...The essay will elaborate more on Sea level rise that occurred due to climate change. Sea level rise is a serious global threat that continued to grow due to greenhouse gas emissions and associated with the global warming. In context, Solomon Islands like most of the South Pacific countries had been ignorant about the issue of the increased concentration of greenhouse gases and its effects until recently. And as such, comprehensive understanding of sea level rise and climate change it real associated with increasing green house gases. There is still no local study carried out in the Solomon Islands yet on the local impacts of climate change and sea level rise. Despite these limitations, it is still possible to make general projections based...
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...scientific community that global warming is currently occurring due to human emissions, there is also opposing arguments by skeptics that do not believe that global warming is happening or point out that previous warming periods have occurred in the past for a variety of reasons that may still be in play now. There have been dramatic changes to environmental systems throughout the world since human emissions increased at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution that directly demonstrate that global warming is occurring. Not only have there been immense changes in the past, but there is further evidence to indicate the changes the environment will continue to change in colossal ways in the future. This warming also is set apart by the vast differences in behavior and effect for previous warming periods in the past. Research indicates that global warming is a true phenomenon that can be explained by evidence including ongoing massive environmental and atmospheric changes since the industrial revolution, scientific model projections, and the differences between the current and previous warming periods. The Industrial Revolution was a time of great change for human carbon emissions and how fossil fuels were used. Coal had previously been used in homes as early as the 1600’s, but it was with the invention of the first coal-burning engine in 1712 that the Industrial Revolution really began (Johansen, 2001). This was the first time in...
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...declining freshwater reserves will lead to conflict. In addition there is the issue of climate change, the anthropological effect and how the hydrological cycle suffers because of it. And the supply of trade and food will also be increasingly fragile when the health of ocean ecosystems and its marine life is consistently threatened. In the past people have fought for water in the beginning of their colonization. After the conflicts regarding territories, alliances, and now currently oil, the global economy along with its citizens will again fight for the control of the dwindling water supplies in the face of an increasing population. “Many environmental scientists warn that declining water supplies could lead to wars between nations” (Cunningham, p. 384). If the specifics are studied closely in current international conflicts, the fight for the new oil, water, has already begun. The familiar Middle East conflicts that the United States is engaged in has often been regarded as a way to help secure our oil supply. However some neighboring countries are already moving on to a more striking issue that humans as a species simply aren’t paying enough attention to. “Already, we’ve seen skirmishes—if not outright warfare—over water access. An underlying factor in hostilities between Israel and its neighbors has been control of aquifers and withdrawals from the Jordan river” (Cunningham, p. 384). The current rate of water consumption has long been higher than the replenishment rate of the...
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...their impact in terms of lives lost and livelihoods disrupted tends to fall most heavily on the poor in developing countries. Climate change threatens to heighten these impacts in many areas, both by changing the frequency and/or intensity of extreme events and by bringing changes in mean conditions that may alter the underlying vulnerability of populations to hazards. The result in the decades to come may be an increase in the global burden of weather-related disasters: events that can threaten the sustainability of development processes and undermine progress toward poverty reduction. Holistic management of disaster risk requires action to reduce impacts of extreme events before, during and after they occur, including technical preventive measures and aspects of socio-economic development designed to reduce human vulnerability to hazards. Approaches toward the management of climate change impacts also have to consider the reduction of human vulnerability under changing levels of risk. A key challenge and opportunity therefore lies in building a bridge between current disaster risk management efforts aimed at reducing vulnerabilities to extreme events and efforts to promote climate change adaptation. There is a need to understand better the extent to which current disaster management practices reflect future adaptation needs and assess what changes may be required if such practices are to address future risks. At the World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR) in Kobe,...
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...Nature Of Science Evolution Evolution :- All living beings have developed over time from ancestors through a series of changes. That life has changed over long periods of time, with all forms of life related to one another, is a scientifically well-established fact. There are two aspects of evolution today. First, evolution is the organizing principle for all of biology. Just as we are offspring from our parents, and our grandparents before them, and so on, all living organisms today are inclined from organisms that lived in the past. Understanding how and why these ancestor-descendent lineages have changed through time helps us appreciate the diversity of life we see today. Genetics, anatomy, physiology, neurology, morphology, and behavior all of these aspects of living organisms have evolved through time. The study of the evolutionary processes that produced these traits provides the comprehensive framework for understanding them. Theory Of Evolution Evolution Theory: - Evolution is technically defined as: "a gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form." As it is most famously used, "evolution" is the process by which an organism becomes more sophisticated over time and in response to its environment. The Theory of Evolution is currently the most popular concept of how life reached its current state. Evolution as a biological mechanism is driven by natural selection. This theory is favored by many scientists to explain...
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...This semester I had the opportunity to attend my first Environmental Justice event which was held at the City Hall in Downtown. I decided to attend the event not only because extra credit was offered but because as a citizen of this beautiful and prosperous city, I am also concerned of the environmental damage caused by capital such as local businesses and transportation state agency (i.e the MBTA and the use of pesticides at their construction sites according to reports I’ve read online, “Inner-city Pesticide use as an Environmental Injustice” by Dr. Daniel Faber). I live in Jamaica Plain which is a low-income neighborhood, considering the fact that most of the population is composed Latinos and African Americans. Thus, it was of my greatest interest to attend this event and learn more about environmental justice in my community....
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...Global warming What is the greenhouse effect, and is it affecting our climate? The greenhouse effect is unquestionably real, and is essential for life on Earth. It is the result of heat absorption by certain gases in the atmosphere (called greenhouse gases because they trap heat) and re- radiation downward of a part of that heat. Water vapor is the most important greenhouse gas, followed by carbon dioxide and other trace gases. Without a natural greenhouse effect, the temperature of the Earth would be about zero degrees F (-18°C) instead of its present 57°F (14°C). However, the concern is not with the fact that we have a greenhouse effect, but it is with the question regarding whether human activities are leading to an enhancement of the greenhouse effect. Are greenhouse gases increasing? Human activity has been increasing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (mostly carbon dioxide from combustion of coal, oil, and gas; plus a few other trace gases). There is no scientific debate on this point. Pre-industrial levels of carbon dioxide (prior to...
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...Causes of Climate Change Climate change is a long-term shift in weather conditions identified by changes in temperature, precipitation, winds, and other indicators. Climate change can involve both changes in average conditions and changes in variability, including, for example, extreme events. The earth's climate is naturally variable on all time scales. Factors that cause climate change can be divided into two categories - those related to natural processes and those related to human activity Natural Causes The Earth's climate can be affected by natural factors that are external to the climate system, such as changes in volcanic activity, solar output, and the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Human Causes Very few people doubt that it is normal for there to be climate change. The rotation of the earth on a tilted axis leads to this, as well many natural events, like volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and hurricanes. However, human activities are having a much greater impact on climate change. For example, the jump in earths’ population from 1950 through 1985 more than doubled from 2.5 billion to over 5 billion. (Meyer, 1996: 24) The importance of this growth is a drain on the Earths’ resources causing even more altering. It is not as much the altering of these resources that are causing climate change but the type of human activities which are taking place, and the way in which they are impacting the climate. The earth is naturally surrounded by gases the added human processes...
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...implies that the economy is maturing, moving towards the secondary and tertiary sectors. However, farming remains vitally important to the economy with 638 000 people formally employed (Statistics SA, 2012 Q2) – although it’s estimated that around 8,5-million people are directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture for their employment and income. However, global climate change will affect the government’s efforts to alleviate poverty and fast-track development in rural areas. Definition of terms Global warming: refers to the increased temperature of Earth's surface, including land, water and near-surface air. Climate change: means a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods (UNFCCC). 2. Causes of Climate Change Any factor that causes a sustained change to the amount of incoming energy or the amount of outgoing energy can lead to climate change. They are factors that operate in favour of climate change; these factors that cause climate change can be divided into two categories. Those related to natural processes and those related to human activity. 1|Page...
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...Climate change From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For current and future climatological effects of human influences, see global warming. For the study of past climate change, see paleoclimatology. For temperatures on the longest time scales, see geologic temperature record. [pic] |Atmospheric sciences | |[pic] | |Aerology | |Atmospheric physics | |Atmospheric dynamics (category) | |Atmospheric chemistry (category) | |Meteorology | |Weather (category) · (portal) | |Tropical cyclone (category) | |Climatology | |Climate (category) | |Climate change (category) | |Global warming (category) · (portal) | |v · d · e | Climate change is a long-term change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average (e.g., more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change may be limited to a specific region or may occur across the whole Earth. |Contents ...
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...Introduction According to the Third Assessment Report of IPCC, South Asia is the most vulnerable region of the world to climate change impacts (McCarthy et al., 2001). The international community also recognizes that Bangladesh ranks high in the list of most vulnerable countries on earth. Bangladesh’s high vulnerability to climate change is due to a number of hydro-geological and socio-economic factors that include: its geographical location in South Asia; its flat deltaic topography with very low elevation; its extreme climate variability that is governed by monsoon and which results in acute water distribution over space and time; its high population density and poverty incidence; and its majority of population being dependent on crop agriculture which is highly influenced by climate variability and change. Despite the recent strides towards achieving sustainable development, Bangladesh’s potential to sustain its development is faced with significant challenges posed by climate change (Ahmed and Haque, 2002). It is therefore of utmost importance to understand its vulnerability in terms of population and sectors at risk and its potential for adaptation to climate change. Increased climate variability means additional threats to drought-prone environments and is considered a major crop production risk factor. The impact of climate variability and change on agricultural production is a global concern. However, the impact is particularly important in Bangladesh where agriculture...
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...below. – Anthony ================================================================ Guest essay by Bob Tisdale The recently published climate model-based paper Recent global-warming hiatus tied to equatorial Pacific surface cooling [Paywalled] by Yu Kosaka and Shang-Ping Xie has gained a lot of attention around the blogosphere. Like Meehl et al (2012) and Meehl et al (2013), Kosaka and Xie blame the warming stoppage on the recent domination of La Niña events. The last two sentences of Kosaka and Xie (2013) read: Our results show that the current hiatus is part of natural climate variability, tied specifically to a La-Niña-like decadal cooling. Although similar decadal hiatus events may occur in the future, the multi-decadal warming trend is very likely to continue with greenhouse gas increase. Anyone with a little common sense who’s reading the abstract and the hype around the blogosphere and the Meehl et al papers will logically now be asking: if La Niña events can stop global warming, then how much do El Niño events contribute? 50%? The climate science community is actually hurting itself when they fail to answer the obvious questions. And what about the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO)? What happens to global surface temperatures when the AMO also peaks and no longer contributes to the warming? The climate science community skirts the common-sense questions, so no one takes them seriously. UPDATE...
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...The Global Climate Risk Index 2014 analyses indicate that less developed countries generally face the reality of climate variability more than industrialised countries (Kreft & Eckstein, 2013). According to Population Action International(PAI, (2013), countries currently experiencing high rates of population growth having either high projected declines in agricultural production, low resilience to climate change, or both face widespread poverty, low levels of education, limited access to health services, food and water insecurity and gender inequality. The Philippines with a -1.7% projected change in agricultural production, 1.7% population growth rate, and 22% unmet need for family planning is considered a “hotspot" of population and climate change (PAI). The increasing population and poverty have put additional pressures on resources (DENR, 2001). According to Kreft & Eckstein, in 2012, the Philippines along with Haiti suffered the most from extreme weather events pointing to the country’s vulnerability to climate change phenomenon as it works towards achieving economic growth and alleviating poverty (2013). In the VIP marine key biodiversity areas, the rising sea level and surface temperature, pronounced storminess and unpredictable rainfall patterns are disrupting...
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...Excerpt from PAI working paper Nabil Haque Mainstreaming Climate Change Adaptation into Bangladesh Development Policies Connecting the dots with Population Pressure A great number of assessments studied the vulnerability of Bangladesh to climate change impacts due to its unique geographic location, dominance of floodplains, low elevation, high population density, high levels of poverty, and overwhelming dependence on natural resources and services. The country has a history of extreme climatic events claiming millions of lives and destroying past development gains. Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of such events like floods and cyclones. Bangladesh has come a long way in developing national adaptation strategies and is currently leading this approach among the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Adaptation is now an integral part of development strategies, and given the scale of the impacts, most ministries are gearing up for sector-wise adaptation. 1 Significant steps have been taken after the publication of National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) in 2005, where immediate and urgent needs of adaptation have been identified. In 2008, a supplement to the NAPA was introduced called “The Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan”, which is built on six pillars – five of them related to impact management and one related to mitigation through low carbon development. The government has solely focused its adaptation approach to livelihood...
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...Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions, or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions (i.e., more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics, and volcanic eruptions. Certain human activities have also been identified as significant causes of recent climate change, often referred to as "global warming". Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations and theoretical models. A climate record — extending deep into the Earth's past — has been assembled, and continues to be built up, based on geological evidence from borehole temperature profiles, cores removed from deep accumulations of ice, floral and faunal records, glacial and periglacial processes, stable-isotope and other analyses of sediment layers, and records of past sea levels. More recent data are provided by the instrumental record. General circulation models, based on the physical sciences, are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data, make future projections, and link causes and effects in climate change. Terminology The most general definition of climate change is a change in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over long periods...
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