What is Climate Change
The climate can be described as the average weather over a period of time. Climate change means a significant change in the measures of climate, such as temperature, rainfall, or wind, lasting for an extended period – decades or longer. The Earth's climate has changed many times during the planet's history, with events ranging from ice ages to long periods of warmth. What’s different about this period of the earth’s history is that human activities are significantly contributing to natural climate change through our emissions of greenhouse gases. This interference is resulting in increased air and ocean temperatures, drought, melting ice and snow, rising sea levels, increased rainfall, flooding and other influences.
Factors That Affect Climate Change
Carbon Dioxide
Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas and is the main cause of global warming. Burning of fossil fuels and just breathing releases carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Plants absorb a lot of carbon dioxide but forests are being removed in order to amass resources for construction or other means, this is referred to as deforestation, the burning of forests are becoming more frequent.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
CFC gases are in refrigerators, deodorants and in foam used for packaging. CFC is detrimental to the ozone layer. The ozone layer is a layer in the earth's stratosphere, which absorbs most of the ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth from the sun.
Methane
Methane is produced when bacteria break down organic matter without oxygen being present in the process. These bacteria are most active in fields, waste dumps, animal dung and swamps.
Nitrous Oxide
Most fertilizers are based on nitrates. With the increased use of fertilizers in farming, there is more nitrous oxide in the atmosphere.
Rise in sea level
The major cause of global sea levels rising are thermal expansion caused by the heating up of the oceans and the melting of ice caps.
Earth’s Orbit
The Earth’s orbit around the Sun is an ellipse, not a circle but the ellipse changes shape. Sometimes it is almost circular and the Earth stays approximately the same distance from the Sun as it progresses around its orbit. At other times the ellipse is more pronounced so that the Earth moves closer and further away from the sun as it orbits. When the Earth is closer to the sun our climate is warmer.
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How we can prevent climate change
The Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the Framework Convention on Climate change (1992) is the first international community to help with man-made pollution to protect the climate.Other Solution that people should try and incorporate into their lifestyle are the following. We should try and use renewable energy sources like solar and wind. Recycle our rubbish so that we do not have to remake things. Plant more forests and reduce deforestation and also use alternatives to diesel or petrol cars such as electric cars which do not harm the atmosphere and add the changing climate due to human intervention.