Climate change is an important environmental issue to discuss. The issue affects people as well as animals, and this has caused people to think to seek for solutions. It is clear that the climate is undergoing some changes given the transformations that are observed in temperatures, winds, and other environmental indicators. There is a controversy on the topic of climate change in that there are many scientists as well as politicians who argue that humans primarily cause climate change. On the other hand, some scientist and politicians are of the idea that natural causes cause climate change.
The controversy that exists is the inability to point to one specific primary cause of climate change. Research has been conducted, but they do not attest to a specific cause of climate change. This act has led to various discussions as well debates to the topic by various stakeholders to find the main cause, but it has not been successful. The question is whether human beings are the main cause of climate change or whether natural causes are the primary causes.
The debate on the topic of climate change has raised varying views, opinions and contributions. Those that are of the opinion that human beings are the main cause of climate change try that to prove that human activities contribute to the largest percentage of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Such gasses are the major cause of today’s climate change (Agency, 2015).
Others support the idea that the major cause of climate change is natural occurrences. Some people suppose that natural events such as orbital changes as well as volcanism are the chief causes of global warming. They also believe that since natural occurrences cause climate change, nature has a way of regulating it. For instance, plants and animals will develop ways of coping with the consequences of climate change. These two arguments make sense in that both have points to be noted. But the determination of the major contributor to climate change is difficult to pinpoint.
The Major Players
Climate change has two key players that are, the natural causes as well as the humans. Human beings are engaged in various activities that contribute to the emission of gasses that contribute to global warming and other destructive practices. Human beings live on this continent and measuring the levels of harmful gasses it is clear that they contribute to climate change. Human beings are known to use fossil fuels as a source of energy, and the result is CO2 that is considered a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Human beings are the major players in climate change since they have increased in number as compared to a time back. Climate change continues to change when the populations is high since people continue to look for places to live. There is a close correlation between an increase in population and a climate change. Natural occurrences also have been linked to causing climate change. These activities cannot be controlled and, therefore, a major player in this topic. Natural causes include the volcanism, orbits around the sun, and other factors results in the emission of gasses that also contribute to climate change (Gillard, 2011).
The major players in the debate are politicians and the scientists. Scientists disagree what lead to climate change. Scientists are people who have the skills, knowledge and experience of climate change. These people disagree to this topic while they are the experts. How they address the topic is based on the findings that they obtain from research. Scientists are important since their conclusion will determine what steps the government will take to curb the problem. It is vital that scientist comes with one answer to the question that will be convincing and true to the topic to ensure that the best action is implemented. Politicians are also important as they will determine what will be implemented for the problem to be solved.
Politicians represent the government and it is depended upon to formulate policies that will determine the environmental condition presently and in the future. The government will also provide the resources need to implement the policies, and this puts the government as a key player in climate change problem. The government represents the interest of its people and, therefore, the policies to curb the climate change problem will affect everyone. It is, therefore, important that the government implements the best policy that will ensure that climate change is reversed.
Important Facts
There are important facts to note in this topic of climate change. It is clear that climate change is present in our world today climate change affects the lives of all living things on the face of the earth. The truth of the matter is that both natural and human are contributing to this problem. Natural causes have been witnessed by the different natural phenomenon such as volcanic events, the radiant from the sun, orbits around the sun, and other factors. These activities are there even at current times. These natural factors are hard to control as compared to human activities that can be controlled (Majumder, 2011).
Human causes are linked with changing the climate. These activities include the cutting down of trees found in forests so as to engage in agriculture. This activity causes the environment to change. The vegetation cover is absent since the forestry is gone. Another activity that causes climate change is fossil fuel that is normally used by them as a source of energy. Human activities have been on the rise due to increase in populations and also due to increasing in industries that pollute the environment in the air and environmental pollution. Pollution affects the environment by causing it to change in terms of how it looks. The effect of increased human activities has led to an increase in warming effect. The emissions of carbon dioxide as well as other greenhouse gasses that cause harm and result in changing the land surface as well as the whole environment.
Human causes and natural factors can be associated with climate change but between the two there is one that has resulted in causing climate change more than the other. The disagreements between the scientists as well as politicians are healthy as it will allow the topic to be excavated so that solutions to be implemented. Climate change has adverse effects on society, and the two causes have for one way or another affected our world. The problem can be solved if an agreement is reached concerning the main cause of climate change. Scientist needs to come up with one cause of the problem so as to know how to deal with it (McCaffrey, 2006).
Side One
Human beings have been accused of being the main cause of global warming and climate change. Most of the activities that people have engaged in have ended up contributing to the harmful effect of the environment. Human activities have given a first hand in the promotion of global warming and climate change. Some of these actions are performed by human beings out of negligence. There have been changes that have come into being as a result of deforestation that is one of the major activities of causing climate change and global warming. Cutting down of vegetation cover is also another human action that has caused increased albedo in the surface. Studies reveal that clearing the vegetation cover to use the cleared land for agricultural purposes and irrigating the arid areas have been mentioned of the major causes of the climate change. The reasoning behind this argument is that the cleared area will increase the energy absorption from the sun. In fact, since a bare land is left, the effects will be immense due to the direct heat of the sun leading to increased evaporation. Additionally, the water that is used for irrigation will be absorbed by the sun increasing the moisture content in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, when the forests are cleared, there will be increased effects of the sun that will cause increased heat in the soil and cause a reduction in the moisture in the atmosphere. The increased heat may cause drying of more trees causing imbalance hence the increased effect of the greenhouse gasses.
Aerosols are also finding their way to the atmosphere as a result of bi-product from agricultural activities. The effects of aerosols affect the climate in various ways. These aerosols can change the chemical properties of the clouds thus affecting the entire lifetime of the chemical components of the cloud. Further, the aerosols tend to scatter and form a blanket-like structure that absorbs the solar radiation and the infrared radiations. Aerosols may also result from the burning of the biomass. The burning results in organic droplets together with the soot particles. Industries dealing with chemical materials are notorious for emissions of aerosols. These emissions may result in various forms of aerosols depending on the materials that are being burned in that particular industry. Additionally, the exhausted gasses from vehicles are known to contribute to aerosol pollution.
Finally, human beings have contributed to climate change through the release of the greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere. The main factor that contributed to the presence of these gasses to the atmosphere was the industrial revolution that occurred in the nineteenth century. Therefore, the increase in the gasses being released contributed to increased temperatures in the atmosphere. These gasses are known to absorb heat leading to that heat being retained in the atmosphere. The results of these gasses are that they lead to increased temperatures thus causing the global warming. In the past century, there have been increased industrial activities by over forty folds. However, the greenhouse gasses have increased by ten-folds (McDowell, 2014).
Side Two
There are various causes of global warming and climate change that are not in any way linked to the humans. Research reveals that an increase in the sun output over the recent years is causing global warming. The study that was conducted by scientists from various regions revealed that the output has doubled from what it used to be several millenniums ago. The effects of the increased output from the sun are the drying up of water in arid areas and increase in the area covered by the deserts. Additionally, the increased heat from the sun has contributed to the melting of ice in regions like the Antarctica. Melting of glacier cover has caused the sea levels to increase which is very dangerous. Another natural cause of climate change and global warming is the volcanic eruptions that cause increased expulsion of air and harmful gasses and dust into the atmosphere. The dust particles that are emitted during the volcanic activities act as a shield that prevents the sun’s radiations from reaching the earth. However, the shield formed by the dust prevents the heat from the earth from escaping into the atmosphere hence increasing the effects of global warming. Further, the dust is at times associated with the cooling of the atmosphere. Another cause of global warming that is not associated with the human activities is the natural forest fires. When these fires occur, they increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide has widely been associated with global warming. Carbon dioxide also contributes to the composition of the greenhouse gasses and, therefore, increases global warming and pollution. These gasses have effects of trapping heat from the sun thus increasing the degree of warming. Melting of the permafrost is another contributing factor of global warming and the climate change. The melting at the polar region means that the carbon dioxide that is stored in frozen form is released thus increasing the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. The carbon that has been stored in the permafrost is very harmful because it has been out of space for many years. Therefore, the sudden release of the gasses causes an imbalance in the geochemical processes as a result of the increase in the volumes of the gasses released (McNall, 2011).
Opinion and Rationale
In my view, I believe that natural causes of global warming had been in existence even before the humans came to being. The research conducted however revealed that most of these natural causes did not explain the most of the global warming that was experienced. Therefore, it was easy to conclude that humans bear the great responsibility for the causes of global warming. Global warming has been causing disturbing effects on the environment. However, human beings are doing little to contain the situation that many never imagined it would ever be pressing issues. Our responsibility towards causing and facilitating the global warming is so immense and should never be down looked. In fact, human beings are quickening global warming given the fact that almost every activity that they do involves the release of carbon dioxide. I feel strongly about this environmental controversy because it will be difficult to find effective ways of addressing the environmental problem if people in the society do not agree on its main cause. If the right cause of climate change is not found, wrong environmental policies may be implemented. Carbon can be released from the burning of fossil fuels such as the petrol and hydrocarbons. Further, carbon dioxide can result from burning the forests to use the area for agricultural purposes. Therefore, almost everything related to the global warming is to be blamed on human beings. Therefore, some measures need to be undertaken to increase the awareness regarding the global warming and also assist us in reducing the emissions of carbon. Therefore, the policy formulation must take into account the fact that the harmful effects have already taken place. These policies will greatly contribute to the creation of a self-sustaining environment away from the destruction of global warming (Pidwirny, 2013).
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