W13 Final Draft: Academic Paper - Climate change
Academic Paper
Brigham
Young University-Idaho
Fabrice Tshiyoyi Banyingela
ENG 301
- Advanced Writing &
Research
Professor Shelby Scoffield
11 November 2021
Introduction
Technology is nowadays very important since the industrial revolution
and globalization. It makes life easier thus engineers keep inventing new
machines and tools. Technology has become the soul of our daily activities in
order to accomplish various tasks in our homes, at work, or neighborhoods.
These technologies are used to extract minerals, secure data, establish telecommunications,
and many other systems that require electronics or electrical power. When it is
well applied, technology benefits everyone. On the contrary, the consequences
are devastating such as pollution of the environment and natural catastrophes. With
recent devastating events, scientists are arguing if climate change could be a
result of modern environmental technology change. There are basically three
groups of people who are concerned with this issue. Group one and two are
scientists, while group three is mostly politicians, environmentalists, and the
media.
Thesis
Over
the past years, our environment has drastically changed. A common question asked is, does technology
help or harm our environment?
It is clear that our environment is harmed by technology. Today’s climate
change is caused by human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels,
deforestation, and farming.
Group One
Scientists discovered that the global temperature
had risen by 1 degree Celsius. To combat climate
change and adapt to its effects, several nations concluded a common cause
called the “Paris Agreement” – which is a legally binding international treaty
on climate change adopted in Paris, on 12 December 2015. So the Paris
Agreement, also known as The Paris Climate Accord, aims to stop these dangerous
levels of climate change in hopes to prevent lives from being destroyed by
extreme weather. Despite the efforts, political leaders seem to relax and not much
has been done to mediate its effects. With
recent devastating events, scientists are arguing if climate change could be a
result of modern environmental technology change.
Group one is associated with the scientists of the UN
international body on climate change such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
These scientists believe that recent climate change is primarily due to the
burning of fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) by humans. This releases
CO2 into the atmosphere, which could lead to the dangerous warming
of the planet. Climate change is a new concept of the 1990s which is concerned
with the long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. In some cases,
Climate change might be natural, but since the 1800s, scientists say there is a
95% chance that human activity is the cause. Human activities such as
deforestation and burning fossil fuels as well as natural processes such as
respiration and volcanic eruptions have become the main drive to this change.
These gases go to the air, and when the sunlight gets into the earth’s
atmosphere, some of the heat gets trapped, and the planet gets warmer. That’s
why they call it the “Greenhouse effect.
In the middle of October 1987, a powerful storm ravaged many
parts of the United Kingdom. The massive devastation across the country left
the country in tears – 18 people were killed, 15 million trees were blown
down, electrical and telephone lines were destroyed, leaving thousands of homes
without electricity for several hours. Another example is the northern side of Mozambique
that was hit by the tropical Cyclone Kenneth in 2019 which killed 38 people,
destroyed 35,000 houses – affecting 1,000,000 people, and left the area without
clean water for months thus the arise of water-borne diseases. In Asia, the Typhon Cyclone swept its
way through East Asia and forced two of the world's busiest ports in
China to suspend some operations. As temperatures get warmer, sea levels
are rising about 3 millimeters a year, people around the world are losing their
homes, millions of people are likely to suffer worsening food and water
shortages, and entire coastal cities could be underwater within 100 years like
Miami (US) and Osaka (Japan). Government cannot lose sight of the threat that
climate change poses to the country’s major sectors and must mobilize all of
the resources at its disposal to support economic recovery especially during
the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many of the technologies we use every day consume a lot of
resources and power than they need and release gasses. These gasses in return
can create a mess through pollution, waste, and more. Carbon emissions,
primarily carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, are greenhouse gasses produced by
human machines such as cars, planes, power plants, and factories. The presence
of these gasses in the atmosphere traps heat and radiation and reflects it back
to the earth's surface thus the inquietudes about climate change.
The
graph below shows the carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere and the spike in
carbon dioxide levels at the very end during the industrial revolution. The CO2
record began in 1950 and has not stopped since. The UN says that "The Earth is now about 1.1°C
warmer than it was in the 1800s. We are not on track to meet the Paris
Agreement target to keep the global temperature from exceeding 1.5°C above
pre-industrial levels. That is considered the upper limit to avoid the worst
fallout from climate change." In fact, the UN says if we warm 1.5 -
2 degrees by the end of the century, we should be fine. But the problem is the
speed. As of 2020, we are on track to hit 1.5 degrees in just ten years. So if
we do not slow the warming, it could spell disaster in our lifetime - and we
are already getting a taste of it. António
Guterres, UN Secretary-General, said “Natural disasters becoming more and more
intense, more frequent, with devastating consequences. The dramatic impacts of
droughts in different parts of the world, all of this is creating a situation
that is a real threat to humankind. And we are not doing enough.”
Some world leaders have handled this global warming
carelessly. After a three-year waiting period, the US became the first nation to leave the Paris climate pact. President Trump
was more concerned with the wealth of the U.S. and the fact that its
mass population no longer supports this global organization, while the
challenge of reducing emissions has drastically increased. It is notable to
recognize also that the United States is responsible for being the number one
largest contributor to greenhouse emissions in history—which needless to say
doesn’t bode well for mankind. Luckily, there are still many Americans such as
President Biden who do their part to abide and cooperate with the Paris
Agreement by officially bringing the USA back in the Paris Climate Agreement.
In
Africa for example, the head of
the African Union (2021), Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, said “other
parts of the world must contribute half of the $25 billion the continent needs
to run an adaptation program over the next five years. The balance will come
from the African Development Bank.” Tshisekedi spoke before an Africa-focused
summit at the U.N. climate conference in the Scottish city of Glasgow and highlighted
Africa’s plight in the face of climate change despite being the populated
continent least responsible for global emissions (about 3 percent).
Research
suggests that unless drastic measures are taken to improve our population's
health and quality of life, our population's health and quality of life may
decline dramatically. In addition to gaining a full understanding of climate change's
harmful consequences, it would be ideal to also develop the attitude that
taking action now is much better than delaying action and suffering the
consequences later. Back in 2015, it was confirmed that the earth's temperature
had increased by 1 degree Celsius. One degree does not seem like a big deal,
but on a global scale, these are all things that could happen: Mountains could
lose most of their glaciers, causing rivers to dry up and eventually disappear.
Mountainous regions are also at greater risk of landslides as the permafrost
that once held them together for thousands of years begins to melt. 1/3 of all
fresh water in subtropical regions could disappear within 85 years. Tropical
regions could also experience heatwaves for up to 3 months, drastically
affecting the growth of stable plants needed to feed the growing population. We
know that 40 percent of Arctic sea ice has already disappeared in the last
thirty years. The huge increase in ocean surface area makes it less likely that
the ice will form again, as the ocean keeps warming and the ice stays melted.
Melted ice caps cause low-lying islands to flood when sea levels rise. For
comparison, if sea levels rise even 1 meter, 10% of the human population would
be relocated. With a global rise of 2 degrees Celsius, we can expect plant
growth to slowly decline until the process of photosynthesis stops completely.
Plants would no longer be able to absorb carbon dioxide as efficiently and
would instead emit it into the atmosphere, further fueling global warming.
Warmer oceans would cause irreversible damage to 99% of coral reefs, disrupting
the ecosystem of up to 9 million different species. In fact, ecosystems around
the world would collapse as species would be forced to migrate, throwing them
out of balance. This would lead to the grim fact that 1/3 of all living things
on Earth would face extinction. Humans would not be immune to this either, they
would die. For example, in the summer of 2016, when temperatures were 2.3
degrees Celsius above average, over 50,000 people died from heat-related
illnesses across Europe.
Economically
speaking, with the escalating temperatures, we would expect to see a decrease
in efficiency of power generations—while still maintaining extreme energy
demands. That would quickly result in the price of electricity to skyrocket.
The prices of importing and exporting goods with neighboring countries would
also fluctuate heavily due to the weather changes. That would greatly affect
those businesses around the globe that have supply chains or overseas
operations. It is projected that with the emissions rate continuing at the
amount that it is, the world will experience annual losses of billions of
dollars to infrastructures by the end of the century. Clearly, economic growth
for the next several years will not improve unless global recognition and
action are taken.
Group two
Group two is made up of scientists who don’t see this as a
serious problem. This group is sometimes referred to as skeptics. They believe
that there are many reasons why the climate changes such as the sun, clouds,
pollution, the orbit variation of the planet earth, and many more. None of
these are fully understood and there is no evidence that CO2
emissions are the dominant factor.
Kate Marvel, an associate research scientist at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and science writer, said, “Climate change won’t destroy the actual planet or make the human species go extinct, the climate apocalypse will not come for us all, at least not all at once.” Her judgment is similar to many others who believe in the impact climate change has on the world but aren’t as worried about it, mainly because the results of the predictions seem to lead into the long distant future. That’s a definite nowadays citizen mindset to always believe that we’ll cross the bridge when we get there. And Henrik Svensmark, a professor for Sun-Climate Research at the Technical University of Denmark, claims that the sun and cosmic rays are the cause of global warming, not human activity. He explains that when the Sun is energetic, its magnetic field provides a shield for Earth against the cosmic rays that rain down from outer space before they are able to reach our planet. The Sun thus has control of the Earth’s temperature by regulating its cloud cover. Svensmark expounded on this idea by adding that previous high solar activity led to fewer clouds and a hotter world. The low solar activity resulted in increased cloud cover due to the lack of proper shielding against cosmic rays, thus making the Earth cooler. During the 20th century, the Sun’s magnetism doubled in strength, which Svensmark believes is the natural mechanism that is responsible for the global warming the world has been experiencing. Upon releasing his findings and outlooks, Svensmark was met with “very sharp criticism”, which he accepted as customary in the world of science. (Svensmark, et al., 2007)
Group one and two common
ground
Actually, there are many points of agreement between group
one and two of scientists such as the climate always changing, life is not
possible on earth without CO2 on earth, between 1800 and 2000, global mean
temperature has increased slightly and erratically by about 1 degree Celsius –
but only since 1950 have man’s greenhouse emissions been sufficient to play a
role, no confident prediction about future global mean temperature or its
impact can be made.
There
are current circumstances enabling climate change to become a pressing issue.
Natural disasters, pollution levels, health issues, and economic strife
contribute to this situation. Global warming is too often underestimated when
it comes to taking action. Although the concern has been discussed in the past,
today's society is insurmountably more advanced in terms of technology,
allowing us to access much more reliable and accurate data than ever before. It
was announced in mid-November that the National Climate Assessment (NCA) would
release its latest report, a 1600-page report that summarizes all of the grim
realities we're facing. As we have already seen, communities have been affected
by extreme weather; including wildfires and hurricanes, and we can expect more
of the same in the future. The IPPC
acknowledges in its 2007 report that quotes “the long-term prediction of future
climate states is not possible”, and most importantly, the scenario that the
burning of fossil fuels leads to catastrophe isn’t part of what either group
asserts. So, why so many people are worried about this issue? This is where
group three comes in – which consists of politicians, environmentalists, and
media.
Group three
Most nations are currently facing a debt crisis due to the
impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy. Climate change and Covid-19
have become a rising concern around the world. With our technological
advancement, most of the population has access to reliable data exploiting
global warming’s effects via the Internet – at the very least most
can say they’ve heard about it. But does it all really matter? Climate change has all these negative connotations, yet
nothing is really done
about it, is it really that important? There may be a tendency to wonder why we
should even care about climate change, especially when we are dealing with
other urgent issues on a daily basis. Throughout
their behavior, global warming alarmism provides people with the things they
most want. For politicians it’s money and power, for environmentalists, it’s
money for their organizations and confirmation of their near-religious devotion
to the idea that man is a destructive force acting upon nature, and for the
media, it’s money and headlines.
Rick
Perry, a former US secretary of energy and 47th governor of
Texas took an unequivocal stand on climate change when he claimed scientists
had "falsified global warming data for money". Perry brings up the
suggestion that George Luber, a co-chair of the U.S. Global Change Research
Program, is analyzing several facts related to environmental factors and human
health. In terms of the environment, he says we can expect an increase in
drought-affected areas, a rise in extreme sea levels, frequent heavy and
erratic rainfall, an increase in intense tropical cyclones, and severe heat
waves. Human health, of course, will be affected by global events. Because of
all these factors, Luber addresses the fact that we can expect increases in
heat-related deaths, mental stress, cardiovascular and respiratory disease,
exposure to environmental toxins, and deteriorating air quality. Physical and
biological systems on all continents and oceans are already affected by global
warming," he says. There is likely to be further warming in the coming
decades. The long-term effects of emissions are becoming more apparent."
Unfortunately,
group three is winning the argument. They can
waste a lot of money and scary a lot of people, but they won’t be able to bury
the truth forever. Even though climate change does not seem to be causing
drastic problems today, we need to educate ourselves about it, regardless of
which side we support. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel that
shows there are things we can do to help this cause. Predictions may not be
enough to stop people from continuing to warm the earth, but they are at least
a guide on how to prepare for a scary future. As Kate Marvel points out,
"There is a room for maneuver between "all is well" and "we
are doomed." Sometimes people get so excited about using a new technology
that they overlook the negative impact on the environment. But it is very
important that we use technology in the most intelligent and responsible way so
that we solve problems and do not create more for the future.
Conclusion
It is clear that the increasing population has
led to the growing demand for natural resources through technology which in return
is harming the environment. Clearly, all
the causes presented in this paper have an impact but their exact contributions
are still a global debate. But to preserve a
livable climate, greenhouse-gas emissions must be reduced to net 0 by 2050;
so the Paris Agreement goal stands as a solution in order to limit global
warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This is achievable
by reaching global peaking of greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible. By changing our habits we can tackle the climate
emergency and build a sustainable world. If world leaders democratize the
conversation about “climate change”, then everyone will know where the world is
going so that they will better understand what they can do in their individual
capacity to contribute to the climate change narrative – this will actually
bridge the gaps and people can feel the impacts and the effects of what is
happening.
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