Geology, Anthropogenic Climate Change - Article Example

Education Geology, Anthropogenic Climate Change The rapid change in climate in world today has triggered a heated debate with researchers trying to unveil the real cause of rapid climate change. While many scholars have come with the idea that there is no real evidence to show that human beings have contributed negatively to the negative deterioration of the climate, there is almost a scientific concession that anthropogenic climate change has taken place and it is bound to influence the climatic conditions in future. A wide range of publication shows that the current global warming is the reason why the climate and weather patterns across the world are changing. Evidently, it is indisputable that human activities such as release of carbon dioxide has resulted to increase in global warming which is the ultimate cause of the negative impact on the climate. Scientific projections show that the temperatures are bound to rise and the rainfall pattern will change if the government does not put effective policies to control anthropogenic climate changes in the world. On this note, it is clear that the changes in climate today are largely a result of anthropogenic factors. In the recent past, there has been a dramatic climate change affecting the whole world population in different ways. The weather forecasters have noted a great rise in ambient temperatures on earth. In the last 50 years, there has been an increase in the world temperature levels by over 10%. Various metrological bodies have predicted that these temperature changes are likely to affect the weather pattern and the natural resource distribution in a great way. For instance, the intergovernmental panel on climate change predicted that the glaciers at the Himalayas would melt by the year 2035. At the same time, the African countries will suffer from shortage of water because of rivers drying due to increased temperatures. In addition, the cancer levels in the world are expected to rise due to increase in ultraviolet lays that are responsible for skin cancer. These projections point out that the global warming effects will penetrate deep into the future of the world and the consequences will be severe to the human population. Economically, the climate changes will result to a fall economic levels by about 0.5% to 2% across the world (Skinner 23-34). Scholars have reacted on these statistics by indulging in research to evaluate the possible cause of global warming and the possible remedies that can be applied to curb this problem that scientist believe will affect the society in a great way. The scientists have reached an agreement that human-induced climate changes have the severest impact on the world climate. A number of human activities have resulted in long-term impacts such as global warming that have culminated into climate changes in the world. To begin with, the release of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere is one of the major causes of global warming today. Notably, the emission of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere has increased considerably in the recent past. There are a number of reasons that researchers have associated with increased emission of this gas in the atmosphere. The 20th century marked the era of industrialization in the world (Skinner 56). Industries utilize carbon fuels that often release carbon compounds into the atmosphere resulting into alteration of the carbon dioxide balance in the atmosphere. Additionally, the use of carbon fuels has increased in the same century due to the rise in the number of people using motor vehicles. The release of carbon dioxide by combustion engines results in the rise of the carbon dioxide percentage in the air. The human factors that have resulted to an increase in the carbon dioxide level in the world today are the main cause of an increase in global warming globally. The carbon dioxide gas causes the greenhouse effect that is the main cause of global warming. The greenhouse gas prevents terrestrial radiation and results to an increase in the atmospheric temperatures. There is estimation that doubling of the world carbon dioxide level would result in a rise in temperature by about 4-6% in the world (Brovkin 12). The greenhouse effect is a process by which the radiation from the earth surface is absorbed by the greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide resulting to an increase in the temperatures on the earth. Therefore, an emission in the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere results to a consequential increase in the greenhouse effect. The rise in temperatures on the earth is what many scholars have termed as global warming, a situation that is threatening to throw the world out of climate balance. Since there is a concession that the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere has considerably increased, it is indisputable that there is a close relationship between this imbalance in the atmospheric gases and climate changes in the world today. On this light, anthropogenic factors have resulted to an increase in the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere and hence the climatic changes. Other human activities in the environment have resulted to the changes in the climate. The clearing of vegetation that exists today has resulted in an alteration of the climate patterns. Although there is evidence that human beings have invested in manmade forests, it is clear that they played a great role in reducing the amount of vegetation in the society. Trees are good climate moderators as they are associated with the rainfall cycle that people term as the rainfall making process. Desertification is an anthropogenic factor that has resulted to reduction destruction of the rainfall patterns in the world today (Brovkin 23). In the developing countries, poverty level has pushed many people to destroy forests as they clear land for farming, burn charcoal or use them as wood. This kind trend has resulted to the breakage of the rainfall cycle, which is crucial for countries where rainfall is very scarce. In addition, trees are part of the carbon dioxide cycle that maintains equilibrium in the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere. For instance, statistics show that plants during photosynthesis utilize over 43% of the carbon dioxide gas emitted in the atmosphere by the industrial sector. Therefore, the actions of human beings that have reduced the tree population have resulted to the change in weather patterns. There is evidence that human beings have done very little to resist the climate changes that are not only threatening to climatic changes and consequential changing weather patterns. Poor land utilization is one of the factors that have contributed to changes in the climate patterns (Christidis and Stott 193). In many countries, the government as well as the population has ignored the value of efficient agricultural farming. Poor agricultural farming methods ignore the need of protecting cover crops that are important in maintaining ecological balance. Agricultural experts have pointed out that cover crops protect the environment from the direct vaporization caused by the sun. Farming in the rugged training and over grazing in many countries has resulted in decrease of ground cover hence paving way for direct evaporation of the land water in the atmosphere. As a result, the lands have become drier and the farmers are experiencing reduced harvests. Many scholars have termed this kind of land of neglection as the result of the weather and climate changes, however indirect this may be. On this note, climate change is a result of poor agricultural methods within many countries in the world. Another fact that supports that anthropogenic climate change is affecting the world today is the fact that efforts to curb contributory human activities have had positive consequences on the world climate. For instance, in the 21st century the governments in many countries have launched policies to curb human activities that they feel are the major causes of change in the climate. The government has urged industries to reduce the carbon dioxide emission in the atmosphere to reduce the global warming effect that is pushing the world into a period of economic crisis (Höök and Tang 11-23). Countries have engaged in technologies to recycle this gas and to purify the gas before releasing it in the atmosphere. Secondly, the government has put more efforts in controlling tree cutting and in mobilizing the public in tree planting activities. This action of the government has had positive impacts in reducing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Many research bodies have pointed that the action of the government to control human behavior has contributed to climate stabilization. This shows that largely, human behavior results to climatic change and any efforts to control these anthropogenic factors yield positive results in climate stabilization. A counter argument has emerged from a group of scholars who have provided the idea that the climate changes that is evident today is a result of natural external forcing factors. Evidently, there are natural factors that result in climate changes. For instance, the radiation of the sun increases over time due to its increased activity. Meteorologists point out that solar radiation today has increased by over 30% from what it was in the last 50 years (Higham, Scott and Cavaliere 301). Therefore, the world is bound to experience global warming even if there were not any human activities that could result to human change. While this is a scientific fact, a close examination of the idea shows that the natural factors contribute only to a small change in the climatic conditions. The natural factors are slow and the ecological balance serves to neutralize the effects of such changes. The fact that the climatic change has been rapid in the recent years, it is clear that it is not a result of the natural factors but the result of anthropogenic factors. On this ground, it possible to nullify the idea that natural forces are the main cause of the evident climate changes in the society today. A more reasonable group of scholars has appealed to the idea that the natural forces of climate changes are beyond human control. They feel that the only way to analyze the climate changes today is by figuring out the human influence and the way that these activities lead to negative change in climate. Since the atmosphere has a natural ecological balance, the human activities undermine this balance and result into alternation in the climatic patterns. Therefore, the concession is that the government pays particular attention in regulating the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and the abuse of land and vegetation. In the industrial sector, the government should encourage companies to adopt technologies that are environmental friendly to reduce the greenhouse gases. To control the motor vehicle contribution in emission of greenhouse gases, it is crucial that the government compels car-manufacturing companies to provide a purification system within the combustion engines (Blustein 305). For instance, there is technology that allows conversion of carbon dioxide into water and harmless gas, which is superior in preventing pollution in the atmosphere. Since previous efforts to curb pollution have helped in stabilizing the climate changes, it is clear the strict government policies are likely to reduce the effect of anthropogenic factors on the climate. In conclusion, anthropogenic factors are the major causes of climate change in the world today. Numerous human activities have resulted in global warming, reduction in precipitation, high temperature. The consequences of climatic changes are social and economical and results to human suffering in the long term. There is a concession that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that causes serious global warming manifested by increase in the ambient and ocean temperatures. Human activities such industrialization, use of motor vehicles has resulted to change in the carbon dioxide balance in the atmosphere. Poor agricultural activities and abuse of forests has altered the ecological balance by interfering with the hydrological cycle. Although there are natural forces such as change in intensity of solar radiation that contribute to such changes, it is clear that human activities claim the largest percentage of climate change. Therefore, the government has a task in defining new policies to curb the climate deterioration and to control human behaviors that result in negative climate changes. Controlling anthropogenic climate change will assure the world a better future to the public and the government in the world. Works Cited Blustein, Shol. "From The Bottom-Up: Redesigning The International Legal Response To Anthropogenic Climate Change." Adelaide Law Review, The 32.2 (2011): 305. Informit Humanities & Social Sciences Collection. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. Brovkin, V., et al. "Effect Of Anthropogenic Land-Use And Land-Cover Changes On Climate And Land Carbon Storage In CMIP5 Projections For The Twenty-First Century." Journal Of Climate 26.18 (2013): 6859-6881. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. Christidis, Nikolaos, and Peter A. Stott. "Change In The Odds Of Warm Years And Seasons Due To Anthropogenic Influence On The Climate." Journal Of Climate 27.7 (2014): 2607-2621. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. Higham, James, Scott Cohen, and Christina Cavaliere. "Climate Breakdown And The Flyers Dilemma: Insights From Three European Societies." CAUTHE 2013: Tourism And Global Change: On The Edge Of Something Big (2013): 321. Informit Business Collection. Web. 3 Apr. 2014. Höök, Mikael, and Xu Tang. Depletion Of Fossil Fuels And Anthropogenic Climate Change : A Review. n.p.: 2013. SwePub. Web. 3 Apr. 2014 Skinner, Brian. Dynamic Earth: An Introduction to Physical Geology. John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2006. Print. Read More