WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

Author: Ghulam Mustafa


What is Climate Change?

Climate is the average weather in a place over many years. Climate change is a shift in those average conditions. The climate has fluctuated naturally throughout the world’s history. more frequent and intense extreme weather, such as heat waves, drought and floods rapid melting of glaciers and ice sheets, contributing to sea level rise huge declines in Arctic sea ice ocean warming and marine heat waves refer to the long-term regional or global average of temperature, humidity and rainfall patterns over seasons, years or decades.

While the weather can change in just a few hours, climate changes over longer time frames. Climate change is the significant variation of average weather conditions becoming, for example, warmer, wetter, or drier—over several decades or longer. It is the longer-term trend that differentiates climate change from natural weather variability.

Causes of climate change

Climate change has always existed throughout our planet’s history. But the global warming that we have been seeing for around the last 150 years is anomalous because it is the result of human activity. It’s called the anthropogenic greenhouse effect and occurs in addition to the natural greenhouse effect. With the industrial revolution, man suddenly began pumping millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by outsourcing the quantity of CO2 present in the atmosphere compared with the minimum levels of the last 700 thousand years (410-415 parts per million compared with 200-180 parts per million).  For around 15 years, the data produced by thousands of scientists all over the world, analyzed and organized by the IPCC, has confirmed that global warming derives from the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, i.e., it is caused by human activity. In reality, the scientific basis for the connection between the levels of carbon dioxide and rises in temperature was established back in the last century. Scientists that there is no doubt that the particularly rapid climate change seen over the past century is caused by humans. Without the greenhouse effect, the average temperature of the planet would be -18°C. But daily human activities maximize this effect, causing the planet’s temperature to increase even more. Despite international commitments, the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere continues to grow and reached another record in 2019 according to the World Meteorological Organisation

The following chemical equations  demonstrate the production of each (Global Climate Change: Human Influences– The Chemistry):

Combustion of fosmaximizes:
6 O2 + C6H12O6 ——–> 6 H2O + 6 CO2 + energy

Production of methane during the microbial metabolic process:
CH3COOH ——–> CO2 + CH4

Effects of Climate Change:

Over the last century, the average temperature of the planet rose by 0.98 °C and the trend we’ve been seeing since 2000 would indicate that, unless interventions are made, a further rise to reach 1.5° by 2030 is likely. The impact of global warming is already evident: arctic sea ice has been shrinking by 12.85% each decade, while coastal tide logs show that sea levels have been rising each year Over the decade 2009-,2019 was the hottest ever recorded, and 2020 was the second hottest year ever, only just behind the record year of 2016. The “fire seasons” have become longer and more intense, like the one in Australia in 2019; since 1990 the frequency of extreme weather events, such as cyclones and floods, has also increased, occurring even at atypical moments of the year compared with the past and at devastating levels of intensity. Phenomena such as El Niño have become more irregular and have caused dangerous droughts in areas already threatened by chronic aridity, like East Africa, while the Gulf Stream is slowing down and could well change route. Plant and animal species are migrating in unpredictable ways from one ecosystem to another, creating incalculable damage to biodiversity around the world.

Yearly surface temperature compared to the 20th-century average from 1880–2022. Blue bars indicate cooler-than-average years; red bars show warmer-than-average years. NOAA Climate.gov graph, based on data from the National Centers for Environmental Information.

Conclusion

Climate change is a significant shift in long-term average weather conditions, primarily driven by the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, which results from human activities like the combustion of fossil fuels and the production of methane. This phenomenon has led to a 0.98°C increase in the planet’s average temperature over the last century, with predictions of a further 1.5°C rise by 2030 if no interventions are made. The effects of climate change are already evident, including the shrinking of arctic sea ice, rising sea levels, and more frequent and intense extreme weather events. These changes pose serious threats to ecosystems, biodiversity, and human communities around the world. Addressing climate change requires global cooperation and significant efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, transition to clean energy sources, and adapt to the changes already underway. It’s a complex challenge that requires immediate action to mitigate its long-term impacts on our planet.