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where earth’s average temperature and weather patterns in specific regions fluctuate
over time. According to the Crash Course video on climate change, scientists have
found that climate change is a naturally occurring process. Climate change has been
found to have happened multiple times throughout earth’s history. The amount of CO2
from different time periods found in glaciers shows climate change has happened
throughout earth’s long history. Some heat from the sun is absorbed by land, some by
from the sun can also bounce off of the earth and escape back through the atmosphere.
The naturally occurring process of climate change also involves the earth’s
atmosphere. Earth’s atmosphere traps heat to keep the planet warm. Greenhouse
gasses cause more heat to get trapped inside earth’s atmosphere. The atmosphere can
fluctuate over time.Average temps usually don’t drastically change in short periods of
time, instead slowly change over long periods of time. CO2 emissions can cause
average temps to increase, while less CO2 can cause temps to decrease. In earth’s
long history there has been ice ages and warmer global temperatures.
Alex
According to the Harvard Gazette article, “Exxon Disputed Climate Finding for Years. Its
Scientists Knew Better”, Oil companies like Exxon intentionally misled the public,
causing climate change to accelerate. As early as the 1970s Exxon scientists were able
to create shockingly accurate climate models. Exxon scientists' findings were more
accurate than NASA and government scientists. Instead of sharing the findings Exxon
denied their own findings in order to protect the company’s profits. Therefore, the public
continued to support the burning of fossil fuels because of the disconnection of burning
In addition to Exxon, 20 corporations have contributed more than 30% of all CO2
contributing 529 billion tons of carbon pollution. All 20 companies are still running
despite knowing the effects they have on accelerating climate change. In 1993-1994
Exxons and Shell joined lobbying groups to block emission regulations. Currently the
On a larger scale, 10 countries have contributed 60% of all global emissions. The
US has contributed the most carbon emissions sitting at 20.3%, or 509 gigatons of CO2,
of all global emissions. Following the US is China and Russia with 11.4% and 6.9% of
all global carbon emissions. The 4-6th countries with the most carbon emissions are
Brazil, Indonesia and Germany with emissions between 3.5%-4.5%. Following them
The Uk, India, Japan and Canada all follow behind in less than 3.5%. All this shows how
the vast majority of carbon emissions are mostly coming from 10 countries with the vast
Alex
The US military is responsible for so much greenhouse gas emissions that the
US military alone would place 47th in greenhouse gas emissions if it was a country. The
Us military has released 1.2 billion metric tons of CO2. The military has also burned 85
millions barrels of fuel for fighter jets in 2017. The demilitarization of the US military
would be rather difficult with the glorification of violence and control.The connections
Due to the acceleration of climate change, there are many impacts of climate
change that people are currently experiencing, and future impacts that we will
experience if we don’t address the climate change crisis. According to the video
causing extreme weather events to happen more frequently and more intensely. An
example of this is wildfires, drought and heat waves that have become more frequent
and more intense. A wild fire called “Camp Fire” in California 2018 is known as the
deadliest fire in California history with 85 people killed and 18,000 structures destroyed
This wild fire burned 24 million acres of land and caused $7 billion in damages with at
least 34 deaths. An example of an increased intensity of heat wave is from India in 2015
and Europe in 2019 with over 4,000 deaths and $12 billion in damages.
Floods, hurricanes, typhoons and heavy rain are also among the extreme
weather increasing in intensity and frequency. For example in 2021 Hurricane Ida, the
2nd largest hurricane in US history, caused at least 82 deaths and $65 billion in
damages. Another example is from 2018 in Kerala, India where floods caused over 400
deaths, roughly $4 billion in damages and more than 1 million people displaced.
The extreme cold has also increased in frequency and intensity. An example of
this is the Polar Vortex of 2019 in the US and Canada with up to 22 deaths and over
250 million people impacted by loss of heat and power. Temperatures were as low as
-33ºF and damages were at least around $195 million in damages. Another example of
722 deaths and as many as 11 million people were without power for as much as 3
The Rising Sea Levels have been impacting people in large ways as well. An
example of this is in Bangladesh. Over 24 million people were impacted, losing almost 4
sq miles per year. The rising sea levels cause an increased flooding, an increased risk
States (SIDS) are also being largely impacted by rising sea levels. Roughly 65 million
people across 58 states in the Pacific and Caribbean have been experiencing saltwater
intrusion, displacement, and coastal erosion. Several billions to tens of billions of dollars
of investment in adaptation to climate change would be required per year by 2030. This
We also must worry about the future impacts of climate change.According to the
video “6 Tipping Points” produced by PBS Terra, there are many future impacts of
climate change that we are likely to experience if we do not keep the average global
temperature below 1.5ºC above pre-industrial averages. The Tipping Points are a point
in the earth’s average temperature that when reached results in rapid and irreversible
consequences. 1.5ºC is considered the first major tipping point. Currently we are at
1.1ºC.
For the Greenland Ice Sheet at 1.5ºC the arctic is warming is going to be 2x-3x
faster than the rest of earth.The darker water is revealed as arctic sea ice melts and
land is revealed as Greenland ice sheets melt. The darker water and land absorb and
trap more heat than ice and snow. Run off from snow melt causes AMOC to weaken.
Alex
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) will begin causing more
problems around 1.1º-2ºC. The flow of water brings heat from the southern hemisphere
to Greenland. The normal process of water becoming cold, salty, and dense enough to
sink to the bottom is disrupted by Greenland ice sheet melt. This could result in a mini
ice age in Europe, 8-12 inches of sea level rise on the US Northeast coast, and
disruption of global rain patterns. The heat left behind in the southern ocean because of
the weakened AMOC could cause the Antarctic Ice Sheets to melt, thus causing the rise
in sea levels as glaciers melt. More examples of ice melting being a big problem is
Permafrost melt. Permafrost is land that has been frozen for thousands and millions of
permafrost melts. This could release hundreds of billions of tons of greenhouse gasses
in the atmosphere.
billion people. Monsoons could also cause food shortages and displacement of people.
Furthermore monsoons could also impact the length and severity of the dry season in
The Amazon Rainforest has experienced 3 “one in one hundred year” droughts
between 2010-2020. In Turn the Amazon Rainforest went from a carbon sink to a
source of greenhouse gas for the first time because of the dieback of rainforest. In the
Sadly for the Coral Reefs the tipping point has likely been reached. The
irreversible.
Alex
The impacts of climate change are wide and devastating but, there are many
organizations taking actions to prevent or lessen the impacts of climate change. One
Washington DC in front of the white house where they set up a 4-month long vigil in the
cold winter to protest the U.S led war in Iraq.CODEPINK was started and is led by
women but they accept anyone to join them. The work that they are doing to combat
climate change is organizing justice for Iraqis and to end or prevent other U.S wars.
into life-affirming programs, healthcare, education and green jobs. They are doing this
work through satire, creative visuals, civil resistance and by directly challenging
organized vigils in front of the white house for many issues including women's rights,
peace in Ukraine and to protest the U.S led war in Iraq. Their work will help to combat
the causes of climate change by working to defund the military to move resources to
more green areas. They are also actively raising awareness of the issues relating to war
We can take action to combat climate change by learning from the work that is
already being done by many climate justice organizations. One of the most important
actions that we can take is reducing our fossil fuel consumption and reliance on fossil
fuels. We can do this by pressuring politicians through letter writing and attending local
political meetings to create laws that will divest from the US military. Taking these
actions to combat climate change will reduce the carbon emissions produced by the U.S
military. Another important action that we can take to combat climate change is to grow
food locally as part of a local economic system that is focused on community needs. We
can do this by building networks within our communities to produce and share
resources so that everyone’s needs are met through local resource production and
sharing. Growing food locally will help combat climate change by removing the need for
middle men and the mass production of one crop or animal. If we grow food specifically
for our local communities we would not need to rely on corporations that only care for
profit and quantity over quality. One other action we can take to combat climate change
is by supporting the work climate justice organizations are already doing by volunteering
our time and/or donating funds and resources. We can do this as a community by
organizing fundraising events and by giving our time to help. This action will help
through many ways. Most importantly this will most likely raise awareness thus creating
more support.