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Essay: Combat Climate Change: A Look into Becoming Environmentally Sustainable

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  • Published: 1 April 2019*
  • Last Modified: 23 July 2024
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  • Words: 1,664 (approx)
  • Number of pages: 7 (approx)

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It is estimated by 2030 we will no longer be able to runaway from our problems stemming from climate change and will need to take some major economic changes. In the next three years, is a critical window for growth in a new green era pushed by political leaders. To address the issues of climate change we first must understand how we got here, so we can move forward and become sustainable. Climate change and energy are important to talk about together because finding renewable energy can help combat climate. This will help reduce carbon emissions and reduce fossil fuel, which has contributed greatly to global warming.

Climate Change

Climate change is a change in the state of the climate system, identified by changes in the average conditions and variability of it properties, which persists for an extended period due to natural or anthropogenic processes. Climate change heightens the vulnerabilities of societies and ecosystem. The impact can be felt both locally and global because there is an economic interdependence. The climate system evolves over time due to its own internal dynamics and due to external forces like solar variations, volcanic eruptions and human activities that change the atmosphere and layout of the land. Having a balanced incoming and outgoing radiation cause a stable global climate, when it becomes unbalance leads to a climate shift. The earth is taking on more and more energy than it can sustain. There is evidence proving that the earth is becoming warmer. Scientists have used technological advances, like earth orbiting satellites, to collect different information from the planet and climate over the years. Earths climate has evolved over the years from the cretaceous period to the ice ages. Changes in the climate occur on different scales and vary in magnitude and direction, ranging from natural cycles to human actions.

Causes of Climate Change

The climate is a state of a complex system consisting of five major components including the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere and biosphere and the interactions amongst them. Life on Earth is dependent on the rays coming from the sun. Only half of the rays actually reach the earth and then is radiated upward in the form of infrared heat. Majority of  the heat is absorbed by greenhouse gases that reflect back to the surface. The greenhouse effect is when the atmosphere traps the heat which causes the warming of Earth's surface. Gases that are responsible for this is known as “feedbacks because they respond chemically or physically to changes to temperature. These gases include water vapor, nitrous oxide carbon dioxide and methane. Fossil fuels such as coal and oil have increased the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. This happens because the burning oil combine carbon with oxygen in the air. With these warmer conditions, leads to more precipitation and evaporation, changing the climate of some areas. This also leads to warmer oceans, which causes ice glaciers to melt and rising sea levels. Human activities has also played part. Since the first industrial revolution, that introduced cars, coal mining and factors, that heavily polluted the surrounding air. It has only gotten worst with the advancement of new technology and human expansion. There is less and fewer trees, animals are becoming extinct and human waste are effecting the coal reefs. Even-though it is had to predict the full magnitude of climate change. scientist can predict the effects. The temperature will continue to rise but will vary in different places. Storms and natural disasters will become more intense and stronger as climate change increases. Scientist  have seen an increase in deadly natural disasters since 1980. Cropping season will also become longer in the frost free and growing season. This will seriously affect local ecosystems and agricultural practices. This could lead to a food shortage in countries that don’t import food from other places.

Becoming environmentally sustainable

This is why it is key for world leaders to come together and formulate a plan on how they are going to combat climate change. Also education people on recycling and clean energy, so we can have a sustainable earth. Environmental sustainability is the conservation of natural resources and the development of  alternative sources of power while reducing pollution and harm to the environment. Environmental sustainability is the state of the future because it will impact us in years to come. Many projects involved planting trees, protecting natural areas and preserved wetland. Its key to reduce the impact on the environment by allowing energy efficient and self sufficiency. By implementing things like solar panels, trade agreements and wind generators. Sustainability has 3 missions: to minimize the usage of natural resources, to promote development without harming the environment and to use environmentally friendly practices. Environmental sustainability also involves transportation system, which contribute a lot of pollution to our atmosphere. With expanding populations and economies and large number of natural resources is crippling our ecosystem. All the nations need to work together and develop an agreement on transportation systems that are sustainable and preserve the ecosystem. The land truly has no borders what happens or being done in countries environment can effect another. First we need to reduce the dependence in Carbon based fuel, which is easier said then done, but is necessary for our environment. Reduce a greenhouse gases emissions by switching to an alternative energy. Recycling reduces the amount of raw material left on the earth and decreasing the amount of  energy used to process and create new products. Tons of material can be recycled like glass, paper, plastics and building material (Recycling, 2014). An Organic waster and food also can be recycled because it is useful in making organic soil. Reducing the amount of material left in the landfills takes a lot of strategic waste management in different ways in aspects of making, use and disposal of product. To maintain recycling its key to identify and promote recycling programs and make such that they are available to community and local business. This well help ensure that the correct material are being recycled. Compost is also essential. When food is left in landfills it can give off hazardous flumes into the environment, so collecting onsite  and turning it into useful nutrients for soil. Composting is an alternative has promising impact for home and industrial waste management. Limit unnecessary products, Products that are not purchased, will never make it to the landfill, get rid of packing material and purchasing cost as well as transportation emission. Buying environmentally friendly product also helps towards sustainability. Environmentally friendly means products that are made from other recycled materials (Recycling Basic, 2017). Creates an endless cycle of recycling when this is use because it can be recycled over and over again. Which eliminates products in the landfills. Recycling can be very expensive. Recycled  materials are not consider recycled until its made into something else. The consumer and business market for recycled material has a major disconnect. Cost of collecting the processing recyclables out weighs the value of its sold back into industry (Micks, 2012). There is a consumer demand for green products. To build demand for recycled materials, government and business must change themselves and their relationship when it comes to economic problems.  One problem is supply and demand. After preparing the recycles materials there is not an actually market for the materials to go to. The product is stored until it is in huge mountains of it is collected and the price rises to the level to where the cost covers the total cost of collection and processing and transportations (Micks, 2012). Second is closing the loop with business. Making sure the invest in integrating recycling into their business and not just the standard recycling with the collection of materials.

Energy

To be able to sustain in the future, we as a people have to find a source of new energy. Most counties are dependent on oil and fossil fuels for energy. Renewable energy is the energy collected from renewable sources, that occur on a naturally on human timescale. This includes wind, rain, sunlight and waves. Solar energy is a direct conversion of sunlight.  This is the cleanest and most abundant  renewable energy. It relies on nuclear fusion that is collected and converted in different ways. For example solar heating and cooling , photovoltaics and concentrating solar power. This energy can be used for electricity and light, as well as hear for domestic, commercial and industrial use. The solar market is growing with the new advances in technology. Solar energy is a flexible energy technology it can be built as a distributed generation or as a central station or utility scale solar power. These methods can store the energy they produce.

Wind energy has an extensive amount of advantages that it can provide. The first advantage is how cost-effective wind power is. If wind energy were compared to other different energy sources, it would come out on top as one of the lowest-priced sources of energy (Various Advantages of Wind Energy).Wind energy cost between two and six cents per kilowatt-hour. Using wind, as a source for energy would mitigate the price uncertainty that traditional energy resources such as fuel costs creates.

Secondly, wind is a natural resource that is extremely renewable. Renewable energy is defined as energy that stems from natural resources and that is naturally replenished (Various Advantages of Wind Energy). Wind power is consistently being replenished by the sun, and research has shown that the sun is predicted to continue to shine for the next 6 billion years, which provides great comfortability  wind energy investors (Various Advantages of Wind Energy)

This would also be great for a sustainable environment because it does not emit greenhouse gases and does not cause pollution to water sources. Wind energy is a clean energy sources that does not pollute the air when compared to other energy sources such as power plants. This could help decrease future health problems that people experience from fossil fuels, coal, and natural gas.say in here…

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