Climate Change and our World

Climate change: An Introduction

Climate change is the current rapid warming of the Earth’s climate caused by human activity. If left unchecked (and current responses are doing little to halt it) it poses an unprecedented threat to human civilisation and the ecosystems on this planet.

What does it mean to say the Climate is changing?

First, ‘climate’ is very different from ‘weather’. Weather changes by the hour and, naturally varies widely between years. We know the climate is changing because, averaged out over longer periods, the global mean temperature has been consistently rising, across land and sea. It is now about 0.8C above pre-industrial times.

The world has been experiencing changes in climates, affecting millions of lives. Already, there has been the bleaching of coral reefs, the sea ice volume in the Arctic has been reaching new lows, an increase in the number of natural disasters worldwide (such as wildfires, droughts, floods) and the mass migration of species. For more information, you can read more about the current effects of climate change here.

What is the Greenhouse Effect?

Certain gases in the Earth’s atmosphere (water vapour, CO₂, methane and others) allow sunlight to pass through, but then stop the heat from escaping back out into space – much like glass in a greenhouse. Without this, our planet would be uninhabitable to most forms of life. However, by changing the balance of gases in the atmosphere, humans have increased the greenhouse effect, causing the rising temperatures we now see.

Where do greenhouse gases come from?

As explained above, these gases exist naturally in our atmosphere. The most significant increases are in carbon dioxide (there is now over a third more CO₂ in our atmosphere than there was before the industrial revolution) and methane. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas, but it only remains in the atmosphere for about a decade. Carbon dioxide lasts for about 100 years or more, so even if we stopped emissions from human activities altogether, the planet would continue to warm up from the gases already emitted. The main causes of increased CO₂ in the atmosphere are burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), and the deforestation and other changes in land use that release stored CO₂ and methane.

Is there any doubt about what’s happening?

The idea of an urgent shift away from fossil fuels is not welcome to everyone, and those who seek to delay or prevent this have been very successful in spreading the idea that climate scientists are uncertain about climate change (or even fraudulent!). Unfortunately there is, as legal terminology has it, no ‘reasonable doubt’ about climate change.

Could the rise in atmospheric carbon be coming from somewhere else?

Humans are currently emitting around 30 billion tonnes of CO₂ into the atmosphere every year. Of course, it could be coincidence that CO₂ levels are rising so sharply at the same time so let’s look at more evidence that we’re responsible for the rise in CO₂ levels:

• When we measure the type of carbon accumulating in the atmosphere, we observe more of the type of carbon that comes from fossil fuels
• This is corroborated by measurements of oxygen in the atmosphere. Oxygen levels are falling in line with the amount of carbon dioxide rising, just as you’d expect from fossil fuel burning which takes oxygen out of the air to create carbon dioxide
• Further independent evidence that humans are raising CO₂ levels comes from measurements of carbon found in coral records going back several centuries. These find a recent sharp rise in the type of carbon that comes from fossil fuels

How do we know that the extra CO₂ in the atmosphere is warming the planet through the greenhouse effect?

• CO₂ absorbs heat at particular wavelengths. Satellites measure less heat escaping out to space, at the particular wavelengths that CO₂ absorbs heat, while surface measurements show more heat returning at CO₂ wavelengths.
• If an increased greenhouse effect is causing global warming, we should see certain patterns in the warming. For example, the planet should warm faster at night than during the day. This is indeed being observed.
• Another expected result of greenhouse warming is cooling in the upper atmosphere, otherwise known as the stratosphere. This is exactly what’s happening.
• With the lower atmosphere (the troposphere) warming and the upper atmosphere (the stratosphere) cooling, another consequence is the boundary between the two layers should rise as a consequence of greenhouse warming.
• An even higher layer of the atmosphere, the ionosphere, is expected to cool and contract in response to greenhouse warming. This has been observed by satellites.

What can we expect to happen next?

That depends on what we do now. Because of all the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, if the human race disappeared tomorrow, we’d still expect the planet to continue heating up. If we carry on emitting at the rate we are today, it will heat up much more rapidly. Rather than just warming, it makes more sense to think of it as the climate becoming more unstable, with extra energy in the system. Extreme weather events will become more common, ecosystems will be put under stress and so will human agriculture and water supplies. Some parts of the world are particularly vulnerable, such as sub-Saharan Africa, but no area will be immune.

The pledges that governments have made so far to cut emissions are not enough, even if they were achieved. So far global greenhouse gas emissions show no sign of falling.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) brings together and reviews all the scientific evidence on climate change. The IPCC’s landmark report in 2018 highlighted the massive increase in loss and damage to the natural world and to humanity if temperatures rise up to 2 degrees on average above pre-industrial temperatures, compared to 1.5C. Even a rise of temperatures by 1.5C would cause devastating impacts, such as the loss of the majority of the world’s coral reefs.

The IPCC’s update on the physical science of climate change in August 2021 said that keeping to that 1.5C was not yet impossible. But it will require “immediate, rapid and large-scale reductions” in emissions. Even cutting emissions, but more slowly, leads to 2C and significantly more suffering for all life on Earth. If emissions do not fall in the next couple of decades, then 3C of heating looks likely – a catastrophe. And if emissions don’t fall at all, then we are on track for 4C to 5C, which is a terrifying prospect.

Global Warming

The reason of global warming is the concentration of GHG (greenhouse gases) such as CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), HFC (hydrofluorocarbons) water vapour, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, perfluorocarbon, sulphur hexafluoride and methane. CFCs play a massive role in ozone layer depletion which dwindles away our protection against harmful ultraviolet radiation. CFCs which were being used in refrigerators, air conditioners, fire extinguishers and in aerosol cans, prior to the Montreal Protocol, react with ozone and break it apart. Such reaction leads to the formation of ‘ozone holes’ resulting in ozone layer depletion. Large scale deforestation is other reason that boosts global warming. Lesser trees bring about utilization of lesser carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and subsequent conversion into oxygen and forest produce leading to an imbalance in the ecosystem. Hence, cutting down of trees has a two-fold effect on our home and the earth. The only habitable planet can become soon inhabitable if we allow such abominable and detrimental human activities to go unchecked.

India’s carbon emissions rank fourth in the world if the European Union is considered as a single entity which occupies the third place. Carbon footprint is a term that is often associated with greenhouse effect. Carbon footprint refers to the total amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions for which an organisation or individual is responsible. 

Global warming is the increase in the average global temperature causing a wide variety of problems that complement, multiply and sort of conglomerate into a larger picture involving climate change, rising sea levels, changing precipitation patterns in different regions, extreme weather conditions such as droughts, floods, heat waves, heavy snowfalls. Other effects are ocean acidification, ocean deoxygenation, expansion of deserts and tropical cyclones. Glaciers, permafrost and sea ice are starting to disappear. Climate change will cause untoward changes in the crop production. It can affect our health in unfavorable ways. Researchers have shown that global warming and consequent climate change can have an indirect effect on mental health causing disorders. It is said to cause increase in stress and anxiety, substance abuse, depression, suicidal tendencies and even domestic violence. Mental health problems can and will result in undesirable alterations to physical health.

How You can Reduce the Effects of Climate Change through Writing a Blog?

Climate change can be an extremely difficult subject to talk about and tackle. Everyone knows it’s happening, but not everyone is willing to own up to their role in making it happen. The result is that most people find it easier to ignore the problem than actually deal with it head on.

Fortunately, as a blogger, you can help reverse this trend by starting conversations about climate change through your blog. You might not be able to single-handedly stop global warming, but you can use your blog as a platform for talking about solutions and raising awareness.

If people don’t know that climate change exists, they can’t do anything to address it. This is why it’s so important to promote awareness of climate change and its effects through our blog.

There are a number of ways that you can promote awareness of climate change through the blog. You can start by using your blog posts to educate your readers about the causes and effects of climate change.

Encourage Innovation in Clean Energy

Most people don’t realize that the bulk of greenhouse gases come from the production of electricity. We have very few sources of clean energy that are capable of powering the world’s energy needs. This is why most of the energy we produce is through various forms of fossil fuels, which produce greenhouse gases when burned.

Help Develop New Technologies

One of the best ways to help develop new technologies that reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that we produce is to write about those technologies. You can use your blog to highlight new developments in technology related to climate change.

In addition to that, you can also write about ways that readers can get involved in funding and developing new technologies that reduce greenhouse gases.

 Conclusion

Social media is a viable and effective medium to disseminate information about climate change. However, the field would benefit from substantially more research on the use and implications of social media concerning climate change. Consequently, analysis of the various facets related to online climate change communication is relevant and requisite. This study describes the potential of one such medium of online communication—blog. Through our experience and a review of relevant literature, we highlight the usefulness of blogs in providing scientific education, furthering scientific discussions and encouraging participatory science. Furthermore, drawing from communication theory and our experience, we also identify key factors that may help researchers utilize blogs to communicate issues associated with climate change effectively across a wider audience.