Climate Change is Causing Extreme Weather

Healthful Vitality | 01/17/2021 | By Guest Contributor | Climate Change is Causing Extreme Weather

Do you know how dinosaurs become extinct? Dinosaurs became extinct due to the environmental changes brought by celestial phenomena. It is believed that about 66 million years ago, a celestial body hit the earth. For a long time, the sky was covered with clouds of dust, and there were volcanic eruptions everywhere. When the sun was hidden for a long time, the big animals did not have anything to eat, and they just started dying. 

If the human species were to become extinct someday, what would be the cause? Many people speculate that nuclear war will destroy human civilization and others say that the environmental changes will hit the human species hard. In case human beings go extinct due to environmental changes, who will be responsible for these changes, humans themselves, or the celestial phenomena?

Climate Change Discussion: Man-Made vs. Nature Made

In the past couple of years, an interesting discussion about climate change has surfaced in the mainstream media. We are experiencing extreme weather, and this could be as a result of climate change, this is for sure; however, what’s interesting is a lot of people now believe that that climate change is not man-made. In other words, human activities have nothing to do with climate change, and climate change is a result of celestial phenomena. 

When we look back at the earth’s history, we will see that most of the environmental changes were brought by celestial phenomena. Human activities (carbon emission, greenhouse gases, etc.) are relatively recent phenomena. 

It does not matter whether climate change is the result of celestial phenomena or human activities. What matters is how climate change is affecting us. Climate change is causing extreme weather, and that’s what needs to be addressed.

Climate Change and Extreme Weather 

It is very common to experience extreme cold during the winter and extreme heat during the summer. Then there are storms, hurricanes, heavy rainfall, snowstorms, thunderstorms, etc. 

What is happening now on planet Earth?

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) says that the last ten years have been the warmest temperatures we have experienced on the planet since 1000 C.E. What contributes to the problem of extreme weather are many factors: ocean patterns, upper winds, Arctic sea ice melting, and the shape of the jet stream. There have been more intense heat waves, and with this warming, you get heavier rainfalls and more snowstorms. Arctic ice melting is faster in the last 500 years. Parts of the Arctic ice sheets are disappearing because of higher temperatures. Colder air is going down into the northern latitudes in Canada, Northern Europe, and the United States because of the wind patterns and the Arctic ice melting at an alarming rate.

Heatwaves, global warming

Heatwaves are becoming much more common because of global warming. Many of these heatwaves have tripled in the length of their occurrences. Droughts have occurred everywhere in the world, in India, China, Europe, or the United States. Let’s take the heatwave record in the United States, mostly in California, Minnesota, Texas, and Oklahoma. There has been an increase in more days over the 100-degree temperature mark in these states in recent years. Not just the summer temperature, the United States is also getting more heavy downpours of rain in the Northeast, Midwest, and Upper Great Plains. The increase of nearly 30 percent is above the 1901-1960 average rate.

In the last 25 years, there has been an increase of sudden downpours in many States in the spring and summer. These downpours are intense for a half-hour, with significant amounts dropping all at once. These are urban flash floods. The amounts are so extreme that umbrellas won’t even protect you. You have to wait for a half-hour to an hour before their intensity decreases enough to walk down the street.

Floods a big problem in unlike in the world

Floods are becoming a big problem in different locations in the world. In different parts of the United States, people are filling up sandbags to protect against these floods. Kerala, India, had extreme amounts of water recently. Floods are becoming very common in Trinidad. Floods cause thousands of deaths worldwide and billions of dollars in property and crop damage. From 1981 to 2011, property and crop damage due to extreme weather totaled eight billion in the United States alone.

Growing Hurricanes

Hurricanes have increased. Former Vice President Al Gore published “Earth in the Balance” in 1992 and predicted a significant increase in hurricanes. Higher sea temperatures have contributed to an increase in the number of hurricanes. The strongest hurricanes (Category 4 and 5) have greatly increased all over the world.

Cyclones and tornadoes have increased

Cyclones and tornadoes have also increased in recent years worldwide. Recently Mozambique experienced an extreme cyclone, which caused extensive damage and destruction. In Minnesota, a few years ago, tornadoes caused havoc. Every year Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Minnesota have tornadoes, but their intensity and damage have greatly increased in the last ten years.

Strange thing in the Arctic

A real strange thing has been happening in the Arctic recently. Rain is falling in this region in the wintertime. The same issues were detected in Minneapolis recently; there was a rainfall before the snowstorms. Scientists have studied this occurrence in the Arctic and found 12 spells of rain in the wintertime in 2012 compared to two spells at the beginning of the study.

What We Can Do About Climate Change?

Whether climate change is the result of human activities or just natural phenomena, we need to agree that human activities are putting the existence of our earth in danger. Human activities are polluting the soil, air, and water. Our dependence on fossil fuels and natural resources is increasing day by day. We need to stop now. But then what can we do?

Little steps should make them happen

Small steps count. We need to grow our foods organically. We need to take public vehicles instead of driving in cars so that we use less fossil fuel. What we need to do is to plant more trees to reduce the rate of global warming. Organic agriculture should be the kind of farming that should be promoted in the future and present time. The diversity of crops and natural fertilizers, such as pulses (peas and legumes), reduce the amount of carbon dioxide. Reducing ranching will also reduce meat consumption. Those who eat meat are now consuming more poultry than red meat than in the past. Red meat consumption has declined because of health and ecological concerns. More people are consuming organic foods. Organic farming is the most profitable form of agriculture today. Therefore, many younger farmers are organic farmers.

Alternative and renewable energy sources are becoming more established in the United States. There has been a dramatic increase in wind, solar, and geothermal energy in the last ten years. The price of renewable energy continues to drop, and coal is becoming the dinosaur form of energy. Electric cars are also more common in addition to hybrids of various types. Energy efficiency is also becoming very popular. These practices need to increase to reduce global warming and save our beautiful planet for future generations.

A handful of countries have announced that they will stop producing fossil fuel cars soon and start using electric vehicles. All countries in the world should emulate this action. Some countries have vowed to cut carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050.

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