Climate change: what is it and what's the problem

Hello,

I've noticed that we are always mentioning climate change. Not only us blog editors but also politicians, activists and so on. The words climate change are bounced around in the media and probably in your households, but do you actually know what it is or how it works? I know that for a long time, I didn't know what it really meant. I hope that this post changes that.

What is climate change and how does it work?

The words climate change describe a slow shift in the earth's temperature and changes in the weather patterns. Having a single warm winter does not instantly mean climate change. Climate change happens over a long period of time. If you look at a temperature graph over the years, it doesn't go up in one day and then stay the same for another hundred years. It curves up slowly but steadily.

This is a average temperature graph from 1880 to just after 2000. You can see how the temperature gradually gets warmer.

But why is it getting warmer?

Well, that's because of the greenhouse effect.

What's the greenhouse effect? What has climate change got to do with a greenhouse?

The greenhouse effect has nothing to do with actual greenhouses. The greenhouse effect works like this.

The warmth from the sun hits the earth's atmosphere.
Some of it reflects of the atmosphere, back into space and is irrelevant for us.
The rest of the sun's warmth comes in through the atmosphere.
Some of the warmth stays in the clouds.
The rest of it comes all the way down to earth.
Some of the warmth gets absorbed by the earth.
The rest of it gets reflected back into the atmosphere.
Some of the warmth doesn't make it out of the atmosphere. That's because of greenhouse gases. They keep the warmth in the atmosphere.
It gets warmer on earth.

Greenhouse gases include:

Water vapor
Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Methane
And many more

But the greenhouse effect isn't a bad thing. Greenhouse gases aren't bad things either. The greenhouse effect is natural. In fact, if the greenhouse effect didn't exist, the average temperature on earth would be -18°C rather than +15°C! So what's the problem?

There wasn't a problem, until humans started producing more greenhouse gases. The more greenhouse gases there are, the more warmth gets trapped in the atmosphere. And the more warmth get stuck in the atmosphere, the warmer it gets.

And that is climate change and how it works. It isn't actually that difficult. The problem is, what is does to our earth.

What's wrong with the earth warming up?

So the fact that the earth is warming up, may sound quite nice. But it definitely isn't nice in the long run! Here's a list of just a few of the things that climate change is doing:

1. Wildfires (because everything is drying up)

2. Rising sea levels (because the Artic and the Antarctic are melting into the ocean)

3. Deadly heatwaves (70 000 people died from a heatwave in Europe in 2003)

4. Floods (because glaciers are melting and the excess water is flowing into rivers)

5. Extreme weather (droughts, storms, heavy rainfall, …)

6. Ocean warming up (kills marine plants and animals)

So the earth warming up is just as bad as another ice age.

How do we stop the earth from warming up?

So the most obvious one is to stop emitting CO2. In fact we have a post with the different ways to slow CO2 emissions. However there are so many other ways to slow climate change.

Don't buy products containing palm oil.

Rainforests are being cut down to make space for palm oil plantations. Trees absorb CO2 so cutting them down is a bad idea.

Go on climate change protests

Ok, so this is probably a bad idea with Covid-19 still at large. But when the protests do start up again, make your voice heard. There are plenty of petitions going around if you don't want to go on an actual protest.

Reduce the amount of meat you eat

Again, rainforests are being chopped down to create space for pigs and cows. Also Methane is created in the stomachs of cattle. Methane is another greenhouse gas. It's effects are much worse than CO2. And the animals that we eat are usually kept in bad living conditions and suffer their whole lives long. It's as if they aren't even alive, they are just there for us to kill.

Our planet is dying and if we don't do something about it, we will die with it. This isn't right. How are governments still ignoring the signs? It's as if they only care about money and power. Is that true? Do they just want the money and the power?

Sources:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24021772
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change
https://www.epa.gov/climatechange-science/basics-climate-change

Images:
Ice: This image, owned by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Temperature graph: This image, owned by Matt Lemmon (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Palm oil: This image is owned by Ihsan Adityawarman on pexels.com.
Climate protest: This image is owned by Markus Spiske on pexels.com.

Comments

25.10.2020 Animal of the week: Snow leopard

Hello everyone, This week's post is about snow leopards. Snow leopards are incredible big cats that roam the mountain ranges of Asia. Snow leopards are very powerful and can climb up and down steep slopes easily, as well as jump up six times their body length. The snow leopard's tail provides balance, agility and warmth. The snow leopard is elusive and solitary and therefore very difficult to spot. They are very important though, because they are at the top of the food chain in this area. Habitat Snow leopards live in northern and central Asia's mountain ranges. These are some of the harshest conditions on earth. However, they white-grey coat with large black spots allows them to blend in with the rocky mountain terrain. They are found in twelve countries including China, Russia and Mongolia. Diet Snow leopards can kill prey up to three times their body weight. This is an incredible feat to pull off as they manage this on their ow...

16.08.2020 Animal of the week: Elephant

Hello. On the 12th of August it was International Elephant Day, so we decided that this week's post should be about elephants. Elephants are the largest living land mammals. There are three types of elephant; the African bush elephant; the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. African elephants have larger ears, whereas Asian elephants have smaller ears. Elephants use their trunks to breath, bring food and drink to their mouths and to grasp objects. Elephants' legs are like pillars. They carry the Elephant's massive weight. African bush elephants weigh 6000kg, Asian elephants weigh 4000kg and African forest elephants weigh 2700kg. Basically, they are very heavy.Elephants eat grasses, small plants, bushes, fruit, twigs, tree bark, and roots. Elephants can live up to 70 years old in the wild. They communicate by sight, touch and smell. Sadly, these wonderful mammals are in danger. African elephants are listed as vulne...

Discussion || Should Everyone Switch To Electric Cars?

Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for joining me today, as I hop on the blog to discuss whether everyone switching to electric cars would really help the environment. In other words, should everyone switch to electric cars? This is the first part of a two-part series, discussing electric cars, so stay tuned for part two!! I would like to start this post by stating that I am by no means an expert. This is knowledge I have from my own experience, and from research I have done. If anything is incorrect please take it as it is and accept that this is a discussion and I am taking on board all opinions from reliable sources on this complex topic. Electric cars are a huge topic when it comes to sustainability and "saving our planet". There is no debating the fact that electric cars are better for the environment than diesel or petrol once they are on the road. But the production of them is often very polluting, with one study show...

Animals 21-25 in our '50 incredible animals' series

Hi Everyone! Here are the next five animals in our current series! We hope you learn something from this. 21. Stick insect Stick insects are masters of disguise. They look like twigs or leaves. This strange appearance makes them hard to spot when stationary. Stick insects are herbivores, feeding on leaves, and can live for up to three years. Their habitat includes most tropical and subtropical regions, but there are a few species that live in temperate areas as well. There are roughly 3 000 different stick insect species! Not much more is known about them, because they are difficult to find. The two main threats to their populations are the pet trade and people killing them so as to frame their carcasses, like butterflies. Their conservation status ranges from critically endangered to least concern - so basically every category that is on the list! 22. Glass frog The glass frog is, well, see through. You can literally ...

How much do you know about climate change? - Quiz

Hi Everyone and welcome back to Green World! For this week's quiz, we thought we would do one on climate change. By this point, climate change is a well known issue, however, we wanted to share some of the specific statistics, some of which are still really surprising. We hope that this is an informative post for you, and it inspires you to take a small action to reducing your own carbon footprint. Questions Roughly how much CO2 is in the atmosphere? (May 2023) a) 380 parts per million b) 400 parts per million c) 420 parts per million True or False? The last time CO2 levels were as high as they are today was 4.5 million years ago. Which summer month in 2021 had the highest temperature since records started almost 150 years ago? a) June b) July c) August True or False? Antarctica loses the same weight as Mount Everest in ice each year. How many p...

Animals 36-40 in our '50 incredible animals' series

Hi, As you probably noticed, we took a break from this series, mostly due to having just too much to do. But we're back now with the last three posts. 36. The Pinocchio frog The Pinocchio frog can be found in the Foja Mountains in Indonesia. They mainly eat insects, although little is known about them. They are named because the males have a spike on their noses. They were only discovered in 2008, and this was completely by accident! It remained unnamed scientifically until over ten years later when it was given the name " Litoria pinocchio " . There is very little information about them but Wikipedia states that "the male Pinocchio frog inflates its nose when calling, and the nose decreases in size when the frog is calm and quiet," which I think is hilarious and so interesting! 37. Snub-nosed monkey Especially noticeable due to their curious looks, the snub-nosed monkeys can be found in the forests of central China and northern...

Sir David Attenborough - an incredible naturalist

Hi everyone and welcome back to Green World, Today we want to talk about one of the most inspiring naturalists of our time. It is, of course, David Attenborough. Today (08.05.2021) is his 95th birthday so we seemed it fitting to publish a post about him today. Over his lifetime, David has won more than 40 awards for his work and was named among the 100 greatest Britons in 2020. David first joined the BBC in 1952 as a producer for the Talks department which looked after all non-fiction broadcasts. Since then, he has worked on lots of different programs and documentaries such as The Life Series, which was first made in 1979. More recently, he has presented Blue Planet and Blue Planet II. The latter had the most views recorded for a single program in 2017. David also gave the Royal Institution's Christmas Lecture in 1973 on The Language of the Animals. David Attenborough is still presenting documentaries to this day. He now lives in Richmo...

18.10.20 Animal Of The Week: Sloth

Hello, Sorry this didn't come out on Sunday as planned but this week's animal of the week is the sloth because the twentieth of October is Sloth Day. Habitat The sloth resides in Central and South America. It lives in the rainforests there and occasionally drops into the water for a bathe as, believe it or not, they are actually excellent swimmers! Diet Sloths eat leaves, twigs and buds which they find in the rainforest. As they don't have incisors they smack their lips together to make leaves more digestible. Sloths can survive on relatively little food as it takes a while for them to digest it. Sleep and Speed When you think of a sloth, you probably think of this slow, sleepy creature. They actually sleep for about 15 hours a day! Sloths have an extremely low metabolic rate (what basic calories your body needs to survive), which means they move at a slow pace through the trees. On average, sloths travel 40 yards per day ...

February 2021 Factfile - a bit of news from the last month and more!

Hi Everyone! Welcome to February's factfile! We are very sorry that we have not posted very much so far in 2021 but we are going to hopefully make up for it in the spring. News: Source- BBC Newsround The great yellow bumblebee has been spotted in Scotland! They used to be common in the UK but their population declined by about 80% in the last century. The find is a spark of hope as it is currently endangered. This is thought to be because of a decline in natural flower meadows and a boost in farming. The team of conservationists that found it were thrilled and when we heard about it we wanted to share it with you in case you hadn't heard! Source- Guardian In the 1840s a bird was caught in the East Indies. It had never been seen before and Charles Lucien Bonaparte (Napoleon's nephew) named it the black-browed babbler. The species wasn't seen again, so the only proof that it had ever existed was a stuffed specimen. ...

Photo Essay | dolphin spotting boat ride

Hi Everyone! Quite a while ago now, me and my family went on a dolphin spotting boat ride, and I've been meaning to share some photos for ages now! We saw so many dolphins very close up and we managed to get some good shots, although it can never be as magical as in person! All photos in this post were taken by me or my family. They were so close to the boat! This photo is stunning! It's under the water! Again - under the water! It was so hard to capture them jumping! This was the boat.... ...

Green World

Search This Blog