Environmental Science E-portfolio Replacement Paper

Environmental Science E-portfolio Replacement Paper

Climate Change

Climate Change is a global problem, and the situation has not improved since it was first recognized. There is evidence to support the notion of climate change, such as N.A.S.A. publication on global temperatures over the years. For instance, Shaftel (2019) affirms that the average surface temperatures of the planet has risen to about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere. Further, most of this global warming occurred in the past 35 years, with the five warmest years on record taking place since 2010 (Shaftel, 2019). This is clear evidence that supports the fact that there is constantly increasing and uncontrolled amount of daily human activities resulting in increased Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As a result, the temperatures on the planet has increased over the recent years and led to severe environmental changes such as rise in sea levels due to melting of polar ice caps where the result is probably rising in sea level caused by excessive amounts of water from the melted ice caps.

As an effect of climate change, it is evident that there are increased rates of deforestation, melting of ice caps, and shortage of food supply. For example, as the temperatures increases, the droughts have been more frequent hence leading to drying up of the crops. Along with crop failures, sometimes the dried crop materials tend to catch fire, leading to frequent food shortage. Additionally, as these crops decompose, they tend to release excessive carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which contributes to climate change through weakening of the Ozone layer. On the same note, climate change continues to deplete the ozone layer as the carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. As the sea levels rise due to warmer temperatures, it significantly affects the oceanic conditions, since the carbon sinking process is weakened. Therefore, the warmer temperatures in the ocean result in more carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere.

Moreover, according to Shaftel (2019), report the global sea level rose to about 8 inches in the last century (Shaftel, 2019). One of the most trending evidence about the issue on the melting ice caps is the Antarctic ice sheets that have decreased in mass over the previous years. For example, the data from N.A.S.A.’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment show that the Antarctica ice sheets have lost about 127 billion tons of ice annually during the period between 1993 and 2016 (Shaftel, 2019). This aspect shows that this rate of Antarctica ice mass loss has tripled in the last decade (Shaftel, 2019). Therefore, there are devastating effects of climate change since it contributes to the rise in the sea levels leading to frequent floods along the coastal regions. Such floods are disastrous sometimes especially when they destroy business and home structures that hinder the growth of social-economic activities along the affected coastal regions.  Moreover, the rise in sea levels lead to erosion hence significantly affecting agricultural activities across the affected areas as well as the loss of fish and other economic marine animals leading to the loss of the blue economy. Rising levels will contribute to the erosion of infrastructure and is an encroaching threat to power plants, buildings, and any basic human infrastructure. The problem has become an increasingly worrying situation thanks to us humans’ anthropogenic behaviour all over the world. The effects of climate change are exceptionally prevalent as increased temperature causes heat waves, heavy downpours, forest fires, as evidenced with California, insect outbreaks, declining water supply, etc. (Shaftel, 2019). The excessive release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide has become an issue of concern during and after the industrial revolution. Therefore the result has been that all the existing and new factories pollute the air and deforestation processes caused by unregulated human activities, also emit a large amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

However, there are several dynamic climate change counteractions that humans have taken or can take in attempts to solve this life-threatening world problem. There is a need to recognize and appreciate the efforts of many focused and dedicated individuals.  One of the proposed solutions to this global issue is the planting of more trees in efforts to ensure reforestation surpasses the deforestation processes to make sure there are more plants to absorb the excessive greenhouse gases. One of the climate change counteractions that have recently been started is being led by a very well-known Youtuber, named Mr Beast, who, on October 25th, uploaded a video known as Planting 20,000,000 Trees, My Biggest Project Ever! He explains that his friends, YouTubers, and himself have started a project to plant twenty million trees (Beast, 2019). Therefore, along with the support of their subscribers/fans, by just donating a single dollar per each tree (Beast, 2019). As of November 21st, it has raised 15.8 million dollars/trees, which included celebrity donations (Beast, 2019). All of the contributions will go to the National Arbor Day Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to tree planting, and they will go to plant the trees themselves. This, by itself, will not be enough to save the world from the problem of climate change, but it is a fantastic start to a long process. The only downside for this plan is that directly planting twenty million trees is not anywhere near enough to solve the global problem; it is just the beginning of a long journey, that would at long last significantly impact on climate change. Besides that it is a fantastic plan because all of the money is being collected through donations, the trees are planted by an organization dedicated to planting trees safely, they pay close attention to what trees they are planting, and where they are being planted, to ensure the ecosystem is not hurt by the new species of trees that will be involved in this project.

Another initiative towards counteracting climate change is the Green New Deal. Green New Deal has been in motion since 2006 (Business Radio, 2019). One of the big points of this Green New Deal is, to turn the tide on climate change, by creating 20 million jobs that would transition into 100% clean, renewable energy by 2030, and investing in public transit, sustainable (regenerative) agriculture, conservation, and restoration of critical infrastructure, including ecosystems (Business Radio, 2019). This is exceptionally significant if it goes into effect. People adapt to their surroundings; therefore, by promoting clean energy, people become aware of the impact of climate change. By investing in faster public transportation, allowing it to become efficient and affordable. This becomes an incentive for people to get to work quickly. With this change and advertisement, it can attract individuals who do not wish to sit in city traffic as the majority of emissions are deeply rooted in urban life. One potential problem is making everyone gear off of fossil fuels as it has been used for centuries now and is so integral to the way we live nowadays. After all the time and money people have invested and received off these fossil fuels, there will be an immense amount of people opposed to shifting. Another problem is that the Green New Deal is going to put a considerable amount of people out of work. Still, apparently, (Business Radio, 2019), suggests that the project can ensure that any worker displaced by the shift away from fossil fuels will receive full income and benefits as they transition to alternative work  (Business Radio, 2019). However, this will not help those who cannot find any other form of work. Notably, in a world where there is already a low volume of jobs (Gray, & Jang, 2015) and the people who only had a skill set for their previous position, involving fossil fuels will now either have low-income jobs or none at all. Another problem that is of concern is that the Green New Deal is not a detailed plan that gives some specific outcomes, but just a proposal framework that is presented as a good idea by Business Radio (2019). It seems that there is more to this plan that will reinforce itself, but if this is true, there is need to think and wait until it is a well ironed out plan for use to be able to take any form of action. In conclusion, climate change is not something to be taken lightly because it not only affects our environment; it can affect us directly and our daily lifestyle. It can potentially affect the next generation if we just sit back and do not plan anything to enhance the situation. For example, it would be pathetic to wake up on a winter morning, and it seems like it is in the middle of summer. Furthermore, an even bigger tragedy would be if cities or countries started to sink below sea level, and lives could be lost because of how much the sea level would rise if our ice caps/sheets keep melting. Climate change is real, and there must be more people involved to make a difference for our Planet.

At a personal level, everybody should take the responsibility of conserving the immediate environment where they reside or work. This will ensure that all climate change-related human activities are well regulated and controlled to make sure sustainable development is embraced at the individual level. Everybody should be encouraged to plant more trees, particularly within their immediate environment to ensure reforestation process is at a higher rate compared to the deforestation process. The aspect will ensure that greenhouse gases are managed at an individual level.

On the other hand, all the global governments should come together and come up with environmentally sustainable initiatives are globally coordinated they a set integrated global system that oversees, regulates and controls human activities through sustainable development policymaking and successful implementation. Further, all private initiatives towards climate change resolutions should be supported by all key stakeholders to ensure all efforts bear fruits for all humans.