Climate is the
temperature, humidity, precipitation, winds, radiation, and other meteorological
conditions characteristic of a locality or region over an extended period of
time.
Climate change
is any long-term significant change in the “average weather” that a given
region experiences. Average weather may include average temperature,
precipitation and wind patterns .
The term Global Warming refers to
the observation that the atmosphere near the Earth's surface is warming.
This warming is one of many kinds of climate change that the Earth has
gone through in the past and will continue to go through in the future. It
is reasonable to expect that the Earth should warm as the amount of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases. It is known for certain that
atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are rising dramatically due
to human activity. It is less well known exactly how the increases in
these greenhouse gases factor in the observed changes of the Earth's
climate and global temperatures.
The major greenhouse
gases are:
water vapor,
which causes about 36–70% of the greenhouse effect on Earth (not including
clouds)
carbon
dioxide, which causes 9–26%
methane,
which causes 4–9%
ozone,
which causes 3–7%.
It is not
possible to state that a certain gas causes a certain percentage of the
greenhouse effect, because the influences of the various gases are not
additive. (The higher ends of the ranges quoted are for the gas alone; the
lower ends, for the gas counting overlaps.)
Other
greenhouse gases include, but are not limited to, nitrous oxide, sulfur
hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and chlorofluorocarbons.
Human beings
can contribute to global warming and climate change by polluting and
cutting down rainforests, but humans can not control the climate or change
it back. The climate system is very complex and has many variables and
components. Human beings do not control all the variables and components
or the Planet Earth.
Any
organization or person that is saying things like "we can solve the
climate crisis" or "we can stop global warming" are making statements that
are just "Advertising Slogans" impossible to accomplish.
To actually "stop
global warming" or "solve the climate crisis" human beings would have the
ability to control the following to name a few:
The Sun
Volcanic
Activity
The Weather
The Atmosphere
All Human
Activities
The Oceans
No matter how
aggressively heat-trapping emissions are reduced, some amount of climate change
and resulting impacts will continue. Consequently, there is a need for
adaptation and mitigation.
“Adaptation”
– improving our ability to cope with or avoid harmful impacts or taking
advantage of newly favorable conditions
Mitigation is
defined as -to lessen in force or intensity, as wrath, grief, harshness, or
pain; moderate- to make less severe. At best human beings can slightly modify
climate change.
“Mitigation”
– reducing the amount of climate change, for example, by reducing heat-trapping
emissions or increasing their removal from the atmosphere
We should try
to be the best protectors of the planet as much as we are capable and
adapt to and prepare for the changes in the Earth's Climate that are
inevitable.
The Driving Force
Of Global Temperature Change Is Population Growth
Between 1960 and 1999, Earth's population doubled from three billion to six
billion people. When population growth is coupled with shortsighted planning and
excessive consumption of resources, problems multiply.
Human pressure on the environment is a product of three factors: population,
consumption, and technology.
Population is the total number of people, consumption is the amount of resources
each person consumes, and technology is how these resources are used and how
much waste is produced for each unit of consumption.
We have transformed approximately half of The Earth's surface for our own uses,
with widespread impacts on the planet's forests, oceans, freshwater, and
atmosphere.
If we stop all greenhouse gas
emissions, will global climate change stop?
Industrial activity has already
pumped billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and we have yet
to see the full effect of warming from those gases. A great deal of excess
energy imbalance is stored in the ocean and will be released gradually over
time, continuing to warm the planet.
In other words, some degree of
climate change is irreversible. Scientists call this the "committed warming,"
and estimate that the Earth would continue to warm about 1 degree Fahrenheit (.6
degrees Celsius) even if greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere stopped growing
immediately. That is, if all human greenhouse gas emissions stopped tomorrow,
the Earth could continue to warm for hundreds of years.
NASA:Clouds and Earth's Radiation
Budget
Credit:NASA
There are three main factors that
directly influence the energy balance of the earth and it's temperature:
The total energy influx, which depends on the earth's distance from the sun
and on solar activity
The chemical composition of the atmosphere
Albedo, the ability of the earth's surface to reflect light.
Solar Variability: Striking a Balance with Climate Change NASA Video
Credit: GRACE Goddard Space Flight
Center NASA, UNEP, EPA, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, NOAA,
University of Colorado, CIA, U.S. Department of Energy
