Effects our Behavior is Having on the Environment
Effects our Behavior is Having on the Environment
In my seminar work I will try to explain you what is happening to global climate, which are the consequences and what can we do to stop changing our climate.
Humans are heating the planet. Official confirmation for that came in 1995, when the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the official scientific body established in 1988 by the UN to investigate climate change - published its Second Assessment Report, written and reviewed by some 2 000 scientists. A consensus now undeniably exists that human-induced climate change is real and has to be tackled. Governments and scientists alike have agreed that the problem is real, and serious.
At the climate summit in Kyoto in late 1997, industrialized countries agreed, at least on paper, to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases they pump into the atmosphere. Greenpeace has identified global climate change as one of the greatest threats to the planet.
2. HOW AND WHY IS OUR CLIMATE CHANGING
Energy from the sun drives the earth’s weather and climate, and heats the earth’s surface; in turn, the earth radiates energy back into space. Atmospheric greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases) trap some of the outgoing energy, retaining heat somewhat like the glass panels of a greenhouse.
Without this natural “greenhouse effect,” temperatures would be 33°C lower than they are now, and life as known today would not be possible. Instead, thanks to greenhouse gases, the earth’s average temperature is a more hospitable. However, problems may arise when the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases increases.
Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased nearly 30%, methane concentrations have more than doubled, and nitrous oxide concentrations have risen by about 15%. These increases have enhanced the heat-trapping capability of the earth’s atmosphere. Sulfate aerosols, a common air pollutant, cool the atmosphere by reflecting light back into space; however, sulfates are short-lived in the atmosphere and vary regionally.
Why are greenhouse gas concentrations increasing? Scientists generally believe that the burning of fossil fuels, destruction of natural forests and other human activities are the primary reason for the increased concentration of carbon dioxide. Plant respiration and the decomposition of organic matter release more than 10 times the CO2 released by human...