Climate Change for the Better or for the Worse

Climate change has been a topic which has become sensationalized over the past few years.  Nearly all scientists agree that climate change is occurring and there is evidence to back up these claims.  Before we can look at climate change we must understand what climate is.  According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA)  “scientists define climate as the average weather for a particular region and time period, usually taken over 30-years... they're looking at averages of precipitation, temperature, humidity, sunshine, wind velocity, phenomena such as fog, frost, and hail storms, and other measures of the weather that occur over a long period in a particular place. 

Having said that if we look at the graph provided by the National Academies of Science we can see that over the past few decades there has been a positive slope in temperature with a base period of 1961-1990.

So we can ascertain that the climate is changing.  The biggest question is who is responsible for climate change?  The accumulation of data may suggest that humans have had a hand.  For example if we look at a chart provided by NAS which shows the correlation between the Sun's energy and humans it seems as if even though the Sun has given less energy the temperatures are still warming.


Climate change will effect our world in many different ways in the future.  With increasing temperatures we can expect more weather phenomena such as hurricanes to increase in number and intensity.  Rising sea levels due to the melting of ice can erode ocean front properties and land.  This can cause billions of dollars of damage.  There are some positive side affects such as more land being able to harbor agriculture.  Regions such as some in Russia will be better suited than they are now to produce agriculture.

Most scientists agree that  climate change is occurring.  However, there is skepticism on whether humans are actively causing it.  This skepticism occurs because of many reasons.  There is a lack of data.  The data we use now can only be recorded back so far and there are numerous variables which have to be considered. Some become skeptic after seeing how some politicians and businesses have benefited from policies which are supposed to be aimed at reducing emissions.

After learning more about the factors of climate change we can see hypothesize what the world will be like in 50 years.  Whether we decrease CO2 emissions or not the CO2 which we have already released within the past few decades will continue to haunt us because CO2 remains in the year for hundreds or even thousands of years.  If we continue spewing out CO2 at current levels or above then we can expect more environmental damage.  Whether humans are causing climate change or not is arguable; however, it is not arguable that our emissions cause major environmental damage.  We are destroying major habitats such as coral reefs and rain forests which support an abundance of species.  When we destroy these habitats, our own survival becomes more difficult as the food chain has to adapt.

Ultimately, humans will find a way to adapt to climate change in the next 50 years.  Public pressure will force governments to protect their citizens from extreme phenomena.  Sadly, we will not be able to stop severe weather phenomena from occurring because the damage is already done.  What we can do now is to prevent further damage from occurring.