CLIMATE CHANGE

This week we have been discussing climate change in class. This week's blog is supposed to look into climate change, and find some facts on it to figure out why it is occurring. The blog assignment also has us look into why there are still people who do not believe in climate change, despite overwhelming evidence. 

First, we were asked, "Is the climate changing right now?" And according the the evidence from the sources we were given, the climate is currently changing, and it has been since as early as 1880 (Center for Climate and Energy Solutions). It may seem like the changes in climate have been relatively slow, but according to the Climate Change Information Kit, "the climate does not respond immediately to emissions," so the climate will  

continue to change even if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.

(graph taken from the Center for Climate and Energy

Solutions' website)

So, what role do humans play in the changing climate? The main cause of the warming of the Earth's climate is the emission of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere, which is largely due to human activity. C2ES' website states, "Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have increased since pre-industrial times from 280 parts per million to over 400 parts per million." They also included the following video in order to provide more evidence for the effects that are caused by human activity:

Greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere really started to rise after the start of the industrial revolution. This is demonstrated through the use of ice core records. There are even some greenhouse gases that have been found in the atmosphere that are only created by humans, proving that this is a human caused issue.

Climate change will have many lasting, negative affects on us and on our planet is serious steps are not taken. And taking these steps will not be easy; a lot of work will have to go toward reversing the immense damage that we have already caused. The sea level is predicted to rise "by 9 to 88cm by 2100" (Climate Change Information Kit), and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather occurrences are most likely going to change. Those are just some of the impacts that will occur due to climate change. There will also be affects on human health. Extreme heat, poor air quality, and the possibility of different diseases arising are all different impacts that may occur on human health.

If we continue like we are now, I don't even see us having an earth in 50 years. But, if we do have one, I imagine the air quality will be horrendous; it is already dangerous to breathe in the air, in some regions more than others. Many places that we enjoy visiting now will be underwater. We will have more intense and scary weather, that may put human lives at risk. If serious steps are not taken by our citizens and our policymakers, we have a very grim future ahead of us. I hope that serious action can be taken before it gets much worse.

It is very interesting to me that climate change is still not believed in by many people in the United States. It's more concerning than anything else. The Heartland Institute states that there is no specific research that shows a "consensus" on the debates dealing with climate change. Well, there really is no "debate" when it comes to climate change. Just looking through all the well-respected institutions' websites that we were provided with, we are met with an extremely large amount of evidence that climate change is real and it is happening, no debates, no arguments, no question involved. I think one of the main reasons that this skepticism still exists is because there are people in power, who are primarily focused on money and staying as rich as humanly possible, and these are the people that some citizens look to for truth and look at as an example of what to be. It also may be that a lot of people do not want to take responsibility for all the damage that we have caused, or it may just seem like "too much work." It is incredibly unfortunate that there are still a large amount of people who think climate change is a "hoax." And it is even more unfortunate that it is going to take the planet getting a lot worse than it is now for most of these people to realize that something needs to be done.