CLIMATE CHANGE

COURSE • CO5. Draft environmental solutions and

design treatment schemes to reduce
OUTCOMES environmental risks such as pollution
control and proper waste disposal.
MEDIATING • MO51. Identify impact of Climate
Change to environment
OUTCOME
 • Cite the common causes of climate
change affecting the environment

INTENDED • Enumerate impact of greenhouse effect

LEARNING to the environment

OUTCOMES • Report the risk of ozone layer depletion

to mankind and the environment.

• Enumerate solutions to climate change

 • Causes of Climate Change

• Impacts of Greenhouse
DISCUSSION Gases
OUTLINE
• Ozone Layer Depletion

• Solutions to Climate Change

 INTRODUCTION

• For the past lectures, we have been discussing about several

pollutants in all aspects (i.e. land, air, water)

• We also tackled some solutions with the pollutants associated

anywhere

• In this part of our discussion, we will be talking about the ultimate

effect of the pollutants in our planet, Climate Change.
CLIMATE
CHANGE
 WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE?
• Climate change is a periodic modification of Earth’s climate brought
about as a result of changes in the atmosphere as well as
interactions between the atmosphere and various other geologic,
chemical, biological, and geographic factors within the Earth system

• The atmosphere is a dynamic fluid that is continually in motion. Both

its physical properties and its rate and direction of motion are
influenced by a variety of factors like solar radiation, geographic
position of continents, ocean currents, location and orientation of
mountain ranges, atmospheric chemistry, and vegetation growing on
the land surface
 WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE?

• All these factors change through time

• Some factors, such as the distribution of heat within the oceans,

atmospheric chemistry, and surface vegetation, change at very short
timescales

• Others, such as the position of continents and the location and height
of mountain ranges, change over very long timescale
A series of photographs of the Grinnell Glacier taken from the summit of
Mount Gould in Glacier National Park, Montana, in 1938, 1981, 1998, and
2006 (from left to right).

In 1938 the Grinnell Glacier filled the entire area at the bottom of the
image. By 2006 it had largely disappeared from this view.
TIMELINE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE
INDICATORS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
 INDICATORS OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
AIR TEMPERATURE IS RISING OVER LAND
• Weather stations on land show average air temperatures are rising
• As a result, the frequency and severity of droughts and heat waves
are increasing
• Intense droughts can lead to destructive wildfires, failed crops, and
low water supplies, many of which are deeply affecting many areas
around the world
 INDICATORS OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
AIR TEMPERATURES OVER OCEANS ARE INCREASING
• Roughly 70 percent of the world is covered by oceans, so you can
understand how hotter air over them could make a vast difference in
the climate system

• Oceans evaporate more water as the air right near the surface gets
warmer

• This would result to more floods, more hurricanes, and more extreme
precipitation events
 INDICATORS OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
ARCTIC SEA ICE IS DECREASING
• Satellite images from space show that the area covered by sea ice in the
Arctic is shrinking, and it’s continued a downward trend for the past 30
years
• The Arctic ice cap grows each winter when there’s less sunlight, and
shrinks each summer when days are longer, reaching its lowest point of the
year in September
• Some research suggests that the Arctic could lose almost all of its summer
ice cover by 2100, but others believe that it could melt completely much
sooner than that – in just a few decades
 INDICATORS OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
GLACIERS ARE MELTING
• The disappearance of glaciers is one of the clearest signs of climate
change

• In a world unaffected by climate change, glacier mass stays balanced,

meaning the ice that evaporates in the summer is fully replaced by
snowfall in the winter

• However, when more ice melts than is replaced, the glacier loses
mass
 INDICATORS OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
SEA LEVELS ARE RISING
• The pace of sea level rising is only increasing in recent years as glaciers
melt faster and water temperatures increase, causing oceans to expand

• This affects almost 40% of the population who live in coastal areas and the
eight of the 10 largest cities in the world living near the coast.

• Additionally, marine life is threatened as salt water intrudes into freshwater

aquifers, many of which support human communities and natural
ecosystems.
 INDICATORS OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
HUMIDITY IS INCREASING
• More humidity means more water vapor is in the air, making it feel stickier
in hot weather
• Water vapor itself is an important part of the water cycle, and it contributes
to the earth’s natural greenhouse effect
• Air conditioners have to work much harder to make us feel cool as the
amount of water vapor in the air increases
• This means more energy use, which can in turn contribute to more climate
change
 INDICATORS OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
OCEAN HEAT CONTENT IS INCREASING
• The ocean stores and releases heat over long periods of time. This is a
natural and important part of stabilizing the climate system
• Natural climate patterns (i.e. El Niño) occur regularly because of warmer
ocean waters and influence areas like regional climates and marine life
• But it’s when short-term, natural climate patterns like El Niño occur at the
same time as oceans are becoming warmer and warmer that we know that
larger changes are happening
• The increased heat content leads to higher sea levels, melting glaciers, and
stress to marine ecosystems.
 INDICATORS OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE IS INCREASING
• Measuring instruments show that water temperatures at the ocean’s
surface are going up
• To some extent, this is a normal pattern: the ocean surface warms as it
absorbs sunlight. The ocean then releases some of its heat into the
atmosphere, creating wind and rain clouds.
• However, as the ocean’s surface temperature continues to increase over
time, more and more heat is released into the atmosphere
• This additional heat can lead to stronger and more frequent storms like
tropical cyclones and hurricanes.
 INDICATORS OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
SNOW IS DECREASING
• Satellites show areas covered by snow in the Northern Hemisphere are
becoming smaller
• Snow is important as it helps control how much of the sun’s energy Earth
absorbs
• Light-colored snow and ice reflect this energy back into space, helping
keep the planet cool.
• However, as the snow and ice melts, it’s replaced by dark land and ocean,
both of which absorb energy
• The amount of snow and ice loss in the last 30 years is higher than many
scientists predicted, which means the Earth is absorbing more solar energy
than had been projected
 INDICATORS OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
EARTH’S LOWER ATMOSPHERE TEMPERATURE IS INCREASING
• Satellite measurements show that this lowest layer of the atmosphere is
warming as greenhouse gases build up and trap heat that radiates from the
Earth’s surface.
• Scientists tell us that human activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuels,
caused this increase in atmospheric temperatures
• In fact, carbon dioxide levels have increased about 40 percent since the
Industrial Revolution began in 1750
• Unless we put a stop to this trend as soon as possible, these levels – and
temperatures – likely will increase even more.
CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
 • We have already established that climate
change is a natural phenomena but its effect
was magnified by anthropogenic activities

• Many pollutants were already discussed as

being a contributory factor to the climate
change experienced by everyone
CAUSES OF
CLIMATE • The following are some of the causes of
climate change:
CHANGE • Solar Variability
• Volcanic Activity
• Tectonic Activity
• Greenhouse Gases
• Human Activities
 SOLAR VARIATION
• The brightness of the Sun has been increasing steadily since its
formation

• This phenomenon is important to Earth’s climate, because the Sun

provides the energy to drive atmospheric circulation and constitutes
the input for Earth’s heat budget

• Low solar luminosity during Precambrian time underlies the faint

young Sun paradox, described in the section Climates of early Earth
 SOLAR VARIATION
• Radiative energy from the Sun is variable at very small timescales,
owing to solar storms and other disturbances

• On the other hand, variations in solar activity (i.e. particularly the

frequency of sunspots) are also documented at decadal to millennial
timescales and probably occur at longer timescales as well

• The “Maunder minimum,” a period of drastically reduced sunspot

activity between AD 1645 and 1715, has been suggested as a
contributing factor to the Little Ice Age
 VOLCANIC ACTIVITY

• Volcanic activity can influence climate in a number of ways at

different timescales

• Individual volcanic eruptions can release large quantities of sulfur

dioxide and other aerosols into the stratosphere, reducing the amount
of solar radiation reaching Earth’s surface and troposphere
 VOLCANIC ACTIVITY
• A recent example is the 1991 eruption in the Philippines of Mount
Pinatubo, which had measurable influences on atmospheric
circulation and heat budgets

• The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa had

more dramatic consequences, as the spring and summer of the
following year were unusually cold over much of the world

• New England and Europe experienced snowfalls and frosts

throughout the summer of 1816.
A column of gas and ash rising from Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines on June 12,
1991, just days before the volcano's climactic explosion on June 15
 TECTONIC ACTIVITY
• Tectonic movements of Earth’s crust have had profound effects on climate
at timescales of millions to tens of millions of years
• These movements have changed the shape, size, position, and elevation of
the continental masses as well as the bathymetry of the oceans
• Topographic and bathymetric changes in turn have had strong effects on the
circulation of both the atmosphere and the oceans
• For example, the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau during the Cenozoic Era
affected atmospheric circulation patterns, creating the South Asian
monsoon and influencing climate over much of the rest of Asia and
neighboring regions.
 TECTONIC ACTIVITY
• Tectonic activity also influences atmospheric chemistry, particularly
carbon dioxide concentrations

• Carbon dioxide is emitted from volcanoes and vents in rift zones and
subduction zones

• Variations in the rate of spreading in rift zones and the degree of

volcanic activity near plate margins have influenced atmospheric
carbon dioxide concentrations throughout Earth’s history

• Even the chemical weathering of rock constitutes an important sink

for carbon dioxide
 TECTONIC ACTIVITY
• Carbonic acid, formed from carbon dioxide and water, is a reactant in
dissolution of silicates and other minerals
• Weathering rates are related to the mass, elevation, and exposure of
bedrock
• Tectonic uplift can increase all these factors and thus lead to increased
weathering and carbon dioxide absorption
• For example, the chemical weathering of the rising Tibetan Plateau may
have played an important role in depleting the atmosphere of carbon
dioxide during a global cooling period in the late Cenozoic Era.
 GREENHOUSE GASES

• Greenhouse gases are gas molecules that have the property of

absorbing infrared radiation (net heat energy) emitted from Earth’s
surface and reradiating it back to Earth’s surface, thus contributing to
the phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect

• Carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor are the most important
greenhouse gases, and they have a profound effect on the energy
budget of the Earth system despite making up only a fraction of all
atmospheric gases
 GREENHOUSE GASES

• In general, greenhouse gas concentrations have been particularly

high during warm periods and low during cold phases

• Various processes influence CO2 concentration

• Human activities—especially fossil-fuel combustion since the

Industrial Revolution—are responsible for steady increases in
atmospheric concentrations of various greenhouse gases, especially
carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
 HUMAN ACTIVITIES
• Recognition of global climate change as an environmental issue has
drawn attention to the climatic impact of human activities

• Most of this attention has focused on carbon dioxide emission via

fossil-fuel combustion and deforestation

• Human activities also yield releases of other greenhouse gases, such

as methane (from rice cultivation, livestock, landfills, and other
sources) and chlorofluorocarbons (from industrial sources
 HUMAN ACTIVITIES
• Paleoclimate records from tree rings, coral, and ice cores indicate a
clear warming trend spanning the entire 20th century and the first
decade of the 21st century

• In fact, the 20th century was the warmest of the past 10 centuries, and
the decade 2001–10 was the warmest decade since the beginning of
modern instrumental record keeping

• Many climatologists have pointed to this warming pattern as clear

evidence of human-induced climate change resulting from the
production of greenhouse gases
The global average surface temperature range for each year from 1861 to 2000 is shown by solid red
bars, with the confidence range in the data for each year shown by thin whisker bars. The average
change over time is shown by the solid curve.
 IMPACTS OF
GREENHOUSE
GASES
 IMPACTS OF
GREENHOUSE GASES
• Greenhouse gases have far-ranging environmental and health effects

• They cause climate change by trapping heat, and they also contribute
to respiratory disease from smog and air pollution

• Extreme weather, food supply disruptions, and increased wildfires are

other effects of climate change caused by greenhouse gases

• The typical weather patterns we've grown to expect will change; some
species will disappear; others will migrate or grow.
 TEMPERATURES WILL
CONTINUE TO RISE
• Because human-induced warming is superimposed on a naturally varying
climate, the temperature rise has not been, and will not be, uniform or
smooth across the country or over time.

• Earth’s global surface temperature in 2019 was the second warmest since
modern record-keeping began in 1880 and 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (0.98
degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1951 to 1980 mean, according to an
analysis by NASA

• Globally, the average temperature was second only to that of 2016 and
continued the planet's long-term warming trend: the past five years have
been the warmest of the last 140 years.
 LONGER AND MORE INTENSE
ALLERGY SEASON

• Warming temperatures in some areas, like the northern United States, are
extending the periods when plants release pollen
• This affects not only people who already have allergies, but those who don’t
• This means that people who have pollen allergies might experience more
intense symptoms, and people who don’t normally have allergies might begin
to experience them
• If GHG emission will not decline, the oak pollen season in some areas could
extend up to 8 days
• This pollen, which can induce allergic asthma, could increase the number of
associated hospital emergency room visits for asthma by 10 percent
 LESS NUTRITIOUS FOOD
• The CO2 in our atmosphere produces through
fossil fuel combustion is changing the
composition of fruits and vegetables which
makes them less nutritious
• The CO2 is speeding up photosynthesis
causing the plant to grow with more sugar
and less nutrients like calcium, protein, zinc,
etc.
• The increase in temperature because of
climate change could also increase the cost
of food because of intense drought
• Since 2006, drought in major wheat-
producing countries was a key factor in a
dramatic spike in food prices around the
globe
 LESS NUTRITIOUS
FOOD

• Brazil is the biggest coffee producer

in the world, but as the globe warms
up and more frequent rainstorms hit
the region, most of its main coffee-
growing areas will be less suitable for
growing the crop

• Scientists project that peaches,

coffee, corn, cacao, and other
delicious – and important crops – will
also become scarcer because of
climate change.
 INTENSE HEATWAVES
• Extreme heat and heatwaves have happened since the beginning of time

• But across the board, climate change is making heatwaves more common,
severe, and long-lasting

• Heatwaves can become so intense that our roads actually melt

• This happened on the tarmac at Washington, DC’s Reagan National Airport

in 2012, during India’s deadly 2015 heatwaves, and most recently, in
Australia, where car tires were covered in asphalt nearly three inches thick
 WILDFIRES
• Wildfires are devastating
communities around the
world.
• From the billion-dollar
destruction they cause to the
costs of lost plant, animal, and
even human life, these
devastating natural disasters
are scarring our landscapes.
 WILDFIRES

• In 2018 alone, wildfires were pervasive across central and northern

Europe, from the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Sweden to Malta,
Poland, and Germany

• They’re even coming where you might least expect it – the boreal
forests that encircle the globe in the Arctic North, for example, have
in recent years “experienced wildfires at a rate and scale not seen in
at least 10,000 years.”
 STRONGER HURRICANES
• Around the world, average sea surface
temperatures are rising. As seas get warmer, they
add more water vapor and heat energy into the
atmosphere which a perfect formula for a stronger
hurricane
• This can also happen very quickly during a once-
relatively weak tropical storm can cross the right
stretch of (warm) water and become a major
hurricane in a matter of hours.
• This can lead to many people, even those who
spend their lives in hurricane-prone regions, being
under-prepared for the intensity of the actual
hurricane that makes landfall, resulting in greater
damage, injury, and even loss of life
 CLIMATE-RELATED
MASS MIGRATION
• Climate change is already prompting an increase in migration, with people
being forced to leave their homes because of drought, flooding, and other
climate-related disaster
• In 2007, for example, water scarcity, crop failures and livestock deaths
stemming in part from climate-related drought drove an estimated 1.5
million people to the cities from rural areas in Syria, helping spark the
horrifying civil war that displaced millions more.
• And since 2013, nearly 15 million people have been displaced by typhoons
and storms in the Philippines.
• A 2018 World Bank Group report estimated that the impacts of climate
change in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America could lead to
more than 140 million people leaving their homes before 2050.
 DISEASES ARE SPREADING
MORE EASILY
• Disease carrying insects thrives in warmer than average temperatures,
extreme heatwaves, and heavy rains
• These vectors live longer lives in extended periods of warm weather. Fly
into new areas that were previously too cold. And reproduce in water
deposits left by the rain.
• Climate change is also creating ideal conditions for waterborne
pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and protozoa, which flourish in warmer
waters.
• For example, a recent CDC report found the number of cases of illnesses
transmitted by ticks more than doubled between 2004 and 2016 in the US
– particularly in Lyme Disease cases.
 OCEAN ACIDIFICATION
• Ocean acidification is the worldwide reduction in the pH of seawater
because of the absorption of large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) by the
oceans.
• Ocean acidification is largely the result of loading Earth’s atmosphere with
large quantities of CO2, produced by vehicles and industrial and agricultural
processes
• Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution about 1750, roughly one-
third to one-half of the CO2 released into Earth’s atmosphere by human
activities has been absorbed by the oceans
• During that time period, scientists have estimated, the average pH of
seawater declined from 8.19 to 8.05, which corresponds to a 30 percent
increase in acidity.
Conceptual diagram
comparing the state of
carbonates in the oceans
under the lower-acid
conditions of the late
1800s with the higher-
acid conditions expected
for the year 2100.
OZONE LAYER
DEPLETION
 THE OZONE LAYER
• It is the region of the upper atmosphere, between roughly 15 and 35 km (9
and 22 miles) above Earth’s surface, containing relatively high
concentrations of ozone molecules (O3)

• Approximately 90 percent of the atmosphere’s ozone occurs in the

stratosphere, the region extending from 10–18 km (6–11 miles) to
approximately 50 km (about 30 miles) above Earth’s surface

• The ozone layer effectively blocks almost all solar radiation of wavelengths
less than 290 nanometers from reaching Earth’s surface, including certain
types of ultraviolet (UV) and other forms of radiation that could injure or kill
most living things
 THE OZONE
LAYER
• The production of ozone in the
stratosphere results primarily
from the breaking of the chemical
bonds within oxygen molecules
(O2) by high-energy solar photons

• This process, called

photodissociation, results in the
release of single oxygen atoms,
which later join with intact oxygen
molecules to form ozone.
 THE OZONE LAYER
DEPLETION
• It is the gradual thinning of Earth’s ozone layer in the upper atmosphere
caused by the release of chemical compounds containing gaseous chlorine
or bromine from industry and other human activities

• The thinning is most pronounced in the polar regions, especially over

Antarctica

• Ozone depletion is a major environmental problem because it increases the

amount of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that reaches Earth’s surface, which
increases the rate of skin cancer, eye cataracts, and genetic and immune
system damage
Antarctic ozone hole, September 17, 2001.
 THE OZONE LAYER
DEPLETION
• Scientists discovered in the 1970s that the ozone layer was being depleted
• Atmospheric concentrations of ozone vary naturally depending on
temperature, weather, latitude and altitude, while substances ejected by
natural events such as volcanic eruptions can also affect ozone levels.
• However, these natural phenomena could not explain the levels of depletion
observed and scientific evidence revealed that certain man-made chemicals
were the cause
• These ozone-depleting substances were mostly introduced in the 1970s in a
wide range of industrial and consumer applications, mainly refrigerators,
air conditioners and fire extinguishers
 WHAT WAS THE
ACTION TAKEN?
• In 1987, to address the destruction of the ozone layer, the international
community established the Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting
substances

• The Montreal Protocol’s objective is to cut down the production and

consumption of ozone-depleting substances, in order to reduce their
presence in the atmosphere and thus protect the Earth's ozone layer

• It was the first international treaty to be signed by all countries of the world
and is considered the greatest environmental success story in the history
of the United Nations=
 SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS
Actions required globally to continue the recovery of the ozone layer are:
• Ensuring that existing restrictions on ozone-depleting substances are
properly implemented and global use of ozone-depleting substances
continue to be reduced

• Ensuring that banks of ozone-depleting substances (both in storage and

contained in existing equipment) are dealt with in an environmentally-
friendly manner and are replaced with climate-friendly alternatives
 SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS

Actions required globally to continue the recovery of the ozone layer are:
• Ensuring that permitted uses of ozone-depleting substances are not
diverted to illegal uses

• Reducing use of ozone-depleting substances in applications that are not

considered as consumption under the Montreal Protocol

• Ensuring that no new chemicals or technologies emerge that could pose

new threats to the ozone layer (e.g. very short-lived substances)
 SOLUTIONS TO
CLIMATE CHANGE
 Battling climate change is a steep hill to
climb. Everyone shall be part of the
solution in at least minimizing the
effects. It can be done through the
following:
SOLUTIONS
• Switching to Renewable Energy
TO CLIMATE • Green Engineering
CHANGE • Moving Closer to Work
• Smart Consumption
• Being Efficient
• Avoid Cutting of Trees
• Unplug
 RENEWABLE ENERGY

• It has been repeatedly stated in this course that fossil fuel combustion
is the one of the greatest—if not the greatest—contributor to global
warming brought about by climate change

• It is therefore ideal to replace our source of fuel from non-renewable

(i.e. fossil fuels) to renewable (i.e. solar, wind, hydroelectric,
geothermal, biomass, etc.)
Advantages of Renewable Energy Disadvantages of Renewable
• Renewable energy won’t run out Energy
• Maintenance requirements are • Higher upfront cost
lower • Intermittency
• Renewable energy has numerous • Storage capabilities
health and environmental benefits • Geographic limitations
• Renewables lower reliance on
foreign energy sources
 GREEN ENGINEERING

• Green engineering is the design, commercialization, and use of

processes and products in a way that reduces pollution, promotes
sustainability, and minimizes risk to human health and the
environment without sacrificing economic viability and efficiency

• Green engineering embraces the concept that decisions to protect

human health and the environment can have the greatest impact and
cost-effectiveness when applied early, in the design and development
phase of a process or product.
 PRINCIPLES OF GREEN
ENGINEERING
Green engineering processes and products:
• Holistically use systems analysis and integrate environmental impact
assessment tools.
• Conserve and improve natural ecosystems while protecting human health
and well-being.
• Use life-cycle thinking in all engineering activities.
• Ensure that all material and energy inputs and outputs are as inherently
safe and benign as possible.
• Minimize depletion of natural resources.
• Strive to prevent waste.
 GREEN ENGINEERING
TECHNOLOGIES
• Green Chemistry
• One company, LS9 Inc., has developed microbes that create a fuel
called UltraDiesel. Produced from biomass, the fuel eliminates
toxic compounds such as sulfur, benzene and heavy metals found
in traditional petroleum diesel

• Biopesticides use non-toxic or less-toxic chemicals to disrupt the

life cycles of pest insects without killing non-pests and without
posing a danger to species higher up on the food chain -- including
people.
 GREEN ENGINEERING
TECHNOLOGIES
• Building Construction
• "Green roofs" help regulate building temperature, control storm-water
runoff and can even provide food for people in the form of rooftop
gardens
• Modular, pre-fabricated housing fits together on a construction site like
a gigantic Lego set; the house gets built faster, less material goes to
waste and the buyer saves thousands of dollars compared to building a
traditional new home.
• Passive heating and cooling use the building's design plus its orientation
to the sun and wind to keep indoor temperatures in a comfortable range
without having to crank up the air conditioning or fire up the furnace.
 GREEN
ENGINEERING
TECHNOLOGIES
• Automotive
• Hybrid and full-electric technology
aim to make vehicles less polluting by
minimizing their use of fossil fuels.
Even the materials that cars are made
out of are getting the green
engineering treatment.
• Less and less steel is going into
vehicle construction as manufacturers
look to cut weight with lighter
materials such as aluminum, plastics,
and even carbon fiber
 MOVING CLOSER TO WORK
• Moving closer to work is a very good contribution to minimize the effect of
climate change especially when done in a large scale

• Moving closer to work would mean the avoidance of riding fossil fuel
operated vehicles as it is a major GHG contributor

• Ways to dramatically curtail transportation fuel needs is to move closer to

work, use mass transit, or switch to walking, cycling or some other mode of
transport that does not require anything other than human energy

• There is also the option of working from home and telecommuting several
days a week
 SMART CONSUMPTION
• The easiest way to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions is simply to buy
less stuff

• Whether by forgoing an automobile or employing a reusable grocery sack,

cutting back on consumption results in fewer fossil fuels being burned to
extract, produce and ship products around the globe

• Paradoxically, when purchasing essentials, such as groceries, buying in

bulk can reduce the amount of packaging—plastic wrapping, cardboard
boxes and other unnecessary materials. Sometimes buying more means
consuming less.
 BEING EFFICIENT
• A potentially simpler and even bigger impact can be made by doing more
with less

• Citizens of many developed countries are profligate wasters of energy,

whether by speeding in a gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicle or leaving the
lights on when not in a room

• Employing more efficient refrigerators, air conditioners and other

appliances would be very helpful

• Weatherproofing the windows of a home can reduce heating and cooling

bills
 STOP CUTTING DOWN TREES
• Every year, 33 million acres of forests are cut down. Timber harvesting in
the tropics alone contributes 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon to the
atmosphere

• That represents 20 percent of human-made greenhouse gas emissions and

a source that could be avoided relatively easily

• Improved agricultural practices along with paper recycling and forest

management—balancing the amount of wood taken out with the amount of
new trees growing—could quickly eliminate this significant chunk of
emissions.
 UNPLUG
• Up until now, many people do not understand the importance of unplugging
electrical devices when not in use

• Aside from being able to minimize electricity bills, the energy that is used
by unplug electrical devices would mean more greenhouse gas emissions

• Televisions, stereo equipment, computers, battery chargers and a host of

other gadgets and appliances consume more energy when seemingly
switched off, so unplug them instead.
 SYNTHESIS
Understanding what the These mentioned
Climate change causes of climate solutions are just some of
perhaps is the direst change are is very the possible contribution
challenge humanity important in order to anybody can do in order to
face today solve problem from the curb the effects of climate
source change

If theses solution are That is apex goal in

adapted by everyone, it
solving our problem
would greatly help in
gradually improving with regards to
everybody’s way of life climate change
~DAS ENDE~