Global warming and the basic mechanisms of climate change.
Since the first warnings of global warming and the possibility of climate changes in 1885 by various scientists, researched has gathered insight into both the basic mechanisms of climate change and the potential impacts that can be expected in the future. In response to these findings, 160 countries gathered at the "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro, where they agreed to adopt the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC)1. The Convention aimed to stabilise greenhouse gases "at a level that would prevent dangerous interference with the climate system"2, and provided guidelines and obligations for so-called "Developed Countries"3. All countries were to develop a national database of the "anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks" and to devise a solution which will reduce the climate change4; however, developed countries also had other commitments under the convention5. Within the Convention, it provided that "[t]he Conference of the Parties shall, at its first session, review the adequacy of"6 the commitments of the parties in order to asses whether the objectives of the Convention were being met. At there first session in Bonn7, the Berlin Mandate: a "mechanism by which binding reduction and limitation obligations would be negotiated"8; was adopted, as it became apparent that the 'obligations' of the Convention were not adequate; the large
Do humans have a responsibility to prevent climate change?
Do humans have a responsibility to prevent climate change? Climate change is becoming a large controversial issue around the world and arguably the greatest threat facing our planet. Due to changing atmospheres and warming oceans, melting large icecaps, increased severe weather outbursts and warnings for droughts and floods, there is a large amount of human uncertainty as to what will happen next. These problems will harm the poorest countries and peoples the most due to their vulnerable locations and limited resources which make it difficult or impossible for them to adapt1, but should humans really be liable for the affects of the planet? This essay will first discuss what climate change actually means before looking into if and why humans have a responsibility for prevent it, it will also be necessary to mention human rights as they play a huge part in this question. Climate change is often defined as a change in the "average weather" that a given region experiences. When we speak of climate change on a global scale, we are referring to changes in the climate of the Earth as a whole, including temperature increases (global warming) or decreases, and shifts in wind patterns and precipitation.2 The global average sea level is projected to increase over the next 100 years by between 9 and 88 cm for the full range of emissions scenarios3. This rise has been shown to be
RESPONSES OF COMPANIES IN RESPECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUE
RESPONSES OF COMPANIES IN RESPECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUE AN ESSAY ON SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN BUSINESS (IBO 3004) DECEMBER 2008 INTRODUCTION The industrial revolution of the eighteenth century has brought about increase in the consumption of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other green house gases in the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels and the cutting down of forest (Deforestation). These emissions have thickened the greenhouse blanket cause gasses to be trapped and the surface of the earth temperature to rise slightly. The resultant effect of this is climate change which has been on the rise and as such becomes a major source of global. Business organisation has not been left out of this concern because no business operates in isolation of the environment. The organisation's general environment consists of broad trends in the context within which a firm operates that can have an impact on its quest to gain competitive advantage. The success of any firm is rooted in environmental analysis to identify market opportunities and avoid the risk or threats posed by the market environment. A firm must therefore ensure that it is adapted to the need of the market place than that of its competitors in other to gain strategic competitive positioning. There must therefore be an in depth understanding and analysis of this environment in order to gain competitive
Discuss the Possible Mechanisms for Short-term Climate Change within the Quaternary.
Discuss the Possible Mechanisms for Short-term Climate Change within the Quaternary Introduction The Quaternary period is distinctive for its cyclical nature of climate change in relation to previous geological periods. Long term changes govern the glacial-interglacial transitions, but these also feature shorter term changes involving a variety of different causal mechanisms, the roles of different mechanisms being a source of detailed debate and intensive research. Lowe and Walker (1997, p. 361) make the distinction between 'external' and 'internal' mechanisms, where external means change driven (or forced) by external variables, and internal refers to processes that operate within the terrestrial-ocean-atmosphere system. The mechanisms to be considered are oceanographic changes, ice sheet/glacier fluctuations, volcanic forcing, solar forcing and atmospheric gas content which will then lead to a discussion of the current debate over the relative roles of the greenhouse effect and solar forcing. Geomagnetism and geodynamic factors will also be discussed in brief. Oceanographic Changes The climate of western Europe contrasts markedly with the much colder climate of eastern Canada, at a similar latitude. This is almost entirely due to Gulf Stream warming of the UK. Cores from the North Atlantic Ocean show repeated excursions of polar waters with meltwater influxes from
To ehat extent is climate change a lot of hot air?
To what extent is climate change a lot of hot air? The term climate change describes a significant variation, occurring over centuries and millennia, to the global climate. Global warming refers to the global temperature rise due to the greenhouse effect. This is where CO2 and other greenhouse gases form a blanket in the atmosphere trapping heat from the sun as it is reflected off the earth's surface. It is common for the two terms to be confused as the same thing, this however is not true and it is important to consider this when looking at data. It is a difficult task to say whether or not climate change is a lot of hot air, as it depends on which data you use and how far back the data has been recorded. There is no doubt that the media is to blame for the hype surrounding the issue of global warming, with new horror stories emerging on a nearly daily basis. This can be seen by the fact that many people believe that over the past century global temperatures have risen by 2-3C when in fact it they have only risen by 0.6C. Stories warn us that we will be living in a tropical Britain where Malaria is prevalent and Norfolk will be submerged under the sea. In 2005 research showed that by doubling CO2 levels it would lead to a temperature rise of about 3C. Some other models showed temperatures rises to as much as 11C, when these stories were published the press was
Global Environmental System - The Global Climate Change Affects on UK
Module Title: Global Environmental System The Global Climate Change Affects on UK Table of Content The Global Climate Change Affects on UK 1 Table of Content 1 Introduction 1 The climate on the Earth 2 The effects on climate and human life 2 Climate change over UK 4 Climate history of UK 5 Conclusion 6 Bibliography 7 Introduction Since now, the global warming, the so caused global climate change and consequent effects on the global eco-system are getting worse increasingly. Human beings begin to pay more and more attention on the series of problems, which were directly or indirectly caused by human activities. The lake are filled by sands, trees are losing away, air is full of dust, all of those phenomenon are happening at every corner of the world, also including Britain. Before looking onto this part, we should be aware of the global general climate trend first. The climate on the Earth The climate is different with the weather. Usually the climate is described as the average weather condition over a relatively long period. However, it is not the only definition of the climate, there are over 50 definitions are accepted in the worldwide. Also the climate is always defined as in a local area; because the local climate is formed by many factors, and the factors are not always the same in vary areas. There are mainly three determinations of the local climate,
Climate changes in Canada. What consequences derive from the climate change in Canada and what actions are taken part as a result?
Climate changes in Canada: What consequences derive from the climate change in Canada and what actions are taken part as a result? (Essay needs proper foot noting) Table of Contents Abstract............................................................................................2 Introduction.........................................................................................3 I. Impacts due to climate change..........................................4 a) Greenhouse gas emissions b) Arctic Ecosystems c) Fisheries d) Polar bears e) Health Issues II. Changes in regions due to climate change...........10 a) Pacific coast b) Prairie provinces c) Great Lakes-St. Lawrence basin d) Atlantic coast e) The North f) Wetlands g) Permafrost III. Canada's approach on climate change.................15 Conclusion......................................................................................17 Appendix.........................................................................................18 References......................................................................................22 Abstract It is quite evident that climate change is happening around the world. This issue is called global warming. Because of the effect worldwide, Canada is due to be influenced. The increase of greenhouse gas emissions is apparent, as further urbanizations and burning
The Implications of the UK's Climate Change Policy on Biodiversity
The Implications of the UK's Climate Change Policy on Biodiversity Ecology & Wildlife Conservation The Implications of the UK's Climate Change Policy on Biodiversity Introduction Biodiversity is the unpredictability among living creatures and their environments. Biodiversity is necessary for human well-being because it give services, like food, medicines, clean water and soil stabilization. There is already a threat for biodiversity from the loss and disintegration of environment, pollution and persistent non-native species (Stuart, Donald, 2008). Variations in the climate pose a new challenge as it often intensifies the impacts of other forces. A recent report by G8 on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity assesses the failure of biodiversity internationally could be worth 7% of world GDP in 2050 (Stuart, Donald, 2008). Discussion The natural atmosphere is an essential part of the weather system, it is both affected by and affects weather internationally and locally. A significant body of speculation on climate change implication in the UK has been developed and is on-going. The idea is to put into practice developing theories and ideas, and to build on lessons learnt from these actions, and to also show that it is essential to point out the dangers and chances for biodiversity conservation, from improvement of climate change over a short and long period. The
Debate topic - climate change and our moral obligation to act.
What is a moral obligation? By the legal dictionary definition, a moral obligation is a duty which one owes, and which he ought to perform, but which he is not legally bound to fulfill. Our first contention is that justice is the standard that should establish liability. Standard principals of justice indicate that those responsible for harm take action to redress that harm… to right what is wrong. Did our parents not teach us all that when we were young? Nick Gier (prof. of philosophy at Emertius U. Idaho) states that a simple moral truth is that if you injure people or directly affect their livelihoods, then they are owed compensation. The National climate ethics campaign says this... “As a matter of justice and equality, we have a moral obligation to reduce our carbon pollution in order to prevent suffering and death among people who have contributed little to climate change, but who are, at least initially, most impacted”. And who are we initially affecting? Is it the developed countries who are profiting off of the carbon pollution? Our leaders in the economy? Or world super-powers with the big banks? No. We’re hurting the under-developed countries. Nicolas Stern of the scientific commons states that “all countries will be affected by climate change, but it is the poorest countries that will suffer earliest and most.” This marks our second contention is
Socio-economic and political impacts of climate change in Africa
'The cause of the warming of the African continent (and of the world as a whole) over the past 100 years is not clear. The change in atmospheric composition associated with rising levels of greenhouse gases must be one of the most plausible explanations, but there are other possibilities (Wigley et al., 1992). The trend may, for example, be the result of natural climate variability, shifts in the ocean temperature distribution or changes in the solar output. The progressive degradation of dryland areas, by reducing surface soil moisture, may have contributed to the warming over Africa, although the results of recent analyses suggest that the effects may account for no more than a small proportion of the trend observed over the continent as a whole (cf. Balling, 1991, with Hulme and Kelly, 1993). Whatever the cause of the warming trend, it provides one benchmark against which we can judge the projections of future climate warming for Africa' All that one needs to look at is the Annual rainfall during the mosts recent three decades to see that there has been around 20 to 40 percent less than was expected around the 1960's. Take extreme years such as 1984 and 1990 where rainfall levels have dropped below 50 percent of what is normally expected. But the real question we are trying to answer here is how sensitive are African natural resources, managed ecosystems and national
