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To what extent is Climate Change a result of human activities?

Course Code and Title: FIBS3002 English for Academic Purposes,


Research and Study Skills
Assignment Research Workbook Formative: TBC
Assignment Research Workbook Deadline: TBC
Student name: Andreea Andronache
Student ID: L4093342
Assignment title: To what extent is Climate Change a result of
human activities?

Introduction

Climate change is nothing more than long-term weather patterns, that is, temperatures in
certain areas, sea levels, including rainfall.
Climate change has caused the earth's climate to change dramatically many times since the
formation of the planet until now. Climate change has fluctuated between extremely hot
periods in ice ages, in cycles that have lasted tens of thousands or even millions of years.
However, in the last 150 years, temperatures have risen much faster than in any other period
since the beginning of the planet. This essay aims to analyze the extent to which climate
change is a result of human activities. For this, we will present concretely what are the causes
that led to climate change, we will present pros and cons. You will also find the definition of
the concept of climate change, but also other definitions that are in this area analyzed.

The first main argument, first of all, according to Lewis, N. and Curry, J. (2014), is that
climate change is one of the most serious and important global problems facing the world, but
which are induced by humans. For example, according to scientific research, where 99.99%
of the studies concluded that climate change is caused by humans. (Phys.org). These findings
underpin 88,125 research on climate change. Second, a study of climate change conducted in
2013 published and stated that 97% of studies on climate change between 1991 and 2012
supported the idea that human activities will increasingly alter the earth's climate. Thus,
according to Mark Lynas, a famous researcher at the Alliance for Science at Cornell
University and also the lead author of the paper published in 2012, said that humans are
certainly the cause of climate change. The same research gives them a 99% guarantee and
assurance that the reality of climate change is caused by human actions on nature.
Also, according to Soon and Baliunas (2003), they stated in their paper that the recordings
made and the analyzes on climate change showed and predicted that the twentieth century is
not the warmest period or even a period if has the most changeable and extreme temperatures.
They also said that the records reveal that there will be periods that will bring temperatures
that are increasingly unsuitable for the seasons.

The second argument is that, moreover, according to a study conducted before this research,
(ibid) it is found that the high temperatures that were recorded in the twentieth century were
found in the years 1000-1100 AD. Hr, but in the northern hemisphere. These high
temperatures are caused by the burning of fossil fuels, ie coal, oil and natural gas. However,
these changes are greatly accentuated by human activities through agricultural activities and
deforestation. Also, these gases create climatic problems because they capture heat in the
atmosphere and therefore the greenhouse effect occurs. Although a greenhouse effect is
needed, because without it, the average temperature of the planet would be even below -18 °
C, through the human activities that take place every day the effect is maximized and thus
leads to an accelerated growth of the temperature of the planet from year to year. All this
concrete information but also the fact that the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the
atmosphere is constantly growing, reaching in 2019 the record of almost 150% higher than in
1750.

The final argument, climate change and temperature changes that are taking place are caused
by human activities. According to Mann et al (2008), data from tree rings, corals, and ice
cores from the last millennium were compared with thermometric records from that time, and
found to be growing steadily over the past decade. Also, according to NOAA (2013) the level
of the atmosphere increased from 220 ppm to over 460 ppm in 2013 when the research was
done. Therefore, there is a lot of evidence, research and scientific analysis that has proven
and emphasized that human activities are what cause climate change.

First argument, although there is research that proves that climate change is caused by
humans, there are also opinions that say otherwise. Thus, there are people who oppose the
research and arguments brought in the Cook (2013) report, as they claim and state that there
is a series of research that has proven in one way or another that climate change is a result of
both to man, but also to the environment. On the other hand, there are people who claim that
climate change is still being debated by the scientific community and there is no concrete and
public research to show that 100% of people are responsible for climate change.

Another argument is that a recent study entitled "Greater than 99% Consensus on Human
Caused Climate Change in the Peer-Reviewed Scientific Literature" but also by publishing it
on November 19 in the journal ,,Scientific Literature '' He discovered that only 28 works and
researches were identified out of the 88125 previously declared. A software engineer from
the United Kingdom, Simon Perry, conducted a case study where he focused on the problem
of man-made climate change through his actions.

A third argument is that global average temperatures have risen by about 1.1 ° C over a pre-
industrial period. It is claimed that the wet actions exercised from one year to the next, from
one century to the next, will have devastating effects if the acceleration of the increase in
average temperature continues. Research warns that these persistent climatic changes will
lead to an increase in global average temperature by 3 or even 5 ° C higher than at present,
and this will lead to the destruction of nature, glacier thawing, floods and other natural
disasters that will gradually destroys the planet.

The final argument, the bottom line is that climate change, caused by human actions, is also
having a profound effect on people. Climate change threatens the health of both humans and
all living things on the planet, threatening food security, especially in underdeveloped areas
that already have a subsistence level. According to UNEP, the United Nations Environment
Program, a continuation of climate change and an increase in average temperature even by 2 °
C means an extreme risk of malnutrition, of hunger for half of the population of Africa and
not only. The World Health Organization also constantly warns that the health of the entire
globe is under threat of malnutrition, of the increase in diseases transmitted through infested
water, but also of the increase in the incidence of malaria. This phenomenon, once it occurs,
will create and determine migration trends, as people living in infected areas will leave the
affected areas and thus there will be climate refugees.

In conclusion, the problem of climate change has indeed arisen due to human activities, but
it remains a controversial topic, which argues for and against the assertion that man is the
cause of climate change. Although there is scientific research and evidence and numerous
analyzes in this field, there are people who do not claim that man is solely responsible for
climate change. Numerous studies have been conducted that have shown that human activity
is what causes climate change and for the same reason, the average global temperature rises
from one century to another very rapidly.

But research has shown the opposite, that human activities are not the only ones responsible
for climate change. It is specified that the earth has indeed undergone changes, but this
phenomenon is not only current, but was also encountered immediately after Christ. The
argument against this assertion and this research that people are not responsible for climate
change, is that global warming is also rising very alarmingly, causing an increase in average
temperature and these are caused to a very large extent by activities. human. However, there
will be more research on this subject, there will be opinions for and against whether or not
man is responsible for climate change, but at the same time solutions must be created to stop
drastic climate change and stop rising average temperatures. global action, but especially to
take action towards this phenomenon.

Bibliography

1. Cook, J., Nuccitelli, D., Green, S., Richardson, M., Winkler, B., Painting, R., Way,
R., Jacobs, P. and Skuce, A. (2013). Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic
global warming in the scientific literature. Environ. Res. Lett., 8(2)
2. Lewis, N. and Curry, J. (2014). The implications for climate sensitivity of AR5
forcing and heat uptake estimates. Climate Dynamics, 45(3-4)
3. Soon, W. and Baliunas, S. (2003). Global warming. Physical Geography, 27(3)
4. Stroeve, J., Holland, M., Meier, W., Scambos, T. and Serreze, M. (2007). Arctic sea
ice decline: Faster than forecast. Geophysics Research34(9).
5. Tol, R. (2016). Comment on ‘Quantifying the consensus on anthropogenic global
warming in the scientific literature’. Environmental Research. 11(4)
6. https://www.africaleds.org/
7. https://ebafosa.org/
8. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac2966
9. https://www.unep.org/regions/africa/regional-initiatives/responding-climate-
change#:~:text=Global%20warming%20of%202%CB%9A,in%20the%20region
%20by%202040.
10. https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en
11. https://www.eea.europa.eu/
12. https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/

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