Written by: Nreep Shrestha - 28007, Grade VIII
Posted on: 05 June, 2023
Climate change is the long-term shift in typical weather patterns that have shaped the Earth's local, regional, and global climate. The amount of greenhouse gases trapped in the planet's atmosphere causes the average surface temperature to rise. Climate change has affected our work, housing, safety, and ability to grow food. Some of us residing in small island states and other developing nations, are already more susceptible to the effects of the climate.
Thousands of scientists and government observers agreed to keep the increase in global temperature to 1 degree or less in a series of UN reports. A temperature of 5 degree Centigrade will help keep the climate livable and prevent the worst effects. Numerous climate change solutions can boost the economy, enhance our quality of life, and safeguard the environment. Trace gas found in the atmosphere of the Earth, carbon dioxide is crucial to photosynthesis. The trend of carbon dioxide and other gases like CFCs in huge amounts can make global warming alter the water cycle and ocean's carbon cycle too.
The primary cause of both these elevated CO2 concentrations and climate change is the burning of fossil fuels. Manufacture of cement, deforestation, and biomass burning are additional significant anthropogenic sources. A greenhouse gas is a substance that emits and absorbs thermal infrared radiation, producing the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect is a phenomenon that happens when heat from a planet's host star passes through the atmosphere of the planet and warms the surface of the planet. However, greenhouse gases in the atmosphere prevent some of the heat from returning directly to space, making the planet warmer. The water cycle, also known as the hydrologic cycle, is significantly impacted by climate change, which has been described as an 'intensification' or general 'strengthening' of the cycle.
Life on Earth depends on the water cycle, which also has a major impact on the climate and circulation of the oceans. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) signed in 1994, made almost all nations in the world as partakers to it. Preventing harmful human interference with the climate system is the aim of the UNFCCC. However, to keep global warming below 1.5°C, we must cut emissions by roughly half by 2030. A growing coalition of nations has committed to net zero emissions by 2050. Between 2020 and 2030, the production of fossil fuels will decrease by about 6% annually.
