What comes to mind when you think “Climate Change”?
Rising sea levels, like this little comic?
Global warming, deforestation, famine, or even the extinction of the human race? It is a hot topic amongst political leaders, the news, schools, and environmental groups. “Use less plastic bags, reduce, reuse, recycle, switch off the lights, eat less meat!” These are the things we have so repeatedly heard in a bid to counter climate change.
But what exactly is climate change, and why should we care about it? In this article, we’ll dive exactly into that!
Climate change is a change in the average conditions on Earth, over several decades or more1. It’s different from the weather as the weather changes often like how we can experience clear skies and thunderstorms all in a day! However, the climate of a region does not change much in the short term, despite changes in the weather.
For example, a desert is described to have a dry and arid climate. Although it may experience a few days of intense rainfall per year, its climate remains relatively constant.
The climate of an area also includes the seasonal changes in temperature, rainfall and wind patterns2. As such, any changes to the Earth’s climate would mean drastic long-term changes in conditions on Earth which we are currently used to.
However, did you know that climate change is not something new?
In fact, the Earth has already undergone massive climatic changes in the past. The past major changes in climates have been due to natural processes, such as changes in the Sun’s radiation, the composition of gases in the atmosphere and volcanic eruptions. Scientists have analysed signs of these events by studying ice cores, tree rings, ocean sediments and other natural records.
But what makes the climate change we’re experiencing now concerning is that humans are the primary cause of this change. Unlike the past cycles of climate changes driven by natural factors, this change has been concluded to have occurred largely due to human activity since the mid 20th century. Although there have been natural changes in the environment, according to NASA, “These natural causes are still in play today, but their influence is too small or they occur too slowly to explain the rapid warming seen in recent decades3.”
Furthermore, the rate that this change is occurring is unprecedented4 . Ice cores have shown that the Earth’s carbon dioxide levels have remained around 170 and 300 parts per million for the past 800,000 years. But since the start of the Industrial age, this level has risen from 280 to more than 400 parts per million5. This rate is a stark contrast to the past cycles of climate changes which have occurred over tens, thousand, or millions of years.
Some people have argued that climate change is a hoax, or that it is not caused primarily by humans.
However, there is overwhelming evidence to support that the current climate change is indeed due to human activity. Scientists have discovered this by looking at how similar the trends of increasing carbon dioxide emissions and increasing global temperatures are.
Most man-made emissions of carbon dioxide occur due to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil8, which are burnt to produce the energy we need for our daily needs. Other key indicators include the disappearance of mountain glaciers worldwide and the melting of ice polar sheets.
The increase in carbon dioxide produced from human activities results in an increasing greenhouse effect where there is a significant increase in the amount of heat being trapped, resulting in rising temperatures. The carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere does not simply disappear, and day by day, we continue to add to its amount.
Take a moment to pause and to grasp the gravity of climate change.
Think about how big the entire Earth is – the vast expanse of the blue sky, the shimmering ocean with its never-ending horizon, the magnificence of the tall mountains ranges in the distance, large swathes of deep green forest.
Yet, in place of these today, we see our oceans spotted with pieces of floating plastic, sea creatures trapped in fishing nets, mountains no longer having their icy polar caps, a vast clearing of stumps in place of what once used to be trees.
These things are not just happening in one region, but all over the world. Imagine that. How much have the human species taken from the Earth and destroyed it? How did we cause such a significant impact on the very planet we live on?
Our own home is quickly becoming a very unliveable one, and we are the cause of it.
There are many visible signs around us pointing to us that our climate is changing. It is a reality we cannot choose to ignore. We need to change too, for the better, for ourselves and the Earth we live in.
Glossary: Parts per million – refers to the number of units of mass of a contaminant per million units of total mass. It is the standard used for measuring concentration of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.