Climate Change Basics

Climate Change - is the how our atmosphere is heating up and changing weather patterns over time due to increased concentration of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). This post will cover the basics to explain what's happening.

The Carbon Cycle

Carbon is one of the most fundamental elements for life on Earth. It is used by plants and animals to create cells and tissue The carbon cycle is a natural process on Earth where animals and plants share oxygen and carbon to help each other grow and survive. Animals and humans breathe oxygen (O2) and combine it with various sources of energy (e.g. sugars) to produce energy for living, releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) into the air. Plants then absorb carbon dioxide and use the energy of the sun through photosynthesis to separate the carbon and oxygen, using carbon to grow and releasing the oxygen back into the air for animals to breathe. So there is a necessary natural cycle of having Carbon Dioxide into the planets atmosphere.

The Greenhouse Effect

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is the common gas in our planet's atmosphere that helps create the Greenhouse Effect on Earth. Basically, the sun shines on a greenhouse and heats up the interior to plants can grow better. The air inside a greenhouse is heated and sealed in by the walls and roof of the greenhouse. Our atmosphere seals in sunlight in much the same way. Sunlight arrives on Earth and some is absorbed, but some reflected, and then our atmosphere traps some of this reflected light just like in a greenhouse. The greenhouse effect has been a necessary component on Earth to keep us warm against the cold our outer space.

from Conservation in a Changing Climate

Climate Change

In the past century humans have been releasing more and more GHGs into the atmosphere, so much that the greenhouse effect has become to strong. Our atmosphere is absorbing more sunlight than normal and it is heating up more than is natural. This is the source of global warming and climate change. Here is a graph showing the increased GHG emissions from our planet causing this problem:

from Our World in Data

More GHG emissions causes more warming in our atmosphere. Increased warming in our atmosphere has many effects beyond just warming up the temperature. Even with only an average increase of 1.5˚C overall, climate scientists also are observing other changes in our climate such as:

• Increased periods of drought in some areas
• Increased periods of precipitation in some areas
• Increased extreme storms
• Overall instability in our weather patterns such as large temperature changes and wind storms

Canada's Emissions

By population total, Canada is not a large country, but on a person by person basis we do emit a large amount of Greenhouse Gases. Part of this reason is that we live in a large, northern country, but that is not the whole story. Countries like Finland and Sweden have a much lower per-capita emissions despite also having cold climates and smaller populations. Canada is one of the worst GHG emitters in the world on a per-capita basis and as a wealthy nation we need to do our part to reduce our overall emissions.

From Statisica

Further information can be found here:

• The United Nations - What is Climate Change
• NASA  - Climate Kids
• Our World in Data - Canada (you can compare Canada with other countries if you want)