What is climate change?
It is important to first know that climate is, “the composite or generally prevailing weather conditions of a region, as temperature, air pressure, humidity, precipitation, sunshine, cloudiness, and winds, throughout the year, averaged over a series of years,” (“The Definition of Climate”). This differs from weather, which is, “the state of the atmosphere with respect to wind, temperature, cloudiness, moisture, pressure, etc.” (“The Definition of Weather”).
“Global climate is changing rapidly compared to the pace of natural variations in climate that have occurred throughout Earth’s history. Global average temperature has increased by about 1.8°F from 1901 to 2016, and observational evidence does not support any credible natural explanations for this amount of warming; instead, the evidence consistently points to human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse or heat-trapping gases, as the dominant cause.” (Easterling et al.)
In fact, we’ve known that world was getting warmer since about 1930 (“Everything You Need to Know about Climate Change in Five Minutes”).
Is Climate Change Real?
- The average surface temperature of the Earth has increased by about 1.62F since late 19th century (“Climate Change Evidence”)
- Ocean temperatures have increased by more than 0.4°F since 1969 (“Climate Change Evidence”)
- Between 1993 and 2016 the average ice sheet loss in Greenland is 286 billion tons/year (“Climate Change Evidence”)
- Glaciers are shrinking and there is less snow (“Climate Change Evidence”)
- Sea levels have risen by 8 inches for the last century. (“Climate Change Evidence”)
- Record high temperatures increasing and record low temperatures have decreased since 1950 in U.S. (“Climate Change Evidence”)
- There has been an increase in intense rainfall in U.S. since 1950 (“Climate Change Evidence”)
- Acidity in oceans has increased by 30% since the industrial revolution, which is a direct result of 2 billion tons of carbon a year being absorbed by the oceans (“Climate Change Evidence”)
Photograph Evidence for Climate Change
What Does This Mean for Seniors?
The global trend of climate change is an issue of vital importance to everyone living on earth. First, it must be understood that climate change is an issue, one which will not being going away any time soon, because climate will keep going for centuries to come. The consequences will be severe, dangerous weather like hurricanes will get more intense and stronger than ever before. The world will also undergo massive transformations, such as the entire arctic melting, and a large portion of florida will vanish under the ocean as sea levels will increase by several feet by 2100 (“Global Climate Change”).
Climate change is an expensive issue that costs an incalculable amount to clean up after ourselves. For example, “In the Maldives, building a sea wall for coastal protection cost about US$ 2.2 billion. Even after 10 years of maintenance costs, it is still four times cheaper to preserve the natural reef,” (“Climate Change”).
Here in Chicago, we’re used to terrible weather, but climate change will cause our few nice days to disappear with an increase in rain. The changes in climate will cause an increase in heatstroke, allergy season, flooding,