Climate Change

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Nowadays, the global climate is changing. It is caused by many factors. It affects the global environment and the human life. Individuals, groups and governments are trying to clean the environment. The environment is constantly changing since the formation of the Earth. It is caused by geographical processes such as continental plate movement, volcano, water cycle, greenhouse gases. When two continental plates collided together, volcanoes form in the region. When a volcano erupts it releases more gas into the atmosphere. The magma forms minerals Figure1 underground and Ppm=parts per million nutrients for plants to Ppb=parts per billion Reproduced from http://www.global-greenhouse-warming.com/greenhouse-gas.html grow. Water cycle speeds up or slows down also change the environment. It creates more flood and drought. Greenhouse gases increase and trap more heat. Climate change is a variation in the weather of a particular region or the Earth climate. Weather includes temperature, precipitation (rainfall, hail, snow) and wind patterns. One of the climate change, now becomes a global issue, is global warming. The cause is the increase of greenhouse gases. There is a layer in the atmosphere made out of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorocarbons, called greenhouse gases. This layer allows sunlight passes into the Earth but prevent it escaping. This same layer keeps the Earth warm for billions of years which support life form on Earth. Without it, the Earth would be too cold for any life forms. The layer makes the Earth warm, this act like a glasshouse hence this phenomenon is called the Greenhouse Effect. Now the gases are increasing since the beginning of the industrial revolution (see Figure 1) resulting the increase in global temperature (see Figure 2). The causes of the increase in temperature are: o Human: human burn fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas which produce pollutants such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide o Gases: during the history of the Earth, gases are form naturally.

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o Oceans: the oceans store more heat than the atmosphere. Oceans flow in series of currents. They move the heat all around the world. But the currents are changing and carry the heat to the colder regions of the Earth. o Volcanoes: when a volcano erupts it releases a large amount of gases into the atmosphere including sulfur and carbon dioxide trapped underneath the Earth for millions of years o Continental plate movement: the change of landmasses over millions of years affects the amount of heat stored in the atmosphere and the oceans. The effects of climate change are: • Ice melting: in the hotter summer the icebergs, in two poles, melt this makes a lack of habitat for the polar animals and sea level rising. Sea level rose 10-20 cm during 20th century. If the sea keeps rising some countries which are near the coast and near sea level will be underwater in the next century. • Sea temperature warming: some animals, such as corals, cannot live in warm sea. Many corals died each year. In the future, corals will become extinction if the seas keep warming. • More flood and drought: in cold regions, snow melt early in the winter increasing the amount of water in the river causing flood, while reducing the water available in the spring and Figure 2 Reproduced from summer causing http://www.earthpolicy.org/Indicators/Temp/2004.htm drought. Sea level rising also cause flood. Hot temperature dries the land also lead to drought. • Changing where to farm: as the temperature getting hotter, some regions have a longer grow season while some other areas are very hot and dry make it impossible for growing plants such as crops, grain. • Changing ecosystem: as climate get warm some species of animals which live in cold area might have to migrate or die, such as polar bear, penguin, corals. • More natural disaster: hurricanes, tornadoes and other disasters have been more common and stronger. The responsibility of government is to reduce the amount of gases produced. Governments have to control energy resources consumption, green house gas emission and to protect the global environment. 3

There are numerous of actions that individuals, group and government could take to address the issue. Each individual can help to reduce carbon emissions by using car less often, reduce rubbish, recycle as many things as possible; save energy by turning off electrical appliances when not in use; buy environmentally friendly products; join in an action group for climate change; pass the message around about the issue; plant more trees and protect the forests. Group such as Green Peace can help by donation, fundraising concerts; teaching people about global warming, prevent actions which may harm the environment and making campaigns to clean the environment. The governments can work together with other organisation; control resources consumption; make factories and power stations reduce amount of gases they release into the atmosphere; support action groups and help businesses produce more environmentally friendly products (environmental bags). In summary, climate change is a change in average weather. One of the climate change is the global warming. There are many causes but the main cause is human. It affects the environment and the human life. Now individuals, groups and governments are working together to prevent global warming. Bibliography: _ Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change _The encyclopedia of the atmospheric environment http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/eae/climate_change/Younger/Causes.html _ Window to the universe, Lisa Gardiner, http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/climate/cli_effects.html _Skwirk Interactive Schooling, http://www.skwirk.com.au/p-c_s-57_u-186_t-503_c1856/SA/8/Government-responsibility-and-action/Climate-change/Geographical-issuesand-global-citizenship-physical-elements/SOSE-Geography/ _ Action for climate change, http://www.actionforclimatechange.org.au/individualaction-for-climate-change.html _Earth Policy Institute, http://www.earthpolicy.org/Indicators/Temp/2004.htm _Global Warming, http://www.global-greenhouse-warming.com/greenhouse-gas.html _Environment/Geographical information system, http://www.auibar.org/isctrc/27Meeting/HTML/ENVIRONMENT.htm _Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_environment _Mongabay, http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0207-ca.html

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