Climate Change: What's Going On?!

A graph depicting the current level of carbon dioxide emissions - and you don't think any of it's human-caused?
Read more about climate change and the human community's role in this global atmospheric shift here.

The current reality of climate change does not just stem from natural variations in the Earth’s relationship with the sun, inner temperature shifts caused by our planet’s makeup, or from any mythological, fictitious source of fancy, but largely from our own human community’s footprint on this spherical body that takes 24 hours to fully rotate on its axis and 8,760 to get back to where it started. The majority of the world’s geologists, ecologists, and natural scientists agree that the climate is warming, and will only continue to warm, because of human activity. Yes, this global temperature shift is real, and is proven through the unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide emissions in the air, the rising sea levels, the depletion of sea ice, catastrophic natural disasters, and the acidification of our beautiful oceans, to name a few. The signs of this climate change are innumerable, and will only continue to increase in a very harmful way if we fail to act now. 

I believe that education is key when sparking any social, cultural, or political movement. So, I would like to start this mini-discussion by stressing the importance of informing the people of, for example, the difference between climate change and global warming, the greenhouse effect, the crucial warning signs of climate change and what we, as a people, can do to help stop it. There is so much we need to know and even more we need to do to save our planet, and hopefully this little post is a step in the right direction. 

So, what is the difference between climate change and global warming??

Well, global warming is used to describe the heating of our planet over a long period of time. Historically, the temperature of the Earth’s surface has gone up by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 1800’s and is continuing to increase. Climate change, however, refers to the  specific alterations in our planet due to global warming, like rising sea levels, melting ice, etc. Global warming and climate change, though both revolve around the same predicament, are not the same.

Now, onto the next topic of discussion, what is the greenhouse effect??

The greenhouse effect refers to the trapping of heat near the earth’s surface because of greenhouse gases. These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides. Though these gases are a natural, inherent part of our Earth’s DNA, humans are contributing heavily to the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to a toxic level - especially through carbon dioxide emissions and the continuous burning of fossil fuels. So, basically, the greenhouse effect is making our world warmer, and if this pattern continues, the planet will become a very dangerous place to live. Scary.

Okay, and finally, what can we do to help prevent this climate change??

A common goal among scientists is to stabilize the emission of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere to approximately 450-550 parts per million. Currently, the average concentration of greenhouse gases is at approximately 380 parts per million. Meaning, we need to start the stabilization process now to save our planet because, after all, we’re almost about to hit that 450 ppm point, and, if it goes up after that, we will really start to see the consequences of global warming/climate change in a very negative way.  As a human community, to help, we can do little things like recycle or even planting trees in our backyard (trees absorb carbon dioxide). Or even by energizing our homes with solar power and purchasing cars or other pieces of technology energized by the sun. 

These are just a few mini-suggestions of the small steps we can take that will help make a big impact on the future welfare of our planet and, if you have any of your own, please share them with me! Don’t be shy. Again, research, information, and knowledge are essential in preventing climate change. I still have much more to learn about regarding this entire topic, as you can see, but I hope this little blurb helped get the message across to my peers, friends, family and the like that we must starting acting now to make Earth a healthier, safer, and non-toxic place to live.

I love our planet!!

And thanks for reading x