Humans Influence on Climate Change - Ecology Essay Example

When we talk of the climatic system, we are mentioning a very diverse and interactive system made up of the atmosphere, the earths surface including water bodies and all organisms living in the waters and on land. Most obviously, the atmospheric components of the system determine the climate of a particular place and can also be termed as the average weather conditions of that particular region. When the atmospheric components are tampered with, a change in the low weather conditions is recorded. The ultimate effect of such change is the overall deterioration of living conditions on the surface of the earth. Over the past few years, weather forecasts show that climate has critically changed. Some of the factors that have influenced the recorded changes are as a result of human influence. Global warming, for instance, is caused by exposing the atmosphere to gasses containing CFCs. The CFCs are gas molecules that are found in aerosols manufactured by industries. This article will, therefore, determine the centrality of man in influencing the average weather conditions, the extent to which his influence has caused deterioration of life and ecological coexistence. The article will also determine ways that can be used to mitigate the impact of man's interaction with the environment that may lead to such climatic change.

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All human activities that are purported to be causing change on the climate are those that modify the atmosphere's gasses and the composition ratios. The activities would, therefore, include factors that would extrapolate some ozone gasses, aerosols or even cause clouding in the atmosphere. However, the significant contribution ever known is the burning of fossil fuels. The fuels release carbon dioxide gasses into the air. The earlier mentioned gasses like the ozone and the aerosols influence the amount incoming solar radiation and the released infrared thermal radiation. As soon as the introduction of the industrial era, human activities have majorly contributed to the effect of global warming. The impact that we cause on the climate in this period is greater than that effect resulting from natural processes like volcanic eruptions.

The most recent climatic changes that have been experienced include climate warming and cooling. Both the warming and the cooling arise from the flow of energy in the atmosphere which is majorly caused by human activities. The activities connected to the energy flow include the last use of greenhouse technology that releases a lot of such greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, change of the pre-existing land cover, majorly by cutting down natural forests for paler croplands and settlement schemes, increasing the amount of aerosol usage among others. Such human-induced factors are dominant contributors to the changes experienced with climate. With the climatic shifts hitting extreme ends, human life is jeopardized. Several health conditions are encountered, either directly related to climatic change or not. Cancerous infections, for instance, are as a result of extreme radiation from the sun, courtesy of the climatic changes caused. The overall changes do influence not only human survival but also coexistence and the stability of the ecological cycle. When extreme heating of the surface of the earth is experienced, and drought results, animals, and plants die to pose a threat to the existence of other organisms depending on them. The ultimatum is destruction and the beginning of the end.

Contrary to the fact that man is responsible for the effects of climate change, other factors also contribute to the same problem. These natural elements happen to be existing externally to the system. The factors include volcanic activities, solar output and the manner in which the earth orbits the sun. Out of the three listed factors, both volcanic eruptions and changes in radiation with regards to the position of the sun; are the most relevant natural factors that depict direct influence on the issue of climatic change. These factors directly affect the amount of solar energy reaching the earth. Volcanic activities, on the contrary, are temporary and thus cause a short-term effect on climatic change. Together with human influence, these factors contribute to the deterioration of habitable conditions on Earth. Natural factors, though, are forces we have no control over, other influences that result as a doing of our actions like an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide can be mitigated with a lot of ease.

One significant impact of climate change is deterioration of human health. To reduce the impacts on health, we are ordained to take actions that would lead to the reduction of the effects of climate change. However, humans can also adjust to the impact of such changes by getting prepared. This preparation technique would require everyone to adapt to the changes. Mitigation strategies include reducing emissions from cooling and heating, planting forests and lessen the amount of fuel emitted from vehicles. Even if some of these mitigation methods get successful in reducing the number of greenhouse gasses emitted or other factors, our climate is still bound to change. We must, therefore, mobilize everyone into adapting to the changes that are brought about by climate change. The only method that would enable the process of adaptation is by educating vulnerable communities on the effects of climate change and advocating for the protection of natural resources. Nevertheless, the more we ignore such climatic changes, the faster the effects of such changes will consume the human race and led to the beginning of the end.

Reference

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