Global Warming: Becoming Mindful of Environmental Issues & Solutions - Essay Sample

Introduction

Indeed, the environment is continuously changing. Nonetheless, as the environment changes, so does the need to become mindful of the problems surrounding it increasingly. With an influx of natural disasters and different weather patterns, people need to be more conscious of the environmental issues our planet is facing. Undoubtedly, global warming is an undeniable fact in the current livelihoods; the earth is heating up, and human beings are certainly part of the problem. Nevertheless, this isn't the only concern that we should be addressed. All across the globe, people are facing a wealth of new environmental issues every day. Some are small and only affect a few bionetworks, while others are considerably changing the landscape of what is already known. Climate change makes people vulnerable to disasters and tragedies, now and in the days to come. The world is therefore in a state of planetary crisis, with environmental issues piling up more and more. Unless these issues are addressed prudently the globe is undoubtedly doomed for disaster. In this regard, the effect of climate change requires urgent attention.

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Problems

Climate change is the bane of today's world environmental concerns. As such, it is mainly caused by greenhouse gases, global warming, and natural causes, among others (Planet). These factors majorly contribute to climate change, as explained below:

Greenhouse Gases

This is a phenomenon caused when gases pile up inside a greenhouse. As such, increased emissions clog up the ozone layer, and latent heat from the sun and earth itself cannot dissipate back out into space. Instead, it is blocked up into the surface by the emissions, which increases the temperatures within the planet. The result of this heat block is an unexpected change in climate as areas get warmer and rainfall disappears. Despite this fact, greenhouse gases effect is accelerated by human efforts (European Commission). These human efforts include CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, nitrous oxide emissions into the earth and methane into the atmosphere. According to the European Commission, carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere are the most significant contributor of greenhouse gases acceleration.

Carbon dioxide emissions come from a myriad of sources, ranging from factory emissions alongside fluorinated gases, local burning of plastics and wood, and car emissions, among others. Nitrous oxide emissions are mainly as a result of farmers using nitrogen-based fertilizers in the soil. As it is injected into the ground as fertilizer, it is subjected to both heat and water that break it down into gaseous form. In this form, it rises into the atmosphere and blocks heat from leaving the earth (European Commission). Also, methane emissions into the air are mainly caused by an increase in the number of herbivorous animals throughout the planet. The herbivores consume a lot of vegetation, which results in methane emissions upon digestion (European Commission). In this capacity, methane acts as an inhibitor to the heat from the sun that needs to escape out into space. This then results in higher temperatures being experienced throughout the globe.

Global Warming

Global warming occurs when emissions into the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide and fluorinated gases, trap and absorb the radiation from the sun, causing the planet to get hotter. Global warming is a real occurrence and reports over the past 50 years indicate that the earth is getting warmer at an incredibly fast rate. Carbon dioxide emissions are the most significant contributor to global warming (MacMillan). These carbon emissions have primarily been attributed to the burning of coal to generate energy and electricity. Throughout the United States and Europe, this has been going on for over 15 decades. The trapped heat and radiation from the sun gradually spread out throughout the earth, causing the overall temperature of the planet to rise as the years go by. Global warming is also evidenced by the shrinkage of the polar ice caps. The earth's poles have been large masses of ice throughout history. This is, however, starting to change as a result of global warming (MacMillan). The higher temperatures trapped inside the earth are causing the iced poles to begin melting. The melted ice has resulted in increased amounts of seawater that are now encroaching on human settlements, forcing people out of their homes. Additionally, the melted ice caps have also resulted in a decline of marine species living in the poles such as the polar bear which is now an endangered species.

Natural Causes

Natural causes are a considerable contributor to climate change. They include volcanic activity, eruptions, and earthquakes (United States Geological Survey). Volcanic activity results in the emission of lava rock ash and coal into the atmosphere and environment around the area. By getting rid of the vegetation of a city, its natural ecosystem of balance is disrupted, thereby resulting in increased concentrations of gases and low plant life to regulate the gases. Volcanic eruptions release more than just carbon dioxide into the air. Research on volcanic eruptions indicates that the most common type of gas emitted as a result of a volcanic eruption was sulfur dioxide (United States Geological Survey). This type of gas is harmful such that when it mixes with rain clouds, it forms acidic rain. Undoubtedly, this type of precipitation is destructive and does not allow vegetation growth. The ash and cinder emitted travels for miles clouding large areas and blocking the sunlight. This then makes the areas slightly hotter for a short period resulting from the trapped heat but over more extended periods result in the area becoming colder than usual.

Current Solutions

Over the past century, climate change has been on a steady rise, slowly but surely threatening the planet. Despite this fact, humanity has been putting up extraordinary efforts geared towards finding solutions to the planet's rapid climate change. Since carbon dioxide emissions are the biggest threat to climate change, it is prudent to deal with the issue first. Various measures have been put in place to ensure carbon dioxide emissions have reduced by over 50% worldwide (Union of Concerned Scientists). This consensus was reached through a world environmental summit talk to get the countries with the most emissions to shut down their industries or switch to alternative energy sources other than coal. The shutdown was due to the fact that most industries flagged for carbon dioxide emissions of over 5millions tons of CO2 used coal as the primary fuel component (Union of Concerned Scientists). The summit talks between the world leaders are a step forward in the right direction towards reducing carbon emissions. By enforcing the rules, the world leaders can enforce a reduction in carbon dioxide levels in a myriad of ways in their countries. First, they must shut down coal-using industries or substitute their energy sources. These industries can use clean mediums of energy such as electricity, wind power, and solar power. Using these clean alternatives as energy sources will thus enable each of the various countries to bring down carbon dioxide emissions significantly.

Also, the rules involve putting up stringent laws to curb against CO2 emissions from cars. This means coming up with electric or solar powered cars rather than diesel or petroleum powered cars (Council on Foreign Relations). It also involves planting more trees and vegetation so that the added number can aid with the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Part of the solution also involved placing fines and issuing permits on logging or burning wood or chemicals (Council on Foreign Relations). This move is incorporated to curb against instances of random burning that emits smoke and carbon dioxide into the air. The fines would bar people from reckless endangerment that would aid in climate change such as illegal logging and burning of plastics. Natural causes can only be monitored since there is no way to prevent them from occurring. However, funds should be allocated to creating new monitoring technologies and the recovery of lost vegetation. This recovery can be made by replanting new trees in other areas in large quantities to cater for the deficiency resulting from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Action Plan

The world in general needs to undertake severe efforts towards preventing climate change. Since human beings are the number one cause for climate change, they can implement the following strategies for the good of the environment:

Reusing, Reducing, and Recycling

This 3-R step may seem inconsequential, but it is a significant step towards preventing climate change. By reducing, reusing and recycling, it reduces the number of new plastics being made. The making of plastics involves large scale emission of carbon dioxide into the air. In so doing, man will be able to reduce the number of plastics in the world and regulate the making of plastic products (Long). People can also boycott buying of plastic products and instead buy recyclable and bio-degradable commodities with a zero carbon footprint. Human beings can also incorporate green procurement and only use materials that are safe for the environment.

Planting More Trees

People can practice extensive scale tree planting as a means to slow down climate change. As such, planting trees will increase the overall tree count per country, which further decreases the carbon dioxide emissions count per year (Maceachern). Since trees absorb the carbon dioxide emissions in the air, it will at least start a reverse process to get the climate back to its previous status (Maceachern). Eventually, there will be cleaner air to breathe and cleaner water and more rain. In this regard, an area's ecosystem can be restored by planting trees.

Shutting Down Carbon-Emitting Factories

The implementation of world leaders summit talks on climate change rules could be the game changer the world needs to fight climate change. By shutting down the carbon dioxide emitting factories, the move can significantly cut down on world air pollution by over 50% in a single year (Post Opinions Staff, Washington Post). The shutdown companies can revert to cleaner energy sources such as electricity, nuclear, or solar energy, all of which are better alternatives hence preventing climate change by limiting carbon dioxide emissions.

Conclusion

Overall, climate change is, indeed, the root of today's environmental concerns. As such, human beings can incorporate practices such as using renewable energy, planting trees, reusing, reducing, and recycling materials. All these practices are proven methods that help to prevent climate change. When these plans are put underway, it is safe to say that there is a light at the end of the tunnel as far as climate change is concerned.

Works Cited

Council on Foreign Relations. The Global Climate Change Era. 19 June 2013. https://www.cfr.org/report/global-climate-change-regime. 17 May 2019.

European toriCommisison. Reasons for climate change. 4 March 2018. https://ec.europa.eu/clima/change/causes_en. 17 May 2019.

Long, Brenda. MSU Extension. 18 February 2018. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/reduce_recycle_and_reuse_to_decrease_climate_change. 17 May 2019.

Maceachern, Diane. Plant Trees, Protect forests, and Combat Climate Change. 5 November 2018. https://www.momscleanairforce.org/plant-trees-protect-forests-and-stop-climate-change/. 17 May 2019.

MacMillan, Amanda. Natural Resources Defense Council. 11 March 2016. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101. 17 May 2019.

Post Opinions Staff, Washington Post. How we can fight climate change. 2 January 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2019/01/02/feature/opi...