Climate change and global warming (original) (raw)

2010, Reviews in Environmental Science and Bio/Technology

CLIMATE CHANGE AND GLOBAL WARMING 'Environment' 1 refers to the sum total of condition, which surrounds point in space and time. The scope of the term 'Environment' has been changing and widening with the passage of time. In the primitive age 2 , the environment consisted of only physical aspects of the earth's land, air and water as biological communities. As the time passed on, human beings extended the environment through their social, economic and political activities. Now a day's environmental issues are growing in size and complexity, threatening the survival of mankind on earth. The key environmental concerns today are climate change 3 , global warming, natural disasters, and soil and land degradation, loss of biodiversity 4 , air and water pollution which disturbs the balance of the living environment in a big way. 5 'Climate change' refers to a statistically significant variation in either the mean state of the climate 6 or in its variability, persisting for an extended period (typically, decades or longer). Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or due to persistent anthropogenic 7 activities that brings change in the 1 The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species. 2 The Primitive Age is the starting age for your civilization. The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make implements with a sharp edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 6000 BCE and 2000 BCE with the advent of metalworking. Stone Age artifacts include tools used by humans and by their predecessor species in the genus Homo. 3 Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. Certain human activities have also been identified as significant causes of recent climate change, often referred to as "global warming." The term sometimes is used to refer specifically to climate change caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes. The most general definition of climate change is a change in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over long periods of time, regardless of cause. Accordingly, fluctuations over periods shorter than a few decades, such as El Nino, do not represent climate change. 4 Biodiversity refers to the variety of life and its processes. It includes the variety of living organisms, the genetic differences among them, the communities and ecosystems in which they occur, and the ecological and evolutionary processes that keep them functioning, yet ever changing and adapting. 5 Santosh Kumar, "Environment and development " Yojana, May 2012, p.14 6 The term Climate is originated from Ancient Greek term klima, meaning inclination. Climate is commonly defined as the weather averaged over a long period of time. The standard averaging period is 30 years, but other periods may be used depending on the purpose. Climate also includes statistics other than the average, such as the magnitudes of day-today or year-to-year variations.[Glossary of Metrology-American Metrological Society.] 7 The term anthropogenic designates an effect or object resulting from human activity. The term is sometimes used in the context of pollution emissions that are produced as a result of human activities but applies broadly to all major human impacts on the environment.