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? >
Climate Change is Real and Affecting Polar Ice Caps
Although climate change is affecting regions all over the world, there is strong evidence that climate change has had an impact in the Arctic and the Antarctic as well. The melting of the polar ice caps is due to the temperatures in these places increasing at twice the rate as the rest of the world, which is mostly due to climate change. Although the melting of the polar ice caps may not seem important, it will have many effects, not just in the Poles, but in all aspects of society.
A lot of these effects, although not directly important to society, will change the extremes of our planet in drastic ways. For example, it will create changes in the physical oceanography and ecology of the Southern Ocean, meaning that the way the ocean and organisms living in it will be affected. The loss of sea-ice could impact at all levels in the food chain in the ocean, from algae and krill to the top of the food chain, like whales. Even marine mammals and birds could be affected; many have life histories that tie them to specific breeding and feeding sites. The polar ice caps meltin g could shift and rearrange the landscape until they no longer recognize their habitat and have trouble performing natural occurrences in their life.
In addition to the Arctic and Antarctic being affected by the melting of the polar ice, the whole globe and society will be affected as well. In fact, the most serious effect of this is sea level rise. When the ice melts, it contributes to the oceans, causing sea level to rise. By 2100, it's estimated our oceans will be one to four feet higher, meaning that islands could go underwater and major coastal cities could lose a lot of coastline, including New York, Los Angeles, and Miami.
Denchak, Melissa. "Are the Effects of Global Warming Really That Bad?"NRDC. Natural
Resources Defense Council 2016, 15 Mar. 2016. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.
Graham, Steve. "Global Warming and Land Ice." NASA. NASA, 24 Apr. 1999. Web. 29 Sept.
2016.
I agree that climate change affects everyone. If the temperature gets too high, thirty percent of animals face the possibility of extinction. Some animals are moving up to higher altitudes to survive, but polar bears already live at high altitudes. According to http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015 … e-change/, the number of polar bears left in the wild is about 25,000. Global warming is affecting the seals, so if there aren’t enough seals for polar bears to eat, they have to find a different source of food, which, as Robert Rockwell believes, are snow goose eggs.
People will be affected by global warming too. When temperatures rise, there will be less clean water, and more people could become sick by drinking dirty water. People could also become sick from food poisoning that is bacteria-related because bacteria grows better in a warm environment. Also, if we continue to increase the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, t he probability of regular flooding will increase. We can expect to have approximately 2.6 of the population living under the threat of floods.