Climate change

Climate Change By: Sebastian Barra & Isabella Gutierrez

What’s the difference between Weather and Climate?

The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time.

Weather: is what conditions of the atmosphere are on a period of time Climate: is how the atmosphere behaves on long periods of time In other words weather is the conditions of the atmosphere like rain, sun, snow. For example in Ecuador sometimes it rains for 10, 20 or 30 minutes or 1, 2 or 3 hours and sometimes for 1, 2, or 3 days but it stops because weather happens on a period of time, not so long. But climate is how the atmosphere behaves for a long time for example on New York are time periods in which snows or is very sunny for 1, 2 or 3 months or maybe more but climate is longer than weather.

By: Sebastian Barra

Causes of Climate Change Climate change is caused by several reasons, in both manmade and natural ways. Climate change is a problem that has been affecting our world from decades past.

Manmade Causes to Climate Change A very impacting manmade cause to climate change is deforestation.

Deforestation began when we started using wood as a primary resource for furniture, paper, children’s toys, etc. Trees, as we all know, clean up the oxygen we breathe. Trees don’t only take in CO2 emissions, they also absorb all the greenhouse gases they can obtain and release it as purified oxygen. Greenhouse gasses get trapped in the atmosphere and make the earth hotter and hotter through time with the increase in the amount of these gases. With deforestation not only do we obtain les purified oxygen, but we also increase the amount of greenhouse gases there are on the earth creating “Global Warming”.

Transportation is another very important cause to global warming. We as humans tend to drive to places nearby because we are too lazy when we could easily get there walking or driving a bicycle. People all around the world use cars and other types of transportation machinery to get to different places every single day. Companies send dozens of trucks loaded with products to several different locations on a daily basis. Cars, buses trucks and motorcycles are all powered with gasoline, which once put into use lets out an incredible amount of carbon dioxide emissions. These CO2 emissions contaminate trapping the heat of the sun trapped in the atmosphere creating the greenhouse effect. Factory production is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. There are thousands of factories all around the world,

producing products each minute. These factories release incredible amounts of various polluting gases throughout the whole day nonstop.

Many studies show that factory production is one of the most polluting things on the earth because of how much carbon dioxide is released and how many factories there are in the entire world. So much CO2 has already been rereleased it is thought nearly impossible to recover the earth to its natural state, it would take years and years of no pollution to live on the earth we once heard about.

Natural Causes to Climate Change The natural causes to climate change are minimal and impossible to prevent. Naturally the earth orbits around the sun and lets in the light that the sun gives off. Sometimes the sun’s radiation is stronger than normal, hurting the atmosphere letting in more heat. Volcanic eruptions crate short-term effects on climate change because of the amount of energy it sets off. Through time, the irradiance of the sun has increased and this has helped in the increase of climate change or global warming, but it has done greater damage than it is supposed to thanks to the industrial revolution.

What are the Consequences?

There are several consequences to climate change; some of the most important ones are the following: Major Consequences: 1. Because of the heat, ice will melt causing sea levels to rise 2. Cities close to the ocean and islands will flood which will create over population 3. By 2020 it’s estimated that about 75 to 200 million people in Africa will be exposed to water stress 4. By the end of the 21 century, living subjects on earth will be faced with heat waver, increase in the frequency of heat and extreme rainfall 5. Economic crisis will rise 6. Many animals will go extinct because of loss of habitat creating less food production 7. People will have sever lung issues, lungs will be contaminated because of the pollution 8. The level of volcanic activity will increase 9. Seasons will change, all seasons will be hotter and winter will not last as much 10. Agriculture will decrease 11. There will be dramatic changes in the ecosystem

How do we Know Climate Change is Happening?

Although several people chose to believe that climate change isn’t happening, it is. Studies from scientist all over the world prove that climate change, in other words global warming, is happening. We can compare this year’s temperature to the temperature in 2000 and see how much the temperature has increased in simply ten years. Facts are facts, and the fact is that the world is getting warmer, and the earth is getting destroyed. By simply comparing how the world was about 34 years ago and how it was in 2012, you can see how much things have changed. In this picture you can observe how the ice has melted throughout the years. This is not normal or natural; it’s what we are doing to our home, destroying it.

By: Isabella Gutierrez

Earth’s Climate History Weather bas change a lot this few years because of us. We have made earth sick and that is why it has change a lot because of the global warming.

In this image we can see the change from the year 1860 to the year 2000. We can see how the earth turns hotter also lots of “nevados” have disappeared and some of them are about to. Also the ice on the Antarctica is melting and all the cities with ice don’t have as much ice as they used to previous years.

By : Sebastian Barra

Impacts of Climate Change Climate change has lots of bad and good impacts on the world and these effects could cause several changes on the world.

Bad Climate change is very bad for us and for the world because it destroys and kills the world because on some parts like the south and North Pole, the ice is melting, glaciers have shrunk and animals and people that live there die because of this. They don’t have enough vegetation because everything is becoming water. Also because of these melting ice lots of cities will be under water, like: Florida, Los Angeles, Washington, Miami etc. This will happen approximately on the next 2000 years and not only that i think that more chaos is going to happen just that we don’t know. Also that the mountains with snow are melting and from there we get the water so we could be out of water.

Good I know that climate change can be really bad but on its point of view it has some good things for example flowers grow faster and bloom faster and it is very nice that. Also that on some parts of the earth the climate is different and some people like that for example on Ecuador we hate cold days so thanks to climate change some parts of Ecuador have turn hotter. It also helps because the animals are used to the cold or hot days so they will live better on some parts but on others they will not and maybe they could die.

By: Sebastian barra

Are Humans Causing Climate Change?

I think that humans are causing climate change because we are the ones living on the earth and we should save and protect it not destroy it like we do. We change climate because we don’t respect the earth, we throw garbage where ever we want and that garbage destroys everything, water, animals and plants. We also cut down trees and kill lots of animals. In other words there is global warming and we are the ones that cause this. I think that we need to stop this because this can cause the end of the world. When someone throws garbage to the water or the floor it contaminates a lot because let’s say that you throw a glass to the sea then that glass will turn in little pieces which the fish eat and then we eat the fish but the people don’t understand that!!! also the humans are wasting a lot of water so the earth is getting out of water and this cause rivers to not have much water and also the seas.

By: Sebastian Barra

Personally, I believe that humans are causing climate change. Climate change is a severe problem that has been going on from years back, just recently we have been starting to recognize and thinking about this environmental issue. Some people chose to believe that climate change isn’t happening, but the truth is that it is. We as humans have the job to take care of the earth we live on, and we are not doing so. Each person pollutes in a minor way each day, throwing trash on the floor, using a car to get to places that are at a walking distance, etc. Not to leave out the major pollutions that exists on a daily basis such as factory production, deforestation, oil spills, and more. It’s extremely important that we learn to appreciate the wonderful world we have and take care of it before it’s too late. If we don’t something soon, there will be extreme fires in dry areas because of the direct sunlight; the ocean will gain more water, flooding cities close to the sea which will create over population and will affect in poverty leading to massive social problems. It’s because of all these reasons that we must help our earth recover from all those years we have mistreated it.

By: Isabella Gutierrez

What Can We Do?!

There are several things we could do in order to help prevent climate change. Climate change starts from a series of causes that are both manmade and natural (you can appreciate these causes in page 2 and 3), of course we can’t prevent the natural causes from happening, but as people responsible for our habitat, we can and must help prevent the manmade causes. Many studies show that humans are the ones that really make an impact in climate change. This is mainly because we are the ones responsible for deforestation. Cutting down trees is the most illogical thing we can do; by cutting down trees we are simply taking away the tree’s power to clean the polluted oxygen that we breathe. This is why I suggest we look for different ecofriendly materials so we don’t have to kill such helpful resources such as trees. We can also start recycling more and do a recycling campaign to get people involved and interested in the topic. In Ecuador, something that does a lot of pollution is burning garbage.

Burning trash lets out a bunch of CO2 emissions that’s why I think it would be a great idea to find a better way to dispose of trash, like keeping it stored in containers and then burning it in the containers so the CO2 doesn’t pollute the air. Another thing that’s famous for contaminating, especially in Ecuador, is buses. Since buses are so big and need so much gas, bus drivers tend to fill up their busses with diesel. Diesel is very high on petroleum and is the cheapest kind of fuel but it’s the one that pollutes the most. To fix this issue, I suggest that people start walking to more places that are at a walking distance or riding their bicycles to places they feel are too far to walk to, if there are people that will not engage in walking or riding a bike.

Some other little but effective things we can do is start to recycle, recycling is very important because this way we lower the manufacturing and it’s also more economic. At home, you can start

making a change by turning off the lights and TV when you’re not in the room and you can also unplug electronic machines when you are not using them to cut of electrical usage in order to lower power plant electrical rates. You can also create a garden in your backyard, if you have one, in order to lower carbon dioxide emissions. Logically speaking it is very difficult to change and prevent climate change, or as we now call it “Global Warming”, yes this is true, it’s extremely difficult for one person to make a change, but not if we do it together.

Works Cited "The Albedo Effect." : The Albedo Effect. N.p., 22 Feb. 2012. Web. 31 May 2014. <http://biomimicrykth.blogspot.com/2012/02/albedo-effect.html>.

This website included several images that went exactly with what I was trying to explain in my writing. These images helped me explain the subject a lot better, they helped me give a better understanding to the readers of our magazine.

"Causes." Global Climate Change. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2014. <http:// climate.nasa.gov/causes>.

On this website, I was able to find very specific and detailed causes of climate change. I was able to see how climate change starts and how the sunâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rays specifically go through the atmosphere and reach the earth.

"Causes of Climate Change." Government of Canada, Environment Canada. N.p., 12 Oct. 2013. Web. 31 May 2014. .

This website is from the government of canada, is was a really good site to look information on because it states professionally investigate facts about the causes of climate change along with some long and short term effects global change has on the earth and us as people.

"Climate Change Impacts - Global Warming - The Trend Is Blue." YouTube. YouTube, 3 Oct. 2013. Web. 31 May 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=XbrRlAJZeew>.

This citation is a citation of a video. I found this video extremely helpful, it let me have a better understanding of the consequences of climate change or global warming. This video was also very easy to understand because it seemed to be made for a middle and high school concept level.

"The Consequences of Climate Change (in Our Lifetimes)." YouTube. YouTube, 9 Apr. 2014. Web. 31 May 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNgqv4yVyDw>.

This video also helped me understand the consequences there are to climate change.

This video gave me a wider aspect of how we could be directly affected by global warming. From this video, I could learn how impacting climate change could be in the world if it keeps on happening.

"Effects." Global Climate Change. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 June 2014. <http://climate.nasa.gov/effects>.

This website article talked about the effects in history there have been because of climate change. It was impressive to see just how much the world has changed because of this issue.

"Evidence Of The Extreme Climate Change." YouTube. YouTube, 16 Nov. 2012. Web. 1 June 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7a-Hs9UxYo>.

This video also helped me understand the consequences there are to climate change.

This video gave me a wider aspect of how we could be directly affected by global warming. From this video, I could learn how impacting climate change could be in the world if it keeps on happening.

"Impacts of Climate Change." Government of Canada, Environment Canada. N.p., 27 Sept. 2013. Web. 31 May 2014. <http://www.climatechange.gc.ca/default.asp? lang=En&n=036D9756-1>.

This website helped me have a better understanding of the long term impacts there could be on the world because of global warming/climate change. I learn a lot of things about how society and economy could change because of climate change.

"What You Can Do." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, 18 Mar. 2014. Web. 2 June 2014. <http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/>.

This citation is a government website. It talks about small ways people can individually help prevent global climate change. Personally, this website helped me by giving me some great ideas on how we can help prevent global warming.

Williams, Michael. "The History of Deforestation." History Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 May 2014. <http://www.historytoday.com/michael-williams/history-deforestation>.

I used this website in order to get a better understanding of deforestation. I wanted to make sure I knew as much of deforestation as I could, this way I could give a description of it and its consequences in more detail