SCIENCE 9

CLIMATE CHANGE
WHO IS THE REAL ENEMY OF OUR MOTHER EARTH?
 CLIMATE CHANGE
Earth's climate is influenced by different forces as
discussed in the previous lesson. When the sun rises, the
planet warms as it receives radiant energy. When
volcanoes erupt, pyroclastic materials are suspended into
the atmosphere which reflects sunlight and the planet
cools down. Obviously, the past climate change was
caused by natural forces.
 CLIMATE CHANGE
At present, climate change as a problem, is believed to have
been caused by the human expansion of the greenhouse
effect. Greenhouse gas (GHG) is a gas in the atmosphere
that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared
range. This process is the fundamental cause of the
greenhouse effect - a warming that results when the
atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space.
 CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate scientists have showed that

humans are responsible for virtually all global heating
over the last 200 years. Human activities like the ones
mentioned above are causing greenhouse gases that are
warming the world faster than at any time in at least the
last two thousand years.
 CLIMATE CHANGE

Many people think climate change mainly means

warmer temperatures. But temperature rise is only
the beginning of the story. Because the Earth is a
system, where everything is connected, changes in
one area can influence changes in all others.
 CLIMATE CHANGE IN FOCUS:
IMPACTS AND THREATS
 RISING TEMPERATURE
Based on the Fourth Assessment Report of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC
2007), an increasing rate of warming has
particularly taken place over the last 25 years and
11 of the 12 warmest years have occurred in the
past 12 years. With this alarming trend, the IPCC
projected that global warming will continue and
accelerate during the 21st century. It was estimated
that Earth could warm from a minimum of 1.8 °C
to as much as 4 °C rise in global average
temperature by 2100.
 SHRINKING ICE SHEETS
Data from NASA's Gravity Recovery
and Climate Experiment revealed that
Greenland lost 150 to 250 km3 of ice
per year between 2002 and 2006 while
Antarctica lost about 152 km° during
the same period. Ice sheets are one of
the main drivers of sea-level rise.
 SEA LEVEL RISE
Globally, sea level rose about 17 cm in the last
century. Sea level is measured relative to a land-
based tide-gauge benchmark. There are two
main factors that contributed to the observed sea
level rise. The first one is called thermal
expansion which can be attributed to the fact that
warm water expands. The second factor is
influenced by the contribution of water level
from melting of land-based glaciers in
Greenland and Antarctica.
 BIODIVERSITY DEPLETION
Due to rising temperature, extreme
weather conditions and changing
vegetation have become usual in
most of the places in the world. As a
result, animal species are forced to
migrate to new, cooler areas in order
to survive.
 OCEAN ACIDIFICATION
Ocean acidification refers to a reduction in the pH of
the ocean over an extended period of time, caused
primarily by uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from
the atmosphere. For more than 200 years, or since
the industrial revolution, the concentration of carbon
dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has increased due
to the burning of fossil fuels and land use change.
The ocean absorbs about 30 percent of the CO2 that
is released in the atmosphere, and as levels of
atmospheric CO2 increase, so do the levels in the
ocean.
 EXTREME WEATHER
Scientists believe that the increased intensity
and frequency of two phenomena namely El
Niño and La Niña in recent years is due to
global warming. Further studies claim that
higher global temperature might be increasing
the rate of evaporation from land and ocean
that leads to drought in some part of the world.
With a very high evaporation rate, intensified
storms and floods associated with El Niño
occur.
 CLIMATE CHANGE IN FOCUS:
WAYS TO MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE
 USE RENEWABLE ENERGY
The most direct and long-term cost-
savings approach is to install solar
panels at your home. If you can’t
do that, you can take part in
community solar by purchasing a
panel at or subscribing to a solar
farm.
 CONSERVE ENERGY
In a fossil-fuel based society, using
energy leads to greenhouse gas
emissions. And even low-carbon,
clean energy sources cause some
environmental degradation. It’s
critical that we find ways to use
less energy.
 CONSERVE WATER
We have lots of good reasons not to
waste water, and conserving energy is
one of them. It takes a lot of energy to
clean water, pump it out to buildings,
and pump the wastewater back to be
cleaned again. That energy use leads to
greenhouse gas emissions. Check for
leaks and fix them quickly.
 REDUCE FOOD WASTE
Eat less meat and more plant-based
foods. Bring your own take-home
container to a restaurant to take home
leftovers and avoid using a disposable
container. One-time-use containers
waste resources and energy, leading to
greenhouse gas emissions.
 SPEAK UP
Advocate for changes to our energy system.
Tell companies that if they want you to buy
their products, they need to be energy
efficient, use renewable energy, and
minimize waste. Normalize caring about
climate change and the environment—talk
about the things you do to mitigate climate
change. Your voice could have more power
and influence than you think.