Climate change is the alteration of the normal climatic conditions in the earth, and it occurs over some time. Over the past few years, climate change has triggered numerous debates across the world, with some leaders claiming that it is a hoax while the majority believes that it is real and people should find solutions to curb it. In as much as there are arguments based around the subject, it is mainly caused by human activities, and it impacts the people and the environment equally.
Causes
First, climate change is mainly caused by the emission of greenhouse gases. With the increase in industrialization, many industries have been constructed to satisfy human needs. However, the majority of the factories use fossil fuels which are a significant source of greenhouse gases. Additionally, an increasing number of automobiles are used globally, and the majority of the vehicles are fueled using fossil fuels. As a result, they emit Carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which are major greenhouse gases.
Second, climate change is caused by natural calamities such as volcanicity and wildfires. Although this is not common, active volcanoes worldwide release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere during the eruption. Even though some gases such as Sulphur-oxide can help the atmosphere because it acts as a coolant, some smokes, such as volcanic dioxide, can be detrimental to the climate hence causing alteration. Additionally, wildfires cause combustion in natural forests because it consumes carbon products, releasing carbon monoxide into the atmosphere.
Impact on People and the Environment
Climate change causes hunger and diseases to people, thus lowering the quality of life. It results in need in that it can lead to depletion of the arable lands and degradation of the semi-arid areas that are mainly used by pastoralists, thus making it difficult for people to perform agriculture, a significant source of food. According to Caminade, McIntyre and Jones (2019), it can also cause vector-borne disease in humans. Besides, it can cause pest that can claim agricultural products; for instance, the invasion of East African countries by desert locusts which has destroyed numerous plantations, is linked to climate change (Salih et al., 2020). Moreover, it affects the environment by causing diversity (Freeman et al., 2018). Natural setup is usually rich in biodiversity hence making the biological processes complete.
How Human Population Contributes to the Problem
With the increase in the human population, the demand for more land for settlement and agriculture increases. As a result, more forests are cleared to pave the way for these essential commodities mainly used to accommodate the large population. However, the green vegetation that covers the woods acts as carbon sinks. Thus, they can absorb the number of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere (Nda et al., 2018). An increase in human populations upsurges fossil fuel demand, which is currently the primary energy source worldwide. Therefore, the increased burning of fossil fuels in transport and manufacturing industries will intensify greenhouse forces’ emissions.
Relating the Problem to the Week’s Reading
One of the readings this week focused on the pollution of the environment. Therefore, in relating climate change and pollution, it is evident that pollutants contribute immensely to climate change. Contaminants can be in the form of gases, liquids, or even solid. From the topic, greenhouse gases are pollutants that affect air quality, thus alternating the normal climates experienced across the globe. The pollutants can be from either non-point or point sources.
References
Caminade, C., McIntyre, K. M., & Jones, A. E. (2019). Impact of recent and future climate change on vector‐borne diseases. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1436(1), 157.
Freeman, B. G., Scholer, M. N., Ruiz-Gutierrez, V., & Fitzpatrick, J. W. (2018). Climate change causes upslope shifts and mountaintop extirpations in a tropical bird community. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(47), 11982-11987.
Nda, M., Adnan, M. S., Ahmad, K. A., Usman, N., Razi, M. A. M., & Daud, Z. (2018). A review on the causes, effects and mitigation of climate changes on the environmental aspects. International Journal of Integrated Engineering, 10(4).
Salih, A. A., Baraibar, M., Mwangi, K. K., & Artan, G. (2020). Climate change and the locust outbreak in East Africa. Nature Climate Change, 10(7), 584-585.