CLIMATE
CHANGE
OBJECTIVES:
At the end of lesson, the students should be able to:
• identify the causes of Climate Change;
• understand the effects of climate change on the
society; and
• illustrate how the community helps in mitigating the
hazards caused by climate change.
INTRODUCTIO
N
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), a United Nations body that
evaluates climate change science, released its
report on global climate change. The report’s
important conclusions were the following: world’s
climate has changed significantly over the past
century; the significant change has human
influence; using climate models and if the trend
continues, the global mean surface temperature will
increase between 1˚C and 3.5˚C by 2100.
Climate Change is referring to
the statistically significant
changes in climate for
continuous period. Factors
that contribute to climate
What is Climate change can be natural
Change? internet process, external
forces, and persistent
anthropogenic change in the
composition of the
atmosphere or in land use. It
can also be due to the natural
occurrences or contributed by
Causes of Climate
Change
• Natural Causes
Volcanic Eruptions
Volcanic eruptions are one of the natural causes
of climate change. When volcanoes erupt, it emits
different natural aerosols like carbon dioxide, sulfur
dioxides, salt crystals, volcanic ashes or dust, and
even microorganisms like bacteria and viruses. The
volcanic eruption can cause a cooling effect to the
lithosphere because its emitted aerosol can block a
certain percentage of solar radiation. This cooling
Orbital Changes
Earth's orbit can also cause climate change. This
was proposed by the Milankovitch theory. The
Milankovitch theory states "that as the Earth travels
through space around the Sun, cyclical variations in
three elements of Earth-Sun geometry combine to
produce variations in the amount of solar energy that
reaches Earth.
The three elements that have cyclic
variations
Eccentrici
are:
ty
- is a term used to describe the shape of Earth's
orbit around the Sun.
Obliquity
- is the variation of the tilt of Earth's axis away
from the orbital plane.
Precessio
n
- is the change in orientation of Earth's
rotational axis.
The Carbon Dioxide Theory
Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is added when power and
heat are produced by burning coal, oil, and other
fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide is transparent to
sunshine but not invisible to infrared (heat) radiation
leaving the ground. Carbon dioxide absorbs part of
the infrared radiation in the air and returns it to the
ground keeping the air near the surface warmer than
it would be if the carbon dioxide did not act like a
blanket. Doubling the carbon dioxide raises the
temperature to 2°C to 3°C.
Human Activities
Human activities contribute to climate change.
The largest known contribution 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 Earth's energy balance.
Changing the atmospheric abundance or properties
of these gases and particles can lead to a warming
or cooling of the climate system.
• Greenhouse gases
The greenhouse gases mentioned are natural
gases. However, the high level of these gases in the
atmosphere contributes to the greenhouse effect. The
increasing amount of these gases is due to human
activities. High level of carbon dioxide comes from
fossil fuel use in transportation; and the building,
heating, cooling, and manufacture of cement and
other goods.
• Ozone
Ozone is another greenhouse gas that is
continually produced and destroyed in the
atmosphere by chemical reactions. In the
troposphere, human activities have increased
ozone through the release of gases such as carbon
monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide, which
chemically react to produce ozone.
• Halocarbons
released by human activities destroy ozone in
the stratosphere and have caused the ozone hole
over Antarctica. While water vapor is the most
abundant and important greenhouse gas in the
atmosphere, human activities have only a small
direct influence on the amount of atmospheric water
vapor. Indirectly, humans have the potential to affect
water vapor substantially by changing climate. For
example, a warmer atmosphere contains more water
vapor.
Effects of Climate Change on
Society
• Climate change
could cause severe
affects to all life
forms around our
planet. It directly
affects the basic
elements of
people's lives like
water, food, health,
use of land, and the
environment.
SUMMARY
Climate change is a worldwide issue that we must
face. Climate change is referred as statistically
significant climate variation persisting for an extended
period. The continuous climate change could bring
drastic effects to living and nonliving forms on Earth.
Climate change is brought by several factors like
natural processes and persistent human activities.
Global warming is one of the major effects of climate
change. Global warming threatens all life forms on
Earth. It has drastic effects on water availability, food
source, health issues, land use, and ecosystem.
THANK YOU!
