Everything About Climate Change

 

Climate change is a buzzword that everyone is vaguely worried about. However, it seems like it just pops up in a scary headline and then goes away. What is it, what’s the evidence, and how worried should we be?

What is Climate change?

 

In really basic terms, Climate is the average weather in a place, and for many years the average weather (temperature, rainfall, etc…) has been changing all over the world. The term used to be ‘Global Warming’, suggesting the average temperature was going up. That was kind of misleading because the weather was becoming more extreme all around, so now we talk about all aspects of the climate.

 

Climate Change is mostly due to humans polluting the planet with Greenhouse Gases such as Methane and Carbon Dioxide. This is done by burning fossil fuels, such as coal. When Greenhouse gases are released, they fill up the earth’s atmosphere and trap heat, which makes the earth warmer. This makes the average temperature rise and causes ice to melt and sea levels to rise.

A Short History

 

The first effect humans had on the climate was in the 1830s, at the end of the first industrial revolution. This is when CO2 was first released significantly into the atmosphere by humans. In 1896 scientists started to calculate the effect on the atmosphere. By this time, we were in the middle of the second industrial revolution, which meant more automation, more machines, and more pollution. In the 1930s we had noticed that the climate had risen by several degrees, but it was thought this was natural. Over the next few years, scientists realised that humans could be responsible for the changing climate and in the 70s and 80s people started to realise what a big problem climate change could be if it kept on going. Various summits and agreements were held internationally, but industry kept building and pollution increased. Today, Climate Change is a priority issue as it threatens our future, but it’s a battle between science and industry.

Why do we think the climate is changing?

 

Scientists have been recording temperatures since about 1850, when thermometers became reliable, and we have data from many years before. In 170 years, we have seen a trend of increasing temperatures when before humans could expect pretty much the same climate every year.

 

Scientists have also found that humans have influenced a number of extreme weather patterns, such as droughts, floods, wildfires and even hurricanes.  

How do we know humans are causing Climate Change?

 

People used to think that the Earth naturally cycled through different climates every few (hundred or so) years. For example, the Ice Age was an example of the climate changing naturally. However, scientists are now certain that humans are responsible for 100% of climate change. Here’s why:

·      Climate change appears to start with the first industrial revolution. This is when Greenhouse gases first started being realised on a big scale and we have proven that they are responsible for trapping heat in the atmosphere

·      Increases temperatures have matched the increasing amount of pollutants being released into the atmosphere.

·      Natural climate change happens over 10,000s or 100,000s of years, but we’ve seen significant changes in just decades.

Should we be worried?

 

Climate change comes up on the news often when a new longitudinal study is published, and it looks really scary, but then it seems to disappear. The answer to this question is yes and no. Yes, it’s probably the biggest threat to our future and human life, but we shouldn’t be worrying. We should be trying to fix it.

 

The fact is, if we keep polluting the atmosphere this much, the climate will keep changing, we will lose a lot of coastal cities and island, desert countries will become uninhabitable, and everyone will face very extreme weather. The timeline is uncertain, but at some point, the planet’s conditions will be incompatible with human life. In fact, in some ways we have reached a point of no return where we cannot undo some of the extreme weather Climate change has caused, such as the Artic melting.

 

There are some caveats: fossil fuels (the biggest contributors) won’t last forever as they are unrenewable, formed over millions of years from dinosaurs, and there are natural cooling events like volcanos erupting. But the trend is still upwards unless humans come together to prevent climate change. There have been some attempts to walk back our contribution to Climate Change: The Kyoto Protocol, The Paris Agreement, the Climate Strikes lead by Greta Thunberg. If we keep thinking like this, we may be able to save our planet.