One of the most prominent environmental issues that has a tremendous impact on almost all regions of the world is the problem with the climate change. Climate change refers to the process of shifts in weather temperatures and climate patterns over a long period of time. Significant influence of this phenomenon can be seen from the process known as global warming. It is found that “anthropogenic activities have caused about 1.0 °C of global warming above the pre-industrial level and this is likely to reach 1.5 °C between 2030 and 2052 if the current emission rates persist” (Fawzy et al., 2020, p. 2069). While only 1.0 °C may sound not frightening and insignificant, in reality even this small amount of increase of the atmosphere temperature leads to the appalling consequences such as ice melting, wildfires, droughts, heat waves and flooding.
One the most detrimental examples that has happened recently is flooding in Pakistan that led to the loss of more than 1,000 lives. Almost one-third of Pakistani citizens were left without any shelter or food. Moreover, over the past years, the European region has been suffering from the heat waves that have a negative impact on people’s health. In order to effectively address the issue and come up with viable mitigation strategies, it is crucial to identify the causes of the problem. The main facilitators of climate change are greenhouse gases, deforestation and natural cycles.
The climate change is a result of human activities and partially of natural systems. The emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride and hydrofluorocarbons is found to be the main cause of the global warming and climate change (Fawzy et al., 2020). Greenhouse gases are mainly created by human activities. Trapping the high wave radiation from the Earth’s surface, they increase the Earth’s radiative energy balance and, consequently, the temperature. According to Hegerl et al. (2019), carbon dioxide is responsible for 75 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions, which have resulted from fossil fuel burning. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in 1750s, the release of carbon dioxide has significantly increased because of the burning of fossil fuels (Hegerl et al., 2019) Other human activities can also lead to the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as a result of burning of fossil fuels in factories, cars and during the electricity production. Release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere leads to the pollution of not only surrounding area, but also can cause the creation of a hole in ozone layer. An ozone layer is a mechanism that protects the Earth from the ultraviolet waves that come directly from the sun.
Another man-made factor that causes the climate change is deforestation. An extensive amount of tree cutting for industrial production and others means that carbon dioxide will be built up quicker (Fawzy et al., 2020). Woods have the ability to remove and store carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. However, since the number of tress is rapidly shrinking because of the indiscriminate logging and increasing number of wildfires happening throughout the world, especially across humid tropical areas, trees will no longer be able to absorb released carbon dioxide and release greenhouse gases back into the atmosphere. In addition, agriculture and cattle breeding can increase the effect of deforestation. For example, slash-and-burn is a widely used type of agriculture in many communities. However, it leads to the loss of the 50 acres of land hourly (Hegerl et al., 2019). During the especially dry seasons, the slush-and-burn agriculture intensifies the possibility of wildfires. Raising cattle can also have contributing effect on deforestation as it leads to the soil desertification through extensive overgrazing.
Moreover, among the factors influencing the climate change can be a nature itself. The current rise in temperature can be a temporary stage of the global cycle. According to the statistics, weather temperatures went up and down over the last 160,000 years (Hegerl et al., 2019). In this period of time, for example, the Earth faced two ice ages. In addition, some people state that volcanos also emit carbon dioxide into atmosphere, causing the rise of the global temperature (Hegerl et al., 2019). However, the amount of carbon dioxide that volcanos release is not enough and too little compared to the amount created by human activities. Scientists believe that such a significant rise in the temperature the we have today cannot be merely because of the natural cycles. Therefore, they believe that humanity is a main contributor of the climate change.
In conclusion, although natural changes to the climate can be partially responsible for the climate change, a vast majority of research in this field indicates that humanity is a main contributor to the climate change. The natural cycles can only change the weather temporarily and cannot have a long lasting effect and lead to an increase in the temperature that we face today. Through combustion of fossil fuels that used for the cars, factories and electricity production, people tend to release a large amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, creating a greenhouse effect. Coupled with the consequences of deforestation, these emissions cause the global warming and climate change.
References
Fawzy, S., Osman, A. I., Doran, J., & Rooney, D. W. (2020). Strategies for mitigation of climate change: A review. Environmental Chemistry Letters, 18, 2069-2094.
Hegerl, G. C., Bronnimann, S., Cowan, T., Friedman, A. R., Hawkins, E., Iles, C., Muller, W., Schurer, A., & Undorf, S. (2019). Causes of climate change over the historical record. Environmental Research Letters, 14, 123006.