Category: Climate

The climate change has been a long-standing issue not only for the environmentalists but also for global authorities and governments, as well as major global corporations. The negotiations on the protection of the environment, reduction of harmful emissions and dealing with greenhouse have been conducted numerous times over the past decades; however, the previous talks were held with varying degrees of success. Often, high hopes before talks were later turning into vast disappointment at the failure to reach an agreement on key topics. However, the latest climate conference in Paris, held on 5^th of December, 2015, might become a proof that an agreement can, in fact, be achieved.

The draft of the agreement, as posted on the official website of the UN organization, emphasizes the need to reduce global carbon emissions and limit the global warming, as the negotiators from 195 countries, agreed to sign the document (Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, Draft Paris Outcome, p. 1-48). Greg Botelho (2015), the CNN reporter claims that this step, although inconclusive, maybe a significant achievement in multinational efforts for keeping climate changes at bay (para. 1).

While the outcomes of these negotiations may look promising, the so-called issue of the corporations going green is still an acute topic, and this problem still awaits its solution. On one level, various corporations, who are willing to maintain their reputation are already acting responsibly, struggling to decrease the environmental impact and enhance their performance in compliance with the ecological regulations.

Still, besides the existence of their counterparts, the companies, which deny or even challenge the negative influence on the environment caused by their activities (Revkin 2009, para. 1-20), another type of business behaviour has been developed recently. The researcher Sharon Beder (2002) mentions them in her article on environmentalism and corporate reputations: A company that is undertaking environmental measures in order to distract attention from more socially damaging aspects of its operations is clearly not embarking on the road to social responsibility, but rather engaging in a form of greenwashing (p. 70).

While the first type of irresponsibility can be explained, for example, by inefficient company politics on accountability, or by being misinformed about the environmental impact, the other type of corporations may, in fact, pose a greater danger because of their actual malpractice that does not lead to long-term environmental sustainability.

In a key concept overview, Managing in the Multicultural World of Energy published by the University of Liverpool (2015), an approach for resolving the trouble with energy efficiency and reduction of emissions for various types of supply chains is proposed (p. 10), however, it remains a great press of work for the environmental protection organizations and ecologists to adopt such strategies and propose individual solutions to all companies willing to participate in the environmental movement.

While the lack of substantial penalties for violation of environmental regulations encourages the corporations not to take seriously even such major agreements as Kyoto protocol (Bond 2003, para. 13), establishing the harsher penalties may also lead to companies attempting to avoid responsibilities or resorting to half measures, as in an abovementioned example.

Reference List

Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, Draft Paris Outcome. 2015. Web.

Beder, S 2002, Environmentalists Help Manage Corporate Reputation: Changing Perceptions not Behaviour, Ecopolitics, vol. 1 no.4, pp. 60-72.

Bond, E 2003, The Kyoto Protocol. Web.

Botelho, G 2015, Officials from around the world reach climate change draft agreement, CNN. Web.

Revkin, AC 2009, Industry Ignored Its Scientists on Climate, The New York Times. Web.

University of Liverpool 2015, Managing in the Multicultural World of Energy, Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.

Introduction

The issue of whether human activities threaten to change climate has stirred a fiery debate world all over. In this debate, there are people who support the idea while others reject it. The debate notwithstanding, the issue of climate change is real, as we have seen its effects in the recent past.

This reality must have hit the stakeholders hard leading to convergence of different summits to address the issue. The Copenhagen summit took place last month not to mention the signing of Kyoto Protocol.

Does it mean that these summits converge to come up with a solution to a problem that does not exist? Could it be we are trying to tame a natural disaster? This paper handles such issues exploring if human activities influence climate change, and if they do, then how and to what extent. This paper will also look into the possibility of climate change due to non-human or natural occurrence.

Human Activities Cause Global warming

After immense scientific studies on human involvement in climate change, it is clear that human activities greatly influence climate change (Easton, 2006, p. 9). To understand this better, it is good that we define global warming and its causes. According to Milbourn (2009), global warming is the projected and observable increase in the average temperature of Earths atmosphere and oceans.

The Earths average temperature rose by 0.6 degrees Celsius in the 20^th Century (United Nations (UN) Public Inquiries Unit, 2002). The greatest known cause of global warming is the increase of green house gases like carbon dioxide, water vapor, ozone, sulfur hexafluoride, hydro fluorocarbons, and methane (UN Public Inquiries Unit, 2002). Science research has proved that burning of fossil fuels lead to emission of carbon dioxide.

How does global warming happen? As sunlight hits the Earths surface, a smaller amount of the light is absorbed to warm the Earth but the larger amount is radiated back to the atmosphere at a longer wavelength than the sun light (Milbourn, 2009). Study shows that, greenhouse gases absorb some of these longer wavelengths before they escape into the atmosphere.

After this absorption, these greenhouse gases reflect the heat energy generated back to the Earth. This reflection of heat energy back to the Earth by the atmosphere is known as greenhouse effect or global warming (Norma, 1993, p. 44).

With this knowledge, we can critically analyze activities that lead to emission of these gases into the atmosphere and determine whether they are human in nature or not. The human activities that leads to the emissions of these gases are such as; use of motor vehicles, which emit hazardous gases.

Carbon dioxide, which is the principle contributor of global warming, is produced when coal and fossil fuels are burned to produce energy in different applications. According to Milbourn (2009), use of fossil fuels accounts for 80-85% of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere currently.

Deforestation that is, cutting down of trees also contributes to increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. When man cut trees down and burns them, the carbon that is contained in trees is released into the air as carbon dioxide.

Other human activities include farming; the use of fertilizers and other chemicals in farming releases nitrous oxide, which is a hazardous gas that causes about 10% of air pollution (Cynthia & Daniel, 1995). Changes due to land use accounts for 15-20% of the current carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere (Milbourn, 2009).

Methane, the second largest important greenhouse gas comes from cattle rearing, rice cultivation, decaying materials in landfills and during oil drilling (Norma, 1993, p. 44). Studies show that if there were no human involvement, the natural methane levels in the atmosphere would be 145% less than the current levels (EPA, 2009).

Nitrous oxide results from various human activities like agricultural and industrial practices. Human activities have increased levels of nitrous oxide by 15% over the natural levels (Milbourn, 2009). People use chlorofluorocarbons in air conditioning, refrigeration and as solvents.

These gases as aforementioned still contribute to global warming. Finally, ozone; that is, the lower part of atmosphere also causes global warming. Even though this gas is produced naturally, studies have shown that different gases produced from human activities react to form ozone, a relatively important greenhouse gas.

Who causes the emission of these greenhouse gases? The answer is man. Because of these human activities, there has been increased global climate change in the past few years (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2004, p. 96). This is evident from the rate at which the ice caps are melting, the unpredictable change of patterns of weather, and the rise in levels of seawater.

Drought continues to be experienced in many parts of the world as shortage of water becomes more pronounced. High intensity cyclones and hurricanes continue to wreck havoc in various parts of the earth (Global Warming, 2010). Katrina and Tsunami are real examples of effects of human activities that have occurred in our times.

From the U.S Global Change Research Information Office, an article written by Cynthia and Daniel on the impacts of climate change on agriculture and food claims that, the change in climate change that is being experienced today will automatically affect food supply in the world.

This is due to water supply drop on crops which may limit their growth, the rise in global temperature will also affect crop growth, and thus it will be very difficult for the world to predict on future food supply (Cynthia & Daniel, 1995). Man will continue to suffer from pangs of hunger; actually, some parts of Africa are already grappling with reality of global warming as they try to face hunger that has become a normal phenomenon in most places.

In the wake of these events and revelations, it is clear that human activities are involved directly in climate change. The fact that even critics agree that greenhouse gases are the chief cause of global warming, man cannot be exempted from it. It is unfortunate that since time immemorial, man has come up with ways of putting the blame on someone else and the issue of global warming is not different. We are blaming everything else apart from the main culprit, human beings.

Human Activities Do Not Cause Global warming

May be global warming is not for real. In the last few years, different groups of scientists have come out strongly to refute the widely accepted theory that human beings are responsible for global warming. One of such people is Singer (1997) who said, There does not exist today a general scientific consensus about the importance of greenhouse warming from rising levels of carbon dioxide.

Instead, most scientists now accept the fact that, actual observations from Earth satellites show no climate warming whatsoever. Many other people including over 17,000 scientists have thrown weight behind this issue.

This group of people including geophysicists, physicists, meteorologists, climatologists, and environmental scientists states that, there is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earths atmosphere and disruption of the Earths climate (Bast, 2001).

Apparently, science is not in a position to pin point the extent by which human activities have contributed to global warming. According to Mathews (2003), the earth did not start warming in the recent past; on contrary, the Earth was even warmer in the Middle Ages than it is today.

Scientists working on impacts of climate in the United Kingdom concluded that throughout 1990s, the Earth had been warmer than any particular point in the last millennium (Mathews, 2003). Many scientists and environmentalists bought this idea and called for immediate action to cut down emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. However, this does not mean that these researchers were right.

Another group of researchers from Harvard University conducted temperate proxies research whereby, they used things like historical accounts, ice nubs, and tree hoops to determine prevalent temperatures at different sites around the globe. They established that the medieval temperatures were very hot before drastic cooling of the world in 1300 (Mathews, 2003).

Therefore, there is a possibility that scientists in contemporary world are in haste to draw conclusions from researches carried over a very short period of time say, 10 years. Theories are proved after looking closely to well-documented peer reviewed materials and this withstanding, there is a possibility that human activities have nothing to do with global warming.

Maybe, what has been forgotten in all the discussions about global warming is a proper sense of history (Mathews, 2003). An alarmist group of scientists is emerging trying to blow things out of proportion after compiling few segments of scientific data that is not supported by any core scientific literature.

For an idea to be accepted as a fact in science, it must go through rigorous sessions of study and reviews, a component that is conspicuously lacking in todays scientific claims that human beings are contributors of global warming.

There is no concrete proof that human beings are involved in global warming. What we have is a sketchy through the glass assumption drawn from few excerpts from recent studies. The point here is that, there are no clear-cut parameters to prove that human activities lead to global warming. Given the fact that all the greenhouse gases also occur naturally, how can scientist scale up the amount that is dangerous in the atmosphere?

Conclusion

Global warming is the projected and observable increase in the average temperature of Earths atmosphere and oceans. Whether human activities contribute to global warming or not, remains a point of contention. The debate is immense and each group is holding tight to its claims. Climate reformers have continued to brand critics business minded coterie while critics have always branded reformers findings science consensus. This turns out to be a game of finger pointing.

However, after a critical review of both sides, it is clear that global warming is real and it is here to stay unless stakeholders take immediate mitigation factors to alleviate the prevailing conditions. It is easier said that human activities do not contribute to global warming than grappling with the realities of global warming.

People are dying of hunger and related catastrophes under our very own eyes. Sitting back and watching as people perish form repercussions of what could have been prevented does not justify cowing away from criticism. Time for procrastination was yesterday; today it is time to act on the issue of climate change.

References List

Bast, J. (2001). Scientists Do Not Believe Human Activities Threaten To Disrupt the Earths Climate. Web.

Cunningham, M., & Cunningham, W. (2004) Principles of Environmental Science. McGraw Hill International. 2^nd Ed.

Cynthia, R., & Daniel, H. (1995). Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture And Food Supply. Consequences, 1, 2-4.

Easton, T. (2006). Taking Sides Clashing Views on Environmental Issues. Guilford: Dushkin Pub Group. 12^th Ed.

EPA. (2009). Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Web.

Global Warming. (2010). Global Warming: Climate Change Greenhouse Effect. Web.

Mathews R. (2003). Middle Ages Were Warmer Than Today, Say Scientists. Web.

Milbourn, C. (2009). EPA: Greenhouse Gases Threaten Public Health And The Environment / Science Overwhelmingly Shows Greenhouse Gas Concentrations At Unprecedented Levels Due To Human Activity. News Releases issued by the Office of Air and Radiation. Web.

Norma K. (1993). Native perspective on climate change, in Impacts of Climate Change On Resource Management in the North. University of Waterloo: Ontario.

Singer, F. (1997). Hot Talk, Cold Science: Global Warmings Unfinished Debate Oakland, CA: The Independent Institute.

The United Nations Public Inquiries Unit. (2002). Global Climate Change. Retrieved From. Web.

A volcanic eruption is said to have occurred when magma, ash or dust found in the earths crust find their way to the earths surface through an opening. The eruption affects the worlds climate negatively. It has a cooling effect, warming effect and produces green house gasses, dusts and chemicals to the environment in turn affecting climate. This paper discusses the climatic effects of volcanic eruptions (Bush, 2006).

When an eruption occurs, it releases gasses, dust and magma to/on the earths surface and the atmosphere. Depending on how sunlight interacts with these exposed compounds, the result may be climate warming or cooling. The effect is both in the long term and short term.

For example the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, caused the world temperatures to drop by degree Fahrenheit for a period approximated to be two years. This resulted to slow growth of plans in Europe and other parts of the world. Tambora in 1815 caused a temperature drop in Europe and Northern America which was acute that crops failed and lead to drought in the countries affected (Morgan, Steven & Valdes, 2007).

Immediately after a volcano, dust released to the atmosphere causes a cooling effect; the level of cooling depends on the size of dust particles released and the amount. Tiny dusts have a higher cooling effect than large grain emissions. This is because they remain in the atmosphere for a long period. Gases from volcano contain sulphur oxide, carbon dioxide or sulphur dioxide among other gases. These gasses easily rise to stratosphere.

They then combine with water droplets found in the atmosphere and come back as rain acid. Since the stratosphere is dry, the droplets made take a long time before they are heavy enough to drop as rain. They are at this time interrupting the normal functioning of the atmosphere.

The result is a cooling effect. Pinatubo and Tambora eruptions 1991 and 1815 respectively are believed to have caused a massive sulphur haze eruption which resulted to cooling of the earth for about two years. On the other hand these gasses have green house effects which affect the normal operation of the atmosphere. The end result is global warming.

Global warming is the increase of world temperature which is caused by emission of green house gasses to the atmosphere. The frequency of volcanic eruption is not high and thus its effect on global warming is not much, however if huge eruptions like flood basalt volcanoes occur, then carbon emitted can cause a significant effect on global warming (Smith & Braile, 1994).

Volcanoes release large amount of Carbon dioxide and water vapour to the environment. These are in tiny particles which remain in the atmosphere where they reflect sunlight rays making the earths temperatures fall. A recent case was eruption which occurred in Europe; Icelands Eyjafjallajokull volcano. The eruption released a large amount of gases to the atmosphere. There was an increased pollution of climate and atmosphere to a level that planes were not allowed to fly to or from Europe.

The immediate effect was an increase in temperatures. When volcanoes erupt, they release a smoke of gas, dust, water vapour and magma. These components have a cooling effect on the earths temperature; when temperatures have been tampered with, worlds climatic patterns change. For example seasons change, rain composition change and there is global warming caused by particles release to the environment (Dvorak, Johnson & Tilling, 1992).

References

Bush, M.B. (2006). Ecology of changing Planet 3^rd Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall

Dvorak, J. J., Johnson, C., & Tilling, R.I. (1992, August). Dynamics of Kilauea Volcano. Scientific America, 46-53.

Morgan, T., Steven, J. and Valdes, p. (2007). The Climatic Impact of Super Volcanic Ash blanket. Springer

Smith, R .B. & Braile, L. W. (1994). The Yellowstone hotspot. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 61. 121-187.

This report illustrates the significant contributions to the issue of environmental protection, which are provided by the global non-profit organization, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). The union targets the questions of climate pollution and develops some consistent informative and technical strategies, which aims at the improvement of environmental safety quality. The organization reveals its activities on multiple levels. Specifically, it treats the climate protection operation on the regional, local, individual, and global scales.

The primary mission of the organization is directed to the creation of an economically effective market system, which would promote nature-friendly solutions. The policy of market mechanism, which is offered by the C2ES underlines that multiple emissions, which are released by modern industries throughout the world, constitute a danger to the global economy since the eradication of their consequences may be quite costly. Specifically, the statement regards the damaging effects of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and suggests that the world manufacturers have to follow the market system of GHG allocations decrease, which has lately been introduced in several states of the USA.

The representatives of the organization often claim that gas emissions, as well as other types of environment pollution, inflict equal financial hardness on all the citizens of a specific particular. Moreover, the crisis of GHG release possesses some subsidiary ecology implications, which hinder the development of anti-pollution strategies. These are such consequences as sea level growth, biodiversity loss, and weather changeability (Market mechanisms: Understanding the options 2015).

The C2ES organization gives a preference to the market-based strategies of environment protection over the customary power and control techniques. Thus, it offers a flexible system of industry control, according to which, every emission issue should be approached separately.

Except for developing some consistent planning of pollution reduction, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions investigates the alternative fuel sources as well as promotes the usage of ecology-friendly materials both in everyday life and manufacturing processes.

Primary Initiatives and Achievements of the Climate Organization

Throughout the history of its functioning, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions accomplished a wide range of ecology-friendly models and launched numerous climate projects, in cooperation with the leading environment protection organizations of the world. In this report, the principal initiatives of the C2ES are assessed.

Lately, the union initiated a global system of fuel energy efficiency that is based on the usage of the information and communication technologies usage. The project was devised by a joint group of several world platforms, which are CityMart, the United Nations Foundation, the UK Technology Board, and some others. The program was named SMART 2020 since it establishes long-term realization goals and predicts a full accommodation of the project until the year 2020. The system follows the famous pattern of social media connection. Thus, the experts claim that the usage of connecting to each other through the world web provides an excellent model of energy emissions control. Mainly, it is offered to link the major world machines so that they could exchange the information about the level of gas allocations. The technique assists in monitoring the amount of fuel expenditure, which provides a background for energy economy (The Climate Group 2015). The model has already gained a name of a Clean Revolution and is actively embraced by many world climate agencies.

The Clean Revolution campaign is not the only model of environmental protection, which was launched with reference to technology development. Due to the rapid growth of the Internet facilities, the organization aims to keep a pace with the progressive tendencies. In 2012, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions designated a new social media project in corroboration with Alcoa Foundation. The model was called Make an Impact and represented an interactive foundation of environmental education and awareness. The project mostly targeted the global corporations, which introduced their employees to the issues of ecology protection. Thus, the HR director of the famous company Fullerton, Darlene Bush, stated in her interview that Make an Impact website made a significant change to the workers understanding of climate concerns. In the course of following the Internet platform, the employees of the company were acquainted with the issues of carbon calculation and personal footprints. Since the management of the business was eager to support the interest of the staff as well as the values of the project, they initiated an ecology project according to which, every employee was supposed to leave his carbon footprint on the grounds of the corporation by planting a tree (Climate change 2012).

The Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFL) project represents a global initiative, which was introduced by the C2ES group in 2013. The organization managed to connect the major American stakeholders to the system of AFS deployment, which encourages the employment of ecology-friendly fuel for the automobiles. Since the innovation requires the additional resources testing, as well as license application, the C2ES organization brought the projection to the attention of the Washington State Legislature, which overtook the initiative and launched a program of financing the AFL (Alternative Fuel Vehicle Initiative 2013).

The C2ES union made a considerable contribution to the development of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The document established a balance between the U.S. economy and ecology condition. Specifically, it targeted the green policies as well as emission control and allocated $787 billion for the embodiment of the environmental recovery in particular states of America. The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions provided a theoretical grounding for the policy implementation and conducted a distribution between the target investments, which had to be promoted by the new regulation. Mainly, the union made a decision on the energy and transportation renewal. Moreover, it estimated the amount of allocations that had to be directed to the emission monitoring, energy taxation, and environmental science. The innovation had some positive influence on the American community, for it stipulated the creation of diverse simulation models and energy programs (Abate & Kronk 2013).

The usage of natural gas in the U.S. industry serves as a substantial achievement of the C2ES union. The organization has first initiated the planning of natural gas employment since it was noticed that it can serve as a tool of GHG emissions decrease. The planning of the resource use was based on the research, which was launched by the organization. According to the outcomes of this examination, the realization of natural gas employment must be based on two critical steps. First, it is crucial to disclose the alternative sources of gas such as solar or wind power. Second, the experts have to find the ways, in which one could overtake the emissions that come from the burning of coal and natural gas so that to direct them to the underground space. Furthermore, the organization created a consistent planning, according to which the project can potentially be implemented in life. Due to this plan, the renovation has to start with the private houses, which employ a significant amount of power. Thus, it is recommended to substitute such electric devices as water heaters for the innovative natural gas appliances. Moreover, it is offered to introduce some new fuel cells that are powered by natural gas so that to turn waste heat into the new energy. The experts claim that education is a substantial part of renewal processes since the users of primary energy appliances are not entirely acquainted with the rules for natural gas employment. Besides, it is critical to show the society that a new type of energy possesses some substantial advantages so that to extend the areas of natural gas consumers throughout the world. Finally, the C2ES group offers to align the projection of the alternative energy use with the primary state and regional policies, which would create space for new fuel generation technologies.

Finally, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions launched a line of innovative plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), which rely on the power of natural gas. The projection was already implemented in the USA and some European countries. The estimations of the environmental reviews show that the usage of electric vehicles serves as a perfect method of imported oil employment. The active usage of such devices contributes to the greenhouse gas emissions decrease, air quality improvement, and combat of gas value (Plug-in electric vehicle dialogue 2015).

Employment of Science as a Tool for Environment Renovation

The inclusion of scientific techniques is a crucial factor, which underlines the principles of environmental protection modeling. Therefore, the C2ES group is actively using science for building its theories on climate and ecology. Specifically, the process includes several domains of scientific knowledge such as adaptation regulation and economic resilience.

Since the organization primarily deals with the issues of climate and energy law, the concept of adaptation is often regarded in the measurements. Due to the changeability of weather conditions, the citizens of various countries are always challenged by global temperatures impact. Thus, the C2ES should attend to the science of accommodation techniques so that to correlate the devised projects with the natural conditions. The approach includes measuring diverse ecological ratios such as water temperature, air pressure, and so on. These skills assist the representatives of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions in compiling consistent planning of future innovations. It should be noted that an erroneous application of adaptation strategies may result in the ultimate failing of the project. Therefore, the scientific skills are of great value in this context.

The C2ES group is famous as a professional in the sphere of business analysis since its project always corresponds to the actual industrial tendencies. The skill accounts for the area of economy resilience. Thus, the organization specialists apply their scientific knowledge of economy calculations and apply them to the environmental models so that to match the projections to the real-life practices.

Therefore, one may conclude that climate regulations account for the full application of scientific skills since the area refers to the objective world experiences.

Conclusion: Summary of the C2ES Advocacy Positions

In this report, the primary strengths and specifications of the C2ES group were assessed. Specifically, the paper dwells on the mission statement of the union, which embraces environmental protection as the first priority. In the body of the work, the existent projects, which were realized by the organization, are described. Finally, we describe some specific scientific skills that are practiced by the members of the union so that to match the devised models to the real-life experience.

It may be deduced that the organization primarily targets the issues of harmful emissions eradication as well as an adequate substitution of poisonous gasses for natural fuel. The models of strategic implementation, which are offered by the C2ES organization, are characterized by scientific complexity and scrupulous elaboration. The experts claim that this factor accounts for the professionalism of the members, who manage to utilize the basic scientific measurements as well as ecology-related experience and turn them into the progressive models of environment treatment.

The second constituent of the C2ESs success is its tight collaboration with the world leaders, which score high in the sphere of global ecology or have excellent recognition and substantial authority. Mainly, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions cooperates with NASA the UN organization, etc. Such linkage helps the members of the union to bring its sound ideas to the target public. For instance, lately the group launched a joint project in collaboration with Alcoa Foundation. The model under the name Make an Impact was promoted by the latter among the leading business corporation, which introduced the project to the global industry.

Therefore, a successful staff deliberation, the sound principles, and winning strategies turn a climate foundation into the major player in the domain of world ecology.

Reference List

Abate, R & Kronk, E 2013, Climate change and indigenous peoples: The search for legal remedies, Edward Edgar Publishing, Camberley.

Alternative Fuel Vehicle Initiative 2013, Web.

Climate change 2012, Web.

Market mechanisms: Understanding the options 2015, Web.

Plug-in electric vehicle dialogue 2015, Web.

The Climate Group 2015, Web.

Problem Statement

Most cities in the US especially those in the North of the country continue to face complex environmental and development challenges. The rise in population of most of most countries in the world is harming both biological and natural resources.

The state of the worlds natural resource base is rapidly changing to become unproductive from what it used to be. The top productive soil is being carried by water and wind power and in the process is becoming weak and unproductive due to poor land management practices such as cutting down trees and overstocking.

The only solution left in the protection of the natural environment include; instituting, preserving and developing areas of conservation that will aim at preserving the natural diversity. This will only be possible if policies and legislation governing environmental and natural resources are put in place. The only earths natural resources remain in the areas that are reserved though they continue to shrink and lose their natural ecological perspective.

Susan page reported in the US Today that in Washington  Pollution and other environmental problems have been shown as the major cause of the threat the world is facing, America especially the United States is to blame for these problems and should be responsible to respond to them (1). Forest cover in parts of US has reduced drastically due to the timber industry and development. Rising seas, longer and more intense heat, increasing storms and cyclones and forest fires are reported almost everyday in the US.

North America is acutely sensitive to water issues. Several states have lost as much as 25% of water resources from their lakes. The Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (IPCC), reports that water resources in the North are used heavily by industries, in agriculture, for domestic use and for hydro electric power (UNEP 1).

The state of ground water is poor and rainfall patterns are changing and becoming more erratic due to climate change. Locally, various water bodies like the Lakes and rivers have dried up due to interference with water catchment areas.

There has been reports of drop by up to 35% in the Edwards Aquifer in Texas while the water flow in Colorado and Columbia rivers is dwindling (UNEP 1). In this UNEP report, Mr. Achim Steiner who is the UNEP director laments that though the US and Canada have strong economic power, the impacts of this problem continue to face them just like the rest of the world.

In an interview over the phone with Mr. Raven who is plant biologist and a specialist in the field of forestry. Professor Raven is the manager of the Kew Botanical Garden and a Professor at one University in US .He revealed what many people take for granted.

He says that the worlds biodiversity is slowly being lost and that in 40 years time, most species that we see today will have been reduced by a half. He attributed this loss to the destruction of their natural homes. He cited that the effects of forest destruction on local climate were more serious than generally thought (World book par 4). Mr. Raven said that humans were destroying the habitats of plants and animals across the globe.

According to him, the world has no any unoccupied frontier left, every single inch of the earths surface is influenced by mans activities and this is most clearly in tropical rain forests which contain an enormous diversity of life.

The worlds majority species liv in forests and if the trend of destroying their habitat continues, the future generations might not have anything for them left to see. He cites that the population in many of the states is growing so fast that people exploit the resources of the forest for settlement.

Today people are cutting down trees so fast that the impacts are felt almost immediately. Forests are known to regulate the worlds weather when they absorb rainfall; they also create rainfall and acts as a sink for green house gases. It has also been shown that forests absorb heat than do soils without vegetation. Mr. Raven also touched on the role of community based programs minimizing loss of forest cover.

He said that women groups and other stakeholders in the environmental sector should work to disseminate vital information on research findings, lessons, experiences and ideas regarding climate change and environmental conservation among researchers, educators, policy makers, and students.

They should also develop policy guidelines regarding research, innovation, development, and industrialization tailored towards curbing forest degradation. Community based groups could inspire and motivate crop of young people who understand environmental issues and are willing to take a leading role in conserving the environment.

An article posted on the web by Dr. Young show that most of the rain forests lie across the equator. Rain forests act as carbon sinks when they take up carbon released into the atmosphere by plants and give out oxygen which is utilized by plants.

There is usually high water level in the air and usually forested areas receive much rainfall than bare ground. it can be seen that cutting down trees will result into failure of absorption of CO₂ will in turn cause a heating up of the earths atmosphere causing global warming (Young par1)

Research has shown that cutting down trees is reducing the leaf surface available for evaporation and consequently the amount of rainfall.

The ground is rapidly drying up and plant life can no longer be supported. solar energy absorption is also being hampered because plants are shown to absorb shortwave bands of light which bare ground doesnt. As a result, the waves are being reflected back causing reduced heat retention of the earth surface thus under cooling. The amount of rain received in different places on earth has been shown to be reducing.

Forests covered about 40 percent of the earths surface in 1940s but has been reduced by indiscriminate clearing of forests to a mere 7%.

Community based forestry has the power to improve forest supervision in the common land. Unfortunately, the effortlessness with which interests of the logging business are able to disregard community decisions and illegally harvest timber remains disturbing. Illegal logging is highly destructive to community unity and institutions. Logging operations have compound implications with common property directors. Confrontation and complicity are apparent in the fight to protect forests.

Solution

An individual American citizen may wonder what role to play in the mitigation plan. In our own state, loggers continue to rape our forests as we watch. They cut trees without caring the consequences. A primary role of every like minded citizen of this great country, various stakeholders in the environmental sector such as government agencies, private institutions, NGOs, policy-makers and students from various institutions of higher learning across the state, should, without limitation;

1. Create awareness on the how forest destruction cause climate change and environmental degradation.
2. Discuss, share and understand the various effects of climate change and environmental degradation particularly in our state
3. Evaluate and assess the impacts of forest destruction on various sectors of the economy e.g. agriculture, natural and biological resources, energy, water and health countrywide.
4. Share new research findings, lessons, experiences and ideas concerning trees and their role in climate change mitigation thus help influence decisions.
5. Explore new opportunities and strengthen existing partnerships in research, education, training and development across our state and in the US at large
6. Model a crop of young people who understand environmental issues and inspire them to take a leading role in environmental conservation.
7. Review critical issues about water and water systems and the connection with forest cover.
8. Identify strategies of adapting to or mitigating the adverse effects of climate change.

Benefits

When many plants transpire, moisture is returned into the atmosphere in the process raising the relative humidity. Later when this moisture condenses rainfall is formed. Moisture also tend to lower the temperature of the surrounding air thus having a cooling effect. This cooling effect modifies the local climate (Mastrantonio and Francis par3).

In addition, forests refill the air by using co₂ and giving off o₂. Forests are also known to regulate the flow of rivers, slow the speed of raindrops and acts as water catchment areas. Cutting down trees causes faster run off thus causing soil erosion. Forests are also used for fuel wood and for herbal plants. The forest has also been shown to be a home to many millions of indigenous people

Conclusion

Every single American citizen should familiarize him/herself with the environmental issues. To lead an informed life, every citizen should strive to understand global ecology. Each one of us should make good decisions for oneself, your company, or your family. People should learn about the environment because this knowledge will inspire them to take necessary steps when confronted by an environmental issue.

Works Cited

Mastrantonio, J. Louise and Francis K. John. A Student Guide to Tropical Forest Conservation. USDA Forest Service International Programs, 2000. Web.

Page, Susan. Poll: climate problem the biggest threat. USA today. 2007. Web.

UNEP. Climate Proofing North American Cities and Communities Key Challenge for 21st Century. United Nations Environment Programme, 2007. Web.

World book. Interview with Peter Raven. World Book , 1999. Web.

Young, Donald. How might rain forest destruction affect our weather? Eden Communications, 2010. Web.

This Changes Everything: Capital vs. the Climate

This Changes Everything: Capital vs. the Climate is a book written by Naomi Klein and published in 2014 by Simon & Schuster Publishing. The book is considered to be a testament to movements against Global Warming. It offers great insights and well-supported analysis against deniers of climate changes, who are supported by corporations and industries that stand against anything that would diminish their profits. The books central motif is that to survive, humanity needs to reform from individualistic and towards the collective model  something that is fiercely opposed by the members of the industrial-capitalistic camp.

The first chapter of the book serves as an introduction to the subject. It begins by presenting the arguments and choice quotes of the deniers of global warming  something that sets the mood of the story and puts the reader on the right side  the side of the pro-science and pro-environment movement. The main idea set forth by Naomi Klein in this chapter is that the Environmental subject is being viewed as a battleground between the right-wing and left-wing political ideologies. She states that For the left, Climate change is the perfect thing. Its the reason why we should do everything [the left] wanted to do anyway. This reasoning explains why the power-hoarders and factory owners are so adamantly against climate change policies  they see not only a threat to their profits, but their property as well, as socialism for them is associated with redistribution of wealth and power.

Some of the other ideas that are covered by the first chapter are how the corporations are stripping the world clean of resources, while simultaneously financing pseudo-scientific research to support their cause. They also provide a new worldview to their adepts and followers, slowly transforming individualistic ideas of capitalism into something more akin to national and even racial superiority  the strong eat the weak kind of mentality. This serves as preparation for future conflicts and wars for resources, which will happen between the rich and well-armed minority against the separated and poorer nations of the world.

The second chapter of the book focuses more on how attempts to find a compromise between environmentalism and capitalism essentially failed. The reason why these two concepts cannot coexist and are forced to remain separate and opposite one to another is simple  a serious environmental action demands cooperation, while capitalism is largely based on competition. Competition between companies and between nations as well. The competition involves the elimination of other competitors, whether through outmatching them or using lawsuits and other dirty tricks to get them off the track. This is seen in a series of lawsuits filed by numerous countries against one anothers sustainable energy projects. Naomi Klein calls these actions bizarre, stating that rather than compete for the best, most effective supports for green energy, the biggest emitters in the world are rushing to the WTO to knock down each others windmills.

Another idea pushed forward by Naomi Klein is that globalization aided global pollution rather than prevented it. Instead of uniting nations under the goal of saving Earth, globalization ended up paving the way for global multinational corporations to claim cheap labor markets. Some of the greatest emitters in the world are India and China, both are known for being used by Western powers as they outsource production base. Also, globalization allowed western mining and resource-extracting corporations access towards more rural regions of the Earth, where they can mine and extract without any care for potential damage they cause.

The chapter is finished with a utopian description of the environmentally-friendly economic model, which involves degrowth, luxury taxes to discourage needless consumption, the introduction of a base level of income, large investments into green technologies and energy-saving technology as part of the New World Order, described by several thinkers, academics, and journalists, such as Tim Jackson, Maccario, and Alyssa Battistoni. This model is called utopian not because it is impossible, however. Many utopian projects are doable in real life. The problem is with the current consumerist philosophy of the world  many people would not give up their creature comforts, even if it means saving the planet.

Moreover, those who hold power and influence will do everything to keep it that way

After reading these two chapters, it became obvious to me that Naomi Klein is a supporter of socialism and collectivism, at least when it comes to social and environmental policies. This is not a bad thing. Arguments and ideas she puts forth in these two chapters are backed by facts, are logical, and are hard to argue against. I agree with her assessment of the situation regarding saving the world from Global Warming and the ongoing energy and resource crisis. The world is not going to be pulled out of the crisis through the effort of any one company or any one nation. Human history shows time, and again that greatest victories and achievements were done together. The overarching thought that Naomi Klein seems to suggest throughout her book is that humanity will either stand together or will perish alone.

Introduction

Authored by Noah Smith, the article Economists are out of Touch with Climate Change appeared in The Age Comment magazine in March 2016 as a wakeup call to climate economists to pull up their socks in terms of participating in the fight against climate change, including global warming. Smiths core message is that climate change economists have been dormant to the level that their participation in addressing the crucial issue of climate change is not felt at all, despite the urgency of the matter and the need for policies that can address the situation.

My overall evaluation of the article is positive since it supports Smiths sentiments that economists have to assume an active and constructive role in the debate about climate change by establishing the appropriate policies that countries can implement to curb the threatening impact that global warming is posing on the environment.

Analysis

It is almost impossible for the field of climate change, particularly global warming, to expect any fruitful contribution from economists if they continue to ignore the need for incorporating updated scientific facts in their views on climate change. Smiths article shows how proper understanding of the trend in climatic changes and the impact that such changes have on the environment requires the input of various stakeholders.

These stakeholders include climate economists, climate scientists, and environmental agencies such as the UNEP among others. These parties have to work in collaboration to keep the issue of climate change in check. Smith reveals this missing gap between climate science and economics. According to him, economists have abandoned the significance of science in their analysis of climate change to the extent that they only include obsolete scientific facts that make no sense in the current debate about global warming. Smith substantiates this claim by revealing the first economics article that he read concerning global warming.

Despite the study providing a thorough analysis of global warming, it deployed an old-fashioned framework and shallow procedures that failed to consider other elements that could fuel the level of death such as the presence of floods. The implication here is that such an article could have been more useful when it comes to fighting global warming. However, Smith sees it as nothing but a mere composition that should only be read and dumped into the pit it adds no value to the field of climate change. According to Smith, the economist authors could have spared some time to research the discipline of science to update themselves on what science had confirmed about global warming.

The economics of climate is significant to peoples appreciation of how to tackle this complex matter excellently. In line with this claim, Smith reveals how economists can lead people astray by providing climate change theories that are not at par with the situation on the ground. In other words, any theory has to be backed by up-to-date facts that have been confirmed scientifically. Smith reveals how most climate change publications from economists fail to cite natural science opinions.

One may want to know how useful scientific facts are when it comes to climate issues. The scientific view on climatic matters entails the general verdict among scientists concerning the degree at which global warming is taking place, including the underlying causes and the likely repercussions. Hence, the deliberate act of economists of ignoring the role of science in climate change shows the outdated nature of this class of people who have not yet recognized the evident positive relationship between economic trends and natural occurrences. Scientific facts have been made available for all disciplines to use as a way of substantiating their claims.

According to Smith, it is worrying that nothing much may be expected from economists, despite their central role of deliberating climate change courses of action. Economists are expected to classify, appraise, and/or communicate the repercussions of economic ambiguities and information gaps concerning climate change. However, the current state of economics publications remains a key challenge to other climate change stakeholders since the studies do not provide reliable and informative. Update economics records can offer a central discussion that reflects on the elementary economic matters that improve scientists appreciation of climate policies.

Evaluation

The author mainly argues that climatic economists have a noble role in contributing to the debate on climatic change in the public domain. However, such contribution is widely nonexistent. However, in establishing the relevance of these concerns, it is perhaps important to question whether climatic economists are concerned about climatic change. The author indicates that climatic economists are equally worried about the problem, just like anyone else.

If this claim holds, why then do they not participate in the debate? If they do, is their contribution relevant at all? These are the two main sub-arguments of the article. To support the main argument and sub-arguments the author deploys three important premises, which he attempts to support using appropriate evidence. He notes that climate change economists have been caught in the challenge of using backdated science. Besides ignoring all possible implications of climatic change, their studies have yielded inconsistent results.

Backdated science, the inconsistency of results of studies by climate economists, and ignorance of possible implications of climate change have the strength of helping to support the main argument abundantly. Any research discipline is relevant to the extent that the premise it advances reflects the actual concerns and merits or demerits of the situation under study. Therefore, the inconsistency of results of studies completed by climatic change economists is the most important strength of the authors evidence that he offers for his arguments. However, arguing this way, a weakness emerges concerning the extent that he does not provide a set of statistics drawn for different studies that demonstrate the inconsistencies quantitatively. Therefore, his argument is not convincing enough.

Secondly, the author succeeds in demonstrating that climatic change economists have not provided any updated study with any reliable evidence supported by other science disciplines. Indeed, he supports this argument by quoting a case of a study in which climatic economists found no significant contributions of climatic change to the rising number of deaths attributed to the situation. As a potential weakness of the evidence in support of the main argument, it is possible to counter-argue that methodologies deployed in the study yielded the reported findings and that it could have been unethical to manipulate the study to suit climatic change concerns that arise from other studies in other disciplines. However, the authors argument against the non-participation of climatic change economists in the debate on climatic change still holds substance.

The author notes that climatic economists have failed to embrace the role of natural science in helping to validate their discipline by quoting research in social and natural science, yet concerns about climatic economics depend on natural occurrences. This assertion creates a clear link between climatic change economics and natural science. To this extent, the author established a strong relationship between the two disciplines to the extent that it becomes hard to refute any claimed ignorance by climatic economists.

Indeed, while studying the impacts of climatic change on mortality rates, Deschenes and Greenstone failed to include disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and flooding in low lands as potential sources of mortality related to climatic change. Indeed, the authors arguments are stronger upon considering the case in which Deschenes and Greenstone published a paper on the implication of climatic change on agriculture, yet they used outdated science. This observation indicates that climatic change economists lag in terms of information from other disciplines, which their studies should consider. Nevertheless, this argument has a weakness since Smith considers only two studies completed by the same researchers.

This case has the effect of weakening the argument that climatic change economists ignore knowledge and ideas that may help to support the discourse. Using two case examples is not enough to declare climate economists reluctant in their work. Based on my overall positive evaluation of the article, Smith urges climate change economists to address the matter by availing updated academic insights and experimental observations that apply to the study of climate change.

Conclusion

International climate change causes danger to the safety of humans and other organisms based on its impacts on the performance of the flora and fauna, biodiversity, asset efficiency, and health. The above article by Smith has opened a room for discussion concerning the laxity that has been witnessed in climate change economists. Such economists have failed to upgrade their work and knowledge to be at par with the current scientific studies. Despite the articles strength of supporting the link between climate scientists and climate economists, Smith fails to substantiate his work by quoting various studies on the same topic and hence the articles major weakness.

Ecofeminism is one of the essential trends of a coherent society that includes many ideas and concepts prevalent in the modern world. For this reason, the given course can be considered an important source of knowledge that provides learners with information that is fundamental for an enhanced understanding of this phenomenon. One of the critical outtakes is that balance is a core component of nature that should be observed to guarantee that the planet will be able to evolve and recover from the pernicious impact of human activity. The ruthless exploitation of its resources, as well as the discrimination and oppression of women, becomes central reasons for the fast deterioration of the state of the environment and the health of the nation, which proves the ideas of this movement.

These assumptions can be paralleled to the beliefs of goddess mythology. In ancient times people correctly realized the importance of both these two aspects. In a significant number of cultures, females are identified with nature because of their ability to give life, protect, and care about people. Many goddesses that were created by different nations served as the embodiment of qualities critical for people, and the choice of a woman, as the character who combined them, was not accidental. They represented the balance of a person and nature, their ability to cooperate with the world and remain in harmony.

Definition

In general, ecofeminism can be determined as the belief that the domination of women and nature is the basis for the hierarchy of male and female and relations. At the same time, women and the earth are taken as the core of the natural world and its future existence. From the ecofeminist perspective, the domination of men and the exploitation of women result in the destruction of the environment and the appearance of multiple issues that deteriorate the health of the nation. For this reason, there is a critical need for finding the balance that can be achieved by the promotion of feminism and green incentives that will help to save the planet. In this regard, ecofeminism becomes a combination of these elements.

The given concept rests on various ancient mythologies and visions created by people with an attempt to describe the rules of nature and the way it works. Many created goddesses represented characteristics of the earth and its basic features. For this reason, ecofeminism becomes closely connected to goddess mythology and such recognizable images as Athena, who embodies multiple qualities such as wisdom, power, creativity, and protection. Moreover, today, the existing environmental issues can be analyzed from the perspective of womens activism and the need for balance in relations with nature and between genders, which is one of the basic assumptions of ecofeminism. In general, the reconsideration of societys relationship with the planet seems the most effective method that can be used to solve many environmental problems and create new positive tendencies.

Topic of Interest

Regarding these concepts, the area that is most interesting to me is climate change. It is an extremely broad concept that includes such elements as global warming, greening the planted, litter, deforestation, different kinds of pollution, and extinction of species. I think that these factors are critical for contemporary society as their further disregard might result in unrecoverable changes in nature and deterioration of the health of populations globally. It is vital to save our planet, give it to our descendants, and start the process of its recovery until it is too late. At the same time, today, people can already see the results of their unwise exploitation of natural resources and disregard critical problems. From the perspective of ecofeminism, the primary cause for these outcomes is the absence of balance in relation to nature. In patriarchal societies, power is one of the core values, which means that following this concept, humanity will continue to exploit the planet. At the same time, the wiser and more effective approach to cooperation with nature might presuppose the look for new forms that could help to avoid substantial damage to its resources. A new balance can be achieved by analyzing the most problematic climate issues from the perspective of an equal, not patriarchal, society.

That is why women, who possess a better understanding of compromise and balance because of their nature, become more active in their attempts to reconsider patterns that are used today and stop the further destruction of the planet. There are multiple sources of their growing interest in the given problem. In many cases, females are also more vulnerable to climate change and are the first to experience its negative impact. It means that they have to act, to improve their states via the protection of the planet. Moreover, being responsible for children and their upbringing, women are more concerned about the deterioration of the climate as a direct threat to the next generations.

The given question is critically important to me. I correctly realize the fact that now the planet is slowly dying because of the development of various industries and consumer society. That is why the balance is a key to solving the problems mentioned above, as the inclusion of oppressed women in the international discourse might help to add new and fresh ideas and eliminate many problematic issues in relations with nature and between genders.

Research Question

The scope of the selected area means that there is a need to narrow the research with the primary goal to investigate a particular aspect and provide clear answers that can be used as the basis for new projects. For this reason, regarding the sphere of interest, the following research question can be formulated:

What are the main sources of womens activism around climate change, and how this relates to their oppression as women in patriarchal societies?

The theme remains broad; however, the main idea is to investigate the sources of womens eco-activism and how it can be correlated with their oppression in patriarchal societies. The study will offer conclusions that can be used to evidence the role of ecofeminism in modern society and its positive impact on traditionally complex environmental and gender themes.

However, the given structure can be changed in the course of the research as new discovered factors or information might precondition the appearance of new ideas or directions of the study. In general, the following outline can be followed to create the paper that would be able to answer the research question mentioned above.

References

Baring, A., & Cashford, J. (1993). The myth of the goddess. Evolution of the image. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Bolen, J. (2005). Urgent message from mother: Gather the women, save the world. York Beach, ME: Conari Press.

Greta, G. (2015). Ecofeminism and climate change. Womens Studies International Forum, 49, 20-33.

Onwutuebe, C. J. (2019). Patriarchy and women vulnerability to adverse climate change in Nigeria. SAGE Open, 9(1). Web.

Tanjeela, M., & Rutherford, S. (2018). The Influence of gender relations on womens involvement and experience in climate change adaptation programs in Bangladesh. SAGE Open, 8(4). Web.

The Commonwealth of Australia consists of the Australian continent and several islands, including the island of Tasmania. The capital of Australia is Canberra, and the biggest city is Sydney. Australia is a federal democratic monarchy headed by the prime minister, Scott Morrison. Nominally, the Commonwealth of Australia was reigned by Queen Elizabeth II. Since Australia was the dominion of the British Empire from 1901 to 1986, its culture has been heavily influenced by European traditions. It is curious to notice that de jure, there is no official language in Australia. Nonetheless, the majority of the population speaks English, and de facto English is the national language there.

Australia locates in four climatic zones: subtropics, tropics, subequatorial and temperate zones. Consequently, the climatic conditions vary in each of these zones. For example, there is a desert climate in the middle of the mainland, whereas, in the coastal areas, the climate ranges from temperate in the north to tropical in the south. The countrys area of more than 7.5 million square kilometers is populated by almost 26 million people. The average population density is relatively low because it equals 3.5 people per square kilometer. The most densely populated cities are Melbourne and Sydney, with almost half of the overall Australian citizens living there. More than 80 percent of Australians are either Christians or atheists.

The Australian education system is recognized as one of the best in the world. It is comprised of four stages: primary school, secondary school, senior secondary school, high school, and tertiary education. Children go to school at the age of 6 and graduate from high school at the age of 18. The language of instruction in Australian schools is English; however, some schools offer bilingual education. The second language might be an indigenous language or one of the immigrant languages: German, French, or Chinese, to name but a few.

People live mainly in stand-alone or semi-detached houses and townhouses; flats and apartments are not common. Indigenous Australians lived in shelters made of leafy branches. The mainland area of Australia has a developed system of public transport. Like in New Zealand, ferries are popular means of transportation there. Australian folk costumes include Akubra hats, smock dresses, and checked shirts.

The most well-known dishes of Australian cuisine are meat pies, fairy bread, chicken parmigiana, and BBQ. Eating kangaroo and emu meat is also typical of Aussies. What is more, these unique kinds of meat bring a significant share of profit for the local entrepreneurs who export it abroad. The national features described above illustrate that Australian culture is a mixture of traditions of Indigenous people, i.e., Aboriginal Australians and British colonizers.

The most peculiar component of wedding traditions in Australia is a smoking ceremony that was initially performed by Aboriginal Australians who believe in smokes ability to heal. Another wedding custom is a wedding unity bowl. The essence of this tradition is that friends and family members sign and color stones and put them in the bowl to represent support and unity. Australians also have an unspoken rule to have small talks with taxi drivers. Besides, while Europeans and Americans eat meat for Christmas, the locals prefer eating seafood because this holiday is held during the summer season in Australia. Therefore, Aussies associate Christmas not only with the carol singing and presents but also with prawns and resting at the beach.

Introduction

Luckily, the naturally occurring processes of geology concentrate on the minerals and metals that become valuable in daily human activities and convert them into forms that are useful to us. These processes enable people to take these minerals and metals out of the ground using fewer efforts, and this is caused by the manner in which plate tectonics function naturally.

Humans have been very successful species compared to other species, and about 250,000 years ago, just a small percentage of human species resided on Earth. However, in 2000, the Earths human population went above 6 million, and the effects of this population on the planet are massive.

The solar System consists of the five dwarf planets, eight planets, and the Sun, and their 174 identified moons, comets, and asteroids, where the planets, comets, and asteroids rotate around the Sun, which is the core of the Solar System (Backman and Seeds 414). This paper discusses the process of plate tectonics, ways humans have altered the planet, and the composition of the Solar System.

Plate Tectonics and Natural Sciences

Certainly, it is only the natural series of ocean rifting and the movement of the ocean seafloor through the mantle, the plate movement above another plate in the mantle, and eventually the succeeding volcanism, which completes the process of plate tectonics to make minerals and metals valuable (Stille, Larson and Young 13).

For instance, gold contains around three parts per billion in crust of the Earth, and this is equivalent to 0.0000003% of the Earths crust, and to create a wedding band, it is required to break up and crustal rock, around 3000 tons, is used to extract these minerals and metals (Pani 137). Unfortunately, this is impossible, but the processes of geologic have the capacity to perform this.

These processes of plate tectonics concentrate minerals and metals using approaches that prevent people from performing the same. Currently, there are exemptions with such minerals, for example, sand and gravel, which are found in inadequate concentrations that people may use them directly from the Earths surface.

For most metals and minerals, people require certain processes to concentrate these elements, and the atoms for bigger elements simply do not fit into the structures of the silicate minerals. When forming minerals, they should attain two measures, the electrical charge of dissimilar ions should balance to be zero, but the dissimilar sizes of the ions should be equal as well.

Accordingly, these elements are likely to be the first to dissolve and immediately depart a rock, and in hydrothermal circulation across the mid-ocean ridge network, there is the heat that brings about an expansion of water and later emerges in the seafloor in forms of thermal chimneys or big smokers.

During the process, this pulls water towards the rock for a broad area that encloses the ridge, and as the water goes into the rock, it starts to boil over and dissolves those elements that later leave the rock. Therefore, it focuses and concentrates all the heavy materials and is transformed into the hot liquid, and as the liquid leaves the mid-ocean ridge, it becomes frozen and freezes or solidifies out to the ground (Silverstein and Silverstein 32).

Therefore, valuable minerals and metals are pulled out of the mid-ocean ridge and are placed on the surface of the ocean seafloor. The ocean seafloor goes into a subduction zone that concentrates the elements even more, and different sediments get pieced off and become these huge accretionary wedges found along the continents.

After some time, probably within a continent collision, which accretionary wedge turns into a section of a mountain range, and finally uncovered through erosion (Luongo 44). The erosion process concentrates the minerals and metals even more, and this makes plate tectonics a very important course.

A great quantity of more concentration happens through a hydrothermal motion at the continental arc volcanoes or island arc volcanoes, and seduction regions are luckily to contain the richest mineral and metal elements since the process of plate tectonics, or geology processes occur around these zones.

Ways Humans have Altered the Planet

Human have changed almost 50% of the earth surface to use it for forestry (11%), farming (11%), grazing land (26%) and the remaining parts have been changed to other activities such as transportation, factories, and other human activities as well, which have altered availability and existence of natural resources (Spoolman and Miller 126).

They have also deformed the flow of around 75% of the natural rivers through creating artificial lakes and rivers for irrigation, hydroelectric power, and other commercial activities, as well as distorting natural ecology. The oceans have been altered by humans, and even though they use just 8% of the main output of the oceans, two-thirds of sea fisheries have been exploited to their maximum or farther than expected.

Agricultural fertilizer, deforestation, human waste, overhunting, human forest encroachment, industrial emission, and other major and minor human activities have contributed to the alteration of natural growth of plants and animals.

Climate has changed due to daily human activities, and carbon dioxide has gained a bigger deal of concentration from different studies on climate change since it is a greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gasses absorb the heat discharged by the planet, and this causes warming of the planet and atmosphere. Methane is also greenhouse gas, but it is less profuse than carbon dioxide, and some are more potent.

Methane is mostly released from factories and makes only 1.8 ppm of the air, but it is around 20 times stronger as a greenhouse emission than carbon dioxide (Richardson, Steffen and Liverman 30). Regardless of their minimal input to the composition of the air, greenhouse emissions have a great impact on climate change.

With the absence of a greenhouse, the standard temperature on the planet would be about 18 °C rather than a preferred 14 °C, and due to this strength, even small changes in their composition may have a huge impact on temperature.

Through the application of fertilizers for agricultural reasons, people have a distorted nitrogen cycle, and the quantity of nitrogen going into the cycle is twice the amount in the last century. Humans now give 50% more to the nitrogen cycle than all other species combined, and the occurrence of excess nitrogen has brought about undue growth, which has resulted in poor forest soils.

High nitrogen content in ocean brings about poisonous marine plants and creation of oxygen-free dead regions and through burning fossil fuels, people have raised carbon dioxide concentration in the planet by around 35% through pre-industrial stages, and raised the methane concentration in the planet by around 150% over natural stages (Maestripieri 992).

The use of fossil fuel is nearly connected with growing global temperatures, and humans have gained a huge impact on the lives of the planets animals and plants. Since 1600, 656 plant species and 485 plant species have been wiped out, and humans have brought about other animals and plant species to vanish from the planet, less directly, but simply as eternally through removing them from the essential environment.

Composition of the Solar System

Several contributors of the solar system rotate around the Sun in nearly spherical courses or orbits, and every planet rotates around the Sun in the anticlockwise path, if observed from the top. The Sun includes about 99.8% of the entire substances in the solar system, and the planets, which are compacted out of a similar disk of elements that created the Sun, contain just 0.135 percent of the collection of solar Systems (Irwin 25).

Jupiter contains above 50% of the components matched up to other planets put together, and around 0.02 percent of the components found in the Solar System are contained in satellites. The Sun, which contains almost all the elements in the Solar System, is made up of around 98 percent helium and hydrogen, while Saturn and Jupiter have atmospheres that are made up of around 99 percent of helium and hydrogen (Encrenaz 83).

Solar System also contains composition gradients that are generated by light and heat force produced from the Sun, and some substances, which are located near the Sun and are greatly affected by light and heat force, are made up of compositions with greater melting points and can be accommodated by these elements.

Elements that are far from the Sun are made up of matters with lesser melting points, and the border in the solar System where these unstable materials might condense is identified as the frost line and is found at 4 Astronomical Units from the Sun.

The elements of the internal solar System are made up mainly of rock, which is a joint term for compounds with greater melting points, which stay in solid forms in nearly all states in the protoplanetary nebula (Encrenaz 83).

Conclusion

The theory of plate tectonics supports in understanding how and where metals and minerals are formed and shows how plate tectonics essential in our daily lives. Some consider that this geological process is very important for the growth of humans, and might be employed in the future as a biosignature to identify livable regions.

Plate tectonics helps in changing forms of metals and minerals to be more useful to human activities through the process of concentration. Lastly, plate tectonics describes mostly the major surface marks and activities on the planet. These are earthquakes, faults, hills, mountains, volcanoes, and even the foundation of the ocean basins and continents.

The severe effects of human activities on our natural environment depend mainly on the rate at which the population is growing and the growing needs, as well as the impact of existing waste disposal. In several cases, the human effect on the planet goes beyond that of all other species on Earth combined and now evident that the expectations and prospects of our Earth are in humans inexperienced hands.

The composition of the Solar System includes five dwarf planets, eight planets, and the Sun, and their 174 identified moons, gas, comets, and satellites. The Sun consists of most of the elements of the Solar System, and the planets have a different composition of the elements of the solar system.

Works Cited

Backma, Dana and Michael Seeds. The Solar System. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.

Encrenaz, Thérèse. The Solar System. Paris: Springer, 2004. Print.

Irwin, Patrick. Giant Planets of Our Solar System: Atmospheres, Composition, and Structure. Oxford: Springer, 2009. Print.

Luongo, Charlotte. Plate Tectonics. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish, 2009. Print.

Maestripieri, Dario. Primate Psychology. International Journal of Primatology 26.4 (2005): 991-993. Print.

Pani, Balram. Textbook Of Environmental Chemistry. New delhi: I. K. International Pvt Ltd, 2007. Print.

Richardson, Katherine, Will Steffen and Diana Liverman. Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Print.

Silverstein, Alvin and Virginia Silverstein. Plate Tectonics. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books, 2009. Print.

Spoolman, Scott and G Miller. Living in the Environment. New York: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.

Stille, Darlene, Roger Larson and Terrence Young. Plate Tectonics: Earths Moving Crust. Menneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books, 2006. Print.