Environmental Health-Climate Change
Part 1: Climate Change Quiz
The average number of Earths is 4.9. If everybody lived like me, Earth Overshoot Day would be on the 4th of April, which means that by this day, people would have used as much from nature as Earth can renew in the entire year. Compared to my results, the average number of Earths in the United States of America would be 5.0, Brazil 1.8, South Africa 2.0, China 2.1, and Germany 3.2. Our assignment writing services will allow you to attend to more important tasks as our experts handle your task.
The questions that had answers that surprised me were, “Compared to your neighbours, how much trash do you generate?” The answer to this question was that my neighbours and I generated the same amount of garbage. I was surprised by this question because I never thought that the amount of garbage generated in a neighbourhood is a factor in environmental health. The second question was, “how often do you eat animal-based products?” My answer to this question was I often eat animal-based products, milk, eggs, beef, pork, etc. I was surprised by this question because I had never thought that I would consume animal-based products this often and much less on a daily basis.
The following are the questions that I am confident I did well.
“What material is your house constructed with?” Brick/Concrete
“Which housing type best describes your home?” Multi-story apartment
“How many people live in your household?” 3
I was confident with the above questions because they entailed details regarding my personal life, that is details regarding my house and household. I am well aware of the kind of house that I live in, as well as the number of people that live in my house.
Part 2: Explain how human activities contribute to problems associated with climate change.
Human activities play a huge role in contributing to the problems that are associated with climatic changes by causing changes in the atmosphere due to the emission of greenhouse gases, cloudiness, and aerosols (Tong, Mather, Fitzgerald, McRae, Verrall, & Walker, 2010). Fossil fuel burning is considered one of the largest contributors to climatic changes due to the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The greenhouse gases have greater effects on the climate because they alter the outgoing thermal radiation and incoming solar radiation, which make part of the Earth’s energy balance. The interference of these gas’s properties or the atmospheric abundance can result in a cooling or warming effect on the climatic system. Since the Mid-Eighteenth Century, when the industrial era started, the general impact on the climate caused by human activities has been a warming effect.
Human activities have led to the emission of major greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and halocarbons (bromine, chlorine, and fluorine). Such gases tend to accumulate in the atmosphere as their concentration increases with time. Substantial increases in such gases have taken place in the industrial era, all of which are caused by human activities. For instance, the use of fossil fuels in transportation and manufacturing processes has led to an increase in the release of carbon dioxide. In addition to that, deforestation tends to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere while also adversely affecting plants’ uptake. Secondly, activities such as landfills, natural gas distribution, and agriculture have led to an increase in the amount of methane released. However, the concentration of methane has not increased due to the decrease in growth rates over the past twenty years. Finally, the use of fertilizers, burning of fossil fuels, and natural processes in the oceans and soils emit nitrous oxide into the atmosphere.
Part 3: Describe ways by which individuals can help fight climate change
In order to overcome climate change, humans can start a conversation around it by first talking to people around them, such as family and friends and then to elected officials about such concerns either directly or via social media (Karl, Arguez, Huang, Lawrimore, McMahon, Menne, & Zhang, 2015). By voicing our concerns about climate change, Congress is encouraged to enact new laws to limit the emission of carbon and laws that require the payment of emission fees by polluters. The other way in which individuals can fight climatic change is through recycling. Due to the tendency of manufacturing plants to emit greenhouse gases, an increased amount is released into the atmosphere per annum. This is inevitable since the goods produced are used regularly. However, a better alternative is investing in recycling. It is not only eco-friendly but also a cost-effective process that eradicates waste and does not emit such gases into the atmosphere. Individuals should normalize the collection of discarded plastics, glass, paper, etc., to their local recycling centre, where they are taken to a processing plant and remanufactured into biodegradable materials. Thirdly, individuals should be more conservative with their use of energy. One way of preventing pollution is to become more energy-efficient. This causes power plants to save energy, leading to a reduction in emissions from fossil fuel-based power production. It means that individuals should do their best to cut down on energy use in their households, for instance, by turning off lights and unplugging devices not in use. In addition, households and organizations should make use of energy-efficient light bulbs rather than the normal light bulbs, which help in saving electricity.
Part 4: Compare the impact of climate change on developed vs. developing countries
Climatic change is considered a global concern with potential effects for all countries worldwide. However, the relative effect of this issue is highly different in developing and developed worlds (Chinowsky, Hayles, Schweikert, Strzepek, Strzepek, & Schlosser, 2011). In the former, climate change planning has been complicated due to a lack of adequate infrastructure. The study Climate Change: Comparative Impact on Developing and Developed Countries has illustrated that according to the effect of projected changes in precipitation and temperature, the developing countries’ opportunity cost is considerably higher than the opportunity cost for developed nations. Even though the impact of the gross dollar is higher in the developed world as a result of its greater infrastructure inventory, the comparative effect on those nations is marginal because of the ratio of climate change effect to yearly expenditure. On the other hand, the developing world has to set aside a huge amount of yearly expenditure needed to offset the impacts of climate change on infrastructure. Such opportunity loss is considered the reason why the study concluded that climatic changes have greater effects on the developing world than on the developed countries.
References
Chinowsky, P., Hayles, C., Schweikert, A., Strzepek, N., Strzepek, K., & Schlosser, C. A. (2011). Climate change: comparative impact on developing and developed countries. The Engineering Project Organization Journal, 1(1), 67-80.
Karl, T. R., Arguez, A., Huang, B., Lawrimore, J. H., McMahon, J. R., Menne, M. J., … & Zhang, H. M. (2015). Possible artifacts of data biases in the recent global surface warming hiatus. Science, 348(6242), 1469-1472.
Tong, S., Mather, P., Fitzgerald, G., McRae, D., Verrall, K., & Walker, D. (2010). Assessing the vulnerability of eco-environmental health to climate change. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 7(2), 546-564.
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Question
Assignment Overview
Climate change is a global environmental health issue affecting all countries in the world and is a result of human development and activity. It is related to the ecological footprint of the human population.
Case Assignment
In this assignment, you will:
Take the “What is your ecological footprint?” (Global Footprint Network, 2019) at https://www.footprintcalculator.org/ and assess how you did in the quiz.
Summarize how you did.
Which questions in the quiz had answers that surprised you?
Which questions in the quiz did you answer well?
Utilizing the required module readings and conducting additional scholarly literature searches, explain how human activities contribute to problems associated with climate change.
Describe ways by which individuals can help fight climate change.
Compare the impact of climate change on developed vs. developing countries.