Reflection on Lecture Four- Human Dimensions of Global Change

Many debates have been going on regarding climate change for more than ten years and they are still ongoing.  What exactly is climate change and how are human activities linked to it? Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can be a change in the average weather or a change in the distribution of weather events around an average. From the above explanation, we see that climate change is a natural phenomenon that can have nothing to do with human intervention. However, why is there a saying that climate change is already happening and represents one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats facing the planet, suggesting that it is a serious result of the human? Organisation and protocol were even created to fight the climate change.

The main cause of climate change is the emission of greenhouse gases known as the greenhouse effect. A very basic illustration is that the greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons trap heat within the surface-troposphere system, causing heating at the surface of the planet. This is a natural process that causes global warming which keeps the planet warm and hospitable for living organisms. It only becomes a global environmental problem when the entire process is enhanced with human activities.  Such a global change is brought about with the combination of human activities and natural events. To solve the problem, we have to again look at how human dimensions and the essential role that social science must play in resolving global environmental problems.

The enhanced global warming is fast and real. Average temperatures have climbed 1.4 degrees around the world since 1880. The oceans are warming, sea level is rising and the glaciers are melting at an increasing rate.  All these are the very immediate effects of the climate change due to human activities. The evidences that those above are the corresponding results of human activities can be seen from the rapid increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases since the 19^th century as seen during the lecture. Over the last 1000 years, fossil fuel emissions have increased by more than 1200%. Over the last five years deforestation, almost exclusively occurring in tropical regions was 1.5 Gt C per year, accounting for one fifth of total anthropogenic carbon emissions. The rapid climate change that is happening out of its ordinary occurrence is a result of us human beings due to our desire and ambition to develop. It is time that we do something about the damage we have brought to the Earth we are depending on and living in. If nothing is going to be done, we will eventually be affected by the global climate change. Having said this, if solutions, or even just an increased comprehension to many of these environmental problems are to be obtained, a more integrated natural-social science approach must be adopted.

One of the global attempts to fight climate change is the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol. The Protocol was initially adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan and entered into force on 16 February 2005. The objective is the stabilization and reconstruction of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. I feel that even though this effort is highly linked to politics where many nations join in to solve the environmental problems due to political pressures and concerns, it is nevertheless a good attempt to start a global connection to fight the problem. When many nations work together on an issue, it is more likely that better and strategies and methods, with more invention and research can be discovered to help with the mitigating and managing process. Personally, I can see much effort by the SingaporeSingapore, many other nations are also coming up with ways to help mitigate and fight climate change. government and people in mitigating the carbon emission. For example, there is an increase in the temperature of air conditioner to close to room temperature across many shopping malls and institutions. The government also takes initiative in educating the public about climate change and simple ways in which everyone can play a part in helping to reduce the negative impact of climate change. I believe that other than