History and Factors of Climate Change

Climate change is a problem which is impossible to ignore in the world we live in especially at this present time. It’s important to that we realise the problems which are being caused as a result of climate change before they are too late. In this assignment I will discuss briefly what climate change is, I will do this by mentioning the history and what factors are contributing towards it. I then will discuss the impacts which are happening today as a result of climate change for instance the changing weather, the melting of ice and rising of sea levels. To conclude I will be discussing information on how the government is responding to climate change regarding taxes, regulations and laws.

What is Climate Change?

According to the Australian Academy of Science climate change simply is when there is a mix in the pattern of weather. Stated in Warm Heart Worldwide climate change is a change in the global climate, the gobal climate is made up of many areas such as the sun, rain and other weather conditions but also earth, oceans and even the life of humans. The Australian Academy of Science declare that climate change means that there is a change in the properties of the climate, this change may last for decades. Climate change may take place naturally through radiation from the sun or through volcano eruptions or it can occur due to human interference take for instance the burning of fossil fuels.

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Time (2019) states that at this present time the world has enter a new era, it is a hotter earth, an earth which is more likely to experience different extremes of weather. Currently the scale of climate change overtakes anything detected in the last ten thousand years. They inform that from the 1850’s onwards Carbon Dioxide a commanding greenhouse gas has expanded rapidly. Similarly, the dwellers of earth and fossil fuel emissions have grown dramatically. Carbon dioxide is a factor of the greenhouse in the atmosphere. During the last few million years the greenhouse effect has begun to become uncontrollable. It’s clear that humans have alternated the earth and accelerated climate change. The community of earth has increased by distinct millions since 1850. Correspondingly, mechanical emissions have forced carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere to rise from 280 to 410. Due to the fact human population is vastly increasing to around eight billion, it is believed the greenhouse gases and industrial discharge will leave earth with carbon dioxide levels which have not been seen since Antarctica had no ice around thirty-five million years. The emissions and gases capture warmth. Over the last millions of years, we added more and more emissions which have caused major adjustments to the earth’s temperature and its climate.

A major contributing factor to climate change is global warming. Warm Heart Worldwide states that global warming is the rise of earth’s atmosphere temperature, this rise occurs due to heat from the sun hitting earth and being captured in the atmosphere. The atmosphere is a greenhouse which traps the sun warmth and controls the temperature of the earth. This is causing major problems in today’s world; the dilemma is that much of the heat from the sun is being seized in the atmosphere and a scarce amount is reaching the earth. This is provoking the temperatures on earth to climb quicker than ever before. This heat is also a form of energy. The energy cause huge changes for the whole climate, it forces oceans to increase their temperatures which aids to more water being evaporating into the clouds creating stormy weather.

The Greenhouse effect has a major link with Climate Change. Reported by The Climate Reality Project the greenhouse effect is the natural action that heats the face of the earth.  This process is when the sun’s rays shine through the atmosphere and heat the surface on earth. The land and water absorb this heat from the sun and the unnecessary heat reflects away from earth. This process is becoming a problem due the amounts of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere. The greenhouse gases for instance carbon dioxide and methane are capturing heat that should be freed from the atmosphere. The greenhouse gases are so high due to human lives. The atmosphere temperature is continuing to rise due to the high amounts of greenhouse gas this is causing there to be more frequent intense storms and changing weather from one case to the next.

A factor in which many people are unaware of is water vapour. Climate Change Connection informs us that it is in fact an active greenhouse gas within our atmosphere which adds to the global warming and climate change. Water vapour is a greenhouse gas because it takes in emissions and it emits it back to the earth. Water vapour only stays in the atmosphere for brief courses of time. Water Vapour only stays in the atmosphere for time periods of days or a week, even though the other greenhouse gases may last for years. The water feedback process is the major cause for these large amounts of water vapour in the atmosphere. This is because hot air can hold greater amounts of moisture than cold air. The global warming is resulting in the earths temperatures increasing creating added moisture which results in water vapour. Therefore, it is a cause of Climate Change. Climate Change Connection states that water vapour is guilty for doubling the greenhouse effect.

There are further gases in the atmosphere which are part of the greenhouse effect. Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet disclose that carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are likewise a part of the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide makes up a small measure of the atmosphere, however it is a critical fundamental of the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is produced in a vary of different actions. Carbon dioxide is discharged through respiration or by human action through burning fossil fuels or through removal of forestry. Humans creating carbon dioxide is a major driving factor of climate change. Methane is a gas which can be released naturally or by the actions of humans. The decay of waste in disposal areas, the farming industry and the digestion system of animals such as cattle, sheep and pigs are all factors which make methane present in our atmosphere. Alike with carbon dioxide, methane is in scarce amounts within the atmosphere however it is a far more effective gas than carbon dioxide. Nitrous oxide is another dominant greenhouse gas which is found in the atmosphere and an element of the greenhouse effect. Nitrous oxide is released through soil horticulture and the burning of fossil fuels.

Impacts of Climate Change

Climate change is a large-scale problem worldwide, as a result of the earth having a universal climate. Climate change impacts on the weather, climate change is causing extreme cases of weather across the world.  Warm Hearth Worldwide informs us that climate change is causing hurricanes, heatwaves droughts but also downpours which are causing flooding and adding to sea levels. Climate change is a major factor to why the average sea levels have been ascending greatly. The moderate sea level has increase by 20cm from 100 years ago. Jackson, R (2019) thinks that the sea level will rise between 30cm and 120cm by 2100. The added water is a result of liquefying ice caps and the enlargement of the seawater due to the increase in its temperature. They believe that the growing sea levels will form storms and result in flooding for inland areas. This is a huge impact on the global community because it’s thought that the sea levels will advance the way in which they are rising even past 2100. This increase in sea level will keep going at the same rate or these rates may advance over time. This is a major threat to mankind Sea levels rising are a direct link to climate change because climate change is making the globe environment warmer which cause thawing of ice and expansion in seawater.

Climate change is causing the global temperatures to rise greatly. This has a huge impact to ice areas. The increased temperature is causing the ice to liquefy. According to Warm Heart Worldwide in the next hundred years the ice glaciers of the world will vanish, the Polar ice cap will melt. It is also thought that Greenland will begin to turn green and have little snow in the area. The melting ice is having a huge impact on the lives of polar bears. Herman, G., Hinderliter, J. and McVeigh, K talk about how in November 2016 Polar Bears were stranded on land at Hudson Bay. The polar bears were stranded because there was no sea ice for them on the Bay due to climate change. The Bears had to stay on land for weeks until they could return to the sea. The sweltering climate is clearly affecting the polar bears in other ways too, it is causing the bears to become weaker and they are decreasing in weight and they now have diminished hunting season. This is a result of the bears having less time on the ice due to it liquefying. All these factors impact the population of polar bears at Hudson Bay.

Post Solutions to Climate Change

The Irish Government has begun to work hard to come up with solutions to tackle this worldwide problem of climate change. Kelly, F. and O’Sullivan, K. (The Irish Times) states that the government has come up with a procedure to tackle the problem of climate change. This government plan contains 200 actions which help us to prevent climate change.

They have initiated arrangements to prevent the use of plastics which can only be used once. These plastics should have reached their end by the year 2021 as the government has placed a tariff on them. The Government is erasing the use of plastic which cannot be recycled, and they implemented greater costs on producing equipment which is hard to recycle. They have also started to make dwelling houses which use smaller amounts of energy. They hope to rearrange 500,000 houses to make them more energy efficient. This would be a huge step towards helping with the problem of climate change. They are planning to have 70% of electricity being generated by renewable sources in 2030. The government is creating a project by 2021 were people can create energy using solar panels and sell the energy to the national grid, which generates an income for houses. They have also made it illegal from 2022 to station an oil boiler in your home, and 2025 for gas boilers.

The government is setting in place actions to help tackle to problem of emissions being released. Spunout.ie states Ireland will decrease its rate of emission 20% by 2020, from the year 2005. They are planning to do this by adding cycle lanes and cycle amenities across the country. There have been rules set in place which mean some parts of the cities can only be used by vehicles which don’t produce emissions for instance bikes. This stops cities being filled with fumes and gases being released by cars which are adding to climate change. Higher taxes have been put on diesel and petrol and Motor taxes have been raised. They plan to prevent the sale diesel or petrol cars by the year 2030. This is to try and encourage people to commute to work on buses or to walk able too. Huge plans have been set in place in order to bring nine hundred and fifty thousand electric powered vehicles to replace diesel and petrol by 2030.

In my opinion the government has had an adequate response to climate change. I believe that in recent years the government has made huge improvement to the country to help prevent climate change. They are working hard and setting in regulations to make dwellings more energy efficient and I believe that if they successfully make electric cars popular it will make a huge difference to the amounts of gases being released into our atmosphere.

Reference List

• Science.org.au. (2019). 1. What is climate change? | Australian Academy of Science. [online] Available at: https://www.science.org.au/learning/general-audience/science-climate-change/1-what-is-climate-change [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
• Primer (2019). Climate change, what is it? Understanding the basic facts about global warming. [online] Warm Heart Worldwide. Available at: http://warmheartworldwide.org/climate-change/ [Accessed 19 Oct. 2019].
• Climatechangeconnection.org. (2019). What about water vapour? | Climate Change Connection. [online] Available at: https://climatechangeconnection.org/science/what-about-water-vapour/ [Accessed 19 Oct. 2019].
• Climate Reality. (2019). What Is the Greenhouse Effect?. [online] Available at: https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/what-greenhouse-effect [Accessed 19 Oct. 2019].
• Time (2019). How Understanding the History of the Earth’s Climate Can Offer Hope Amid Crisis. [online] Available at: https://time.com/5680432/climate-change-history-carbon/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
• Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. (2019). The Causes of Climate Change. [online] Available at: https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
• Jackson, R. (2019). The Effects of Climate Change. [online] Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. Available at: https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
• Herman, G., Hinderliter, J. and McVeigh, K. (n.d.). What is climate change?. Penguin Workshop: New York
• Kelly, F. and O’Sullivan, K. (2019). Climate action: What are the new Government measures?. The Irish Times. [online] Available at: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/climate-action-what-are-the-new-government-measures-1.3928072 [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
• SpunOut.ie – Ireland’s Youth Information Website. (2019). What is Ireland doing about the climate crisis? – SpunOut.ie – Ireland’s Youth Information Website. [online] Available at: https://spunout.ie/life/article/what-is-ireland-doing-about-climate-change [Accessed 21 Oct. 2019].