures, rainfall patterns and even its geography. Global warming is caused by human activity, but other causes are natural occurrences such as volcanic eruptions or solar variations.
3. Volcanic eruptions
These are caused by hot molten rock that flows out of the Earth’s crust. Volcanic eruptions are an important cause of climate change because they release gases into the atmosphere. These gases include carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and other compounds. They make up a large part of our waste products and it causes global warming.
The Roles of IPCC
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an international body that provides the scientific community with information about climate change. The organisation was founded in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme, to provide an objective assessment of climate change.
The IPCC is made up of hundreds of scientists from around the world with a secretariat based in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation has a range of supporters and critics, but they have been generally praised for their independence and effectiveness.
They provide regular reports and they review new research in their reports. The first report, “Global Warming: An Impacts Assessment”, published in 1990, examined the potential effects of climate change on natural and human systems.
The IPCC has assessed the risks posed by climate change for several different scenarios, including a business-as-usual scenario and an optimistic scenario. They consider all of these to be likely, but note that they are less certain about what will happen in the future than they were previously.
The IPCC also investigates how human activity might affect climate change. They investigate this in four ways:
- They look at what is happening to our climate now and how it has changed over time, and use that information to make predictions about what might happen in the future.
- They examine possible changes to our climate, and how they might affect different parts of the world. They look at things like sea-level rise, ocean acidification, food production and human health.
- They try to predict how our climate will change in the future. They look at how global temperatures might rise, and they also look at things like sea-level rise, changes to rainfall patterns and extreme weather events.
- They investigate how we can make our societies more sustainable, for example by finding ways to produce more food with less water. The IPCC has a mandate to keep its members informed about the state of climate change and how it might affect us. It also examines what we can do to make our societies more sustainable, for example by finding ways to produce more food with less water.
Also, the IPCC organises conferences to allow scientists from around the world to discuss climate change and its implications. The IPCC’s most recent report was published in November 2013, just a few months before COP15 in Copenhagen. The IPCC’s work has contributed to making climate change a key political issue, and it has played an important role in informing the international community about what is happening to our climate now and how we might make our societies more sustainable.
In conclusion
The IPCC has made a significant contribution to the international community by providing evidence about climate change and its implications. It has also played an important role in informing the international community about what is happening to our climate now and how we might make our societies more sustainable.
The IPCC’s work is not yet finished. It is important that we continue to pay attention to what the IPCC has said, and that we think about how our climate might change in the future.
We should also remember that there are many other organisations working on climate change, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs), universities and businesses. For example, many universities are developing their own ways of measuring climate change. Some companies are also making efforts to make their products more sustainable.
The bottom line is that we should all continue to do our part in tackling climate change. We can’t afford not to act now, because the stakes are too high.
We have only one planet, and it is time to start treating it with the respect that it deserves.
