Nalini Galappaththi
USLTS – SRI LANKA
“Humanity faces many threats, but none is greater than climate change“
Climate change refers to change in the pattern of weather and related changes in oceans, land surfaces, and ice sheets, occurring overtime scales for decades or longer. Weather is the state of the atmosphere, its temperature, humidity, wind, rainfall, etc. These changes happen due to many internal and external factors. Climate change has become a global concern over the last few decades.
These changes can be natural but since the 1800s human activities have been the main driver of climatic changes, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas, which produces heat-trapping gases.
Scientists have observed earth’s surface is warming, and many of the warmest years on record have happened in the past twenty years.
Global climate changes also include warming temperature and changes in precipitation as well as the effects of earth’s warming such as
– Rising sea levels
– Shrinking mountain glaciers
– Ice melting at a rapid rate than usual in Greenland, Antarctica, and the arctic
– Changes in fl ower and plant blooming times.
Global sea level has risen by about 8 inches since reliable record keeping began in 1980. It is projected to rise another one to eight feet by 2100.This is the result of added water from melting land ice and the expansion of sea water as it warms.
In the next several decades, storm surges and high tides could combine with sea level rise and land subsidence to further increase fl ooding in many regions. Sea level rise will continue past 2100 because the oceans take a very long time to respond.
The climate changes are having various impacts on the ecosystem and ecology. Due to these changes a number of species of plants and animals have gone extinct.
Earth’s climate has constantly been changing even long before humans came into the picture. However scientists have observed unusual changes recently. For example, earth’s average temperature has been increasing much more quickly than they would expect over the past hundred and fifty years. Certain gases in earth’s atmosphere block heat from escaping. This is called the greenhouse effect. A greenhouse gas absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in earth’s atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone.
These gases keep the earth warm like the glass in a greenhouse keeps plants warm.
Human activities such as burning fuel to power factories, cars and buses cause the atmosphere to trap more heat than it used to leading to a warmer earth.
Man due to his need and greed has done many activities that not only harm the environment but to himself too. Human activities that harm the climate include deforestation using fossil fuel, industrial waste, a different type of pollution and many more.
Natural reasons including volcanic eruption, solar radiation, tectonic plate movement, arbitral variations. Due to these activities raise the temperature of earth to a greater extent causing an imbalance in nature.
Volcanic eruptions are often discussed in relation to climate change because they release carbon dioxide and other gases into our atmosphere. However human contribution to the carbon cycle one more than hundred time those from all the volcanoes in the world.
Tackling the climate crisis is imperative. Individuals along may not be able to make drastic emissions cut that limit climate change to acceptable level. Personal action is essential to raise the importance of issues to policy makes and business. Using a voice as a consumer, a customer as an active citizen, will lead to changes on a much grander scale.
A prosperous future for a country depends on their decisions about the environment, green spaces, roads, cycling infrastructure, waste and recycling, air quality and energy efficient home ultimately , steps to reduce carbon emissions will have a positive impact on other issues, like improving air quality, and public health creating jobs and reducing inequality.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an expert in climate and earth science. It will provide the necessary information to the global community, the public, policy and decision makers and scientific and planning agencies around the world.
It is the prime duty of the aforesaid agencies to take necessary actions now to enable a future, where the environment and living conditions are protected and enhanced in implementing sustainability practices. It is great to see leaders from across the planet come together to accomplish this vital mission.
Reference:
Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. 2021. NASA: Climate Change and Global
Warming . [ONLINE] Available at: https://climate.nasa.gov/. [Accessed 15 December 2021].
