Climate Change

What is Climate Change?

a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the
mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric
carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.

Climate change means a significant change in the measures of climate, such as

temperature, rainfall, or wind, lasting for an extended period – decades or longer. The Earth's
climate has changed many times during the planet's history, with events ranging from ice ages to
long periods of warmth. What’s different about this period of the earth’s history is that human
activities are significantly contributing to natural climate change through our emissions of
greenhouse gases. This interference is resulting in increased air and ocean temperatures, drought,
melting ice and snow, rising sea levels, increased rainfall, flooding and other influences.
https://www.epa.ie/climate/communicatingclimatescience/whatisclimatechange/

Climate change is a change in the usual weather found in a place. This could be a change
in how much rain a place usually gets in a year. Or it could be a change in a place's usual
temperature for a month or season.
Climate change is also a change in Earth's climate. This could be a change in Earth's usual
temperature. Or it could be a change in where rain and snow usually fall on Earth.

Weather can change in just a few hours. Climate takes hundreds or even millions of years to
change.

Is Earth's Climate Changing?

Earth's climate is always changing. There have been times when Earth's climate has been warmer
than it is now. There have been times when it has been cooler. These times can last thousands or
millions of years.

People who study Earth see that Earth's climate is getting warmer. Earth's temperature has gone
up about one degree Fahrenheit in the last 100 years. This may not seem like much. But small
changes in Earth's temperature can have big effects.

Some effects are already happening. Warming of Earth's climate has caused some snow and ice
to melt. The warming also has caused oceans to rise. And it has changed the timing of when
certain plants grow.
What Is Causing Earth's Climate to Change?

Many things can cause climate to change all on its own. Earth's distance from the sun can
change. The sun can send out more or less energy. Oceans can change. When a volcano erupts, it
can change our climate.

Most scientists say that humans can change climate too. People drive cars. People heat and cool
their houses. People cook food. All those things take energy. One way we get energy is by
burning coal, oil and gas. Burning these things puts gases into the air. The gases cause the air to
heat up. This can change the climate of a place. It also can change Earth's climate.

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-climate-change-
k4.html

https://warmheartworldwide.org/climate-
change/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwn_LrBRD4ARIsAFEQFKukGpZpo0KkPmo3kzzAqJZoZSAUE6Q6G
tno6G-nFf-lC04r0i723bcaArVhEALw_wcB

GLOBAL WARMING VS. CLIMATE CHANGE

Global warming is the increase in the Earth’s temperature since the Industrial Revolution
because if the greenhouse gas emissions due to changing land use and the burning of fossil fuels.
Climate change is the long term changes to the whole planet’s climate including wind patterns,
temperature, rain, snowfall distribution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGEkXQx9dP0

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE?

Greenhouse Gases

Greenhouse gases are thought to be the main contributor to climate change (The Greenhouse
Effect). They are very efficient in trapping heat into the atmosphere; therefore, it results in the
greenhouse effect. The solar energy is absorbed by the earth’s surface and then reflected back to
the atmosphere as heat. Then as the heat goes out to space, greenhouse gases absorb a part of the
heat. After that, they radiate the heat back to the earth’s surface, to another greenhouse gas
molecule, or to space (The Greenhouse Effect). Daniela Burghila et al. stated in “Climate
Change Effects- Where to Next?”, the biggest concern scientists have is about the emission of
CO2 since it is about 75% of the total global emission of greenhouse gases (406). Methane and
CO2 According to L.A. Berbisi et al. in “Methane leakage from evolving petroleum systems:
Masses, rates and inferences for climate feedback,” the present-day warming trend has been
attributed to an annual increase in the atmospheric methane concentration andCO2 (225). The
Berbisi et al. study also investigated the potential of methane contribution to the atmosphere
during the evolution of petroleum system in two different geological settings: The western
Canada sedimentary basin and the Central Graben area of the North Sea. Numerical simulation
and different types of mass balance (conversion of mass to the analysis of physical systems) as
well as theoretical approaches were applied. In western Canada sedimentary basin case,
maximum thermogenic methane leakage rates in the order of 10-2 -10-3 and maximum biogenic

● Carbon Dioxide CO2 - from burning fossil fuels and deforestation

● Methane - agricultural activities, energy production and waste.
● Nitrous Oxide - mainly from cultural activities
● Hydrofluorocarbons - used as replacement for ozone - depleting substances
● Sulphur Hexaflouride - used in some industrial processes and in electric equipment.

Nature Contributions

According to Holli Riebeek, the author of “Global Warming,” nature also contribute to
climate change by emitting CO2 from volcanos. Don Wuebbles, a coordinating lead author and
contributor to a number of the reports of the International Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, and a Professor of
Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, stated, “Volcanos used
to release CO2 many millions years ago. Back where dinosaurs existed, we had levels of CO2
that is approximately similar to what we have now because of the CO2 emitted by volcanoes.
But, volcanos release a small amount of CO2 and they can’t explain the increase of CO2 that we
had in the last century” (Phone interview). Volcanos do contribute to climate change by emitting
CO2. However, the amount of CO2 they emit is relatively small if we compare it to the amount
of CO2 that is being released by human activities. According to NASA, on average, volcanoes
emit between 130 and 230 million tons of CO2 per year. However, by burning fossil fuels,
people release in excess of 100 times more, about 26 billion tons of CO2, into the atmosphere
every year (as of 2005) (rIEBEEK).
 Human Contributions

Scientists believe humans’ activities contribute to climate change because we depend on

fossil fuels for our energy needs (Riebeek). Wuebbles said, “A large amount of climate change
happens widely because we are burning fossil fuels and that increases gases such as CO2,
methane, and some other gases in the atmosphere” (phone interview). According to the
Australian Greenhouse Office, the world depends on fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas
for 80% of its energy needs. Therefore, that makes it very hard to switch from fossil fuels to any
other forms of energy because we depend on fossil fuels to a large degree. The emission of
greenhouse gases has increased dramatically from the industrial revolution, mostly from the
burning of fossil fuels for energy, agriculture, industrial process, and transportation (Ecological
Impacts of Climate Change). The graph on the next page shows how much CO2 and methane
increased in the last 250 years.

Source: (“Climate Change” graph done by Robert Simmon.)

The graph was done by taking a sample of ice and another sample was taken from the
atmosphere. For the ice sample, drilling a hole through the ice sheets and looking at the air
molecules inside the sample determined the concentration of CO2 and methane (Chasing Ice).
The graph illustrates that carbon dioxide levels have increased nearly 38 percent from 1750-
2009 and methane levels have increased 148 percent (Riebeek).
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/713a/d76ad44c64e41e4ed0f81a6060374000bdcc.pdf

IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Melting Glaciers

The ice sheet is over 2 miles thick in places and in some places the ice sheet bottom is
almost a mile below sea level. This massive ice covers mountain ranges, and volcanoes exist
underneath the sheets.
The Antarctic Ice Sheet is categorized as three ice sheets: the Antarctic Peninsula Ice
Sheet, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Overall, recent estimates indicate that over a 19-year survey, Antarctic’s net ice mass is
decreasing. Satellite observations measured a widespread enhanced flow toward the ocean, with
tributary glaciers reaching deep into Antarctica’s interior.
Antarctica drains more than 80 percent of its ice sheet through floating ice shelves. In
recent years we have seen the collapse and melting of these ice shelves. In 2002, satellite
imagery captured the collapse of the entire 1,250-square-mile Larsen B Ice Shelf. The
disintegration of this Antarctic Peninsula ice sheet was rapid.
New observations indicate that glaciers in East Antarctic have begun to melt. Scientists
have long considered these glaciers to be more stable than those in West Antarctica. Glaciers
around the West Antarctic Ice Sheet are currently thinning. The Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet is
changing most rapidly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07PYCbcMgio

Rising Sea Levels

As the planet warms up, its going to melt a lot of ice up and the melted ice goes to the
ocean and as it was heated up it will cause the water to expand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA5zh3yG_-0

Flooding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi9nc-IhXbs
AGENCIES THAT FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The IPCC is the umbrella organization that

articulates not only the consensus among
climate scientists, but also the breadth of
opinion among them. It assembles and
synthesizes the work of some 2,000 scientists
in scores of disciplines from about 150
countries.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The UNFCCC is a treaty that was negotiated at the 1992 Earth

Summit in Rio de Janiero, was ratified by some 189 countries,
and went into effect in March 1994. It initially had no
mandatory controls or deadlines. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol,
which did set mandatory limits, was an add-on to the
UNFCCC.

World Meteorological Organization

The WMO is the U.N.-based international organization for

weather agencies on all sorts of weather-related projects,
including the instrument observations at a vast network of
weather stations that provide basic data on climate.

United Nations Environment Programme

UNEP is the administrative umbrella for most major UN

environmental efforts, including those on climate change. Their site
is a good place to look for current and upcoming events, reports,
and documents.
 CAN

The Climate Action Network (CAN) is a worldwide network of

over 1300 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in more than 120
countries, working to promote government and individual action to limit
human-induced climate change to ecologically sustainable levels.

CAN members work to achieve this goal through information exchange

and the coordinated development of NGO strategy on international,
regional, and national climate issues. CAN has regional network hubs that coordinate these
efforts around the world.

http://www.climatenetwork.org/about/about-can

C40

C40 is a network of the world’s megacities committed to addressing

climate change. C40 supports cities to collaborate effectively, share
knowledge and drive meaningful, measurable and sustainable action on
climate change.

Climate Change Commision

Climate Change Commission is the lead policy-making body of

the government tasked to coordinate, monitor and evaluate government
programs and ensure mainstreaming of climate change in national, local,
and sectoral development plans towards a climate-resilient and climate-smart Philippines.

350.org

350.org is building a global climate movement. Our online campaigns, grassroots

organizing, and mass public actions are coordinated by a global network active in over
188 countries.