Climate

Change:
Nemesis of
Humanity

Conceptual
Framework
Independent
Variable:
Causes of climate
change
Stopping/lessenin
g climate change
Climate change as
danger to

humanity

Dependent
Variable

Climate change

I. Introduction
Climate change, a term people pay no heed to a long time ago
but is a major topic to us now. As it implies, it is the changing of climate or
weather that lasts for a very long time. It is caused by us, the actions of us
humans. We always thought that improving technology and industry will
make us have a better life. Yeah, literally thats true but there are always
consequences for all things we do. The progress man has made now and
then will have a huge impact in our future.
It can be considered dangerous as it causes disruptions to our
weather and economy. When we say summer or rainy seasons you cant
be sure that it would not rain heavily nor shine scorching hot. The normally
cool weather is now hot. Living things, animals and even people are having a
hard time adopting to this unstable environment.
No one expected this to be on a rapidly fast rate.

Even past

researches are far from this. Mans capabilities of destroying nature is now
far from being stopped.
This research is about how climate change will destroy humanity.
This paper will tell the effects and its causes and its preventions, how we can
attain the far reaches of hope, saving us from our inevitable fate.

II. Significance of the Study

This study is important because it is about the status of the
planet you live in. It will benefit most people, even me. People who are
ignorant about climate change will be more informed and make them realize
that how dangerous it is. Therefore, having knowledge about climate change
will help us in different ways. It can help us prepare for natural calamities
and enormous changes in weather. It will also help us identify the causes of
climate change, man-made or not.
Scopes and Limitation
This research was conducted to gather information about the
past, current status and future predictions of climate change. The factors
considered are causes and effects of climate change, how it will serve as
danger to us and also ways of stopping it.

III. Statement of the Problem

Climate change needs to be stopped and nature should be reverted

back to its natural state or at the very least, lessen it.

As of now, climate change is unstoppable. Due to mans continuous
abuse of natures resources, climate change effects intensified. No
place in the world is unaffected by climate change.

The way it is now, it is unstoppable but if we somehow prevent or

lessen the factors that contribute to climate change, we can survive
from it.
IV. Review of Related Literature/Structure
CLIMATE CHANGE
Causes

Effects

Preventions

Greenhouse effect
Human emission of
CO2
Human-made
forcings
Natural forcings

Increase in
temperature
Ocean level rising
Change in landscape
Wildlife being
endangered
Drought, Floods, Forest
fires
More heat-related
illness and diseases
Economic losses
Stronger storms and
stronger storm damage

Using carbon-free
renewable energy supply
Travelling without
greenhouse gas emission
as much as possible
Being energy efficient
Capturing greenhouse
gases before entering the
atmosphere

Climate change is one of the biggest issues now in the society. It

has a global effect. The climate change effects we experience now is mostly
blamed to mankind. One of the biggest reasons is human activities due to
industrialization. It has lots of effects that slowly turn our world into a
different one but it is still not too late. We can still save our world if we act
now and do preventions. This paper will focus on the causes, effects and
preventions of climate change.
Greenhouse gases from human-made forcings is the major cause
of climate change. According to David A. and Stefans The Climate Crisis: An

Introductory Guide to Climate Change (2010) book, information about the

greenhouse effect and its roles has been building up through almost two
centuries. Joseph Fourier, a mathematician in Napoleons army invented the
idea of greenhouse effect and named it in 1827. Greenhouse effect is the
trapping of heat in Earths lower atmosphere due to the gases blocking the
infrared energy from the sun which increases the temperature of Earth.
According to David A. and Stefan (2010), the humans impact on
contributing to CO2 was first measured in the 1950s. At first, only the CO 2
concentrations are observed upon but discoveries of other greenhouse gases
on 1970s (methane and Freon) took the concern of scientists. A single
molecule of a rare gas, Freon have much stronger effect on climate than a
single molecule of the abundant CO2.
The Earths climate can be affected by natural factors that are
external to the climate system, such as changes in volcanic activity, solar
output, and the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Of these, the two factors
relevant on timescales of contemporary climate change are changes in
volcanic activity and changes in solar radiation. In terms of the Earths
energy balance, these factors primarily influence the amount of incoming
energy. Volcanic eruptions are episodic and have relatively short-term effects
on climate. Changes in solar irradiance have contributed to climate trends
over the past century but since the Industrial Revolution, the effect of
additions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere has been about ten times
that of changes in the Suns output (Causes of Climate Change, 2013).

As climate change affects weather so will be storms and

hurricanes. Hurricanes and some tropical storms gather their energy from
warm ocean water. As the top layer of the ocean gets warmer, hurricanes
and other tropical storms grow stronger, with faster winds and heavier rain.
Because of higher temperatures and increased evaporation, climate change
causes other types of storms to get stronger, too. As the climate gets
warmer, heavier rainstorms and snowstorms (with more precipitation than
normal) are expected to happen more often, and hurricanes around the world
could keep getting stronger (Wilder Weather, 2014).
As written by David S. and Phillip (2008), we might already have
reached the point in which human interference in climate systems is
dangerous. We are losing the Arctic sea-ice which will cause the sea level to
rise. Some animals will lose their habitat and hunting grounds because of
shrunken sea ice. Also, there will be an increase in temperature of global
warming because less sea ice means less energy to be absorbed and it will
lead to even more warming.
The climate change also has a huge effect on wildlife. According
to David and Stefan (2010), there are abnormalities in our ecosystem due to
climate change. We will hear about trees blossoming, about birds migrating
at unseasonal times, about strange sorts of fish appearing at a coast where
they dont belong or even about polar bears drowning. Some animals lose
their habitat and hunting grounds. Biologist still wonder if they are related to

global warming. It is hard to tell for anyone as there are other several factors
that affects the ecosystem including agriculture and industry.
Rising temperatures and changing patterns of rain and snow are
forcing trees and plants around the world to move toward Polar Regions and
up mountain slopes. These vegetation shifts will undermine much of the work
the conservation community has accomplished to date, with the potential to
permanently change the face of Conservancy preserves, local land trusts,
and even our national parks. In the tundra, thawing permafrost will allow
shrubs and trees to take root. In the Great Plains of the United States,
grasslands will likely become forests. And New Englands fiery fall foliage will
eventually fade as maple and beech forests shift north toward cooler
temperatures. Some animals and communities will be left without any viable
habitat such as polar bears and alpine meadows, putting our wildlife at risk
(Changing Landscapes, n.d.).
Climate change is also affecting businesses and economies at
home and around the world. If no action is taken to decrease global carbon
emissions, climate change could cost between 5 and 20 percent of the
annual global gross domestic product, according to a British government
report. In comparison, it would take 1 percent of GDP to lessen the most
damaging effects of climate change, the report says. Globally, more intense
hurricanes and downpours could cause billions of dollars in damage to
property and infrastructure. Declining crop yields due to prolonged drought
and high temperatures, especially in Africa, could put hundreds of thousands

of people at risk for starvation. High sea temperatures also threaten the
survival of coral reefs, which generate an estimated $375 billion per year in
goods and services (Economic Loss and Damage n.d.).
As temperatures rise, so do the risks of heat-related illness and
even death for the most vulnerable human populations. In 2003, for
example, extreme heat waves caused more than 20,000 deaths in Europe
and more than 1,500 deaths in India. Scientists have linked the deadly heat
waves to climate change and warn of more to come (Heat-Related Illness
and Disease, para. 1-2 n.d).
Aside from heat-related illness, climate change may increase the
spread of infectious diseases, mainly because warmer temperatures allow
disease-carrying insects, animals and microbes to survive in areas where
they were once thwarted by cold weather. Diseases and pests that were once
limited to the tropics such as mosquitoes that carry malaria may find
hospitable conditions in new areas that were once too cold to support them.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that climate change may
have caused more than 150,000 deaths in the year 2000 alone (HeatRelated Illness and Disease, para 3-5 n.d).
To combat climate change, we will have to switch our energy
sources from burning fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources. Many of these
clean energy sources have been developed by technology nowadays while
others are still being tested. Some technologies reduce greenhouse gas

emissions through efficient energy usage or by capturing these gases before

entering the atmosphere (Be part of the solution! Technologies section,
2014).
We can use renewable sources of energy that has no harm to the
atmosphere:

Biomass
energy
Nuclear
energy
Wind energy
Geothermal
Energy
Solar Energy
Water
energy

Energy from materials from plants, animals or even trash

that contains stored energy. Can be used to create biofuels
that powers up vehicles.
Energy produced by splitting atoms (fission) using uranium
as fuel. Doesnt produce greenhouse gas and radioactive
wastes are taken care of.
Energy produced by wind turbines. Wind turbines are put
and placed together on wind farms. Good spots are on open
plains and shorelines.
Energy from the heat of Earth. Could be used by using heat
pumps to heat or cool buildings or as a source of electricity.
Energy from the heat of the sun. Energy is collected by the
use of photovoltaic cells that could be found on solar panels
and such devices.
Energy produced by moving water. Energy could be
captured by using hydroelectric dams, special buoys and
other floating device and turbines.

Right now, most of our electricity right now are generated by

large power plants that burn coal and other fossil fuels that add lots of
carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. It will take a lot of decades before we can
turn our energy sources into renewable sources that emits a few or no
carbon dioxide. In the meantime, scientists are developing ways to capture
carbon dioxide from power plants and factories and safely store it in
underground so that it cant go to the atmosphere. Carbon is pumped down

deep in underground, about half a mile deep (Carbon Capture and

Underground Storage, 2014).
Methane could also be captured and used. Methane is a powerful
gas. A pound of methane gas is 25 times stronger than a pound of carbon
dioxide. Methane can be captured on landfills and it can be burned to
produce electricity. It can also be captured from farm digesters, which are big
tanks that contain manure and other waste from barns that house livestock
such as cows and pigs. Methane is collected into pipes then burned before it
gets to the atmosphere so it is a huge help reducing the effects of climate
change (Methane Capture and Use, 2014).
Making buildings energy-efficient can also reduce greenhouse
gas emission. In fact, the buildings where we live and work account for 30%
of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Technologies such as
more efficient heating, air conditioning, and lighting enable buildings to use
less energy, which helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions (Energy-Efficient
Buildings, 2014).
Transportation is the fastest growing sector of energy use with it
using 24% of our energy production. Internal combustion of fossil fuels
supplies 96% of all transportation energy. Oil is the most convenient form of
fossil fuel for transportation, because its liquid form is easily transportable.
Oil will become scarce at some point in the coming decades, but liquid fuels
could be baked out of carbon-rich rocks such as oil shales and tar sands.

Liquid fuels could be synthesized chemically from coal, natural gas, or

biomass. Except for biomass, these alternative energy sources are less
efficient than petroleum in terms of carbon emissions.
While past generations were only able to buy gasolinepowered
cars, you will have many more options! Vehicles are now available that use
less energy and are better for the environment and there will be more of
these in the future.
CLIMATE CHANGE TIMELINE
More information about climate change in timeline:
1837 Louis Agassiz (1837) proposed that the mountains of his native
Switzerland had once been covered with large ice sheets like those in
Greenland or Antarctica. His proposal met resistance from the prevailing
view, supported by religious doctrine, that the biblical flood was responsible
for shaping the landscape.

Eventually, the ice age hypothesis was

accepted.
1865 John Tyndall postulated that gases such as water vapor and CO 2 in
the atmospheric envelope retain the heat.
1896 Svante Arrhenius predicted that increases of atmospheric CO 2 from
burning fossil fuels would lead to global warming; a doubling of
atmospheric CO2 could cause global average temperature to rise by 5C.
The predictions of this Nobel Prize laureate (1903) went unnoticed for more
than half a century.
1958 First continuous monitoring reveals rapidly rising CO 2 levels in the
atmosphere.

 1970s Beginning of period of atmospheric warming known as global

warming.
1988 UN establishes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) to assess the science of climate change.
1990 IPCCs First Assessment is published. The year is subsequently
established as the baseline year for future emissions targets.
1992 Earth Summit meets in Rio de Janeiro. Governments agree on the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which commits them
to preventing dangerous climate change.
1995 After a fierce debate, in particular with OPEC nations, the IPCC
Second Assessment establishes the strong link between human-induced
greenhouse gases and climate change, saying that the balance of
evidence suggests. that global warming is caused by mankind.
1997 Kyoto Protocol is agreed under UNFCCC. It includes the first emissions
reduction targets for industrialized countries, covering 2008-2012; all major
nations sign up.
1998 Warmest year in warmest decade in warmest century for at least a
thousand years.
2001 Nations agree on methodological and other details of the Kyoto
Protocol in Marrakech. The USA and Australia refuse to ratify the protocol.
2003 European heat wave, which killed more than 30,000 people.
Scientists later conclude it is the first extreme weather event definitely
attributable to human-induced climate change. Scientists report a third of
the world affected by droughts, double the figure for the 1970s.

 2005 Drought temporarily turns Amazon rainforest from a carbon sink to a

carbon source.
2007 Massive summer ice loss in the Arctic brings fears of an ice-free
north; IPCC Fourth Assessment warns of faster and irreversible climate
change; Bali Climate Conference lays out timetable for agreeing successor
to Kyoto Protocol.
2008 Poznan Climate Conference in Poland; slow progress on negotiations
as many wait for the new Obama administration in the USA to declare its
hand.
2009 Make or break year for the climate, with negotiations continuing for a
Copenhagen Protocol set to conclude in December.
2010 After a rather disappointing result of the Copenhagen talks,
international climate policy picks up momentum at the 16th Conference of
the Parties in Cancun, Mexico.
2012 Controversial "attribution" studies find recent disastrous heat waves,
droughts, extremes of precipitation, and floods were made worse by global
warming.
2013 An apparent pause or "hiatus" in global warming of the atmosphere
since 1998 is discussed and explained; the oceans have continued to get
warmer. Mean global temperature is 14.6C, the warmest in thousands of
years. Level of CO2 in the atmosphere reaches 397 ppm, the highest in
millions of years.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Climate change refers to any significant change to weather that

lasts for a long time.

Climate forcings are different factors that affects our climate.
Natural forcings are from the nature itself. (E.g. volcanic

eruption, etc.).
Human-made forcings are made from mans emission of CO 2
or human activities that forces the climate. (E.g. aerosols,

burning fossil fuels, etc.).

Greenhouse gases are gases in the atmosphere that absorbs and
emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the
fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) enters the atmosphere through burning
fossil fuels (coal, natural gas and oil), solid waste, trees and
wood products, and also as a result of certain chemical reactions

(e.g., manufacture of cement).

Methane (CH4) is emitted during the production and transport of coal,
natural gas, and oil.

Nitrous Oxide (N02) Nitrous oxide is emitted during agricultural and

industrial activities, as well as during combustion of fossil fuels and solid
waste.

Fluorinated gases Hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and

sulfur hexafluoride are synthetic, powerful greenhouse gases
that

are

emitted

from

variety

of

industrial

processes.

Fluorinated gases are sometimes used as substitutes for

stratospheric

ozone-depleting

substances

(e.g.,

chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, and halons). They

are potent GHGs and sometimes referred to as High Global

Warming Potential gases.

Wildlife traditionally refers to non-domesticated animal species, but
has come to include all plants, fungi and other organisms which grow

or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans.

Biomass is a biological material derived from living, or recently living

organisms.
Water energy is the energy from moving water.
Solar energy is the energy from the heat of the sun.
Geothermal energy is the energy from heat of the Earth.
Nuclear power is the use of exothermic nuclear processes, to
generate useful heat and electricity. The term includes nuclear fission,

nuclear decay and nuclear fusion.

Wind energy is the energy extracted from wind using wind turbines
to produce electrical power, windmills for mechanical power, wind

pumps for water pumping, or sails to propel ships.

Forest fire is an uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible
vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Also

called wildfire.
Tropics s a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited
in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at 23
26 16 (or 23.4378) N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern
hemisphere at 23 26 16 (or 23.4378) S; these latitudes correspond
to the axial tilt of the Earth. The tropics are also referred to as the

Tropical zone and the Torrid Zone.

Fossil fuel are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic
decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organismsand

their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes

exceeds 650 million years.
V. Results and Discussion
From the data in the review, you could say that we mankind have
the biggest fault for the climate change we are experiencing right now. We
had an early warning from the scientist Svante Arrhenius but paid no heed
until more than half a century later. CO2s were only first observed during
1958 and we only came to realization of global warming in the 1970s. We
started to feel the effects of climate change from then and nations started
having conferences and established group of scientists studying the science
of climate. Burning fossil fuels is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse
gases

due

to

its

large

release

of

CO2s.
It has a
large effect globally,
all are affected by
climate change. Balance of nature is out because of it. These are caused by
the increased temperature of global warming that is an effect of climate
change.
According to this chart by NASA Scientific Visualization Studio,
our current global temperature is 0.61C.

Yes, from -0.25C of 1880 to a whopping 0.61C in 2013 (latest

measurement). If you treat it as a just youre very mistaken. That 0.61
global temperature is currently causing the calamities we face right now;
drought, destructive storms, you name it.
Even if progress did all this, it still little by little do something to
straighten it all out. Technology now is making preventions to it: eco-friendly
vehicles and renewable energy source but its still not enough to fill the hole.
VI. Conclusion
So, we can conclude that climate change is mostly to be blamed
on humanity. We cant say that We shouldnt have progressed or
something like that. What we are now is because of the progress our
ancestors has made. We cant say we arent benefiting from things that
produce those greenhouse gases. Everyone here is contributing to climate
change. When we travel with vehicles that produce greenhouse gases we
already does so. With less impact, even when we breathe. We inhale 0 2 and
exhale CO2. What we have to do now is help to stop it.
We are slowly approaching to apocalypse. The calamities that
doesnt normally happens to us happens now. Unless technology made a
miraculous turnover, we will face our judgment earlier than expected in the
future. Messing with nature is not really a good idea.
Every one of us could make a difference. We could use less
energy for less emissions by turning off lights when not in use or something.
We could travel greener, meaning without GHG emission like riding a bike

and such. We could switch to use cleaner source of energy like solar panels.
Also, saving water will help, even if your supply is continuous. That and we
could at least help, even a little to stopping climate change.
VII. Bibliography
Archer, D., & Rahmstorf, S. (2010). The Climate Crisis: An Introductory Guide
to Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Spratt, D., & Sutton, P. (2008). CLIMATE CODE RED: The Case for Emergency
Action. Carlton North, Victoria: Scribe Publications
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www.epa.gov/climatechange/
http://www.epa.gov/climatestudents/
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10139&page=6
http://www.enviropedia.org.uk/Global_Warming/CFCs.php
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildfire
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel
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