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TableOfContents
1.0
Whatisclimatechange?________________________________________________2
1.1Whataregreenhousegasesandhowdotheyaffectourearth?_________________2
1.2Howcanwereducetheemissionsofthegreenhousegases?____________________3
1.3Howtheclimatechangeincreasesthetemperatureofourearth?______________3
1.4
Whatarethemainfactorsofclimatechange?_____________________________4
1.5Whataretheeffectsofclimatechange?___________________________________4
1.6Howdohumanscontributetocauseclimatechange?_________________________5
1.7Whataretherolesplayedbyhumanstoreducetheclimatechange?____________5
1.8Whatarethemostaffectedcountriesbyclimatechange?_____________________6
1.9Howdoesclimatechangeaffectthehumanshealth?________________________7
2.0Whatarethesolutionsthathavebeendiscovered?__________________________7
2.1Howsomecountriesarecontributingtoreducetheclimatechange?___________8
2.2ClimaterisksandthelatestIPCCreport__________________________________9
2.3Vulnerabilitytoclimatechange__________________________________________9
2.4Whatistheoptimisticscenarioofreducingclimatechange?__________________9
2.5Perspectives_________________________________________________________10
2.6Conclusion___________________________________________________________10
2.7References___________________________________________________________11
ClimateChange
How have humans caused climate change? What actions should we take to maintain
balanceoftechnologicaladvancementandpollution?
1.0Whatisclimatechange?
1.1Whataregreenhousegasesandhowdotheyaffectourearth?
these gases are trapped into the atmosphere they are very dangerous and cause an increase in desertification,
meltingofsnowandice,riseinsealevelsandstrongerstormsandextremeevents.Thesefactorswillthenaffect
humansandanimals,bothpersonallyandglobally.
1.2Howtoreducetheemissionsofthegreenhousegases?
The scientist attempt to find various solutions to decrease the rate of the greenhouse gases emissions in the
atmosphere.Thesearesomestepstakentodecreasethegreenhousegasesemissions.
In modern power stations, the waste gases are treated with slaked lime.this removes the sulfur dioxide by
reacting with it to give calcium sulfur which is a friendly gas to our environment. This process called fluegas
desulfurisation.
Most countries have now banned lead in petrol because lead
emissions is much less of problems. But it can still arise from
plantswhereleadisextracted,andfrombatteryfactories.
The exhausts of new cars are fitted with catalytic convertor that
absorbs the harmful gases from burning of the fuel onto the
surfaceofcatalyst,wheretheyreacttoformharmlessgases
TheeffectoftheGreenhousegasesonourearth
Figure 1 (the first image to the right) illustrates how the greenhouse gases allow the sunlight to pass through
from the atmosphere and after that these gases do not allow the heat from the sunlight to be released from the
atmosphere and it will cause an increase in the earths
temperature.
1.4Whatarethemainfactorsofclimatechange?
carbon dioxide,methane,water vapour, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases that emit from the industries as a
result of burning fossil fuels. Thesegasesactlikeacoveraroundtheearth. Theylettheheattopassthroughthe
atmosphere,and then they do not allow the heat to be discharged from the atmosphere back to the space. This
will then lead to climate change.Moreover, the increased amount of deforestation in recent years isalsooneof
the causes of climate change.Forests play an important role in thecarbon cycleonourplanetandtheystorethe
carboninthetrees.
When a tree is cut down, the carbon absorption willstopandthecarbonstoredinthe treeswillbereleasedinto
the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.It is estimated that more than 1.5 billiontonsofcarbondioxideis emittedto
theatmospherebydeforestationandaround30millionsforestsandwoodlandsarelosteveryyear.
1.5Whataretheeffectsofclimatechange?
As a result of climate change, there will be unusual change of our earth it will globally affect many of the
worlds polar creatures. The ice glaciers and ice sheets are slowly starting to melt in the Arctic that willcause
many fallouts such as increase in oceans level which in turn influences weatherandclimate.Inadditiontothat,
sea levels are risingandtheoceansarebecomingwarmer.Climatechangecausesanelementarythreattoplaces,
species and people.This will nationally cause a big fallout. More extreme and uncommon weather will be
occurring as a consequence of the increase in the temperature that significantly alters our planet. Forexample,
theheatwavesarebecomingcontinualandmanyplacesare experiencinglackofrainandthensuddenly,intense
rainfall.
Climate change will cause desertification water shortage in the areas where the water is rare which results in
deserts becoming drier than the past. There will be also strong storms and winds.These effects will nationally
affect the country. Furthermore,the earlier maturity of plants will lead to an increased rate of allergy and
asthma. This can be seen as a personal effect. These are the main effects of climate change but there are also
plentyofeffectsthatresultbyclimatechange,butnotasimportantastheonesmentioned.
1.6Howdohumanscontributetocauseclimatechange?
1.7Whataretherolesplayedbyhumanstoreducetheclimatechange?
The climate change is happening against our environment that we are living in,so every single thing that will
happen to our environment will be reflected onto us. Our environment is like a body andtheclimatechangeis
like a disease. If you have a sickness in your body you will try to find the appropriate solution the canmake
you return normal again,if not, you will suffer all your life. The same thing happens to people if theywantto
reduce theclimatechangetheyshouldbeenergyefficient.Beingenergyefficientisnotjustbyswitchingoffthe
light. People should also change the type of light bulbs that have been used into LED light bulbsthatdoesnot
consume much energy compared to the normal light. LED lights have a long life span which meanspeopledo
not have to do maintainance.It is also safer sinceitusesalowvoltage,envionmentfriendlybecausethelighting
form does not contain much much mercury and other harmful gases and the fast switching that makes them
useful as a flashing sign and automotive lights . Moreover, ithasamuchsmallersizethattheotherlightsbulbs
that give a boon to the LED lights by making them ideal for fitting into a small places where the other bulbs
haveadifficultytoreachthere.
Usingrenewableenergy willalsobeusefulifthepeoplestartusingit,becauseitdoesnotproducetheenergyby
burningfossilfuels.Itmostlyproducestheenergyfromthesunlight,windmovementandwater.
As the humans are the main factor of causing climate change . They should find a plenty of solution for it
because all of these changes is affecting us and it is as a cycle. Humans should eat wisely.Buy organic and
locally food andavoid processeditems.Thepeoplecangrowsomeoftheirownfood.Moreover,theyshould eat
low on the food chain,at least one meal without meat a day.18% of the greenhouse gas emissionsproducedby
themanufactureofmeatanddairy.
The wastage should decrease since the garbage placed in landfills emits methane,carbon dioxide,nitrogen and
watervapour.Theseemittedgasesaremainlygreenhousegasesthatisharmfulforusandourenvironment.
Flyingisanissuenowadaysbecauseinsomecountriessuchas,DenmarkandUnitedKingdom.
1.8Whatarethemostaffectedcountriesbyclimatechange?
CRI=ClimateRiskIndex
CRI
19942013
COUNTRY
CRI
SCORE
Honduras
10.33
Myanmar
14.00
Haiti
16.17
Nicaragua
16.67
Philippines
19.50
Bangladesh
20.83
Vietnam
23.50
DominicanRepublic
31.00
Guatemala
31.17
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Pakistan
31.50
These countries are the most affected countries in the world with the climate change.Most of these countries
announced a strict rules to decrease this climate changes in many different sections.Forexample,theyincrease
the price of the fuel used by cars or motorcycle in order to decrease the carbon dioxide emissions in the
atmosphere. Furthemore,they do not allow many factories to be build in and they also did many nuclear
processes in order to generate energy without burning. Moreover, they also have renewable energy. There are
also some poor countries such haiti and honduras they do not have enough money to build a nuclear power
stations or install renewable sources of energy. These poor countries just plant trees because it is the cheapest
waythatcandecreasethelevelofcarbondioxideintheatmosphere.
1.9Howdoesclimatechangeaffectthehumanshealth?
As a result of carbon dioxide emissions and the increase in the temperature. These will affect our health and
will causes an increase in malnutrition,injury and mass migration. Moreover,it will also causes an increase in
mentalhealthandinfectionspreadanditevenwillleadstodeath.
Climate change affect allergies and respiratory health for example,it can cause asthma,allergic illness that
includes hay fever. People's awareness against climate change will allow them to be more aware of the
environmentandtheywillattempttoreduceandfindsolutionfortheclimatechange.
nuclear,developing and installing new low carbon and zero carbon technologies and ensuring continual
development.
Revvinguptherenewable energyareavailablearoundtheworld.Severalresearchesandstudieshavebeendone
in order to ensure thatthetechnicalpotentialsmeetthehugemajorityofour energyneed,butfinallytheyensure
that. Renewable technologies can expand and develop quickly,cost effective and will creates jobs while
reducing the climate change. Energy efficiency technologies have been discovered in order to allow us to use
less energy to get the same or high facilities. This technology also give us the chance to save both energy and
money.
The transportation have increased the rate of climate change morethantheotherenergyconsumingsectors,so
there are a variety of solutions discovered in order to improve the efficiency in all the source of the
transportation and changing to low carbon dioxide fuel emissions.There are many ways to getridoffossilfuel
electricity. The ways will include stop building coal burning power plants and lay off them.The electricitycan
be generated from a nuclear processes rather than fossil fuel burning. Nuclear technologies create a serious
threattooursecurityfromthenucleargasesemissionstoourhealthandourenvironment.
Managing forests and maintaining agricultures play an important role inreducingthecarbondioxideemissions
because the trees will store carbon dioxide and emit oxygen that we breath. On the other hand,if there is not
much trees the absorption of carbon dioxide will decrease and the carbon dioxide level will increase in the
atmosphereleadingtomoreandmoreheatandincreaseinthetemperature.
The researchers discoveredatechnologythatinvolveslowcarbonandzerocarbonemissions. Theydiscovered
the battery technology,new materials for solar cells and hydroelectricandsunlightenergy.Theseallarelowor
zero carbon emission.Hydroelectric and Sunlight energy are used as a fuel for cars in the countries where the
globalwarminglevelishigh.
2.1Howsomecountriesarecontributingtoreducetheclimatechange?
Most of the strong countries such as USA,United Kingdom and Australia are applying some of the climate
change solutions and making them as a laws and there will be some punishments if the laws have been
broken.These punishment can consist of a high financial penalty or imprisonment. The punishment will
nationally help to reduce the risk of climate change in those countrie. Nowadays, many countries are trying to
apply the same lawsthathave beenappliedbythestrongcountries,unfortunatelytheycouldnot.Thatsbecause
the punishments are not as strong as the punishment in the strong countries,the country are not having strong
laws or the countrys policy is weak compared to those countries. In that countries the climate change level is
high.
As the greenhouse gases emissions have global consequences,regardless of where they come from. Tackling
climate therefore requires coordinated actions by the nation around the world. The UK andtheEUarepartyto
international legislation that aims tackle climate change.they have been created
U
nited
N
ations
F
ramework
C
onvention on
C
limate
C
hange (
UNFCCC
) in 19992 as the main forum for international agreement on
tackling climate change. There were 195 countries joined the international treaty. Negotiations focus on four
main points which are adapting to climate change,finance to enable actions on mitigation and
adaption,reductionofgreenhousegasemissionsandtechnologydevelopmentandtransfergreendevelopment.
To reduce greenhouse gas emissions the industrial countries are encouraged to reduce their fossil fuels
emissions under the UNFCCC,and some countries have committed themselves to do so. Recognising their
burden of responsibility for emissions commitments under the Kyoto protocol in 1997. The kyoto protocol set
5% reduction below19990levelsforthefirstcommitmentperiodfrom2008until2012.Thishasbeenachieved
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but has not been enough to offset the rapidly increasing emissions from the other countries without legal
commitments. The UKs commitment under the protocol was a 12.5% reduction and has been achieved,with
emissions being reduced by 27% by 2011 which is a very good reduction rate. A second Kyoto commitment
period has been agreed from 2013 until 2020. Scant countries remain signatories although the UK and EU are
participating. Many other UNFCCC countries have made voluntary promise to cut their emissions 2020.These
makes the other countries felt pleased and did the same. Work continous on building a stronger international
regime. The UNFCCC has agreed to aim for a new protocol,legal instrument or agreed outcome with legal
force which is related to all parties by 2015. Countrieshavealsorecognisedthatthereductionshouldberapid
enough to keep the global temperature within 2C above the preindustrial levels. The UK's 2050 target is
broadlyconsistswithaglobalefforttoachievethis.
However,to adapt to climate change the UNFCCC commits all the parties to produce,implement,publish and
update adaption measures,as well as to develop on adaption to climate change. It provides for a variety of
support mechanisms for the implementation of adaptation measures in developing countries. In 2010 the
Cancun Adaptation Framework was adopted,and it was agreed that adaptation must be given the priority as
mitigation. The Framework calls for further actions on adaptation including reducing the vulnerability and
increasingtheresilienceindevelopingcountryparty
2.2ClimaterisksandthelatestIPCCreport
By contrast other regions are expected to get drier in terms of an increase in drought intensityandduration.In
manyregionstheriskofanincreasingstrengthandfrequencyofextremeweathereventsisregardedasaserious
threat to humans systems such as water and food supply, with the coming riskofhigherdeathsandthelossof
livelihoods. Therefore, an important message of the IPCC reportisthat
risksareunevenlydistributedandare
generally greater for disadvantaged people and communities in countries at all levels of development.
This
unequal impact distribution is projected to account for additional warming above 2C. Therefore highlighting
theimportanceofprovidingadditionalsupporttothosecountrieswhomparticularlyaffectedbyclimatechange.
2.3Vulnerabilitytoclimatechange
change, which decrease the risk of effects of climate change. Second policy option which hasattractedlimited
interest iscompensationforclimateimpacts,typicallyconcernedastransferpaymentsfromthosecountrieswho
are not affected by climate change to those who are affected. These response options depend on information
aboutthevulnerabilityofkeysystemstoclimate changebuttheirspecificinformationneedsdiffersignificantly.
Mitigation and compensation need to distinguish the additional impacts of anthropogenic climate change from
the impacts of natural climate variability since they are concerned with the old once this difference is less
relevant for adaptation. While the collected estimates of climate impacts can be very useful for mitigation
policy (and to some degree for compensation policy), adaptation factors typically require information that is
morelogically.
2.4Whatistheoptimisticscenarioofreducingclimatechange?
Best case is we get our act together and begin to rapidly bring emissions level downmeanwhileEarth turnout
to be less sensitive to greenhouse gases thanwecurrentlybelievethatplanets,animalsadaptquickly.Themajor
technological breakthroughs help society emissions and adjust to climate change, but these are alltheopposite
of what we are actually seeing,so the only thinginourcontrolistolimit theemissionsusingallavailabletools
andthebestbehaviourscurrentlyatourdisposal.
2.5Perspectives
In my perspective, I believe that more can be done with the fight against climate change. With all of the
technological advancements in the last decade, scientists and inventors ought to come up with a solution to
solve this ongoing problem. Researching this topic, Ive read a lot about people not believing the fact that
climate change is really happeningandthinkthatitisjustaconspiracy,Iwasshockedtohave seenthisbecause
to me, climate change has been very prominent and with all the recent images surfacing online about polar
animals being affected and the constant arrival of disasters around the world people had better see what is
happening to them now rather than later. With all the development that is happening inourworld todayItruly
do believethatthesolutiontothisproblemcanbe foundifpeopletrylookingdeeperintotheproblemandcome
upwithusefulresolutions.
Globally, people are not only being affected but so are species of animals and plants. The most commonly
affected animalshavebeenmanyofthepolarcreaturesoftheworldwhoaredyingbecauseofthemeltingofice
glaciers in regions that they live in. Global effects that are the most recognisable are the shrinking of glaciers,
an increased amount of heat waves and monstrous hurricanes. Scientists around the world are currently
predicting more harmful effects of climate change in the nexttwodecadesorsoandtheyarealsosearchingfor
solutions to the problems. Hopefully in the future there will beachanceofimplementingthesolutionsintoour
everydaylivestosaveourworldfromclimatechange.
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2.6Conclusion
2.7References:
1. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/brochures/climate/Climatechange.pdf
2. https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/basics/facts.html
3. https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/science/causes.html#
4. https://ipcc.ch/report/ar5/
5. http://www.ledlamps.net.au/ledbasics/benefitsofledlighting
6. http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=69
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7. http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/effectsofclimatechange
8. https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/sources/electricity.html
9. http://timeforchange.org/climatechange/popular
10. https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/ThreatstoWildlife/GlobalWarming/GlobalWarmingisHumanCaused
.aspx
11. http://www.climatehotmap.org/globalwarmingsolutions/
12. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/10solutionsforclimatechange/
13. https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts/health.html
14. http://www.davidsuzuki.org/whatyoucando/top10waysyoucanstopclimatechange/
15. http://whatsyourimpact.org/effectsincreasedgreenhousegaslevels
16. http://www.irinnews.org/news/2009/07/08
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