Question

PLEASE WRITE IT OUT ON PAPER!!!!

There is constant debate on whether we have man-made "global warming" or natural "climate change" With this in mind please answer the following question:

Your Assignment: Discuss the debate over global warming and climate change and research possible solutions to determine what actions are government should take.

Writing Guidelines: 500 word minimum - 1000 word maximum

Answer 1

The terms climate change and global warming are often used interchangeably, but climate change refers to both the rise in global temperatures because of human activities and the many impacts this rise has on the planet—such as more intense and frequent droughts and storms, melting glaciers and ice sheets, rising sea levels, warming seas (which can cause coral reef bleaching and disrupt the marine food chain), and ocean acidification. Climate change can also refer to natural fluctuations in the Earth’s average temperature between cold periods (ice ages) and warm periods.

The climate change we are currently experiencing is almost certainly manmade in origin. Scientists have concluded that, over the last 50 years, the Earth’s surface should have been cooling slightly based on natural factors, like solar intensity and volcano activity; instead, the increased burning of fossil fuels has led to global warming—and at a significantly faster rate than at any time over the last 800,000 years.

People around the world are already feeling the impact of climate change on the environment. A hotter atmosphere means extreme weather is more likely and potentially more devastating: droughts, flooding, and more severe storms have all become more common. Changing weather patterns can ruin crops and cause serious water shortages. Rising sea levels are threatening low-lying islands and coastal cities. Tropical and insect-borne diseases are spreading as their hosts colonize new habitats that were previously too cold for them to survive.

Climate change represents a significant threat to the health and well-being of human societies, especially in vulnerable areas of the developing world where people are ill-equipped to deal with the side effects of a warmer climate.

Climate change is one of the most significant threats facing the world today. According to the American Meteorological Society, there is a 90 percent probability that global temperatures will rise by 3.5 to 7.4 degrees Celsius (6.3 to 13.3 degrees Fahrenheit) in less than one hundred years, with even greater increases over land and the poles. These seemingly minor shifts in temperature could trigger widespread disasters in the form of rising sea levels, violent and volatile weather patterns, desertification, famine, water shortages, and other secondary effects including conflict. In November 2011, the International Energy Agency warned that the world may be fast approaching a tipping point concerning climate change, and suggested that the next ten years will be crucial for greenhouse gas reduction efforts.

Avoiding the worst consequences of climate change will require large cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions. Humans produce greenhouse gases by burning coal, oil, and natural gas to generate energy for power, heat, industry, and transportation. Deforestation and agricultural activity also yield climate-changing emissions.

One way to reduce emissions would be to switch from fossil-fuel-based power to alternative sources of energy, such as nuclear, solar, and wind. A second, parallel option would be to achieve greater energy efficiency by developing new technologies and modifying daily behavior so each person produces a smaller carbon footprint. Additionally, retrofitting buildings and developing energy-efficient technology greatly help curb greenhouse gas emissions. All such measures, however, engender significant costs, and the onset of the global financial crisis has placed serious new constraints on national budgets both in the developed and developing worlds. Some climate change experts have expressed concern that the ongoing global financial crisis could defer action on climate change indefinitely.

Even if such reforms were implemented, substantial efforts will still be required to adapt to unavoidable change. Recent climate-related events, such as the flooding in Pakistan and Thailand, have caused focus to fall on adaptation financing for developing countries, which could support infrastructure projects to protect vulnerable areas. Other efforts might include drought-tolerant farming.

Distribution of global emissions reinforces the need for broad multilateral cooperation in mitigating climate change. Fifteen to twenty countries are responsible for roughly 75 percent of global emissions, but no one country accounts for more than about 26 percent. Efforts to cut emissions—mitigation—must therefore be global. Without international cooperation and coordination, some states may free ride on others' efforts, or even exploit uneven emissions controls to gain competitive advantage. And because the impacts of climate change will be felt around the world, efforts to adapt to climate change—adaptation—will need to be global too.

At the launch of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change seventeenth Conference of Parties (COP-17) in Durban, South Africa, many climate change experts were concerned that the Kyoto Protocol could expire in 2012 with no secondary legally binding accord on limiting global emissions in place. This fear, however, was somewhat assuaged as the nearly two hundred countries present at the COP-17 approved an extension of the protocol through 2017 and potentially 2020.

Climate change is one of the most significant threats facing the world today. According to the American Meteorological Society, there is a 90 percent probability that global temperatures will rise by 3.5 to 7.4 degrees Celsius (6.3 to 13.3 degrees Fahrenheit) in less than one hundred years, with even greater increases over land and the poles. These seemingly minor shifts in temperature could trigger widespread disasters in the form of rising sea levels, violent and volatile weather patterns, desertification, famine, water shortages, and other secondary effects including conflict. In November 2011, the International Energy Agency warned that the world may be fast approaching a tipping point concerning climate change, and suggested that the next ten years will be crucial for greenhouse gas reduction efforts.

Avoiding the worst consequences of climate change will require large cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions. Humans produce greenhouse gases by burning coal, oil, and natural gas to generate energy for power, heat, industry, and transportation. Deforestation and agricultural activity also yield climate-changing emissions.

One way to reduce emissions would be to switch from fossil-fuel-based power to alternative sources of energy, such as nuclear, solar, and wind. A second, parallel option would be to achieve greater energy efficiency by developing new technologies and modifying daily behavior so each person produces a smaller carbon footprint. Additionally, retrofitting buildings and developing energy-efficient technology greatly help curb greenhouse gas emissions. All such measures, however, engender significant costs, and the onset of the global financial crisis has placed serious new constraints on national budgets both in the developed and developing worlds. Some climate change experts have expressed concern that the ongoing global financial crisis could defer action on climate change indefinitely.

Even if such reforms were implemented, substantial efforts will still be required to adapt to unavoidable change. Recent climate-related events, such as the flooding in Pakistan and Thailand, have caused focus to fall on adaptation financing for developing countries, which could support infrastructure projects to protect vulnerable areas. Other efforts might include drought-tolerant farming.

Distribution of global emissions reinforces the need for broad multilateral cooperation in mitigating climate change. Fifteen to twenty countries are responsible for roughly 75 percent of global emissions, but no one country accounts for more than about 26 percent. Efforts to cut emissions—mitigation—must therefore be global. Without international cooperation and coordination, some states may free ride on others' efforts, or even exploit uneven emissions controls to gain competitive advantage. And because the impacts of climate change will be felt around the world, efforts to adapt to climate change—adaptation—will need to be global too.

At the launch of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change seventeenth Conference of Parties (COP-17) in Durban, South Africa, many climate change experts were concerned that the Kyoto Protocol could expire in 2012 with no secondary legally binding accord on limiting global emissions in place. This fear, however, was somewhat assuaged as the nearly two hundred countries present at the COP-17 approved an extension of the protocol through 2017 and potentially 2020.

In recent years, the United States has taken significant steps (both at the federal and state levels) to combat global warming by increasing the nation’s use of renewable energy and curbing greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency initiatives and carbon pollution standards. When signing the Paris Climate Agreement in 2016, the United States committed to making further cuts to carbon emissions with the aim of limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius in the 21st century.

In 2015, President Barack Obama proposed the Clean Power Plan, which would have reduced carbon emissions from existing power plants by at least 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Substantial gains have already been made, with U.S. emissions from the power sector being at the lowest point since 1991. The power sector had been the nation’s largest source of carbon pollution, at 31 percent of the total; at present, the transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Trump Administration has rolled back several of the previous administration's climate actions, including the Clean Power Plan. But states, including California and New York, are moving forward with policies to curb carbon emissions and favor renewable energy and energy efficiency. As of September 2016, 20 states and the District of Columbia have set their own greenhouse gas reduction targets.

All the remaining governments of the world need to follow same steps to combat global warming by increasing the nation’s use of renewable energy and curbing greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency initiatives and carbon pollution standards.