The Basics of Climate Change

 

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Many of us will probably have some idea of what climate change is - perhaps you were taught about it in school, or perhaps you have learned about it through sheer osmosis: climate change is certainly talked about often enough for that! However, in order to be able to tackle a problem it is important to understand it fully.

Climate change can be a confusing topic at the best of times, especially with the large amount of misinformation that is floating around about it. So this blog is all about giving you the most important information on what climate change is and its importance to our lives today!

What is climate change? 

It's gone by many names over the years: global warming, global heating, climate change, and most lately we hear the terms climate crisis or climate emergency. In order to understand what climate change is though we must first understand the greenhouse effect:

• The Earth is warmed by radiation from the Sun, but the energy that is transmitted by this solar radiation is not entirely absorbed - one third is just reflected back out into space, and two thirds are absorbed by the oceans and the earth itself
• The Earth re-radiates some of the energy it absorbs but much of this energy doesn’t go into space, but rather it is absorbed by a series of gases in the Earth’s atmosphere (IPCC, 2007)
• These gases are called ‘greenhouse gases’, and they include carbon dioxide, methane, water vapour, nitrous oxide, and ozone (Dahlman, 2020)

This is the greenhouse effect, and it plays a vital role in keeping the Earth warm and allowing life to exist. However, any disturbance in the composition of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere can have significant repercussions on the average temperature of the Earth! This in essence is what is driving the current period of climate change we are experiencing. The volume of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been steadily increasing for the past 150 years, and this is warming the Earth. The warming effect of these gases has in fact increased by 45% since 1990. This in turn is causing the fastest increase in global average temperature in the history of the Earth: what we know as global warming.

Where do greenhouse gases come from?

There are many sources of greenhouse gases, both natural and human-induced. Carbon dioxide accounts for somewhere between 9-26% of the greenhouse gases produced naturally. But with man-made greenhouse gas production, carbon dioxide and methane account for roughly 90% of production!

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is usually regulated by the carbon cycle (which many of us will have learned about in school)! However human sources of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere through pollution are starting to upset this natural cycle... 

 

Natural sources of carbon dioxide include:

• volcanic eruptions
• decomposition of organic matter 

Human sources of carbon dioxide include: 

• combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, and liquefied natural gas
• deforestation (which reduces the amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere)
  
  

Methane is a greenhouse gas 84 times more potent than Carbon Dioxide in the first 20 years after it enters the atmosphere. 

• The main source of atmospheric methane is from the anaerobic respiration of certain microbes: some of these microbes live in the digestive system of ruminants like cows, causing their burps and farts to be a significant source of methane!
  
  

There are many other sources of these greenhouse gases that aren’t directly produced by humans, but are facilitated by human activities. This is often a side effect of climate change itself, as the Earth warms, releasing greenhouse gases from peat bogs, melting permafrost, and the ocean floor.

What is the future for climate change?

• The Paris Agreement, which was signed at the 21st Conference of the Parties in 2016 by 190 countries, agreed to limit global warming to no more than 2°C by 2100, and preferably below 1.5°C
• However, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that our greenhouse gas emissions have already warmed the earth by 1°C, and that we are on course to reach 1.5°C between 2030 and 2050
• There are numerous dangerous effects from climate change, many of which we are already starting to experience, such as rising sea levels, more frequent droughts, and stronger storms
• There are also many more changes which we are less sure of the effect, such as how much food we are able to make, or human responses to our changing environment, such as mass migration from low-lying land.
• However, it doesn't have to be entirely doom and gloom! If you're feeling the eco-anxiety, you should know you're not alone. There are plenty of resources available to help with optimism, local empowerment, proactive change and more: education is a vital tool to turn your worries into positive transformation!

I hope this blog post gave you a solid run-down of the facts behind climate change so you're well-equipped in your fight against it. Our blog posts aim to empower our community to share ideas, thoughts, knowledge and inspiration - positivity can be crucial in times of crisis! There's always actions to take, big and small, and you should recognise your achievements!

Author: Artemis

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