Free «Climate Change and the Activity of People» Essay Sample

Climate change and the activity of people are reciprocally affecting each other creating a serious problem of global warming. Every action has drastic effects on both the life of the planet and its inhabitants. We take too much of finite resources, build power plants that strongly pollute the environment, trash the streets, nature and waters without realizing what can happen next. Subsequently, we cause problems for ourselves. As a result, the planet had started to pay us back by reminding who we are and how we should behave. But majorly, we are responsible for global warning. According to Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (2011), global warming is “a gradual increase in world temperatures caused by polluting gases such as carbon dioxide, which are collecting in the air around the Earth and preventing heat escaping into space.”

Most climatologists today believe that the causes of climate changes of a global scale are quite recent. Baird (2007) states: “The impacts of human activities envelop every aspect of the natural world” (p. 29). The author writes that “with the documented increase in average global surface temperatures of 0.6°C since 1975, there is now uniform agreement in the international scientific community that the earth is warming from a variety of climatic effects, most notably the cascading effects of greenhouse gas emissions to support human activities” (Diaz, 2006, p.361). This happens mostly because of the emissions that are being released into the atmosphere each and every day majorly due to the green house effect. The climate changing is considered a problem of a global scale, as it implies its affect on everything on Earth. Global warming has become a serious enemy of evolution and nature development.

First, “the consequences of global warming include the rising of the sea levels as the glaciers and polar ice caps melt down”, (Diaz, 2006, p. 365). According to Brandt (2007), we currently improve “ongoing fears of increased intensity among tropical cyclones and hurricanes” (p. 29). According to the report the rise of the sea level may create the same damages as the 2005 catastrophe by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, taking hundreds of lives away and bringing billions of dollars worth of damages. Also, global warming poses the risk of droughts, flooding habitats of endangered species of animals, drastic changes in flora and fauna and also such phenomena as earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, which are threatening human lives.

Second, the resulted by the global warming ozone depletion causes the increasing levels of UV radiation that result in sunburns, development of various diseases and different types of cancer, cataracts, respiratory problems, skin problems, and others (Diaz, 2006). Author also states that ultraviolet kills phytoplankton, what disrupts the seafood chains. Even milk production suffers from global warming. Diaz (2006) explains: “Daily milk yield, fat and protein and somatic cell count would decrease by 0.5%, 1.1% and 0.4%, respectively, should a 1°C shift in global warming occur.” (p. 599).

Epstein and McCarthy(2004)declare that global climate change is an obvious natural aspect that controls the evolution on the Earth and maintains its stable dynamic. It is enquired that “It is not global warming we should be concerned about, but the likelihood that the long period of relative climatic stability—a 10,000-year period in which all of human civilization happened to develop—may be ending” (Epstein & McCarthy, 2004, p.1863).

It is evident that we cannot be indifferent, especially when the problem has obtained a status of a global scale. Climate changes bring tremendous harm to the environment. Today scientists have to decide how we can prevent the climate change in such a way to expand the era of stability and help preserve life on the Earth as we all know it.