Climate Change in Today's Society

Define the Problem

Today’s society faces a major concern; a growing concern.  Climate change, formerly known as global warming is a mounting problem that affects not just us but our children and our children’s children.  To put it in its simplest terms, climate change refers to the long term change in the earth’s temperature, particularly an increase in the average atmospheric temperature (www.dictionary.com, n.d.).  Although there are some natural causes for climate change, most scientists are in agreement that society in general is at least partly responsible for the effects we have already seen and therefore must take corrective actions immediately to slow the process before it is too late and irreversible catastrophic damage has been done.

Identify the Causes

There are some natural causes for climate change that we as a society can do nothing about, but we have fast-tracked global warming since the start of the industrial revolution.  While volcanoes and solar patterns certainly are a small contributor to climate change, society in general makes a much greater impact.  Due to deforestation and the massive amounts of fossil fuels consumed, there is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today than at any point in the last 800,000 years (11 Facts About Global Warming, n.d.).

Carbon dioxide is widely believed to be the most harmful of all greenhouse gasses.  The US alone emits approximately 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year, 40% of which comes from power plants.  As early as the 1700’s, we began emitting more and more greenhouse gasses, mainly carbon dioxide by using coal, oil and gas to run our cars, trucks and factories (11 Facts About Global Warming, n.d.).  It is the increasing use of fossil fuel along with deforestation that is keeping greenhouse gasses closer to the earth not allowing them to escape the atmosphere thereby raising the earth’s temperature (11 Facts About Global Warming, n.d.).

Identify the Effect on Society

The consequences of climate change include extreme weather instances such as extensive drought, severe hurricanes and tornadoes, increased wild fires and melting of the polar caps (11 Facts About Global Warming, n.d.).  In addition, there are hotter, longer lasting heat waves causing added health issues and even death, especially to the already frail elderly or those who are already sick and may be more easily susceptible to health risks (11 Facts About Global Warming, n.d.).

Since 1870, sea levels have risen by about eight inches globally.  Coral reefs are in danger due to the warmer water temperatures and higher sea levels. The coral reefs are lacking the sun they need to thrive and are becoming diseased.  Here in the United States, temperatures have risen by two degrees over the last 50 years and precipitation is up by 5% (11 Facts About Global Warming, n.d.).   According to Motherjones.com, the 2000’s was the hottest decade on record in the US and 2012 was the hottest year ever.