Introduction and Thesis:
There are many causes and effects of, and solutions for climate change. Global warming and other climate change is now a scientific reality. It is no longer a question of if it can happen, it is already happening. The question now is how bad it is, how much worse it is going to get, and how quickly it is going to happen. The “Greenhouse Effect” refers to how some gasses that built up in the atmosphere are holding radiation in and work like the glass in a greenhouse to trap heat in. The effect of trapping the heat in the atmosphere is planetary warming. . However, the effect of these gasses is not just to make the climate warmer. It is also melting glaciers and the polar ice caps. This melted fresh water will raise the water levels in the oceans and make them less salty. . While some areas grow warmer, others suffer colder winter temperatures. There are some coastal areas that will be flooded, and some continental interior lands that are now in use as farmland that will not get enough rain and may turn into deserts.. The causes for climate change are varied. The effects of climate change reflect this diversity. .The responses and solution to the causes and effects of climate change must also reflect this. Just as there is no one single cause of climate change, and there is no one single effect, there are a variety of solutions that must be employed in order to solve the problem of global warming and climate change.
Causes of Climate Change
There are a variety of causes that contribute to climate change. Many of these are the result of things that humankind does. One of the most important ways that people effect the climate is by the burning of fossil fuel. . When people talk about this they usually think about direct uses like manufacturing plants, cars, planes and other motor vehicles. However, the problem is greater than that. The electric power itself must come from clean energy sources. We use fossil fuel to generate electricity. If an electric car is recharged with energy generated by a coal fired power plant it can actually generate more pollution than a well-tuned gasoline engine. . Another way that fossil fuel contributes to climate change is in the raw material exploitation process. Practices like flaring of natural gasses emits carbon dioxide and other gasses at the same time it pollutes the environment and makes it harder for it to absorb the gasses and recover from the effects. .
Modern agricultural processes also contribute to climate change. One of the most obvious problems is when forests are converted to farm or grazing land. A natural forest generates more oxygen and absorbs more carbon dioxide than if that land is used as farm or grazing land. Many of the highly intensive farming fertilizers encourage crops to emit more carbon dioxide and methane at night. Livestock by their manure and other activities also release methane into the atmosphere. Methane is a worse greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Deforestation for agricultural uses or to harvest wood products is another cause of global warming.. .
Effects of Climate Change
The effects of climate change include raising the general temperature of the planet worldwide. However, the effects are more than that climate change is also melting glaciers and the polar ice caps. This melted fresh water will raise the water levels in the oceans and make them less salty. On the land some areas grow warmer, others suffer colder winter temperatures; some coastal areas that will be flooded, and some continental interior lands that are now in use as farmland that will not get enough rain and may turn into deserts. The loss of biodiversity will cause other effects that it is too difficult to try to predict. . . .
Solutions for Climate Change
Switching to using more electric power from “clean renewable sources” is one was to help solve the climate change problem. Just using more end user electric products like electric cars is not a solution if the electric power for these vehicles is generated by coal powered electric power plants. Many countries have accelerated their solar and wind production capabilities. Changing agricultural processes to be more environmentally friendly alternatives is another solution for climate change. . .
Substituting quickly renewing resources for wood products can also help relieve some of the environmental stress humans put on the planet earth. Bamboo and hemp are two plants that can be used as wood substitutes in many construction projects. They also can be used to make products like paper, fabric and other products. By using more productive plants instead of cutting down forests the forests can be preserved so they can continue to work to clean carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses from the air. .
Conclusion
There are many causes of climate change and so there must be many solutions that address all the causes and their effects. These include substituting clean renewable energy for polluting energy sources, changing agricultural activities to sustainable processes and stopping deforestation and other environmental exploitation.
Areas for Future Study
The research into the causes and effects of, and solutions for climate change also raises other environment concerns not tied directly to climate change. One of these is the loss of forests, natural diversity and the possible loss of undiscovered medical cures and animal species. Another problem is the loss of clean water from melting Ice Caps and Glaciers, poor agricultural allocation and fossil fuel exploitation processes. These problems each deserve their own studies.
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