Introduction
While most people believe that climate change and global warming are myths, the impacts of changes in climate are currently being experienced in more ways than one. The current data according to NASA indicate evidence in climate change and global warming. The effects of climate change are witnessed through a series of weather patterns and changes in earth conditions and composition. According to NASA, the concentration of carbon dioxide has been on the rise at a rate of 402.26 parts per million. Similarly, global temperature has risen at a steady rate of 1.4 oF since 1880. On the other hand, the amount of Arctic ice is diminishing at an alarming rate of 13.4 percent per decade. Similar to Arctic ice, the amount of land ice is plummeting at a rate of 287 billion metric tons annually. The ice is smelting due to the high temperature, thus causing the sea level to rise at annual rate of 3.39 mm (NASA).
Climate changes are changes in the world's weather and climate patterns over a long period. The current weather patterns and climate currently experienced in most parts of the world are as a result of changes that sometimes occurred back. The records of past global temperature and climate aid in establishing the changes in those patterns in the current period. There are several factors that cause climate change around the globe. Some of the factors result to climate change entails fluctuations in solar radiation received by the planet, bionic processes, volcanic eruptions and various human activities.
Greenhouse effect
The excessive emission of certain gases into the earth’s atmosphere leads to the formation of a blanket-like effect around the earth. This blanket of gasses allows light and heat from the sun to pass through given that it has a high frequency (Meehl et al, 2007). On the other hand, the blanket of gasses formed around the earth’s atmosphere does not allow heat radiated from the surface of the earth back to the atmosphere. This causes a concentration of heat within the surface of the earth similar to a greenhouse. The greenhouse gasses trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere leading to increased temperature on the earth surface. In turn, the increased temperature leads to changes in rainfall patterns, melting of ice at the Arctic and drought in some areas.
Greenhouses gases are those gases that cause the greenhouse effect on earth’s atmosphere. There are four majorly known greenhouse gases; methane, carbon dioxide, fluorinated gases and nitrous oxide. The leading source of greenhouse emissions in U.S comes from the production of electricity at 31 percent, followed by transportation at 27 percent, industry emissions at 21 percent, and commercial and residential emissions at 12 percent and finally agriculture at 9 percent [epa.gov].
Impacts of climate change
The impacts of climate change include global warning which results in numerous detrimental effects on earth. Human activities are the major courses of climate change apart from the natural occurrences such as tectonic plate movements, bionic processes and volcanic eruptions. The emission of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere result into elevated surface temperatures. As a consequence, land ice and arctic ice melt and causes a rise in the sea levels. A rise I the sea level results into flooding which further present numerous detrimental effects. Additionally, the rise in temperatures within the surface of the earth results in change in the rainfall patterns in most regions around the globe (Meehl et al, 2007). In worst cases, it leads to scarcity of rainfall which results in creation of deserts and semi-arid regions. This directly impacts agriculture which in turn impact food production and food security in equal measure.
The impacts of climate change are so apparent and disastrous for it to be a myth. As a consequence, it is imperative to employ measures that mitigate these effects. It is crucial to adopt alternative source of sources of green energy that does not lead to the emission of greenhouse gases.
References
Climate change evidence: How do we know? (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2016, from http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence
Climate Change Impacts. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2016, from http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts
Meehl, G. A., Stocker, T. F., Collins, W. D., Friedlingstein, P., Gaye, A. T., Gregory, J. M., & Raper, S. C. (2007). Global climate projections. Climate change, 3495, 747-845.
