Climate change refers to a variation in the climate over time. These variations can last for a long time. Climate change can be either directly or indirectly caused by natural causes or by human activities. Some of the activities that contribute to climate change are like, for example, the burning of coal and oil. The gases released from burning coal and oil (such as carbon dioxide) trap heat in the earth’s atmosphere. This leads to rising temperatures on the earth’s surface. (Pew Center on Global Climate Change, n.d.). Other changes noted due to climate change are, new precipitation patterns and acidic rains (Johnson, 2009).

One of the key contributors to climatic change is global warming. Global warming affects the precipitation patterns resulting in wide variations in regional precipitations. These variations lead to dry areas becoming even drier and wet areas experiencing more rainfall and even floods. This is because high temperatures cause water evaporation which increases the amount of water vapor in the air. This makes areas near water bodies prone to rains which might lead to floods. In drier areas the high temperatures reduce the amount of moisture in the ground thus worsens the effects of a drought (National Research Council, 2012). This could cause lead to an increase in desertification especially in arid and semi-arid areas.

Climatic change also impacts on food production. Rising temperatures and variations in rainfall patterns directly affect the amount of yields. Rising temperatures change the temperature that are required for optimal plant growth thus also impact on the crop yield(Nelson et al., 2009). A report by the National Research Council (2012, p.) stated that yields can drop to as much as 5-15% in America and Africa for every degree of warming. The report also noted that most regions of the world would experience yield losses if global warming reached 5°C (9°F ).

Ecosystems are also one of the areas that are affected by climatic changes. Ocean acidification poses a major challenge to marine life. Ocean acidification results when carbon dioxide dissolves in water. This will result in changing oceanic chemistry thus affect the marine life(National Research Council, 2012). The rising temperatures on the earth can lead to melting of the ice sheets and rising sea temperatures. A report by the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (2005) stated that the Arctic perennial cover has been reducing at a rate of 9.6% per every ten years since 1979. This has reduced the amount of sea ice and snow. When sea ice and snow melt, they increase the amount of fresh water in the oceans thus alter their salinity. The increased water volumes also alter ocean currents thus affect oxygen availability for marine life. It can result in areas called “dead zones” which lack sub-surface oxygen required by marine animals.

The negative impacts of climate change cannot be ignored. Therefore, there is a need for collaborative efforts by everyone to prevent more harm from occurring due to greenhouse gases which cause global warming that leads to climate change.

References

Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. (2005). Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Johnson, A. F. (2009). Ecological impacts of climate change. National Academies.

National Research Council. (2012). Answers to common questions about the science of climate change. Climate Change: Evidence, Impacts and Choices (pp. 1–36).

Nelson, G. C., Rosegrant, M. W., Koo, J., Robertson, R., Sulser, T., Zhu, T., … Lee, D. (2009). Climate Change and Agriculture Impacts and costs of adaptation. Food Policy Report (pp. 307–324). Washington. doi:10.2499/0896295354

Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Science and Impacts (n.d.). Climate Change 101: Understanding and Responding to Global Climate Change (p1-9)