Climate Change

What is climate change?

 Climate change means a significant change in the measures of climate, such as temperature, rainfall, or wind, lasting for an extended period – decades or longer. The Earth's climate has changed many times during the planet's history, with events ranging from ice ages to long periods of warmth.  What’s different about this period of the earth’s history is that human activities are significantly contributing to natural climate change through our emissions of greenhouse gases. This interference is resulting in increased air and ocean temperatures, drought, melting ice and snow, rising sea levels, increased rainfall, flooding and other influences. 

What cause climate change?

• Changes in the sun's intensity
• Volcanic eruptions, or slow changes in the Earth's orbit around the sun
• Natural processes within the climate system such as changes in ocean current circulation

However, the current global aim is to tackle climate change resulting from human activities whose greenhouse gas emissions are changing the composition of the earth’s atmosphere.

Examples of human activities contributing to climate change include;

• Carbon dioxide emissions through burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas and peat
• Methane and nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture
•  Emissions through land use changes such as deforestation, reforestation, urbanization, desertification,

Effects of Climate change

-          -extreme maximum temperatures

-         - less extreme low temperatures

-         - extreme height of the sea

-         - higher sea temperatures

-         - higher number of heavy rainfall

-      - Melting of snow and ice like ice caps, glaciers 

       and permafrost.

These extreme weather events also have real impact on the human society:

-          increase in hunger and water crises, particularly in less developed countries

-          health risks from rising air temperatures and heat waves

-          economic impact on the elimination of climate impacts

-          further spread of pests and pathogens

-          loss of biodiversity, since only few species can adapt to the rapid rise in temperature