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Doha Elmuttardi

Professor Freeland

English-1201

19 March 2021

Climate Change

Climate change is one of the most important issues affecting our Earth today. It causes

countless dangerous things to the environment such as increased heat, droughts, and insect

outbreaks. Increased wildfires are also one of the dangerous effects of climate change. Climate

change ruins animal habitats by changing the weather of the environment in which they live.

Many important systems, such as the hydroelectric cycle, and natural systems such as

photosynthesis, get their fuel directly from the sun, which due to climate change, can drastically

change the Earth. All of these dangerous effects are a result of many human actions. There are

many approaches that can be taken to help save the Earth and prevent it from changing too

much. What is it exactly that humans can do to prevent climate change?

Before the 1960s, earth scientists started to notice patterns of change in Earth’s

atmospheres. They then started to believe that our climate would change slowly and not as

rapidly as it is changing now. Recent evidence from ice and sediment cores showed that belief

was wrong (NASA). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration demonstrates many

examples involving the use of CO2 and how it can lead to destruction of the atmosphere.

Earth's climate is and has been changing rapidly every since the mid 1960s. This is because in

the 1960s, scientists figured out that humans were playing a major role in the rapid change of

Earth's atmosphere. Humans were increasing the amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in

the atmosphere which is detrimental to the ozone layer. A 1979 study of carbon dioxide's role in
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the climate had found "no reason to doubt that climate changes will result and no reason to

believe that these changes will be negligible."

According to earthday.org, the 20 warmest years on record have been in the past 22

years. The years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 had the highest temperatures since 1880, and

2019 is keeping pace to be another record year. In 2017, carbon emissions increased globally

by 1.7 percent. “In 2018, they increased further, up 2.7 percent from the year before. And 2019

is expected to have one of the highest rates of increase on record” (earth.org). This is just one

of the many scary effects of climate change listed on earth.org, a global environmental think

tank promoting a scientific understanding of climate change and its effects on natural and

human habitats.

National Geographic has many important facts stated about climate change and its

effects on animal’s habitats. Since 1906, the global average surface temperature has increased

by more than 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit (NationalGeographic). The impacts of these rapid

temperature risings are starting to show. The heat is melting glaciers and sea ice, changing

precipitation patterns, and forcing animals to leave their habitats and find new ones. Climate

change not only affects humans but animals as well. “Some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants

have migrated farther north or to higher, cooler areas” (NationalGeographic). What happens

when these areas start to warm up as well? This leads to extinction as some animals need

certain habitats in order to survive. On the other hand, some species, such as mosquitoes, ticks,

jellyfish, and crop pests, are benefitting from the rapid climate change, but most animals and

insects such as butterflies, bees, and sea turtles are soon going to be extinct because of how

rapidly their habitats are changing.

Humans are one of the main causes of climate change and the increase of earth's

temperature by burning fossil fuels, cutting down rainforests, and farming livestock (europea)
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This adds a lot of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, which damages the ozone layer. The

most dangerous gas to the environment that is produced by human related activities is carbon

dioxide or CO2. “CO2 is the greenhouse gas most commonly produced by human activities and

it is responsible for 64% of man-made global warming” (europea). The European Commission

on climate change, a collective group of well educated scientists and writers, says that activities

such as burning coal, oil and gas produces carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. Deforestation,

which is initially the cutting down of trees and other plants, also plays a huge role in the

greenhouse effect because trees help to regulate the climate by absorbing CO2 from the

atmosphere. That's one of their many roles in our environment and so by cutting them down,

that effect of absorbing the harmful CO2 is also lost and the carbon stored in the trees is

released into the atmosphere, adding to the overall effect of climate change. This Commission

website also goes further on to explaining many more things we humans do that add on to the

warming of the atmosphere and the breaking of the ozone layer. Humans should be mindful of

their actions, especially actions done to the environment, and think how this could truly impact

our Earth. Just a few years ago, scientists never would have thought that these rapid weather

changing patterns would occur.

An article written by Esteban Gil on addressing the effects of climate change on

modeling future hydroelectric energy production in Chile is very informative in terms of

understanding what other countries need to do in order to adapt to climate change. National

Geographic defines hydro energy as a form of energy that harnesses the power of water in

motion. (NationalGeographic). The energy of this water cycle is driven directly by the sun so it's

obvious how dependent this cycle is on climate change and how it can be affected by it.

“Climate models project the occurrence of more severe dry spells and floods in the future as a

result of more intense but less frequent precipitation,” Gil says. “Warming also causes

precipitation to fall as rain rather than snow, causing a reduction in the snowpack and increased
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risk of drought in the spring and summer.” (Gil). The patterns of hydro-energy inflows will also be

affected, which may have impacts on how hydro-reservoirs are managed. Chile is taking matters

into their own hands and developing new ways for the hydro energy to be constructed to flow

safely throughout the country without experiencing the effects of climate change.

Climate change is one of the worst threats to our Earth today. Its many impacts lead to

huge environmental changes that can harm both humans and animals. It is very clear that this

issue must be stopped and must be stopped now. The first action humans should take in order

to reduce the effects of climate change is to speak up. Voices should be heard and people

should be educated about the dangers of climate change. The more people know about this

issue, the more eyes will be open and actions will be taken to slow down or even stop this

rapidly growing issue. Another action humans can take is planting more trees. Trees give us

oxygen and store the harmful carbon dioxide that contributes to the deterioration of the

atmosphere. Most importantly, humans should be mindful of their actions and take care of the

Earth.
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Works Cited

Dembling, Paul G. “Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet.” Global Climate Change:

Vital Signs of the Planet, NASA, https://climate.nasa.gov/nasa_science/history/

Gil, Esteban, et al. “Addressing the Effects of Climate Change on Modeling Future

Hydroelectric Energy Production in Chile.” Energies (19961073), vol. 14, no. 1, Jan.

2021, p. 241. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3390/en14010241.

“Global Warming Effects.” Environment, National Geographic, 10 Feb. 2021,

www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/global-warming-effects.

Petriccione, Mauro. “Causes of Climate Change.” Climate Action - European Commission,

28 June 2017, https://ec.europa.eu/clima/index_en.

“5 Climate Change Facts.” Earth Day, 17 Dec. 2019,

www.earthday.org/5-terrifying-climate-change-facts-scare-halloween/.
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