Climate Change and global warming

 Climate Change and global warming

Climate Change

There has been a heated debate on the issue of climate change with scientists from different locations of the world thrusting into the debate to give their epic opinions on the best course of action that the whole world should adopt on an issue they consider central to the survival of human beings. Climate change generally occurs when there are sporadic and spontaneous changes in the climate system of the world, leading to new weather patterns that often remain in place for a longer period of time. The changing climatic patterns have resulted in situations like global warming, whose adverse effects are already plaguing some parts of the world. The union of concerned scientists states that 97% of its members unanimously agree that climate change can be attributed to human activities, and hence there should be a mechanism of regulating some of the human activities. However, there are figures of authority that still term human involvement in climate change as mere speculations hence jeopardizing the mitigation of the effects of climate on the human race.

Whitmarsh, Lorraine, Saffron O’Neill, and Irene Lorenzoni. “Public engagement with climate change: what do we know and where do we go from here?” International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics 9, no. 1 (2013): 7-25.

Climate change is an issue central to the lives of people in societies with various implications on the economic and social status of various individuals raging from their lifestyles to the economic activities they can engage in without further contributing to the climatic change mess. The authors of this article examine the public knowledge on climate change ranging from its implications to the measures they can take to mitigate the risks associated with climate change. The authors posit that public knowledge on all the crucial dynamics of climate change is key to containing the effects of climate change. Based on the public knowledge on climate change, the authors seek to find the best course of action that should be adopted forthwith.

To address the research questions at hand, the authors engage members of the randomly in chosen locations. The random engagements involve interviews and questionnaires in which people are asked various questions with regard to climate change. The researchers note down these responses for a later in-depth analysis. To further asses public knowledge on climate change, the researchers observe the activities of people that may contribute to climate change and the measures that have been put in by the governments of these regions to eradicate such activities, climate change is a global problem that requires collective responsibility. The members of the public are further engaged by the researchers on activities that create awareness on issues central to climate, giving the authors a chance to asses the response of the people to such awareness campaigns.

This research that was conducted in the United Kingdom realized that most people comprehend the issues central to climate change and the implications of climatic change on the environment on a global and national perspective yet they do not understand what it means to collectively participate in the fight against climate change from a personal level. The authors termed this as spatial optimism in which people only expect national governments and global institutions to be at the forefront of fighting climate change, forgetting that personal initiatives also aid in mitigating the risks associated with climate change.

These scholars opine that public participation is key in mitigating the risks associated with climate change. Governments should, therefore, put in a raft of mechanism to engage the public in actively fighting climatic change. Public education on the climatic change also ought to be enhanced to ensure that the people have a proper understanding of their roles in fighting climate change. Poverty and sparse inequality are some of the reasons that contribute to climate change as people are forced to use sources of energy that contribute to the greenhouse effect, the greatest contributor to climate change.

Habtemariam, Lemlem Teklegiorgis, Getachew Abate Kassa, and Markus Gandorfer. “Impact of climate change on farms in smallholder farming systems: Yield impacts, economic implications, and distributional effects.” Agricultural Systems 152 (2017): 58-66.

This study assesses the implications of climatic and socio-economic ramifications on the performance of smallholder farms in the two major districts of Ethiopia that form the country’s main agricultural region. The research further examines the resultant effects of climate change on the yield od the farms and the far-reaching economic effects on the farmers as a result of either an increase or a reduction in the yield of the farms. The study also analyses the mechanism that can be put in place to mitigate these risks that have an effect on the economy of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia.

The research utilized observed farm production data and simulated yield under climatic change and various socio-economic scenarios. The analysis of the aforementioned data was to facilitate a proper understanding of the economic effects of climatic change on these smallholder farms. Trade-off Analysis for Multidimensional impact Assessment was then applied in combination with the Aqua Crop yield simulation model to deeply assess the economic impacts based on the collected data.

The researchers noted that there are two main factors that must always be put into consideration with respect to how climate change impacts local farms. The two factors are the location of the farms and the types of crops that are grown in a region. They further realized that the regions that were negatively affected by climate change were cool regions that had temperatures ranging from ten degrees to twenty degrees.

Climatic conditions change, and the resultant climatic conditions vary from one location to another, and hence the effects on the smallholder farms are different depending on the location of the smallholder farms. Certain crops quickly adapted to climate change, whereas other crops were slow on adapting to climate change. Crops like wheat, due to their drought-resistant natures, can stand the adverse effects of climatic change. On the other hand, crops like coffee barely survive climatic change as they rely on a constant supply of water for their exponential growth and development.

Sheffield, Perry E., and Philip J. Landrigan. “Global climate change and children’s health: threats and strategies for prevention.” Environmental health perspectives, 119, no. 3 (2011): 291-298.

The authors of this article posit that climate change in the coming will have adverse and far-reaching effects on the health of human beings on the globe. Changes in climatic conditions come along with prolonged weather patterns that influence and expedite the eruption of some infections on children and adults. This study examines the health conditions and complications that are caused by climate change, the examination process of these infections, and the measures that can be adopted to mitigate the effects of these emergent infections specifically on children.

This study was conducted by cross-examination of the data from the National Institute of Health Sciences. The National Institute of Health Sciences is keen on studying the patterns of infections that are related to climate change in various parts of the continent. This data was compared to the data obtained from the database of the World Health Organization on the infections that erupt due to climate change. Only infections affecting children and are related to climate change were examined.

The study noted that some of the infections that affect children and are closely related to climate change are allergic infections that belong to the infectious category of diseases, malaria, and typhoid, among others. These three infections were the most prevalent in children based on the analyzed data. Children were noted to be vulnerable to climate-induced infections due to their varying rates of metabolism, differences in physiology, and varying diets.

Children are vulnerable to infections that result from climate change due to their underdeveloped immune systems that have not been exposed to varying weather conditions. However, to mitigate the risks arising from these infections, various precautionary measures can be put in place. The diet of these children can be improved to boost their immunities to able their bodies to fight these arising infections. With time, after being exposed to the changing weather patterns, the immunity of children picks, and they are able to protect themselves from the petty climatic diseases.

Soares-Filho, Britaldo, Paulo Moutinho, Daniel Nepstad, Anthony Anderson, Hermann Rodrigues, Ricardo Garcia, Laura Dietzsch, et al. “Role of Brazilian Amazon protected areas in climate change mitigation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107, no. 24 (2010): 10821-10826.

This study seeks to uncover the critical roles played the Amazon protected areas in mitigating the risks associated with climate change on the globe. It also seeks to examine mechanisms put in place to secure the Amazon rain forest.

These researchers analyze the proposals put forwards by the United Nations Environmental Programme, a branch of the United Nations that deals with climate-related issues. The researchers also visited the Amazon forest in Brazil to assess the measures put in place to protect these areas.

The protected areas in the Amazon Rainforest play a critical role in mitigating climate change. Some of the protected areas are the sources of major rivers. Some of the measures put in by the Brazilian government include the fencing of these regions.

Amazon plays a critical role in mitigating the adverse effects of climate change. Amazon contributes to about ten percent of the total oxygen in the world. It is, therefore, of the essence to ensure that human encroachment on the Amazon rainforest is limited.