Environmental Issues

A change in the distribution of weather within periods of time that could be millions of years or even just decades is referred to as climate change.  It can be a greater or lesser change in weather and its events with either more or less events of weather occurring.  It may be restricted to a particular area or even distributed across the entire globe.  There are a number of factors that can shape or cause climate change and they are called climate forcings (Burroughs).

One of the major causes of climate change is plate tectonics.  The continents positioning affects normally determines the oceans geometry thus the patterns of circulation within the oceans are influenced.  Seas locations are also important in the control of moisture and heat transfer across the earth.  Increases in elevation like in the case of mountains also increases humidity and swings in the temperature, thus topography can also influence climate change.  Variations in temperature are more common inland as compared to the coastal areas.  Global climate can also be affected by long term and short term solar intensity variations (Kininmonth).  The variations in the intensity of the sun have caused a number of effects from oxygenation of the atmosphere to the ice age.  When the earth orbits, it encounters slight variations, which account for the amount of sunlight reaching the earths surface and its seasonal distribution around the globe.  Milankovitch cycles which is a combination of three variations in the earths eccentricity, have a big impact on climate change.  Volcanic eruptions can also cause climate change, when the smoke that bellows is large enough to block the suns radiation.  Carbon dioxide is also emitted by volcanoes.  Human activities that influence the environment are known as anthropogenic factors.  Some of these factors include the increase in the levels of carbon dioxide, owing to large quantities of emissions from fossil fuels, aerosols and manufacturing of cement. Agriculture, ozone depletion, land-use and the cutting down of forests are also other factors that play a role in climate change, owing to human activity (Maslin).

Some of the impacts of climate change include extreme weather, with the increase in storms, hurricanes floods and droughts, not forgetting other weather devastations such as the Katrina Hurricane. Climate change will also affect water sources, in a negative manner and in the long run have its effects felt in industries, health, food supply, and the integrity of the whole ecosystem. Forests are also not spared from the climate change, and thus they could be depleted by the adverse changes in the climate. Ecosystems are also in danger of being compromised by the adverse changes in the climate. There is also a meltdown of glaciers and the arctic, not mentioning the economic risks, health risks to the future generations through an increase in diseases owing to the increase in adverse weather (Maslin).

The first solution to climate change is for nations to eliminate the use of fossil fuels. But this could be difficult owing to the fact that most countries rely on these fuels for virtually everything and it would be hard for them to exist without them. There is also a need to upgrade the infrastructure to ensure that there is a reduction in the level of green house emissions. The reduction in the emission of gases through the transport system can also be reduced by ensuring that workers move closer to work. Cutting down on consumption is also one of the ways of solving the climate crisis, since less consumptions means less gas emissions (Pittock). Efficiency is also one of the ways of reducing or solving the problem of climate change. This means that people have to learn to do more with less, thus wastages in energy can be cut by more than half. The implementation of policies to ensure that industry emit less gases, with policies such as manufacturing tax increments, could ensure that industries cut back on the energy sources they use and ultimately lead to a reduction in the level of green house gas emission. Trees play a major role in the change of climate, and thus a reduction in the cutting down of forests will also have a major impact in the reduction of initiating climate change. Sane agricultural practices can also be used, to prevent adverse changes in agriculture. There are many other solutions, all that we have to realize is to look at the causes and work on reducing or preventing those causes from happening (Pittock).

The Copenhagen Accord is not totally binding, especially to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The legal conditions of the Accord are also not clear. The accord is an endorsement of the Kyoto Protocol, acknowledges that climate changes are a major challenge in this era and that there is need for a political will to deal with these underlying problems, global temperature should also be reduced according to this Accord to maintain sustainable development, it also recognizes the impacts of these changes and the impacts that these effects could have on certain vulnerable countries and the need to setup a program to that includes international support (Trefil). There is a set date for countries to have pledged to reduce their emissions which is 31st January 2010. Some of the countries involved in this pledge include, Australia, United States of America and Canada. Even though the efforts made to address the climate change is plausible, some countries have responded negatively with the European Union, terming the accord as unsuccessful and a disaster, South Africa was unable to accept the accord, Australia called for more, India claimed that the Accord didnt commit to the future effectively, Britain claimed that they needed the Accord to be binding by law, China claimed that the squabbles were as a result of mistrust between nations (Trefil).

According to my opinion, the Accord is not binding by law and thus some countries are not obliged to follow it. It is also not fully clear if the Accord is a successor to the Kyoto Protocol or it is an addition. There are no real targets set by the Accord that can be achieved to ensure reductions in the levels of emissions. The accord is also not fully inclusive as it was drafted and it was discussed upon by only five countries. The deadline set is also too long and the effects might have already been irreversible. Developing countries will also not be able to raise the millions of dollars required per year. Also the source of the funds is unclear and the amount that countries will benefit or contribute. Some nations also just took note of the Accord, which is totally different from its adoption. It is also biased towards the countries with lower gas emotions (Trefil).