Supporting Ideas of Climate Change/Global Warming
We are having longer winters here in Pennsylvania and longer hotter, and more humid summers. This is something I have noticed personally. While the winters are still cold and everyone can’t wait for them to be over, we seem to be missing a season. Autumn is almost completely skipped. Autumn and Spring are very short. Because of this crazy weather we also have crazy storms. Hurricanes, tornados, fires, flood. They are all happening on a major scale, and disasters are happening more frequently. Weather is what is going on outside right now. Climate is a pattern of weather measured over a number of decades. This pattern was measured for 30 years, and it is clear to see that a pattern of high temps has become the new norm. These rising temperatures cause greater evaporation in the oceans and higher concentration of atmospheric water vapor, which causes warmer air and warmer ocean temperatures and more evaporation. The ocean carries this heat and helps create some of the storms and the crazy weather.
Where is all this heat coming from? This heat is coming from us. We are putting carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide, vapor trails from planes, soot from fires and tropospheric ozone created indirectly by local pollution all tend to increase warming.
The ocean levels are rising, and we are losing more and more land. The glaciers are melting rapidly, and there is no balance being made. Glaciers, land ice, and icebergs are made of fresh water. What happens when the ice melts? Sea levels rise. Nearly 50 percent of the sea level rise so far has come from ocean warming, according to new work by Cheng and Trenberth. Much of the rest comes from the melting of ice on Antarctica and Greenland.
It doesn’t help that we have cut down the trees that would clean up the CO2 naturally and for nothing. We have created this mess with our selfishness. The Earth had provided all that was needed for the survival of the species on the planet, and the “smartest” ones are going to be their own destruction. The very plants that we tore down could have been the ones that saved us from a flood or would be able to take in that CO2 and emit more oxygen into the atmosphere. I wonder if people thought about breathing and how where it comes from if they would be more mindful of destroying the Earth.
Opposing Ideas of Climate Change/Global Warming
I think people just need to be more informed because the reasons I have found for those who don't believe in Global Warming aka Climate Change is that they are not educated enough to know what it means. People think weather = climate. They believe that because they still have cold winters that it means there is no Global Warming. That is simply not true. Climate is the pattern of weather for a number of decades. This is a pattern of recorded weather for decades. It is happening, and I am living through it.
Global warming is at least partly to blame for especially harsh winter weather. Warmer temperatures in the winter months can cause lakes and other bodies of water not freeze which can lead to increased snowfalls because more evaporating water from the lake is available for precipitation.
Because people think of Global Warming as a debate instead of as a fact the choose to see what they want to see. If someone miscalculates something about Global Warming such as when the ice caps will be completely melted. Weather maps predicting what the weather will be like in the coming days, months or years due to climate change. They are not taking into consideration that things change. When people become aware of an issue and try to solve it, then the predictions can be changed, and things will not be what was predicted. They are also not taking into consideration the calculations and the math that has to go into predicting something on such a large scale.
I just think that the more people who are aware, the more that people can do about it. One is our carbon footprint. Recycle, carpool and believe it or not demand more vegetables or plants. I think if this was a question of not getting enough oxygen to breathe than people would be more concerned. And you should be. We are taking down the very things that will save us. Plants and trees help take the CO2 from in the air and provide us with oxygen.
The trees that we have torn down to build our cities or whatever are the very things that would save us from a flood. They would soak up so much of the water. You have no idea what you are doing to yourself until you learn. Unfortunately, it usually takes a disaster to grab people's attention.
Paris 2015 Climate Change Summit
I think the Paris Climate Change Summit held in 2015 was successful. Could it have promised more? Yes. 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal after getting together for the sake of change due to global warming. The summit started November 30th, 2015 and continued until an agreement was made on December 12th, 2015. The agreement between 195 countries to keep a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Here is a brief review of what the Paris 2015 Climate Change Summit agreed on.
• Mitigation – reducing emissions fast enough to achieve the temperature goal
• A transparency system and global stock-take – accounting for climate action
• Adaptation – strengthening ability of countries to deal with climate impacts
• Loss and damage – strengthening ability to recover from climate impacts
• Support – including finance, for nations to build clean, resilient futures
I think it is a huge step in the right direction for Earth. If everyone holds up to their end of the deal, we should see more progress in the coming years. The financial responsibilities of the United States for funding climate mitigation and adaptation in developing countries is the only thing that I have seen that caused concern. Which is part of the reason that President Trump backed out of the agreement.
Trump withdrawing from the Paris Accord
Trump was able to back out of the Paris Accord Agreement because the president before him, Barack Obama, didn’t submit the executive order confirming the US's adoption of the agreement to Congress for approval. That's how Trump was able to "cancel" the US's commitment to the accord.
Did he make the right decision? I’m not Donald Trump, but I do believe that he had his Nation’s best interest at heart when he did what he did. I don’t think we necessarily need to be apart of the agreement to continue the trend of helping with global warming and having more renewable resources funded and used.
The reason President Trump pulled out of the agreement is partially because the cost the United States was going to bear for poorer nations. The other reason is because of the carbon footprint that the United States has economically. I know in the region where I live, which is a Coal County, he talked big on coal and natural resources. These natural resources have a huge carbon footprint, and while in our area it is cheaper it is definitely not cleaner. It does more damage than good to our environment too. People are just not educated enough to understand the impact that coal has on the environment, and some people just don’t want change because they fear it. Lots of jobs are depending on the old way of doing things.
The United States needs to support renewable energy, energy efficiency, forest conservation and other projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The companies need to change. Be more green, but the problem is like most business-minded people they don’t want to lose the profits and change costs money. They don't see that money is going to be saved by going green and their profits will go up. It takes money to make money. They should invest in their future so that they can be a part of the future.
Climate Change is Real
I don’t see this as a debate, but some people don’t believe it. If they actually paid attention, they would know that climate change is happening. It is not a debate about whether it's going to happen or not. It is happening right now, and it is our responsibility as parents to make sure the world can sustain future generations. Do we really want to be known for the species that killed our planet? I don’t think people are informed enough to really see what is going outside today. There is a difference between the weather and the climate. Just because it is cold outside does not mean that we are not in a state of Global Warming. The arguments that these people make remind me of excuses. They don’t want to see the truth because then they would have to recognize the part that they played in creating the problem. People don’t like change because they don’t know if they can adapt. Well, change is coming one way or another. Global warming will make sure that you don’t adapt because the human species will not survive it.
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