Climate Change has damaged the planet beyond repair. Is it too late to save it from complete destruction?

Most scientists consider climate change one of the biggest challenges of our generation (Gross, 2018). It is noticeable that in the last years we have witnessed climatic differences on our planet. According to WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), Climate Change is “A Change in Global or Regional Climate Patterns caused by the increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution, as a result of the use of fossil fuels”. De La Fuente, et al. (2017) stated that Human consumption of commodities, food and transport are the fundamental drivers of climate change. One of the most important and at the same time worrying aspects is global warming. Some people confuse climate change with global warming, but global warming is an increase in global average temperatures of the Earth´s atmosphere through the greenhouse effect, which is caused by expansions of pollution such as carbon dioxide and methane. According to Bruce and Raj (2018), our society cannot stop global warming but rather to adapt to it. In this essay, I contend that even though we are facing a dangerous situation, it is never too late to try to remedy what has been poorly done, and we must as a society, put this topic as one of the main priorities for the well-being of future generations. Firstly, I will analyse how people and governments look at climate change and then I will discuss the evidence, causes and effects of climate change in our world.

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In a rapidly changing modern world, part of society believes that climate change is an imminent problem. According to the world’s leading scientists, we have 12 years to cut emissions in half to prevent catastrophic climate change impacts later this century (WWF, 2018). Some experts noted that 250 years ago human beings began to have such a significant environmental impact that the Earth´s climate and geography entered a new geological time (Kenward, 2011 cited in Hulsey, 2011). According to Rooney-Varga, et al. (2018), an urgent change is needed to try to prevent climate change from getting worse. However, most of the population is not aware of these changes, and the risks we face are far more significant than people think. Although the shift in mentality has changed in recent years, it is not strong enough to foster individual and government action to achieve intentional climate goals. The central problem of climate change cannot be solved only through government interventions such as fuel taxes and emissions trading schemes. The move will depend fundamentally on the behaviour of people and their attitudes toward the surrounding environment and nature. This change is moral and spiritual, not just economic (Kenward, 2011). Although there are already many people and companies taking action against climate change, there is still a lot of world population that either do not believe or do not trust the experts or merely think that the problem is not theirs and that their actions will not make a difference for being insignificant (Husley, 2011).

 The evidence is clear, and in the last 650,000 years the Earth has had seven cycles of climate change, and the previous period began 7000 years ago, marking the beginning of the modern climate era and human civilisation (NASA, 2018). These changes are caused by variations in Earth’s orbit that alter the amount of solar energy our planet receives. However, and thanks to data from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) satellites over the last few decades, there is a 95 per cent chance that the sudden change in climate since the early twentieth century is human activity. According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of United States of America), the planet’s average temperature has increased around 0.9 degrees, a transformation motivated largely by augmented carbon dioxide and other emissions into the atmosphere (Levitus et al. 2012). Also, oceans levels have been increasing by about 20.32 centimetres since 1880, and it is expected to raise more 10 centimetres until 2100. This results from the amount of melting ice in the glaciers and the expansion of the sea as it warms. Furthermore, NASA´s data shows that Antarctica and Greenland lost and averaged 119 billion and 218 billion tons of ice per year since 1993 (NASA, 2018). Most scientists believe that global warming comes from the greenhouse effect that is produced by human activities. The concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide has been increasing since the 20th century due to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil (CO2) (NASA, 2018). The endless emission of greenhouse gases will increase warming and Long-term alterations in every component of the climatic system, and rise the probability of intense, generalized and irreparable effects for the communities and ecosystems. To reduce the risk of climate change, some scientists believe that there should be a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC, 2014). However, some scientists contend that putting an end to emitting all greenhouse gases right now will not stop the climate change and global warming and will affect future generations (NASA, 2018).

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In conclusion, this essay has argued that climate change is one of the most critical problems facing society today. This topic involves many areas, from the sciences, politics, economics and even ethical and moral issues. There are many opinions on the present and future of climate change, but what is fact is that at this time we are going through an abnormal climacteric phase. It is necessary to act as quickly as possible, we must press governments around the world to create laws to reduce this serious problem and there must be a change of behaviour by the people as an individual, in the routines of everyday life, and realize that even the smallest gestures can help solve the problem of climate change. We are the first generation to perceive and live a climate change. It is up to us to do everything we can to try to reduce as much pollution as we can to make future generations the world in a better state than we have today.

Bibliography

De La Fuente, A., Rojas, M., & Mac Lean, C. (2017). A human-scale perspective on global warming: Zero emission year and personal quotas. PloS one, 12(6), e0179705.

Dubash, N. K. (2014). Climate change 2014: synthesis report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (p. 151). IPCC.

Guile, B., & Pandya, R. (2018). Adapting to Global Warming: Four National Priorities.

GUILE, BRUCE; PANDYA, RAJ. Issues in Science & Technology. Summer2018, Vol. 34 Issue 4, p19-22. 4p.

Gross, L. (2018). Confronting climate change in the age of denial.

Hulsey, T. L. (2011, July). Green education: action aligned with analysis. In Phi Kappa Phi Forum (Vol. 91, No. 2, p. 25). National Forum: Phi Kappa Phi Journal.

Levitus, S., Antonov, J. I., Boyer, T. P., Baranova, O. K., Garcia, H. E., Locarnini, R. A., … & Zweng, M. M. (2012). World ocean heat content and thermosteric sea level change (0–2000 m), 1955–2010. Geophysical Research Letters, 39(10).

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