Throughout this semester, we have gone into depth learning all about different climate systems and how global climate change is directly caused by anthropogenic activities. We learned about different atmospheric circulation patterns, such as the polar cells, ferrel cells, and hadley cells, in addition to oceanic circulation patterns, such as the thermohaline circulation system, and how these are directly impacted by global warming. In a perfectly natural world, unaffected by humans, the thermohaline circulation system exists where warmer waters from the Carribean travel north to near Greenland and release heat to the atmosphere, to eventually become cold water that sinks and travels back down south.
However, when global temperatures increase, there is increased glacial melting. This is a positive feedback loop, as the more a glacier melts, the lower the albedo, or reflectiveness, of it is. This in turn, causes the glaciers to melt at a compounding increased rate. Because glaciers are freshwater, as they melt they decrease the salinity of the water, making it less dense than it would be otherwise. This inhibits this water’s ability to sink down and travel back down south. Because this newly melted cold water has nowhere to travel, and the warmer water has less room to travel north, this region will become colder as this loop progresses. This severely impacts the thermohaline circulation system, and therefore the atmospheric patterns are impacted, which is one of the causes of global climate change.
Many people know about global warming and understand the greenhouse effect that causes it. However, it is much rarer for people to understand the causes of climate change itself, and believe that if regions become colder, global warming is not to blame. This has caused for a drastic disparity between those who believe in climate change, and those who do not.
Fortunately, according to the survey taken by the Science and Global Change class of 2023, the vast majority of people surveyed believe that climate change itself is severe and the many impacts it brings, such as the increased frequency and severity of storms, terrestrial and marine biodiversity loss, and increased wildfires, will have be significantly impacted by climate change.
Despite the widespread popular knowledge of the significant impacts that climate change has, many people still tend to continue their knowingly large carbon emissions lifestyles. This includes eating red meat, buying food from non local sources, and participating in the linear consumerist lifestyle capitalism has to offer. I believe that this is because there is no direct instantaneous impact their actions have on the climate that they can witness firsthand. What I mean by this, is that there is no specific consequence that can be traced back to their specific action. On the flip side, there is no directly witnessed benefit that an individual becoming more environmentally friendly has. This leads people to continue their environmentally harmful ways of life because the world would be barely any different if only they changed. I believe this is why there is a lack of immediate environmental reform in the world today. People are well informed of the causes of climate change, and the impacts that climate change has, but are slow to change their own actions, leading to a widespread lack of immediate and well needed change in the world.