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A MORE SPECIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF CLIMATE CHANGE:
Causes, Consequences, and Who Is Affected
May 14, 2025
CAUSES
The main cause of climate change is the ‘greenhouse effect’. More specifically, the greenhouse effect occurs when greenhouse gases (such carbon‑dioxide that our cars emit) prevent heat from escaping from the surface of the Earth into space.
In other words, greenhouse gases act as a sort of blanket, trapping the heat between this blanket and the surface of the Earth. The more greenhouse gases are emitted (e.g. by driving our cars) the more heat gets trapped, and the hotter the Earth becomes.
Most of these greenhouse gases are produced by various human activities (both by individuals and industries).
Greenhouse Gases:
  1. Carbon dioxide (CO2)
    : The largest contributor to global warming
  2. Methane (CH4)
    : Less prevalent, but much more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2)
  3. Nitrous oxide (N2O)
    : The largest contributor to global warming
  4. Fluorinated gases
    : Up to 23,000 times greater warming effect than that of carbon‑dioxide; emitted from equipments (e.g. aerosol sprays, refrigerators, air conditioners, etc.)
Some greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere. And, a small level of global warming is caused by natural events (e.g. volcanic eruptions, solar radiation, tectonic shifts, etc.), but human activity makes the level of change much higher ⟶ dangerous levels of global warming.
The problem: The INCREASE of greenhouse gases, caused by human activity.
READ MORE
THE DETAILS:
HUMAN ACTIVITIES & CONSEQUENCES
We can’t control natural events (such as volcanic eruptions) but we can control human activities—which are, by large, the main contributors to climate change.
EXPAND ALL COLLAPSE ALL
HUMAN ACTIVITIES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO (AND INCREASE) CLIMATE CHANGE
  • BURNING FOSSIL FUELS
    • To produce energy for manufacturing, to heat our homes, to power refrigerators, to maintain buildings, gas for cars, etc.
  • DESTROYING FORESTS AND WETLANDS
    • Vegetation and soil absorb carbon (CO2). Cutting down trees or digging up vegetative biomass ⟹ release carbon into the air
  • FARMING LIVESTOCK
    • Cows and sheep produce large amount of methane (CH4) when digesting their food
  • AGRICULTURE
    • For example, using chemical fertilizers to attain high yield crop, at the expense of soil health
  • CONSUMPTION HABITS
    • People consuming too much (and, in negligent ways), disposing too much too often (still in mint condition), throwing food away
  • Although plastic waste and food waste are part of the Consumption Habits category listed above, they deserve further emphasis because they are so much a part of our everyday life in our own households.
  • PLASTIC WASTE
    • Plastic takes about 20‑600 years to decompose, and even then, it doesn’t fully disappear—it just gets smaller and smaller
    • Every piece of plastic ever produced is still with us in some form
    • On average, a plastic shopping bag takes 20 years, while a plastic bottle takes 450 years to decompose (just as a disposable diaper)
    • Much of the plastic waste ends up in the ocean, will be ingested by marine life, and as the plastic breaks down, it creates innumerable microplastics, which are life‑threatening to fish and mammals—ultimately, to humans, as well
    • Almost all of the plastic waste in the ocean is generated by individual consumers—and, equally, it affects individual consumers
      • It has been estimated that humans ingest a credit card worth of plastic per week
      • About one in three fish for human consumption contains plastic
      • Even if you don’t eat fish, you breathe oxygen—and, according to scientists, about half of the oxygen on Earth comes from the ocean, produced by plankton (i.e. marine plants and organisms)
      • “Plastic is Forever”: Worth taking a look at the images on
        this page by the United Nations
  • FOOD WASTE
    • Thrown‑away food may degenerate, and largely disappear from our sight, but the completely transparent (i.e. invisible) gas, called methane (CH4) remains in the air
    • Thrown‑away food goes through a rotting process ⟶ generates methane (CH4) (a very highly potent greenhouse gas), which remains in the air
    • Methane is about 28‑80 times more potent than carbon‑dioxide (while this measure turns out to be 27‑30 times over a 100‑year timespan)*
      • The methane molecule traps about 120 times as much heat as carbon⁵dioxide does
      • At the end of its interaction with light in the atmosphere, methane ends up being about 28‑80 times more powerful than carbon‑dioxide (or 27‑30 times over a 100 years)
    • So, when you throw food away, the rotting process inevitably takes place, generating methane—and the seemingly negligible action of wasting small amounts of food is actually a powerhouse activity of contributing to climate change.
    • CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
  • NATURAL CONSEQUENCES
    • Higher Temperatures
      • Alters lifecycles of humans/ animals/ ecosystems; increases evaporation of water
      • Droughts, wildfires
      • Decreases the predictability of extreme events ⟹ decreases our capacity to respond to such events
      • Rainfall patterns change, glaciers melt, sea levels rise, the coasts of large bodies of water flood and erode ⟹ decreases availability of fresh water; affects shipping of goods ⟹ affects business, and availability of consumer goods for people to buy
      • Soil erosion, and decline in organic matters in the soil takes place
      • Increases the surface temperature of the seas ⟹ large bodies of water become more acidic ⟹ changes fish distribution
      • In agriculture: loss of crop yield, reduction in suitable areas for crop cultivation
      • In forestry: due to heat, trees become less resilient to natural disturbances ⟹ droughts, storms, fires, pests
  • SOCIAL
    • Health Effects
      • In humans, animals, and plants
      • Increases summer heat‑related illnesses and mortality
      • Higher risk of accidents (due to changes in health), allergies, food‑borne disease, rodent‑related disease, etc.
      • Increases the population of pests, and new pests emerge ⟶ affects food crops ⟹ affects the food chain for human consumption
    • Population
      • Infants, children, and the elderly more affected; people in poor infrastructure areas with less capacity face more climate events
      • Environmental migration is already happening is some parts of the world
    • Employment
      • Due to heat‑related health conditions, workforce availability decreases
      • As various industries are affected and downsized (e.g. tourism, etc.), the number of people needed in those industries will decrease ⟶ putting people out of work
  • BUSINESS/ PRODUCTION TO SATISFY CONSUMER DEMAND
    • Higher temperatures ⟹ higher need for cooling (air conditioning) ⟹ higher energy generation by business to produce cooling ⟹ more burning of fossil fuels ⟹ higher greenhouse effect ⟵ the cycle repeats itself
    • Business buildings and operations become more vulnerable, due to their design and location (e.g. floods, landslides, extreme heat/ wind, etc.), particularly affecting small and medium‑sized businesses
    • Extreme weather events cause threats to physical energy supply infrastructure
    • Insurance premiums will rise gradually, significantly, as insurance companies raise rates due to extreme weather events
  • TERRITORIAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL
    • The different regions and territories of the Earth (the Arctic North, the temperate‑, the tropical‑, the mountainous regions, etc.) will be affected in various ways, but they all will be (and already are) affected. Cities and urban areas will also have some variations, but no place on Earth can escape the reality of climate change.
      • ⟶ next
      • ⟵ back
      • ⟹ consequently
      • ⟸ as said before
    EXPAND ALL COLLAPSE ALL
SEE MORE
HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY
To satisfy the consumption demands of the everyday people, producers and manufacturers burn through massive amounts of energy to produce those goods. Even though individuals don’t personally generate electricity, for example, or gas for their vehicles, their demand for it increases the large‑scale production by the industries.
No industry exists without individual customers’ demand. Everything in the world that’s produced will later be consumed to satisfy individuals, whether it be through their everyday personal needs (like food and clothing), or whether it be the buildings where they go to take care of their banking needs, or medical needs, or other infrastructure they use for vacations, for travel, or any activity. In other words, ultimately, all production of goods serves humans. However, what can make the difference between reaching dangerous levels of climate change or mitigating climate change to ensure our future is the mindfulness about our waste habits. By consciously reducing our waste in all aspects of life, we can make a huge difference in stopping the increase of climate change, and over time, even reverse the harmful effects.
Customers demand ⟶ Manufacturers produce ⟶ Customers buy, dispose (waste) frequently ⟶ Demand and buy new products (while the current ones are still in mint condition) ⟵ The cycle keeps repeating itself
This is the cycle that sustains our consumer demand, and keeps increasing climate change. What needs our urgent attention is the volume of our demand … to reduce our demand, our unneeded consumption, and our waste.
WHO IS AFFECTED
Everybody in the world is affected
. However, people who contribute the least to climate change (and most often live in underdeveloped and natural disaster-prone regions of the world) are affected significantly more than people in the countries that contribute more to climate change. And yet, shipping waste from the developed world to other countries does not only affect people in those other countries, but also affects the waste‑producer population in the developed world
… because, we all live on the same planet.
Although countries have human‑drawn geographical boundaries, the water of the seas, and the air permeate the whole Earth … and therefore, affects everybody on Earth living today, tomorrow, and in the many years to come. Today’s young people (and people yet to be born) will be much more seriously affected in their future even in developed countries (i.e. our children, and grandchildren, and so on).
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We don’t advocate zero household waste.
We advocate being mindful about waste.
What actions will YOU take?
For your present & future
For the children’s future
For the grandchildren’s future, and so on
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