Essay Sample: Scientific Consensus on Global Warming and Climate Change

A common question that emerges whenever there is a conversation about climate change is whether there is a scientific consensus the cause and the impact of such happenings. There is too much politics surrounding the issue of climate change. The politic makes it easy for majority people on media, government and other policymakers to lose focus on what exactly is causing climate change, what are the effects and for how long will they take. As others continue debating about the issues surrounding climate change, scientists have also reached a consensus that affirms climate change is real, and its impacts are likely to be disastrous if not controlled in time.

Multiple studies published in the peer-reviewed journal and other academic show that over 97 percent of scientists agree that climate change exists. They also agree that climate change over the past century is due to human activities. Other scientific organizations globally with interest in the same issue have released information endorsing the same position. Amidst this consensus, there are specific thing scientists agree with demonstrate the climate change and the potential damage the world should anticipate in future.

Scientists agree that global warming is unequivocal, and many of the observed changes are likely to continue existing for several years. Global warming is the worldwide rise in the worlds temperature of the worlds climate system. Scientist already approximates that by the turn of this century, the global temperature would be up by up to 4.8 degree Celsius. The consequences of this shift are evident already. Recent satellite observations have detected thinning of parts of the Greenland ice to lower elevations, one of the areas hit most by rising temperatures. A partial thinning of this ice would cause a one-meter rise in sea level. Melting the ice in the Greenland and the entire Arctic region, the seal would rise by up to meters, enough to submerge a significant portion of dry coastal land. These climatic changes will affect the ordinary lives of people residing in those coastal regions. The impact of the sea level rising is likely to be severe, pervasive, and irreversible.

The atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are already at unprecedented levels. Human activities over the past hundred years or so have contributed to an increase of over 40 percent of these gases in the atmosphere. The concentration continues to increase despite some elements in the carbon cycle taking out significant portions of the gas. The situation would possibly be worse, if not for these uptake products. Other significant sources of greenhouse gases include but are not limited to fossil fuels like oil, coal, and others, natural gas, deforestation and several other things. People lead in the consumption of fuel fossils and natural gases, bot for domestic and industrial use. This is not likely to stop unless there are voluntary initiatives from different stakeholders as a way of controlling climate change. One of the major hindrance to cutting down on this individual actions which are accelerating climate change is the fact that groups or entities which contribute most do not want to change. For example, there is still a stalemate on Paris climate agreement where industrial nations need to sign contracts to commit to reducing greenhouse emissions. These entities mainly industrial countries like the United States, China, Russia, Japan and European countries, either does not see the need for actively addressing the issue of climate change, or do not believe it exists.

Scientists agree that increasing greenhouse gases are partly responsible for global warming. The atmosphere allows most light from the sun the reach the earth, which converts to heat energy. The earths surface reflects back to heat and some unconverted light back to the atmosphere, but the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere prevents their exit from the earths surface range. Such a scenario causes the earths temperature to rise, resulting in global warming. That explains how greenhouse gases contribute to global warming. Other harmful effects of greenhouse gases include ozone layer depletion, sea level rise, and adverse impact on biodiversity among several others.

Scientists are working round the clock to recommend the potentially catastrophic repercussions. Human activities are responsible for almost half the climatic changes in the last century. However, the world is now standing to respond and actively reduces these activities. Industrial nations have pledged to cut down carbon emissions significantly, all aimed to reduce the greenhouse gases. Other than the pledge of industrial countries, other companies are actively involved in research to provide an alternative to the most significant sources of greenhouse emission. That is to provide alternatives to fossil fuels, natural gases, and other human activities. Companies like Tesla, Google, and Uber are building electric cars that do not emit greenhouse gases. The governments are preventing deforestation, and encouraging the planting of trees, just to provide elements in the carbon cycle which naturally reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Several initiatives are responding to the scientific consensus that climate change is real, human-made and poses severe threats to future lives. It is therefore in every nations best interest to adopt changes likely to reduce the rate at which the climate is changing, because of that too, is possible.