The ISCFC is all about reducing our individual and collective contributions to climate change.
But is climate change really happening? Is it mostly caused by human activity, including our production of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases?
In the United States and elsewhere, there are people who are not convinced by the science. But the great thing about science is that we use evidence to evaluate scientific questions. So what is the evidence related to climate change?
Are you or are you not convinced by the majority of climate scientists who say that climate change is real and largely human caused? Why are you convinced/not convinced? What evidence might change your mind one way or the other?
Is Climate Change Real & Human-Caused? >
How Climate Change Affects The Ocean
How The Ocean Affects Climate On Land
The ocean plays a huge role in heating the earth. The ocean absorbs most of the radiation of the sun, especially in tropical waters near the equator, but land absorbs some sunlight. The atmosphere also plays a large role because it retains the heat that would otherwise just go into space right after the sun goes down. Basically, the ocean acts as a huge, heat-retaining solar panel.
The ocean also spreads heat around the globe. When water molecules get heated, it causes evaporation. The water in the ocean is constantly evaporating, which means that the humidity and temperature are always changing. This causes rain and storms that are then carried by trade winds. Almost all rainfall that comes to land starts in the ocean. The reason why the tropics are usually really rainy is because of the amount of heat absorption, thus creating more evaporation which creates more rainfall.
The oceans currents also play a huge factor in our climate. The currents affect our climate by transporting warm water and rain from the equator down to the north and south poles. Also, cold water from the poles gets transported to the tropics. But, the earth would be a lot less habitable if it was not for currents. The ocean’s currents regulate the earth’s climate, and counteract the fact that heat absorption is unevenly distributed between the ocean and land. If it wasn’t for the ocean’s currents, then the earth’s climate would become very extreme. It would be crazy hot by the equator, and even more frigid in the north and south poles