How climate change affects us

“ Climate change ” refers to the variation in the meteorological patterns of the Earth’s climate. This variation, to be called as such, must occur in a significant way and with a certain variable duration in time that can range from decades to millions of years.

This last nuance that we have made is important, since there are variations in the Earth’s climate is normal and natural. The difference is that the change that occurs today is increasing mainly due to human activity and it does so by increasing both climate change and the speed at which it does so.

In this other AgroCorrn article you can find out the best Climate change phrases .

Returning to the idea that we used in the introduction, despite what some may think, climate change affects each and every one of us. It is not only an environmental phenomenon, but it also has serious social and economic repercussions. The impact and consequences that are being handled and that are already beginning to be seen are very serious. How does climate change affect us?

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

Consequences of climate change for humans

• Lack of drinking water mainly due to droughts caused by the large increase in temperatures.
• Melting or melting 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 rate.
• Extreme weather events such as storms, hurricanes, droughts, and heat waves.
• Food insecurity due to changes in food production conditions. Crop yields are expected to decline by 75% in Africa due to high evaporation caused by high temperatures and droughts.
• Increased loss of biodiversity . It may not seem like something that affects us directly to some. If so, they would be very wrong. There would be a 35% risk of extinction of 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 affect our health? The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the health of millions of people could be threatened by malnutrition and diseases transmitted by water, such as diarrhea, or linked to it, such as malaria, due to related aspects with pollution and climate change.
• Acidification of the oceans , which leads to 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 change , it 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 is progressing much faster than these investigations, so it must face this big problem before running from it.

The climate changes initiated naturally be traced to the variation of various aspects and factors that influence it, such as volcanic activity, changes in solar radiation received, processes biotic or ocean currents. By this we mean that human action , although today is one of the most important, is not the only driver of climate change.

However, it is worth highlighting another motive for this great current climate variation: greenhouse gases . Greenhouse gases are produced mainly, although not exclusively, by humans through the burning of fossil fuels in a majority way. Of these gases, carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main cause of the increase in climate change, 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 of gases.
• The constant increase in the human population.
• The destruction of marine ecosystems, since the ocean functions as a carbon sink (it absorbs 50% of atmospheric carbon) that when it reaches its limit, acidifies 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 prevent climate change in itself, because our planet has a cycle and its climate changes over time, which is why there have been ages of ice ages and warmer times like ours, among others. However, it is in our power to help this change take place more slowly, as would be natural, and to reduce the acceleration that we have caused in this process. Although, the truth is that the more time passes without a significant brake on this problem, the more difficult it is for us to reduce it because various factors accumulate that trigger it.

To do this, we must focus on actions related to reducing global warming produced by the increase in the greenhouse effect. We recommend you to know 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 into the atmosphere, as well as other GHGs or greenhouse gases.
• Manage much better the use of water at home and in our workplace.
• Improve waste management to reduce pollution, which can produce from greenhouse gases to forest fires, which emit more gases but also destroy areas of vegetation that can reabsorb some of these gases that are harmful to the atmosphere, among other problems. .
• Officially request (collecting signatures, writing letters, attending demonstrations …) to governments and companies to be consistent and act in the same way to reduce their own pollution, to put means to facilitate citizens to reduce their pollution from their homes and jobs, etc.
• Bet on the use of renewable energy to avoid the burning of fossil fuels and other energy sources that do run out and pollute more.

Here you can learn more ideas about How to avoid climate change .

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

If you want to read more articles similar to How climate change affects us , we recommend that you enter our Climate Change category .