Climate change, its causes, effects, and climate change adaptations

Climate meaning:

Climate is actually a weather condition that prevails in any particular area of the biosphere (planet earth) for a very long period. Climate is of three main types e.g., tropical, temperate and polar and interesting thing is that these three types prevail from the centuries. In these climates, weather repeats every year in a cyclic manner. So, the climate is an average weather pattern on a particular region of our blue planet.

Climate and weather:

Both terms are used for the atmospheric conditions, but the main difference between them is the time. Weather is the short-term behavior of the atmosphere while climate is very long-term weather conditions of a particular region. Weather is actually an atmospheric condition at a place which we deduce day by day or even min by min. it may be rainy, sunny, cloudy. But climate is all the atmospheric conditions including rainfall, temperature, humidity, wind, and pressure. Weather can be summarized as momentary (over short periods) of environmental conditions but climate man’s environmental conditions from century to century in a particular region.

Climate change:

By climate change, we mean that long-term alteration in climate (average weather pattern) which affects the planet’s global weather patterns as well as regional climatic conditions. This means that the earth`s full scenario changes with climate change, even the solar cycle, patterns of rain, and reshaping the planet’s structure and physiological integrity, stability, and performance. Principally this is due to the increase in greenhouse gases which ultimately leads to global warming and climate change. The excessive burning of fossil fuel produces more carbon dioxide which leads to more absorption of heat emitted from the earth (especially infrared radiations). So, this is the problem mainly associated with the greenhouse effect caused by greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, water vapors, etc.).      

Causes of climate change:

Our beautiful blue planet is surrounded by a thick blanket of air called the atmosphere. This blanket contains 78 percent of nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, 0.9 percent argon, and 0.1 percent other trace gases. These trace gases are carbon dioxide, methane, water vapors, nitrous oxide, and neon, etc. Among these carbon dioxides, water vapors, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases are called greenhouse gases. Because these gases behave like the glass of the greenhouse and absorb much of the light energy and trap heat energy. The main reason behind climate change is the unnecessary and unchecked rise of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by human activities. These activities create a most detrimental problem named pollution. Pollution is of many kinds like water pollution, land pollution, air pollution, and noise pollution. Among these air pollution increases the carbon dioxide level and other grease house gases. This increase in the greenhouse effect by the rise in greenhouse gases leads to global warming which ultimately causes climate change.

Sr no.	Gas	Percentage
1	Nitrogen	78.08
2	Oxygen	20.95
3	Argon	0.93
4	Carbon dioxide	0.036
5	Neon	0.002
6	Helium	0.0005
7	Krypton	0.0001
8	Xenon	0.0001
9	Hydrogen	Trace
10	Nitrous oxide	Trace
11	Methane	Trace
12	Ozone	Trace
13	Sulfur dioxide	Trace
14	Ammonia	Trace
15	Carbon monoxide	Trace

Sr. No.	Greenhouse gases/factors	Greenhouse effects (Percentage)
1	Water vapors	50 %
2	Cloud	20 %
3	Carbon dioxide	20 %
4	Aerosols & other greenhouse gases	10 %

Ten main sources of greenhouse gases are;

1. Automobile exhaust
2. Industrialization
3. Urbanizations
4. Poor land utilization
5. Oil drilling
6. Power plants
7. Solid Waste mismanagements  
8. Deforestation at alarming levels
9. Fossil fuels combustion. E.g., Oil, gas and coal
10. Non-scientific livestock farming
11. Use of the fertilizers containing nitrogen
12. Fluorinated gases emissions by aerosols

Effects of climate change:

Due to the uncontrolled emission of greenhouse gases leading to greenhouse effects and global warming, the following are the main alarming impacts on our beautiful planets.

1. Atmosphere become too warmer, violent and unpredictable.  
2. Too much melting of ice from glaciers that is not normally takes place  
3. Melting of glaciers directly rise the level of water in oceans (sea level).
4. The coastal areas will be drowned due to the increase in sea level.
5. Effect on nature: The overall nature will be affects, frequent typhoons, (recent typhoon Rai of Philippines), volcanoes, tsunami will destroy this beautiful planet.
6. Effect on humans: The human diseases are more common, especially eye respiratory disorders, eye diseases and skin diseases.
7. Effects on biodiversity: Changing climate disturbs the habitat and also cause extinction of many species.
8. Changes planet life; Climate change and global warming ultimate reshaping the planet by favoring certain species over other and disturbs biological ecosystem and creating a lot of problems for human beings.
9. Uncommon flooding; natural flood cycle will be changed. This will lead to the disturbance of planning and managements strategies will be difficult.
10. Global warming leads to a number of strong heat waves. This will make environment worse.
11. The weather will be severed. Winter is very cold and summer will be warmer.
12. Increase in the global temperature cause rapid spreading of forest fire destroying biodiversity and producing more greenhouse gases.
13. Global warming changes in light patterns and more and more radiations will absorbed leading to worse conditions.
14. Precipitations patterns will be changes. The desert will be forests and the forest will be barren. Some cities will be under threating of windstorms and sandstorms.

Climate change and Pakistan:

Pakistan is among the developing countries. Although the Environmental protection agency is working at the national and provincial levels and doing its best there is a need for planned land utilization, reforestations, checking and regularization of the industrialization, reduction in the automobile’s exhausts. Above all, there is a need of the hour to create awareness in our youth, industrialist and strict compensations and penalties which disobeys the regulations.     

Solutions to climate change:

1. Encourage scientific research; predictability possibility
2. Make international strategies, laws for environmental protection
3. Regulation of environmental protection at government level.
4. Create the awareness among the masses.
5. Use of the environmentally save industrial plants.
6. Reduction in the use of the fossil fuel and finding alternative energy sources.
7. Encourage and arboriculture and afforestation at local, national and international levels.