Academic Essay

 

Causes and consequences of man-made climate change

Man-made climate change appears to be a true reality. Climate change is not just an environmental problem but a serious challenge for sustainable development and livelihoods of people. For almost a century, the potential for human activities to raise Earth's temperature through greenhouse gas emissions has been discussed and calculated. People are warming the climate, according to volumes of scientific study spanning different scientific fields, and the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report declares (2013), "Human influence on the climate system is clear. This is evident from the increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, positive radiative forcing, observed warming, and understanding of the climate system." Directly or indirectly, every individual is responsible for climate change. Some of the main cause of man-made climate change involves generating power, manufacturing goods, and deforestation.

 

Firstly, generating power by people is main cause for climate change. About 29 percent of electricity currently comes from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, which nature will replenish and which emit little to no greenhouse gases or pollutants into the air (Mrema, 2022). However, burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas, to generate power and heat produces a significant amount of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, which blanket the Earth and trap the sun's heat. According to UN Habitat, cities consume 78 percent of the world’s energy and emit more than 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions (Mrema, 2022). Some of the consequences of climate change includes rising temperatures, heavy rainfall, severe storms and extended periods of drought. Moreover, it causes great impact in the field of agriculture. Due to the harsh weather conditions, many crops have failed (“Climate is threatening our food”, 2021). This has implications not only for farmers, but also for the food produced by farmers and, as a result, for global food security. Some of the impacts of climate change felt in Bhutan include Flash floods, GLOF, and erratic monsoons. Lugge Tsho broke in October 1994, killing 21 people and destroying 91 dwellings and 1781 acres of land in Bhutan (NCHM, 2019). It also killed animals and damaged farmland (Adhikari, 2020). Therefore, generating power acts as principal cause for climate change.

 

In conclusion, made-made climate change is one of the serious issue in this modern world. This climate change effects every living being on the earth including nature. The production of energy, the manufacture of commodities, and deforestation are all major contributors to man-made climate change. This adds massive volumes of greenhouse gases to the already existing ones in the atmosphere, amplifying the greenhouse effect and contributing to global warming. Climate change is widely recognized as one of the leading causes of extinction, affecting biodiversity in almost every corner of the earth. Therefore, everyone is responsible to minimize the activities which will lead to climate change and to save the nature of planet.