Most Pressing Issue Facing The 21st Century

Climate change is the subject of how weather patterns change over decades or longer. Over the years Earth’s global temperature has increased at an alarmingly dangerous rate. The mean global temperature from 1850-1890 was roughly 13.7 degrees celsius. By 2015 the mean global temperature was 14.8 degrees celsius. This fact alone proves the point that climate change is not ending and it does have negative effects for the ecosystem.

If this pattern continues to increase, unfortunately it can have damaging effects to animal life, plant life, and human life. If the temperature continues to rise, the warm temperature will extend the growing season for plants. As a result of this the plants will need more water to live. If they dry out there is an increased risk of wildfires and failed crops. Once the season ends, a shorter winter will neglect to kill the insects that increase the rate of infestations. Effects that scientists have predicted years ago are occuring now such as extreme heat waves, melting of the ice caps, and faster sea level rise. What scientists are predicting now, will occur in the future.

People that will be affected most are people that live in coastal areas. Coastal areas are more vulnerable to increased temperatures, changes in storm intensity, and sea level rise. Coastal areas already face many problems such as being more susceptible to storms, but climate change worsens the problems that they already face. Hurricanes or even rainstorms are a large threat to coastal areas because they get the most impact from large waves or big gusts of wind. Climate change does not help this factor because it increases the damages and destruction. The climate of the earth is affected by a number of factors. These factors include output of energy from the sun, volcanic eruptions, concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere, and aerosols. Since the Industrial Revolution, the largest contributor to the increase in global warming is carbon dioxide (CO2), followed by methane. It is also caused by the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect occurs when solar energy making contact with the earth’s surface is retransmitted to the atmosphere in the form of infrared thermal radiation.

This radiation has a lower wave frequency than solar energy itself. Gases like carbon dioxide and methane, behave like a giant piece of curved glass wrapped right round the planet. The Sun's rays (mostly visible light and short-wavelength, high-energy ultraviolet radiation) pass straight through this greenhouse gas and warm up Earth.