Is Climate Change Naturally or Man-Made? Essay

First of all, for anyone that does not know what climate change is, it is a change in the world’s climate. A lot of people think weather and climate is the same thing but it is not. The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time. Climate is what the conditions are over relatively long periods of time. My belief of the issue is that climate change is man-made. I think everyone has heard of global warming or an ice age, but does anyone really consider it to be a serious factor in the world? We only have one earth and once we destroy it, it is over. We have to do something about it because it seems like every year temperature records are getting broken because the summers are getting hotter and hotter and the winters are getting colder and colder. It would be different if the climate change was being made naturally but it is not, the majority, if not humans are causing all of the change. So, we have to do something about it. Extreme man-made changes in the climate are a very serious matter. There are many different reasons of how climate change is man-made. One of the main reasons is the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases. There are different ways of increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases such as burning fossil fuels like coal or oil and gas in your cars. â€Å"Currently, burning fossil fuels emits about 6.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. Since before the industrial revolution, which, began in the 18th century, concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased by 30 percent†. (Torfaen) All of that carbon dioxide is eating away at our o-zone layer making it thinner and thinner. Another reason why our o-zone layer is diminishing is because we cut down all these trees for agriculture, space to build things, and wood to make things with. Trees absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and the fewer trees that are there to absorb the carbon dioxide, the more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The effects of climate change depend upon how much change there is, how fast it occurs, and how easily the world can adapt to the new conditions. If the change is to rapid then that will leave some species of animals or plants to be extinct because they don’t have enough time to move or adapt. Other examples such as â€Å"Coral reefs: slightly warmer tropical water may kill the algae which reef animals use for food†.(Homeworktips) Increase in temperature in the climate is making a lot of the ice cap and icebergs melt in the north. Which is making the ocean rise more. â€Å"Mangrove swamps: Mangrove swamps are important breeding grounds for many animals that live in water. Increased ocean flooding may damage these areas by changing the supply of nutrients and the amount of salt.†(Homeworktips) What can we do about the climate change to prevent or reduce the effects? â€Å"Three basic strategies are available, abatement, adaptation, and geo-engineering.†(Homeworktips) Abatement is where we slow or stop the affect by making things more energy efficient. Burning less coal, oil and natural gases. Adaptation is where we adapt or change to our surroundings. Protecting the coast by putting up barriers or dykes. Geo-engineering is where we engineer or change the earth. For example, reducing the amount of sunlight that hits the earth by putting small particles in the high atmosphere to reflect more sunlight back into the earth. Things that an individual can do to reduce the chance of climate change. Choose a car that has better gas mileage, insulate your home better, carpool or drive less. Some other less effective but helpful action can be turning off unnecessary lights, plant trees, and recycle. â€Å"If the average citizen undertakes all of these actions, they can reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by about 3%, which equals just over half a ton of carbon dioxide per year.†(Homeworktips) Now some people believe that the reason of climate change is naturally made. These people do have some points but to say that it is more of a factor then humans is wrong (In my belief). Some of these points include volcanoes, continental drift, earth’s tilt, and ocean currents. Volcanoes can erupt and produce ash that will exceed into the stratosphere. The ash could combine with rain and make acid rain and kills crops but that is very minimal. Continental drift affects it because of the more land at the equator means more absorption, which means it will be hotter. Obviously the earth’s tilt has something to do with the climate change because the tilt is what makes out seasons. Ocean currents affect it because it takes far more energy to change the temperature or water then land or air. So the ocean insulates the costal climates, which means that the inland area is more subjected to extreme climate ranges. All those factors considered, that is still small being compared to all of the human-made factors. This one article talks about the radical decline in sea ice around the artic and being 70% human’s fault. But then a new study was done and it could be 95% human’s fault. The global warming that the humans are making is destroying the ice around the arctic. The loss of ice is affecting the wildlife such as polar bears and if nothing is done they will eventually die because they drown. They drown because they go swimming to look for fish and when they want to come back it is gone and then they drown because there is no land. There is a climate system called Atlantic multi-decadal oscillation (AMO), which was the dominant source of variability in ice extent. â€Å"The AMO is a cycle of warming and cooling in the North Atlantic that repeats every 65 to 80 years – it has been in a warming phase since the mid-1970s. There is something called the ice-albedo feedback, which means that when you have less ice, it means there’s more open water and therefore the ocean absorbs more radiation and will continue to warm.†(Guardian) Therefore saying all I have to say hopefully informed people about the climate and the different causes that change it. We only have one earth and once we destroy it, it is over. Extreme climate change is a very serious matter and should not be over looked. I guess you can say it is both but about 90-95% of the change is man-made.