How climate change affects us

It is called “Climate change”To the variation existing in the meteorological patterns of the terrestrial climate. This variation, to be called as such, must be produced in a significant way and with a certain variable duration in the time it can cover from decades to millions of years.

This last nuance we have made is important, because there are Variations in the Earth Climate It is normal and natural. The difference is that the change that is produced today is increasing because, above all, of human activity and does so by increasing both the change of climate and the speed at which it does.

In this other ecology article, you can know the best phrases of climate change.

Returning to the idea we handled in the introduction, despite what some think, Climate change affects us all And each of us. It is not a phenomenon only environmental, but also has serious social and economic repercussions. The impact and consequences that are handled and that are already beginning to see are very serious. What affects climate change?

The IPCC (Third Evaluation Report of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Climate Change) In 2001, it made it clear that climatic changes were occurring and, more specifically, an increase in temperature, a factor that significantly affects existing terrestrial systems. There are multiple consequences of this environmental problem for humans and many of them are totally related.

Consequences of climate change for humans

• Lack of drinking water due fundamentally to droughts caused by the large increase in temperatures.
• Fusion or thaw of glaciers and polar caps due to high temperatures. This would produce an increase in the number of floods and, consequently, an increase in the mortality index.
• Extreme climatic phenomena such as storms, hurricanes, droughts and heat waves.
• Food insecurity due to changes in food production conditions. A 75% decrease in crop yield in Africa is expected due to high evaporation motivated by high temperatures and droughts.
• Increased loss of biodiversity. Some may not seem something that directly affects us. If so, they would be very wrong. There would be a risk of extinction of 35% of the terrestrial species by 2050. The habitats in which they are found would be changing so fast that they would not be able to adapt and survive in them.
• There are serious health impacts. How does climate change in health affect us? The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the health of millions of people could be threatened because of malnutrition and diseases transmitted by water, such as diarrhea, or linked to it, such as malaria, due to aspects related to pollution and climate change.
• Acidification of the oceans, which entails the death of marine species.

The consequences of climate change are and will be increasingly serious for the planet and, of course, for us. Seeing all these Effects of climate changeit is urgent to take measures to help the planet because, no matter how much life is being investigated on other planets, the problem is real and imminent and advances much faster than these investigations, so this big problem must face before fleeing from it.

The climate changes initiated naturally They can find their origin in the variation of various aspects and factors that influence it, such as volcanic activity, changes in the solar radiation received, biotic processes or ocean currents. With this we mean that The action of manalthough today it is one of the most important, it is not the only engine of climate change.

However, it is worth highlighting another mobile of this great current climatic variation: Greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are mainly produced, although not only, by humans through fossil fuel burning in a majority way. Of these gases, carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main cause of climate change increase, although there are others such as methane (CH4), ozone (O3) or nitrous oxide (N2O).

Thus, the factors that are added as Causes of climate change are:

• Natural causes, such as volcanoes, biotic processes, etc.
• Greenhouse gases or GHG.
• The immense deforestation of jungles and forests that have increased the concentration of these gases by 30%, by eliminating these plants that would be able to contribute to the regulation of this excess gases.
• The constant increase in the human population.
• The destruction of marine ecosystems, as the ocean functions as a carbon sink (absorbs 50% of atmospheric carbon) that when it reaches its limit, it is acidified and causes the death of numerous plant and animal species.

If you want, you can expand this information with this other article on causes and consequences of climate change.

It is not that we can avoid climate change, because our planet has a cycle and is changing climate over time, so there have been warm glaciations and times like ours, among others. However, it is in our hand to help this change occur more slowly, as would be natural, and reduce the acceleration we have caused from this process. Although, the truth is that, the more time it passes without an important brake on this problem, the more difficult it is that we can reduce it because various factors that shoot it accumulate.

To do this, we must focus on actions related to reducing global warming produced by the increase in the greenhouse effect. We recommend knowing the difference between greenhouse effect and climate change in this other post to better understand each concept and its relationship.

Here are some Ideas on how to avoid climate change:

• Reduce our carbon footprint or CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, as well as other greenhouse gases.
• Much better the use of water at home and our workplace.
• Improve waste management to reduce pollution, which can produce from greenhouse gases to forest fires, which emit more gases but also end up with vegetation areas that can reabsorb some of these harmful gases for the atmosphere, among other problems.
• Officially request (collecting signatures, writing letters, going to demonstrations …) to governments and companies that are consistent and act in the same way to reduce their own pollution, put means to facilitate citizens to reduce their pollution from their homes and jobs, etc.
• Bet on the use of renewable energies to avoid burning fossil fuels and other energy sources that are exhausted and contaminated more.

Here you can learn more about how to avoid climate change.

Now that you know how climate change affects us in our daily lives, the causes of this and some things we can do to reduce its speed, if you are interested, you can see this issue in a practical way with this video of our YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqdx0okuekw

If you want to read more articles similar to How climate change affects uswe recommend that you enter our category of climate change.