WHAT IS HAPPENING AROUND THE CLIMATE CHANGE AND HOW DO WE MITIGATE IT

Climate Change: New Horizons of Research and Concepts

Introduction

Climate change is among the most common topics that are widespread all over the world today. The effects of increasing temperature, severity of weathers and changes in the habitat are felt almost every day. This paper aims to look at different trend in climate change and measures that are being taken to counter it.

Several trends have emerged continuously with regard to climate change.

Rapid Warming The Earth’s average surface temperature has risen by about one degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) since the pre-industrial period. This warming trend has also been evident over the past few decades with the last few years being considered record hot. The principal cause of this regional warming is the enhanced concentration of greenhouse gases in the stratosphere resulting from natural and human endeavors like combustion of fossil fuels and destruction of forest.

Extreme Weather Events Number of severe weather conditions has increased and they occur frequently. Higher mean temperature including heat waves, intense precipitation, hurricanes, and wildfires are now occurring or increasing. These catastrophes not only affect multiple facilities and the environments in which they are located, but are equally dangerous to human life.

Thawing on Ice/ Rising Seas The Arctic region is warming at over twice the rate experienced globally, which means that the sea ice is melting at an enormous rate. From this it leads to sea level rise, this is disastrous to coastal communities and many ecosystems. Moreover, there is an up surge in melting of glaciers and ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica that will lead to more rise in sea level.

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Changes The climate change is bringing change in living conditions and habitats. Certain species are becoming more widespread whereas those in other species are either reducing in coverage or endangered because of other factors in the environment. It is impotent as a key to transforming territories, and often these shifts affect the stability of ecosystems and the services they provide – pollination, water purification, carbon sequestration, etc.

Mitigation Efforts

Controlling Greenhouse Gas Emissions The most important activity that can be practiced in order to slow down climate change is controlling greenhouse gas emissions. This means moving from the conventional sourcing of energy from the fossil based energy sources such as oil, gas and coal to the use of solar, wind, hydro power among others. Almost all countries are planning to reach zero net emissions in the second half of the present century.

Energy Saving Since it is almost impossible to stop energy usage completely, it is possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increasing the efficiency of using energy. This involves; the implementation of energy-efficient technologies, implementing the best types of insulation, and supporting the use of public transport and electric cars.

tree planting and afforestation People should take time and plant trees, all over the world there is need to rebuild forests. Reforestation and Afforestation programs are being carried out globally to extend the coverage of forests in the world and increase the overall carbons stock.

More information: Climate policies and International agreements The governments of the countries and the international organizations are developing policies and agreements to fight climate change. The Paris Accord signed in 2015 speaks to holding the increase in the global arithmetic mean temperature to levels below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Countries are also establishing the national climate action plans to implement emission reduction targets.

Role of Technologies Technology enhancement is on the fundamental stage of applying criticality to climate change. Technologically enabled solution like carbon capture and storage (CCS), renewable energy technologies and sustainable agriculture practices are lowering emissions and increasing the system’s ability to withstand climate impacts as well.

Conclusion

Climate change is not a problem that can be solved individually or nationally but… The current trends depicted by the graph for the different years show increasing cases of emissions, but the encouraging factor is that the globe is taking some measures to mitigate these effects. If only the rate of carbon emissions will be decreased, energy efficiency increased, forests recovered, and effective policies in place, we can counter true changes towards a sustainable and resilient world.