Running head: CLIMATE CHANGE 1

Climate Change

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Climate Change

Brief overview

1. Summary

Climate change is the shift in the earth's average surface temperature and weather

patterns due to human beings' anthropogenic activities; it results from burning fossil fuels that

emit carbon. The rise of the earth’s temperature is called global warming when carbon emissions

trap the sun's heat near the earth's surface. The industrial activities of human beings involving

carbon emission have increased tremendously in the last two centuries, and the average surface

temperature of the planet has increased by 1.5 degrees Celsius since the pre-industrial era, which

is considered to be between 1850-1900 (Lüning & Vahrenholt, 2017). Climate change has altered

the world's weather patterns and has become the reason for disasters such as floods, droughts,

storms, and wildfires that impact millions every year.

2. Events and facts related to climate change

Climate change has caused global warming that cannot be seen in history. According to

the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, the earth's warming has been

unprecedented in the last 800,000 years (Uprety et al., 2019). It is fuelled by industrialization

that emits carbon, and the greenhouse effect is created to trap the sun's heat. Moreover, the world

population has grown fast in the last two centuries because of technological advancements in

health services that lowered mortality rates. To meet the increasing demands of food products,

more fossil fuels are burnt, and the demands of the population are met at the expense of climate.

A recent wave of events can be seen as evidence of climate change; the coastal areas of

the sub-continent faced severe heat waves of two degrees above the earth's average surface
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temperature (Ganguli, 2023). America has also faced heat waves in the last few years. Moreover,

Europe faces frequent wildfires, and drought has also hit the green region. Furthermore, the

situation in Madagascar is caused by droughts, which explains the alarming consequences of

climate change. Floods in Pakistan are caused by the rapid glacier melting in the Himalayan

region, which explains the dire repercussions of climate change.

An understanding of time

Certain events, key moments, and catalysts have led humanity to the alarming climate

change catastrophe. This started with the Industrial Revolution and the invention of the engine in

the nineteenth century. After that, the world kept progressing and producing facilities for

humanity, resulting in excessive carbon emissions. The timeline of the prominent events

regarding climate change is as follows;

Biases regarding climate change

Is climate change a myth or reality? Is it natural or caused by human activities? Research

can help answer these questions. Certain biases prevent people from having a realistic view of

climate change; internal and external partiality can lead to a biased view of people regarding

climate change.

1. External biases

External biases are incorporated into people's minds through misinformation; business

people and political personalities do this for their economic and political agendas. Some of the

external biases regarding climate change are as follows:

a. Misinformation for personal gains

Misinformation about the reality of climate change is common; it has been propagated by

different organizations working in the fossil fuel industry. According to them, climate change is a

natural phenomenon, and human activities are not the reason behind it. For instance, the CEO of

ExxonMobil, Lee Raymond, tried to propagate the bias because the organization was one of the

top players in the oil industry (Grasso, 2019).

b. Political biases

Political personalities try to modify or alter the facts to avoid the reality that climate

change is due to human activities and needs attention. This is done by the political leaders to

oppose the fact that climate change is real and to appease the allies who oppose policies related

to climate change. For example, Donald Trump withdrew from the commitments made regarding

climate change in the Paris Agreement of 2015 (Saad, 2018).

2. Internal biases

Some biases originate from the beliefs and values of the people; individuals oppose the

change and try to maintain the status quo of thoughts. Following internal biases can be seen

regarding climate change:

a. Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is the distortion of information to pick and accept the points that

support a person's existing beliefs (Yahya & Sukmayadi, 2020). People have been thinking for

generations that climate change occurs naturally with time; they try to maintain this thought by

adopting the relevant portions of information. For example, they may argue that the ice age came

thousands of years ago due to the natural impacts of climate change, and it also disappeared

naturally.

b. Temporal discounting

Temporal discounting is the avoidance of a phenomenon's long-term impacts to reap its

short-term benefits. For example, an individual may think that the economic benefits of

industrialization are much higher than the impacts of climate change. This perception forces

people to ignore the consequences of climate change.

Predictions of future outcomes

The future may have severe impacts because of climate change if the world does not

commit to the targets of the Paris Agreement, which calls for urgent steps to limit global

warming to 1.5 degrees centigrade. The future outcomes of the climate change can be studied

under the following sub-headings:

1. Probable happenings in the future

Climate change can have alarming repercussions if the world does not act swiftly to limit

it. Glacier melting and excessive water evaporation in the air due to climate change may cause

floods; the phenomenon can deplete the freshwater reserves, and acute water shortages can be

seen in the future (Parvaze et al., 2023). Moreover, droughts can hit different parts of the world

due to excessive evaporation due to global warming. There can be more wildfires, storms, and

heatwaves that can disrupt the global society.

2. Affected people because of climate change

The examples of natural disasters worldwide prove that climate change affects everyone

equally without geographic discrimination. It has struck all the inhabited continents in the last

few years. According to the research, only droughts can displace millions of individuals in the

next few years. The rising sea level threatens the coastal areas as they are gradually immersed in

the water. Climate change has recently caused wildfires in Europe, Türkiye, Australia, and

Russia; heatwaves have been experienced in the USA and the sub-continent. It is a global issue

that is impacting every part of the world.

3. My opinion

Climate change is a cause for the world to unite and formulate a viable strategy. Though

it has impacted all the continents across the globe, low-income countries are more vulnerable as

they do not have financing to handle the situation. South America, Africa, and the Indian Ocean

region are areas affected by global warming. However, the countries in these areas cannot mend

the losses. The developed and industrialized world is responsible for its carbon footprint due to
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industrialization; it needs to take urgent steps to reduce its carbon footprint and support the

developing world in coping with global warming issues.

References
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Ganguli, P. (2023). Amplified risk of compound heat stress-dry spells in Urban India. Climate

Dynamics, pp. 1061–1078. Retrieved from

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00382-022-06324-y

Grasso, M. (2019). Oily politics: A critical assessment of the oil and gas industry’s contribution

to climate change. Energy Research & Social Science, pp. 106–115. Retrieved from

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629618306376

Lüning, S., & Vahrenholt, F. (2017). Paleoclimatological context and reference level of the 2 C

and 1.5 C Paris Agreement long-term temperature limits. Frontiers in Earth Science, 104.

Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2017.00104/full

Parvaze, S., Kumar, R., Khan, J. N., & Parvaze, S. (2023). Climate Change, Drought, and Water

Resources. In S. Parvaze, R. Kumar, J. N. Khan, & S. Parvaze, Integrated Drought

Management, Volume 1 (pp. 541-568). CRC Press. Retrieved from

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.1201/9781003276555-27/climate-change-

drought-water-resources-sabah-parvaze-rohitashw-kumar-junaid-nazir-khan-saqib-

parvaze

Saad, A. (2018). Pathways of harm: The consequences of Trump's withdrawal from the Paris

Climate Agreement. Environmental Justice, pp. 47–51. Retrieved from

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/env.2017.0033

Uprety, D. C., Reddy, V. R., Mura, J. D., Uprety, D. C., Reddy, V. R., & Mura, J. D. (2019).

Temperature Changes. Climate Change and Agriculture: A Historical Analysis, pp. 43–

51. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-13-2014-9_4

Yahya, A. H., & Sukmayadi, V. (2020). A review of cognitive dissonance theory and its relevance

to current social issues. MIMBAR: Jurnal Sosial Dan Pembangunan, 480-488. Retrieved

from https://r.jordan.im/download/psychology/A%20Review%20of%20Cognitive

%20Dissonance%20Theory%20and%20Its%20Relevance%20to%20Current%20Social

%20Issues.pdf