Mahnoor 1

Changes in climate caused by human activities and their effects

Mahnoor

AP Literature

Kyle Janosch

January 6th, 2017

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Changes in climate caused by human activities and their effects

Imagine after some years, New York will be melted into lava due to the increase in

temperature. Well be living in an environment completely polluted with greenhouse gases

where we will have no choice but to die. Climate change is a big issue which is needed to be

solved otherwise its a threat to peoples lives. Harmful gases are being released in the

atmosphere almost daily due to human activities. If not controlled, these harmful gases can have

dangerous effects on our environment and peoples health. While some experts think that human

caused greenhouse gases, especially CO2 are good for our environment, most of them blame

human activities for climate change which badly affect children, mostly living in developing

areas.

Many scientists had claimed that human activities are responsible for climate change.

Burning of fossil fuels is one of the biggest example. Scientists believe that burning of fossil

fuels by humans is increasing the amount of greenhouse gases which became a biggest reason of

climate change. Global changes in atmospheric composition occur from anthropogenic

(human-caused) emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide that results from the

burning of fossil fuels and methane and nitrous oxide from multiple human activities (Karl and

Trenberth). The presence of high amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is causing

global warming because the outgoing radiations from the Earth are being trapped by the CO2

resulting in the warming of the planet. According to John W. Farley, a physics professor,

human activities (particularly burning of fossil fuels) are an important contribution to the global
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warming that is occurring right now (Farley 74). Burning of coal, oil, and wood for human use

(to produce electricity, to produce heat, and to power vehicles) is affecting the balance of

greenhouse gases in atmosphere by increasing it.

Burning of fossil fuels is not the only cause of climate change, humans are also affecting

the land surfaces through deforestation, and desertification that leads to climate change. Human

activities also have a large-scale impact on the land surface. Changes in land-use through

urbanization and agricultural practices, although not global, are often most pronounced where

people live, work, and grow food, and are part of the human impact on climate (Karl and

Trenberth). Trees, plants, and vegetations are great source of removing CO2 from the atmosphere

but people are cutting down trees daily for their use, not knowing how badly it affects the

environment we live in. As trees and plants take in carbon dioxide during photosynthesis, and

release oxygen, they also refresh the air by decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide. But humans

are cutting down trees continuously for building purposes, for burning, and for cooking. And

obviously, if humans dont stop, there will be a small amount of trees left in our environment,

which means increase in CO2. Deforestation also results in desertification, another human made

cause of climate change. The major cause of desertification is the removal of trees, and

vegetations which result in the loss of nutrients from soil. This loss results in the dryness of land

making it infertile, which indirectly leads to climate change.

While there are some scientists who believe human caused CO2 has nothing to do with

climate change, they argued its really beneficial for our environment and for life on Earth.

According to Roy Spencer, a former NASA climate scientist, No matter how much CO2 we

pump into the atmosphere each year, the biosphere takes out an average of 50% of that extra
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amount. Even after we triple the amount of CO2 we produce, nature still takes out 50% of the

extra amount (Spencer 85). It means that the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the

atmosphere is not that harmful in fact its useful as most of the species on Earth take in CO2 to

live and grow, decreasing its actual amount in half. More the amount of carbon dioxide, more it

will be good for biosphere. One of the most common forms of plankton actually grows faster

and bigger when more CO2 is pumped into the water. Like vegetation on land, it loves the extra ,

CO2 too!
(Spencer 84). Sea life, and plants take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which

benefits them and us together. As mentioned earlier, During photosynthesis, plants take in carbon

dioxide, they release oxygen as byproduct which helps us in breathing, and also decrease the

amount of carbon dioxide. It also helps them to grow and produce food. Both planktons, and

plants control the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by balancing it.

Even though many scientists have claimed that carbon dioxide is really good for

biosphere, its increasing amount is leading towards climate change. Because of this change,

humans lives are at risk. Carbon dioxide might be useful for some species but not for all. Its

increasing amount in atmosphere is becoming dangerous for humans and humans themselves are

responsible for this dangerous. Over the past 50 years, human influences have been the

dominant detectable influence on climate change (Karl and Trenberth). As discussed before,

continuous burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, desertification etc are the reasons why humans

are facing climate change and are getting harmed through this.

More importantly, its harmful for those living in developing areas. As poor countries,

on average, have warmer climates than richer ones do (Hanna and Oliva), this temperature

change can badly affect peoples lives, and agriculture system in developing countries. Mostly,
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people in poor areas depend on agriculture, which is being affected by excessive heat or rain

(Hanna and Oliva) due to climate change. Exceeding temperature, shortage in water and

nutrients, floods and droughts can damage crops by affecting their growth. People are losing

their source of food and ability to feed their children. This inability results into poor nutrition and

contaminated water, which later impact them by different infections and parasitic diseases.

The diseases, which people are suffering from are more common in kids because

Children are potentially much more vulnerable than adults to environmental factors (for

example, heat, pollution, or famine) because they are both physically weaker and less able to

dissipate heat (Hanna and Oliva). Increase in greenhouse gases is increasing the temperature

day by day, which affect kids as they spend most of their time playing outside in heat waves. In

addition to heat waves, children can be affected by parasitic and vector borne diseases, which are

the result of more heavy rainfall, more flooding, and rising water temperature (Hanna and

Oliva). In comparison to richer areas, children in poor areas are more exposed to these diseases

as climate change is likely to exacerbate conditions that bring forth infections and parasites, the

health of children in poor nations is likely to suffer substantially more than that of children in

richer ones. Its a proof of why children in developing areas are more likely to suffer from

climate change than richer ones. Changes in climate make it worse for poor people due to having

weak government, and limited safety programs. Because of weaker institutional structures

(Hanna and Oliva), its hard for them to take any action to protect them from global warming.

They dont have proper health care system to treat or protect them from the effects of increasing

temperature and parasitic diseases. Additionally, due to weaker economy system, it gets harder

for people to take loans to cover their losses from climate change and sustain their families. They
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dont have enough sources and money for their treatments to cure diseases and even to feed their

families. These are the reasons why poor suffer more than rich.

Climate change is becoming a threat to peoples lives. Increase in the amount of

greenhouse gases and rise in temperature is becoming harmful. It is needed to be controlled.

Some actions or steps should be taken to prevent changes occurring in our environment. The

most easiest way to start is to limit the total emissions of carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse

gases), not to exceed 1 trillion tons (Schlesinger). CO2, which is a leading cause of extremely

high temperature must be limited. This is only possible if humans stop or reduce the use of fossil

fuels. It is to be believed that a tax on emissions of fossil carbon (Schlesinger) is the most

simplest way of protecting our atmosphere from human caused greenhouse gases. Because of

taxes being imposed on the use of fossil fuels, people will lessen its use, trying not to pay taxes.

The only purpose of this is to motivate people not to use that much of fuels and try to keep our

planet a safe and a better place to live. In addition to enforcing taxes on use of fossil fuels,

schemes related to geoengineering to solve global warming problem have been proposed. Many

geoengineering schemes, such as the capture of CO2 from power plants and its deep injection

into the ground (Schlesinger) are considered useful to remove carbon dioxide by reducing its

amount in atmosphere. It will be great if we start pumping out carbon dioxide as soon as possible

to lower its negative impact on environment and people. The process or idea of capturing CO2 is

to separate it from other gases released during burning of fuels and then bury it underground to

limit its amount. We should act upon these steps or ideas in order to get rid of harmful gases and

decrease the greenhouse effect.

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Humans lives are at risk due to constant change in climate. Temperature of our planet is

rising day by day due to increase in the amount of greenhouse gases. Many scientists have

argued that people are behind these changes. Human activities such as daily use of fossil fuels,

deforestation, and desertification are causing severe changes in climate. By radiations being

trapped through these activities, the temperature of our planet is increasing constantly. While

there are some others who have claimed that carbon dioxide released in atmosphere due to

human activities is not harmful instead its beneficial for biosphere. They think carbon dioxide

helps vegetation, plants and sea life to grow stronger and better. In fact for growth purposes,

biosphere takes up the half amount of the carbon dioxide from its original amount from

atmosphere. Yes, its true human produced carbon dioxide helps biosphere but its increasing

amount is becoming dangerous for people. It is not beneficial for all the species on Earth. People

are being affected by climate change especially children living in poor areas. They suffer from

several kind of diseases such as parasitic and vector borne diseases. Due to limited resources and

facilities, its hard for them to feed their families and protect them from diseases being spread

through contaminated food and water. To prevent climate change and limit the amount of

greenhouse gases, we should impose taxes on fossils and use geoengineering schemes. No matter

how beneficial carbon dioxide is for plants and sea life its still harmful for humans themselves.
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Works cited

Farley, John W. Human-Produced Carbon DIoxide Contributes to Global Warming. Global

Warming, edited by David Haugen, Kacy Lovelace, Susan Musser. Opposing

Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Accessed 20 December. 2017.

Hanna, Rema, and Paulina Oliva. Implications of climate change for children in developing

countries. The Future of Children, Spring 2016, p. 115+. General OneFile. Accessed 20

December. 2017.

Karl, Thomas R., and Kevin E. Trenberth. Human Activity Causes Global Warming. Global

Warming, edited by Cynthia A. Bily, Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Accessed 20 December. 2017. Originally published as

"Modern Global Climate Change," Science, vol. 302, 5 Dec. 2003, pp. 1-719.

Spencer, Roy. Human-Produced Carbon DIoxide Does Not Contributes Significantly to Global

Warming. Global Warming, edited by David Haugen, Kacy Lovelace, Susan Musser.

Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Accessed 20 December. 2017.

Schlesinger, William H. Climate change. Interpretation, vol. 65, no. 4, 2011, p. 378+. General

OneFile. Accessed 20 December. 2017.