Climate Change How to Prevent It - Essay Example

Climate Change Executive Summary The topic in discussion is climate changes. The purpose of this topic isto show how the ongoing climate changes have proved to be a problem over the last several decades. The most common is the global warming which has resulted in negative effects witnessed all over the world including ice melting, hurricanes and tornadoes among other effects which have in turn rendered people homeless in places like United States and even claimed the life of others in the Asian countries through floods (Revkin, 2011). Many countries have come up in conferences to discuss this problem and how to prevent the effects through short term and long term solutions to ensure that Earth remains habitable to all organisms. Climate change is a global problem and the discussion will therefore, target everyone in the world as they are all affected by the events and effects of climate change. The essay will suggest solutions to the problems brought about by the effects of climate change. Some of them have been suggested before, but strict measures to enforce them have not been enhanced. The solutions suggested include having laws in every country on tree planting. This will be in a bid to reduce desertification which has been another major cause of climate change. The major cause is emission of greenhouse gases which causes the global warming (Filho, 2009). The discussion incorporates technological and economic issues that have brought about the climate change. Some of these include industrialization which emits a lot of the greenhouse gases which have depleted the ozone layer and, in turn, causes global warming which is melting ice caps. Climate change is the alteration in the normal climate experienced by the people. Any change in the climate of a place leads to changes in the normal lifestyle of the people in the affected area. Climate change in the world has been brought about by increase in industries over the past century with the increase in technology. This has therefore, led to an increase in the greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere. Some of these greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide which when accumulated in the atmosphere leads to depletion of the ozone layer. The ozone layer protects the Earth from direct rays of the sun, commonly referred to as Ultra Violet Rays (UVR). When the rays come in contact with the skin of human beings, they cause skin cancer. Therefore, depletion of the ozone layer has exposed around 8 billion people in the world to skin cancer, among other negative effects of the UVR. This has also led to an increase in the global temperature which is so high to an extent of melting the ice caps of the mountains in the Northern Hemisphere. As a result of the melting ice and other climate changes taking place, oceans and seas rise and this has led to tornadoes, hurricanes and countless episodes of flooding to take place in parts of Asia and America continents. The hurricanes are brought about by increase in wind and have rendered many individuals in various states of United States homeless. In Asia, floods have recently proved to be the order of the day and not only have people lost their property but also their lives. Climate changes have also been brought about by desertification, where individuals are cutting down trees for commercial purposes and not planting other trees as a form of replacement. Trees help to attract rain which in turn leads to increase of water volume in streams and rivers. Trees also absorb the carbon dioxide in the air, hence reduce the quantity of carbon dioxide reaching the ozone layer. Cutting down trees at a higher rate than the one of planting them has led to drying of rivers and lakes in most parts of the world. Death of aquatic life depending on such water sources and even other animals including human beings is another effect of such negligent actions. This has resulted in drought and famine in most parts of the world. As a result of such harmful effects to individuals in different parts of the world brought about by climate changes, several countries all over the world have come together to find lasting solutions to these effects and also come up with various strategies and policies to curb these problems and ensure that strict measures are put to prevent the climate change problem from accelerating and render Earth inhabitable. Three solutions have been discussed below, which are in line with those which have been discussed in some of the numerous climate change conferences held all over the world. One of the solutions is having laws against cutting down of trees for commercial purposes. This will ensure that trees will not be cut down at the same rate as before the laws have been made. The laws should also indicate that a person cutting down trees for commercial purposes needs to plant trees equivalent in quantity with those that have been cut down. This will ensure that as trees are cut, others are being planted and growing, hence the Earth will always have enough trees to absorb carbon dioxide and attract rain. Laws against illegal cutting down of trees should be accompanied by the measures to be taken if an individual is found cutting down trees illegally for commercial purposes. Strict sentences can be enacted including hefty monetary fines and even jail term for such individuals. This will prevent people from engaging in such an activity illegally due to the fear of the consequences. This should not be theoretical only in law books, but also practical so that evidence of such consequences can be seen. The solution of having such laws should be accompanied by issuing of legal permits to only those individuals who have fulfilled the requirements of cutting down trees. The process of license or permit issuance should be transparent and impartial. Cases of corruption should be dealt with severely the same way other corruption cases are dealt, according to the laws of each country. The other solution to the problem of climate change is to have measures to reduce the greenhouse gases being emitted in the atmosphere by many industries. These will include cleaning the gas once it leaves the industry. This is possible in countries whose greenhouse gas emission is not so much, as it is an expensive and time consuming procedure. When the gas is cleaned, it means that the harmful hydrocarbons will be eliminated from the residue and no harmful particles will reach the atmosphere to deplete the ozone layer. The other way to deal with the greenhouse gases is to plant a lot of trees near those industries which will ensure that the carbon dioxide being released from the industries will be absorbed by those trees. This, however means that most of those industries have to be relocated from towns and cities to rural areas or other areas where the trees can be grown. This may prove to be a challenge to some countries whose economy is not strong and they have no spare land to plant the trees. The greenhouse houses are also caused by fuels used even by motor vehicles and especially in really big cities which have many cars like Tokyo, New York among others. The solution to this is through reducing the use of motor vehicles within the city centers. This can reduce the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted in such areas. Use of buses instead of personal cars can be adopted. The other means can be use of bicycles or electric cars which have no consumption of fuel which contains the fluorocarbons which are part of what depletes the ozone layer. The third solution to the effects of climate change experienced is on how to deal with the floods and tornadoes as a result of the rise in the sea and ocean levels. One of the solutions is to move individuals from low land areas to high land areas so that even when it floods, people will not be affected by losing their property and even lives. This is possible in countries with big land acreage and which can afford to give people land to live in once they are moved. However, congested countries like those in Asia may not be able relocate each and every person. The other solution to the flooding problem is to have effective early warning systems in order to be able to relocate people before the flooding starts, together with their property to avoid damages and loss (Paltridge, 2011). The early warning systems may also be used to discourage people from visiting high risk areas like beaches when a tornado, for example, is detected. It will also avoid water bone diseases from creeping in when such calamities have happened and killed more people than the actual calamity. Most of these solutions have been proposed by many individuals before, but the problems of climate change are still being felt and they continue to harm people. This is because the measures, policies, strategies and laws are there but their enforcement is the problem. This is because of ignorance, negligence and assumption let alone cultural beliefs by most individuals (Barret, 2009). Governments also lack monitoring and evaluation techniques to ensure that such laws and policies are being implemented, hence the problem still remains at large. If these solutions and others suggested are followed accordingly, the problem of climate change in the next few decades will be history and the Earth would be habitable once again with clean air and the seasons being predictable once again. Reference Barret, S. (2009). Economics E-Journal. Rethinking Global Climate Change Governance. Vol 5. Retrieved from www.economics-ejournal.org/economics/journalarticles/2009-5 Filho, W. (2009). Emerald Journal. International Journal of Climate Change and Management. Retrieved from www.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=IJCCSM Paltridge, G. (2011). The Climate Caper: Facts and Fallacies of Global Warming. London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. Revkin, A. (2011). New York Times. Arctic melts unnerves the experts. 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