If you’ve been keeping up with the news recently, you may have seen disturbing headlines like this “Earth Faces Hottest Day Ever Recorded – Three Days in a Row” (1). Unfortunately, this is not merely clickbait, but based on actual data collected by the U.S. National Centers for Climate Change Prediction, and while there are multiple factors at work here, such as El Niño, the largest driving factor behind this anomaly is anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change (1).
Climate change (also referred to as global warming) is defined as long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns, and since the industrial revolution in the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of these shifts (2). This is largely due to the rapid rate with which we have been burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas, which has led to a rapid increase in the concentration of CO2 within Earth’s atmosphere. This extra CO2 then leads to an increase in heat trapping by the atmosphere, known as the greenhouse effect. In total, this increase in the greenhouse effect has already led to a global average temperature increase of 1.1°C already from the 1880 mean temperatures, and while this may not sound like a lot, it has massive implications on Earth’s biosphere and hydrosphere (3). Unfortunately, this is only the start, as “business as usual” projections suggest that if we do nothing to curb our emissions, temperatures will increase by 3.0°C by the end of the century (4).
Some common myths that surround climate change include “the globe can’t be warming, it is way too cold today”, and “the Earth naturally gets warmer and colder all the time”. These myths can both be dispelled quite easily, as climate change does not mean that every day is warm, simply that average temperatures are increasing, and while it is true that Earth’s climate does change overtime naturally, the rate we are currently seeing it change is entirely unprecedented (5). In fact, over 97% of experts in the field of climate science believe that climate change is a global crisis, and that is caused by human behaviour (6).
Unfortunately, climate change doesn’t just mean slightly warmer days. In fact, the impacts of climate change are vast and often unpredictable, and many of them have the potential to put billions of humans on this planet into catastrophic risk. These include more frequent and intense droughts, heatwaves, and storms, as well as sea level rise, and the spread of disease and invasive species (7). These can all have drastic impacts on individual’s health and wellbeing, but also on society and the economy. In fact, it is estimated that if left unchecked climate change could cost the global economy over $69 trillion USD and displace over 400 million people by the year 2100 (8,9).
Overall, while it is true that there are still many uncertainties in the fields of climate science and climate prediction, what is certain is that Earth’s climate is changing, that humans are causing it, and that if it is left unchecked, climate change will wreak havoc on our people and economy. As such, governments, corporations, and individuals alike must come together to work on a united front to tackle the greatest issue we will face this century.
