Rodriguez 1

David Rodriguez

Sister Marie Sagues

ENGL 1004

October 27 2015

Climate

The Earth’s climate nowadays is changing very rapidly and differently. What is

climate change? Climate change is the seasonal changes over a long period of time in

the world. These climate patterns play an important role in shaping natural ecosystems,

and human economies and cultures that depend on them. For example, the changes in

climate can affect how people, plants, and animal live. As the earth's climate is dynamic

and always changing through a natural cycle, the world is now worried about the

changes that are occurring today have been speeding up and seriously affecting

human's lives. All across the world, people are taking action to prevent climate change.

According to the International Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 2007 report, scientist

predicted that warming oceans and melting glaciers due to global warming and climate

change could cause sea levels to rise 7-23 inches by the year 2100. Because of this,

we must take action as soon as possible to try to solve this problem. (Solomon, S) To

prevent more serious climate changes. However, what are the causes and effects of

climate changes that affect our lives and environment?

There are two main causes of climate changes - natural causes and human

activities. Natural causes have influenced the earth's climates such as volcanic
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eruptions, ocean current, and the earth's orbital changes and solar variations. The

eruptions of volcanoes cause a cooling effect on the earth. When a volcano erupts it

throws out large volumes of sulphur dioxide (SO2), water vapor, dust, and ash into the

atmosphere. The volcano eruptions will affect the climatic pattern for years although the

eruptions occur in a few days. (Shrivastava 6) The sulphur dioxide gas will reach the

upper level of the atmosphere. The tiny particles, dusts and ashes will block the

incoming sun rays and this will leads to cooling at the atmosphere. This is because the

bouncing of sunlight to the space is cooling the atmosphere of the earth.

Furthermore, ocean current is one of the natural causes affecting climate

changes. The ocean is the major component of the climate system. The oceans cover

about 71% of the earth and absorb about twice as much of the sun's radiation as the

atmosphere or the land surface. (Shrivastava 7) Winds push horizontally against the

sea surface and drive ocean current patterns. Besides that, the oceans also play an

important role in the concentration of carbon dioxide. The changes in ocean circulation

will affect the climate through the movement of carbon dioxide into or out of the

atmosphere. Moreover, another cause that affects climate changes is the earth's orbital

changes. The earth makes one full orbit around the sun every year. If there is no tilt we

will not experience seasons. Changes in the tilt of the earth can affect the severity of the

seasons. For example, if there is more tilt it means we will experience warmer summers

and colder winters and if there is less tilt means we will experience cooler summers and

milder winters.

Another main cause that leads to climate changes is human activities. From the

19th century, the Industrial Revolution saw the large-scale use of fossil fuels for
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industrial activities. This created many jobs for people and many people moved from

rural areas to cities. Many areas once rich in vegetation were cleared to become houses

or factories for industries. Natural resources are being used extensively for construction,

industries, transport, and consumption. All this has contributed to the rises of

greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere. Humans are

generating industries, factories, and running heavy machinery using many fossil fuels

such as coal, oil and natural gases. These uses of fossil fuel will lead to climate

changes. Global climate change is linked to use of fertilizer in agriculture. (Lal) The

result of microbial action in the soil, a chemical reaction releases nitrous oxide. Besides

that, the emission of methane and carbon dioxide will also affect climate changes. (Lal)

In addition, agriculture is growing in size to meet the demand of the ever expanding

population of the world.

All these factors are causing a great impact on climate changes on our earth.

What are the consequences of these causes of climate changes to our world? We can

see that there are three main effects on climate changes in our environment. Firstly,

climate change in the world will affect human health. There are many research papers

showing that climate change will affect human health. For example, in the research

paper by Healey, 2010 that I have read said that "Participants thought that climate

affects health in six key ways: through contamination of food, contamination of water,

changes in weather patterns, melting permafrost, isolation due to restricted mobility,

and loss of their way of life and their livelihood." Besides that, Cecchi et al. (2010) has

conducted the research on the effects of climate change on allergic asthma. Moreover,

Mickley, 2007 stated that "high levels of surface ozone and particles have been
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implicated in many diseases involving the cardiac and respiratory systems." These

research papers show that the climate changes are seriously affecting humanity’s

health.

Secondly, climate changes will also affect the biodiversity. Biodiversity is very

important for the plants and animals to maintain their habitat and ecosystem. The

climate changes have impacted a loss of biodiversity. For example, water sources may

change or the food chain may irrevocably change. In addition, the marine ecosystem

will be affected not only by an increase in sea temperature but also ocean acidification,

which increases the vulnerability of fragile ecosystems such as coral reefs. (Feely)

Furthermore, climate changes also will affect human's mind and behavior

psychologically. Climate changes will affect human's behavior such as consumption,

energy use, and population growth. Climate changes also impacts psychosocial and

mental health including stress, guilt, and anxiety to adapt and cope with the new

changing weather. Climate change has been linked to increase violence, stress, abuse,

and anxiety. (Solomon, M) Therefore, climate changes will have a great impact on the

human's psychological lives.

Now we can see how the causes and effects of climate changes that occur in our

world is a topic that is concerning worldwide. So, what are the solutions and methods

that we can prevent climate changes or solve the problems that we are having now?

Actually there are some solutions that our government, community and society can do.

Firstly, the government can help the communities and businesses to reduce

deforestation, plant new trees in the forest and empty land, earn sustainable livelihoods
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and adapt to changing climatic conditions. Next, teachers must lecture in schools and

colleges must give the knowledge of how to protect our earth beginning at a very young

age. One of the reasons that caused the climate changes is the emission of carbon

dioxide from the vehicles. Therefore, we can reduce the uses of vehicles and car-

pooling in our daily lives. Besides that, at home, we can switch our light bulbs to energy

efficient bulbs and turn off the light when we are not using it or after using it.

We can see there are many effects of climate changes that seriously negatively

affect our environment, health, and biodiversity. If we still have not taken any actions to

prevent the climate changes our earth will be in danger, and will not be able to support

humankind. Furthermore, if deforestation is allowed to be continued, there will be a

lasting consequence to our environment. Climate changes will also leads to

psychological problem such as increased violence, stress, and anxiety among the

communities. So, to protect our environment and give our next generation a better place

to stay, we must always know how to prevent climate change such as stop cutting down

the trees, save energy, car-pooling, etc. Therefore, let us band together to protect and

love our beautiful mother earth and try to keep her healthy as long as we can.
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Works Cited

Cecchi, L, et al. "Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S.

National Library of Medicine, 17 June 2010. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.

Feely, R.A., S.C. Doney, and S.R. Cooley. 2009. Ocean acidification: Present

conditions and future changes in a high-CO2 world. Oceanography 22(4):36–47.

Healey, G. et al. “Community Perspectives on the Impact of Climate Change on Health

in Nunavut, Canada." Arctic 64.1 (2011): 89-97. Arctic Institute of North

America's Publications Server. University of Calgary Press, 3 Aug. 2010. Web.

27 Oct. 2015.

Lal, Rattan. “Soil carbon sequestration impacts on global climate change and food

security.” science 304.5677 (2004): 1623-1627. Print.

Loretta J Mickley. "A future short of breath? Possible effects of climate change on

smog" Environment. Washington: Jul/Aug 2007. Vol. 49, Iss. 6; pg. 35-44 Print.

Mickley LJ, Jacob DJ, Field BD, Rind D. 2007. Effects of future climate change on

regional air pollution episodes in the United States. Geophys Res Lett 31:L24103

Print.

Shrivastava, A. K. Global Warming. New Delhi: P H Pub., in Association with Council for

Training & Research in Ecology & Environment, 2007. Print.

Solomon M. Hsiang, et al., “Quantifying the Influence of Climate on Human Conflict.”

Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1126/science.1235367

Solomon, S., et al. Fourth Assessment Report - Climate Change 2007 - The Physical

Science Basis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and

New York, NY, USA., 2007. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.