Climate Change: Why It Happens and Why It’s So Difficult to Solve
by Angus Gingell
Many people are aware of the global issue of climate change. What causes it, what can we do about it and finally what are some of the misconceptions surrounding climate change? These are the questions we will be exploring today.
Let us first answer the basic question of what is climate change. Climate change, also known more recently as global warming, is a process by which a location's weather conditions including rainfall, temperature and wind patterns are being affected as a result of human actions. The net result of these actions is: an increase in global average temperatures, an increase in the variability of weather patterns and ocean acidification (which may be considered a separate issue).
More specifically it's greenhouse gas emissions such as co2 and methane accumulating in our atmosphere that are the main cause of climate change.
Illustration by Karacis Studio
You might be thinking that we are having to put up with the consequences of the industrial revolution which is partially true. However the reality is that globally we are emitting much more today than during the industrial revolution.
The reason it takes time for the effect of emissions to be felt significantly is that it affects the rate at which heat in the form of infrared radiation is allowed to escape the earth's atmosphere by changing the proportion that is absorbed. Thankfully the rate at which it is radiated from the earth increases with temperature so it will not rise indefinitely (assuming we cut our emissions eventually).
Photo by Chris LeBoutillier
Why then are we emitting so much?
The main reason, accounting for roughly 70% of emissions, is that our main sources of energy involve burning fossil fuels, namely coal, oil and gas hydrocarbons for our cars, heating, ships, planes and electricity.
What can we do about it then?
Well due to the scale of the problem of greenhouse gas emissions, (38 billion tonnes in 2025 which is over 100 times higher than during the industrial revolution), no individual action even of an entire county is sufficient to prevent the future consequences of climate change. A global effort is required to make an appreciable difference.
What can we do globally then?
Perhaps you are wondering why globally we have not just switched to a low carbon source of electricity such as nuclear and switched our machines to use electricity such as electric cars.
The main reason is cost, nuclear power is one of the most expensive sources of electricity but also the most reliable electricity being able to run continuously apart from maintenance. Also electric cars are expensive and some forms of energy use employ machines that are difficult to electrify, such as planes and ships which have to travel long distances before they can resupply their energy source.
Photo by Huynh Linh
Why not use wind power, I hear you cry?
While wind and solar power are great for taking care of a portion of electricity usage, if you try and make a grid that runs entirely on these energy sources you run into the problem of intermittency. And the reason that this is a problem is that storing energy in the huge quantities required for continuous grid use is expensive, introduces additional energy losses through inefficiencies and can have environmental costs depending on the technology which have different tradeoffs, making renewables in the end really no better than nuclear power for a main energy source.
Then you might think that we could just use energy only when it can be sourced renewably without co2 emissions. Firstly, that probably would not make you a very popular prime minister! But the heart of the problem is that in order to stop emissions this way, when the wind isn't blowing and there isn't enough solar power (such as at night) you get: no electricity (obviously), no trains, no car charging, no lights, no ac, no fans, no heating, no cooking, you get the picture.
Now it isn't just money that's holding us back as even if everyone was willing to make these changes for free, stuff like building nuclear power plants requires worker hours and effort that could be used to develop other things such as hospitals, schools and transportation networks, so there is still a global cost. This also highlights a dilemma in that you can aid countries in development to improve quality of life and economics but doing so through a production revolution would produce significant greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. This is similar to the issue of industrial processing that often requires emissions such as carbon binding to oxygen to refine iron carbon alloys into lower carbon content steel for example, thus releasing co2 and concrete production.
Now that we have established the challenges of solving the problem of climate change (which will need to be solved at some point), considering the billions of pounds required to be forked out by governments and significant changes required globally, it is clear that the problem of climate change isn't going away any time soon, (and even if emissions halted now the temperature would still rise a bit as it stabilises at the new co2 concentration). So what can we do to prepare for the effects?
Well I think getting air conditioning units or heat pumps that can provide cooling may be helpful in the UK which currently only has around 5% of homes with AC, as more hot spells but also cold spells are expected. Droughts are likely to become more frequent so if the government put some incentives to avoid excessive water consumption during droughts on top of a hosepipe ban, that may help.
It is also important that we try to protect sensitive plants, animals & insects that could be affected by climate change. And that’s exactly why projects like the Nature Recovery Network are so important.
All images sourced from Unsplash