Climate Change is basically a change in our weather condition over an extended period of time, for a long time, the planet’s climate has constantly been changing; the global average temperature today is about 15C, However, the current period of warming is occurring more rapidly than the past years, in fact, every past month is declared the hottest for a while now.
One thing we know is that though Climate Change can be caused naturally and humanly, human-induced warming from burning of fossil fuel and the likes are terribly affecting the stability of the planet’s climate.
The science of Climate Change is very simple, our planet has a systematic way of maintaining a normal temperature that living things can happily survive in – The greenhouse effect which is basically the way the earth’s atmosphere traps some of the energy from the Sun; solar energy radiating back out to space from the earth’s surface is absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gasses and re-emitted in all directions.
The energy that radiates back down to the planet heats both the lower atmosphere and the surface. Without this effect, the Earth would be about 30C colder, making our planet hostile to life. But humans have increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by about 35 percent. The more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the warmer the average temperature gets.
Understand that Climate change does not only mean warmer temperatures; there would be drought, more storms, and seriously confusing cold.
As scary as Climate Change is, there is still a very small light – young people and the innovative thinking and solutions that will afford the world a chance to a cleaner planet. We need to cut out carbon from our lives completely and look for ways to manage waste and avoid methane from getting into the atmosphere.
The two major greenhouse gases which we are all afraid of are:
- Carbon dioxide (CO2) eResponsible for 63 percent of global warming over time, and 91 percent in the last 5 years) this gas is produced from burning fossil fuels, such as coal and oil. It also occurs naturally as it flows in a cycle between oceans, soil, plants and animals.
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Methane (CH4): Responsible for 19 percent of global warming, this gas is produced by rotting garbage and wastewater, gas from livestock, and rice crops. Swamps and anything that decomposes without air naturally create methane. The reason we ask that citizens #StareDownOnPollution
It is totally okay to call anyone who does not believe in Climate Change a dummy in our present world. If you think about it, Climate Change is probably one of the most important issue talked about following the disappointing turn out of the American elections some days ago. Below are some additional explanations from the SustyVibes team:
“Climate Change is a result of excessive carbon pollution, it only makes sense that if we overuse our natural resources, the earth will start to react negatively.”
“Climate Change is like when kids do a pillow fight–jumping and shouting and splattering the feather all around the room–forgetting that they have to face the consequences of cleaning up afterward or risk being disciplined by their parents. We have been jumping and enjoying all the “fun” from the green house gasses we’ve been emitting from our generators, bush burning, inappropriate dumping of refuse etc now the fun is over, we have to face the consequences or Mummy (Mother Earth) will beat us–or to put it mildly, we’ll go extinct” – Ebenezar Wikina
“Climate Change is our mother earth with a fever, seasons are changing and things are slowly becoming abnormal, the only thing that makes sense is that fact that it could get worse if we do not do anything about this fever”. – Jennifer Uchendu
“Climate Change is also nightmare” –Jennifer Uchendu
Great article. Well done.