Climate Change and Control Measures

 

 

Introduction

            Climate change is influenced by both natural factors which include volcanic eruptions, changes in climatic systems and changes in the rotation of the earth on its orbit and the output of the sun. Changes in the temperatures in the world have been measured using the climate models basing the fact that the changes in the climate have been caused by natural factors. This issue has been alarming in this century and therefore calls for steps to handle it. The investigations carried on causes of climatic changes have shown that there is very little influence of natural factors. It has been considered that the climatic change is highly being contributed by the human activities. These activities have been causing the global warming. It is possible to reduce the high level of climate and this can easily happen through government involvement in prevention of more cases of negative impacts in the climate. People who are working in the industries also have the duty to ensure to ensure they understand clearly on the effects and possible solutions of climate change

                                                    The Effects of Climate Change                  

           The climate changes have been leading major effects on the environment, economy, the social life and health. Income generating sectors should be very attentive on the effects discussed on this paper.

Change in Habit.

          There is emergence of grasslands in the areas where there had been forests and deserts from locations where there had been grasslands. This is mainly caused by the high temperatures which increase the period taken by the trees to grow and also causes the trees to change geographically. Some tree habitats might move to higher attitude areas while others completely fail to grow. Increase in temperatures has been leading to droughts and there is a probability that there might be extreme droughts in future. There is also loss of mangroves and coastal lands (Agnew, 2017). This has been caused by filling and dredging activities of people. The roots which are meant for breathing end up being covered preventing the specialized and the underground roots from accessing enough oxygen supply. There will also be change in oceans habits where there will be discovery of loss of coral reefs extremely. This is as a result of acidification and rising of the temperature in the oceans. There is also extinction risk of animals and plants due to the habit change.  There is also extension of forest and grasslands in to areas where they had not been present; like Arctic tundra.

Negative Health Effects   

              Climate change imposes greater threats towards the lives of many people as observed from A Lancet Commission. Particularly, climate change influences the massive spread of diseases which are highly infectious; for example malaria, malnutrition conditions and water-contamination related diseases (Agnew, 2017). Some cases like floods and drought causes poor yielding in the farms. Lack of enough food nutritional imbalances as there is no enough crops to feed the people. This in turn leads to malnutrition. There is emergence and spread of water related illnesses which are transmitted easily due to lack of sufficient water. The examples of such conditions are typhoid, cholera and trachoma. Malaria spread is also facilitated by flooding. The moment there is stagnant water in the environment, the plasmodium parasites get conducive environments for multiplication. This causes high rates of malaria in the affected areas. There is also spread of cardio-pulmonary infections caused by increased rates of air pollution and the injuries caused by the extreme weather changes. These illnesses include stroke, coronary artery disease, changes in blood pressure and heart attack.there have been many cases of hospital admissions as aresult of these conditions which are being facilitated by extreme high or low temperatures. The most affected individuals are the young and the advanced in years.

              Pulmonary system and the heart are highly affected by increased formation of ozone layer in the atmosphere. Blood vessel dysfunction, pulmonary embolism, clotting of the deep veins, and where the functions of the heart have been affected are some of the conditions that are highly facilitated by drought (Agnew, 2017). Over 300,000 deaths are likely to be facilitated by climate changes as reported by The Global Humanitarian Forum (2009). The climate change has been leading to prolonged periods of rainy seasons in some areas, these extreme climate change have been enabling vector sustainability. They end up multiplying in large numbers. They are also significant contributors of cardio-vascular diseases. There is also emergence and spread of new vectors. There are vectors which yield in great quantities in dry seasons like West Nile virus nad others thrive well in wet seasons like the ones that carry yellow and dengue fever. These vector-borne diseases causes spread of a type of tick that facilitates in spread of Lyme illness. The tick multiplication is highly supported by wet seasons. There had also been increase in weeds yielding in the farm as the prolonged seasons of rain.

 Shortage of Food and Water

            Higher temperatures, presence of snow cover, glacier melting and drought have been significantly contributing towards these shortages. There has also been presence of saline in the water sources in coastal regions (Agnew, 2017). There is decline of suitability of agricultural lands, minimization of growing seasons and low amounts of food from the land harvest. The elevating temperatures have also been threatening the fish in the water bodies. Increase in presence of carbon dioxide and many deaths of organisms have also been caused by climate changes. It also causes reduction of nitrogen and protein and these leads to poor quality. The presence of drought due to high temperatures lowers the crop yield. The warm temperatures facilitate thriving of pests and fungi thus increasing the levels of carbon dioxide. Animal products have also been affected by climate change. The fact that there is an effect on the pasture causes the animals to become unhealthy and lowers their products. Some might even die due to lack of pasture and water. Climate change also increases the multiplication rate in which the parasites that attack the livestock thrive.

The Livelihood Has Been Lost and Threatened.

           The climate changes highly threaten the lives of fishers, snow-related tourism, herders and small scale farmers. There are many people who get their daily bread in these occupations hence the change of climate affects a large population (Agnew, 2017). The herders are affected when there is no enough pasture to feed the animals. They might end up dying of hunger and this impacts negatively on the owners especially if herding had been the main source of food. The fishers are affected in cases where there are floods. It becomes impossible for the fishing practice to take place and this leads decline in economy of the fishers. It also leads to increased cases of food shortage for those who depend on fish for survival. Increased salinity of the water is also another factor that affects the life of the fish. The fish might end up dying or migrating to other water bodies leading to decline in their availability because the environment is not fit for survival. There will also be rise in the level of economy related with the threats of tourism, agriculture, fishing and the urge to try living in the changed climate. As a result, the life becomes expensive for the lower class to adapt. This affects the development of the nations especially those that are trying to develop.

Migration of People in the Developing Countries

            People will be caused to migrate in search for better environments in order to satisfy their needs. Herders and farmers will migrate to look for fertile land for cultivation and pasture for the herds respectively (Agnew, 2017). The people in the coastal regions will be forced to migrate due to the rising of the sea level and in search for safer places. The homes are destroyed by extreme weathers and this also will force people to move to other better places. Mostly, people migrate within the countries although a few move out of the borders. In most cases, the migrants end up moving towards the cities where there is poor infrastructure, overcrowding and all forms of pollution. The migration can also facilitate towards spread of communicable diseases as well time wastage.

Increased Social Conflict

            Climate change will make the states weak forcing them to put more efforts in order to meet the needs that have been posed by extreme changes in climate and this will lead to increased social conflicts (Agnew, 2017). Another cause of social conflict is increase in the level of competition. This will be based on the limited resources like water, food, land and fuel. The people migrating will cause conflicts in the areas they are moving into because they will go to compete for the limited resources in the regions. This will amuse the receiving area people causing conflicts. The conflicts might in turn lead to time wastage, human harm and rivalry.

Solutions

          There are several ways of controlling the climate change conditions from worsening. They have been discussed below

Change in the use of artificial to natural methods      

            This is one of the measures that can greatly reduce air pollution. It is clear that the machines used to travel emit poisonous exhaust fumes (Grazi & van den Bergh, 2008). Practice of ways that reduce pollution will greatly assist in controlling pollution that has been greatly causing climate change. It is therefore advisable for people to adapt more natural ways of travelling. These include; use of bicycles, public transit, sharing of cars instead of everyone using theirs and transportation using hybrid vehicles. From the findings of several interviews that had been carried out, there is the evidence that human activities greatly influence the climate change. This usually happens through the use of chemical substances in cultivation. These chemicals are later released in to the environment. Therefore there can be establishment of measures to curb this issue like use of electric cars as they are environmental friendly. The government also has a role in educating the people who are interested in the usage of the cars. These forms of transportation do not lead to emission of exhaust fumes hence there is interfering with the atmosphere. There is also change in the methods of farming can also enable control of climate. Majority of the farmers have been using many chemicals in the farms. It is very rare to find farmers farming without the use of fertilizers. They believe that the yields from the farms will be less if they happen to avoid fertilizers. In other situations where the farmers tend to grow crops in the green house, they end up using a lot of chemicals which are later released in to the atmosphere in gaseous state. As a result, there is imbalance in the energy of the earth due to effect of their toxicity on the radiation. There is therefore the need to change these human behavioral activities in order to lower the level at which the climate is being affected.

 Divesting From Fossil Fuels

             This involves emission of gases resulting from extraction and burning of fossil fuels. The gases are released in to the atmosphere which later affects the environment. An interview carried out on the same gives the findings on how the fossil fuels influence climate change. The fuels originate from the process of burning the fossils in order to come up with powder. In the process, harmful gases are emitted into the atmosphere. These gases readily affect the environment. The land also undergoes degradation during extraction of the fossils. This can be achieved by ensuring less inclusion of fossil fuels in institutions as well as industries. This can be done in the universities as well as the industries that are active and at a risk of emitting the gases (Grady-Benson & Sarathy, 2016). Campaigns on the same can greatly bring positive feedbacks. These fuels are life threatening hence it is important to keep away from them as far as climate change is concerned. The participants of the interview had given the idea of strictly avoiding fossil fuel use. This can be achieved through use of green energy is a better way of lowering the rates of emission of the toxins during the use and production process of the fossil fuels. For instance, it is easy to use solar panels because they are environmental friendly and are as well economical. It is also possible to use wind power. This method is easy to use and environmental friendly.

Less Consumption

            Overconsumption has been one of the major causes of climate change. Reducing the consumption of greenhouses will enable to lower the rates of emissions (Dunlap & Brulle, 2015). When buying the buying items, it is advisable to buy those that serve a wide purpose to avoid doing the buying several times. For instance while buying a new vehicle; it is good to buy a long-lasting one that impact less on the environment. This has been a major challenge because people have been buying several vehicles in an year just to meet pleasures of the society. In other cases, there is the tendency of people buying bseveral vehicles for the family members and everyone uses their own car. This would be better if one vehicle is used in transpoting the rest of family members thus reducing the rates of emission of gases into the atmosphere which in turn leads to climate change. This also applies when buying items on bulk to reduce use of many bags to package them. This idea of buying more facilitates on less consumption. This had been outlined by the participants in the interview who claimed that majority of the people are having the urge to drive personal vehicles which has been influenced by the society needs as people feel much comfortable while driving their own machines. This leads to high amounts of gases emitted to the atmosphere. The participants also claimed that the industries had been contributing much in the climate change through the over exploitation of natural resources.

Putting Prices in Air Pollution

            This is another strategy that can help in controlling the climate change from worsening. Implementing the policies of payments on the industries that release high amounts of carbon will enable to prevent the release in the biosphere (Al-Amin, Rasiah & Chenayah, 2015).  The industries will try to avoid activities that release carbon as they will have fear of paying the high costs for the same. This will enable to reduce emission of gases from the industries in future.

The use of electric cars

            The government has the ability to control emissions in the countries. They can enable to establish and maintain a natural environment (Liu et al, 2016).  The government has the powers to implement laws that will fight the extreme air pollution which greatly contribute towards changes of the climate. The laws will bring about adherence in actions that reduce pollution. The government can also offer education to people who are willing to use the environmental friendly methods like use of electric cars. These cars do not use fuels hence do not produce toxic exhaust fumes as for the case of the majority of the cars that use petrol and diesel. This is one of the solutions that had been given by the participants of the interview. There should be initiation of construction of car parks and change the fueling stations to encourage the method. This will greatly enable the people to use the cars without much constrains. Another way is by reducing the parking fees for these vehicles as it will encourage many people to buy them. The amount of taxes levied on these types of cars on the buying price should be lowered. This will enable to control the climate change.

Education of the Public by the Government

            The government still has the duty of educating people about the causes, effects and the needs to avoid environmental practices that will yield in to environmental pollution. It should convince the people on the ways of promoting the measures that will help to solve the problem of climate change (Wilson & Stevenson, 2016). This can be done using the social media channels like television and holding public meetings and campaigns in order to notify people on what should be done. The use of televisions or meetings in the public is a solution that had been given in the interview. There is the need for the government to encourage people to use the renewable energy in order to control climate and provide a secured future for the upcoming generation. The government and the companies have the duty to implement the policies that have been established by United Nations and other bodies with aim of addressing the trending case of climate change. It is the duty of the government to ensure that the policies implemented by those bodies have been adhered to; for instance the observation of the emission of gases to prevent the industries from going beyond the set limits. In case any of them fails to comply with the regulations, they should be closed.

Use of Biodegradable Products

            The idea of using the reusable items is good as they will decompose unlike the non-biodegradable. This idea is good in addressing both climate change and the overflowing landfills (Tolinski, 2012). Biodegradable materials are being produced in various forms like electronics, packaging, tissues and food. This is another solution that had been given in the interview by the participants. They outlined on the importance of reduced practice in the usage of plastic products and if possible, they should be banned. These items do not decompose hence end up staying on the environment for many years. People should buy items that are not potential environmental polluters. For example, it is advisable to practice on the usage of reusable carrying bags instead of polythene papers. These biodegradable items are environmental friendly. There is the need for the government to encourage people to use the renewable energy in order to control climate and provide a secured future for the upcoming generation. There is also the need of everyone to adopt this strategy to enable fighting the environmental pollution that has been highly leading to climate change.

Conclusion

            Climate change is influenced by both natural and human factors. It causes change in habit, migration of people in the developing countries and increased social conflict. The livelihood has been lost and threatened and there is shortage of food and water. The solutions to this situation include, change in the means of transportation where people are advised to use electric vehicles, use of re-usable items that are environmental friendly like reusable carrying bags and long-lasting vehicle and change in the use of artificial to natural methods like reduction of the high usage of chemicals in cultivation purposes there is also divesting from fossil fuels whereby the extraction is banned to prevent the excessive emission of gases during the process of burning and extraction. Reduction in the rate of consumption where there should few cases of activities that contribute to environmental pollution is another solution towards climate change. This can be achieved through ensuring less inclusion of fossil fuels in institutions as well as industries. Campaigns on the same can greatly bring positive impacts. These fuels are life threatening hence it is important to keep away from them as far as climate change is concerned. The government has a role of ensuring that the policies established by the United Nations as well as other concerned bodies have been adhered to. It should encourage and educate people on the importance of using the environmental friendly products like the biodegradable items like the reusable products.

                                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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