CLIMATE CHANGE

ITS NATURE AND

CAUSES
What words can you associate when you hear the word
“climate change”? Write your answer using the concept
map below.

CLIMATE
CHANGE
 Climate change is an
inevitable natural phenomenon
that we are all experiencing at
the present time. Droughts and
severe typhoons are just a few
manifestation of climate
change.
 What is climate change?
 What are the causes of climate
change?
 How did human activities
contribute to the climate change
problem?
 THE NATURE OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
Climate refers to average weather in a
particular place. It includes precipitation,
temperature, humidity, wind, and seasons.
Climate patterns play an important part in
the formation of natural ecosystems.
Human economies and cultures also
depend on climate.
 However, in recent times, our climate
has changed drastically with disturbing
impacts. It is observed that the change in
our climate is progressing faster in the
last 2,000 years. Since 1900, the global
average temperature has risen by 0.7C
while the northern hemisphere is
noticeably warmer than any point during
the past one thousand years.
 These small changes in the earth’s
average temperature can lead to great
and potentially dangerous changes in
climate and weather patterns. Many
places throughout the world have
experienced changes in the amount of
rainfall which resulted to:
More floods
Intense rain or droughts
Severe heat waves
CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Humans can live and survive on earth
because of the sufficient heat that we
receive from the sun. Some of the solar
radiation bounces back into space but a
small portion of it is trapped by the
delicate balance of gases that make up
our atmosphere. Without this coating of
insulation, the earth would become a
frozen rock.
• Carbon dioxide is considered as the most
important gas in the earth’s layer of insulation.
• Disruption of the atmospheric balance that
maintains the stability of the earth’s climate,
our planet is now experiencing the effects of
climate changes.
• Human changes in land use and land cover
have altered the earth’s reflectivity or the
ability of the earth to absorb and reflect light.
The following are:
• Deforestation or the destruction of forest.
• Desertification or the process of land
degradation of forest.
• Desertification or the process of land
degradation in arid or dry.
• Semiarid and subhumid regions of the
world.
• Urbanization or the movement of people
to the cities contribute to changes in
climate.
 Gases that contribute to the
greenhouse effect are the following:
1. Water Vapor (H20)
The water vapor is considered as the most abundant
greenhouse gas.
2. Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Carbon dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas that
contributes to climate change.
3. Methane(CH4)
Methane is a hydrocarbon gas produced by natural
sources and human activities which includes the
decomposition of wastes in landfills, rice cultivation,
ruminant digestion, and domestic livestock manure
management.
4. Nitrous oxide(N2O)
Nitrous oxide is a powerful greenhouse gas produced due
to soil cultivation practices, especially the use of commercial and
organic fertilizers, fossil fuel combustion, nitric acid production,
and biomass burning.
5. Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons
(HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons(HFCs), perfluorocarbons
(PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), or F-gases
6. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) or F-gases
are used as coolants, foaming agents, fire extinguishers,
solvents, perticides, and aerosol propellants.
 GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION
AND TRENDS
Human activities also contributed to
climate change. The largest known contributions
comes from the burning of fossil fuels, which
releases carbon dioxide gas to the atmosphere.
Greenhouse gases and aerosols affect climate by
altering incoming solar radiation and outgoing
infrared (thermal) radiation that are part of eath’s
energy balance.
 Human activities emit for principal
greenhouse gases, namely, Carbon dioxide or
(CO2) , methane (CH4), Nitrous oxide (N20) and
the halocarbons, a group of gases that is made up
of Fluoride, chlorine, and bromine. These gases
gather in the atmosphere and cause
concentrations to increase with time.
 Halocarbon gas concentrations have
increased as a result of humans activities.
Principle halocarbons include the
chorofluorocarbons, which were used mainly
as refrigeration agents and in other industrials
processes.