ENVS803/703: Science in Environmental Management - Climate Change

This literature review provides an analysis of climate change and its effects on the environment, people, and biodiversity, emphasizing the role of science in informing environmental management strategies. It explores the causes of climate change, including carbon dioxide emissions, methane emissions, deforestation, and the use of chemical fertilizers, and discusses the impact of these factors on global warming and related issues such as rising sea levels, crop failures, and habitat loss. The review also examines environmental issues specific to Australia, such as deforestation, overgrazing, pollution, and coal energy, and highlights the importance of science in understanding and addressing these challenges. Recommendations for mitigating the negative impacts of climate change are provided, including reducing water wastage, conserving energy, promoting plantation, and utilizing solar energy. The review concludes that climate change is a significant concern requiring urgent action and that science plays a crucial role in developing sustainable solutions.

Running head: Masters of environment
Masters of environment

Masters of environment
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Literature review on climate change...........................................................................................................3
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................8
References...................................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
The main aim of this task is to briefly analyze and evaluate the global warming or climate
change. Climate change has been selected in the task. Climate change affects the plants, animals,
people and environment. Here is the discussion about the climate change, effects and causes of
global warming or climate change. Each and every person is interconnected with its environment
therefore; all the environmental factors influence life of the people. Climate change is an
important factor of environment which influences the ecosystem of the country. Also, the paper
explains the environmental issues of Australia which may affect the growth of the country.
Further detail of the task has been stated below.
Literature review on climate change
The United Nations framework convention defined climate change as it is a changes of
climate that is attributed which directly influences human activities. Human activity
encompasses pollution that arises from various industrial activity and other sources which
produces green house gases. Weintrobe, (2013) said that climate change is a regional and global
change in climate patterns in the environment. In other words, climate change is a change in the
statistical distribution of weather patterns in the atmosphere (Melillo, 2014). It refers to a change
in weather conditions or in the variation in the weather. Climate change may be defined a long
term change in the earth’s climate especially a change due to an increase in the earth temperature
(Shove and Spurling, 2013). Climate change is also known as global warming which is raised in
average surface temperature on earth. Humans are influencing earth’s temperature and climate
by burning of fossil fuels, farming livestock and cutting worn rainforests (Paterson, 2013). One
of the biggest issues facing by people is global warming. It influences animal, people and
agriculture as it also affects human populations. When global warming occurs temperatures of
the earth can rise dramatically. Due to rise in temperature, various changes occur in the
environment. Climate changes also affect the biodiversity. Biodiversity is very essential for the
animals and plants to maintain their ecosystem and habitat. In addition, human minds and
behavior are also affected by global warming. It affects human behavior such as consumption,
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population growth and energy use. Along with this, it also may influence mental and
psychological health. The causes of climate change have been stated below.
Carbon dioxide emission from fossil fuel burning power plants: It is one the biggest issues
which may influence the environment of the country adversely. The coal burning power plants
release huge amount of carbon dioxide into the environment. Around 40% of United States CO2
emissions come from electricity production. As a result, people are highly dependent on the
burning coal for their business and personal supply.
Methane emission from animals, agriculture: Methane is another greenhouse gas due to which
global warming occurs in the environment. Increasing in the livestock production, the level of
methane is also increasing in the environment that is harmful for the atmosphere. As a result, it
the rate of climate change will rise effectively.
Deforestation: The use of forests such as wood and charcoal for duel is one of the biggest
causes of deforestation. It may influence the healthy and good environment of the country. The
people are cutting trees to store carbon dioxide from the environment. Deforestation releases
high amount of carbon dioxide and reduces carbon capture on the planet.
Increase in usage of chemical fertilizers on croplands: The use of chemical fertilizers has
risen in today’s competitive world. As a result, global warming has increased in the atmosphere.
Rising in usage of chemical fertilizers is becoming a major concern for human health and well
being. The environmental scientist should take care all these concern to protect the environment
worldwide.
Arnell and Gosling (2013) said that climate change or global warming increases sea level
of world. Increasing seas levels may influences the life of people adversely. After the various
researchers, it has been noticed that global warming also influences crop of the farmers. The
research is conducted by Ruddiman (2013) where he said that 3 billion people will have move
from their families to milder climes due to global warming or climate change. Climate change
also affects the plants and animals. Rising in temperature due to global warming will lead to the
melting of ice. Changes in climate will lead to loss of habitat for many plants and animals. Due
to change in temperature, forest fires have become common issue in the world. Therefore, these
forest fires destroy habitat (Markham, 2018). Global warming also increases various diseases
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among people. Along with this, fever and unconsciousness occur due to change in climate.
Global warming also increases air pollution in the atmosphere. Australia is one of the most
significant developed countries in climate change. The global warming is increasing in Australia
widely. The global warming also affects the health of people. Due to climate change, people use
more energy resources for cooling requirements. As a result, air pollution and death from heat
waves also are increased. Asthma and allergy rate go high due to various types of pollution.
Along with this, it also destroys the culture of the country. Ecosystem is also imbalanced due to
global warming because many behaviors of insects, plants and animals depend on the
temperature of an area. Acidity also increases due to climate change. Global warming also
affects the overall environment of the country. Environment refers land, air, water, plants,
animals, solid wastes and other things which are surroundings people. Man and environment are
closely interconnected with each other. Environment helps to maintain an equilibrium and
balance in nature (Hung, Wang and Shammas, 2012). Due to global warming, people are unable
to maintain a balance in this atmosphere. When physical scientists gives opinion about
environment they mostly refer to the physical environment that encompasses the three inter
locking system such as the hydrosphere, the atmosphere and the lithosphere. All these systems
are influenced by global warming widely (Urry, 2015). Some of the major environmental issues
which affect the growth of the country have been stated below.
Deforestation: One of the common environmental issues in Australia is deforestation. The
people started forest cutting day by day and the salinity of the soil also is increasing in such
country. Saline water can influence downslop or downstream water quality. It is observed that
approx 7% of the agricultural area of Western Australia is suffering from the deforestation
problem (Ecoglobe, 2018). It is also noticed that soils have limited capacity to recover from
deforestation. Australia’s commonwealth scientific and industrial research organization estimates
that land degradation cost around $1 billion annually. Global warming is also raised due to
deforestation in Australia. Droughts, ecosystem imbalance and crop failure issues are also
occurred in such country due to climate change (Evans, 2016).
Agriculture clearing and overgrazing issue: Overgrazing is one of the biggest issues in
Australia which may influence life of people adversely. Due to overgrazing, erosion and
desertification is increased.
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Pollution issue: Pollution is one of the biggest threats for Australia that influences progress of
the country. Intensive agriculture is influencing Australian oceans and coasts. There are various
types of pollution including air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution and noise pollution. Air
pollution occurs when excessive and harmful quantities of substances such as gases, biological
and particulates molecules are introduced into earth’s environment. People face enormous
difficulties due to air pollution such as wheezing, breathing, asthma, and coughing. The
respiratory and cardiac disease also occurs due to air pollution. On the other hand, water
pollution destroys human life because it disrupts natural food chain system of people (Seinfeld
and Pandis, 2016).
Coal energy issue: In Australia, coal mining is becoming one of the most significant
environmental issues in the world. Due to coal burning, global warming is increasing in today’s
modern world.
Air quality issue: Like most of the some other countries, Australia has developed some serious
issues which include air quality issue. In urban areas, air quality is affected by a variety of
influences such as automobile exhaust, pesticides and industrial waste. Contaminates can also be
a big challenge if a population switches their waste supply from surface water to ground water.
Natural disasters like wildfires, hurricanes and earthquakes can also damage man made structure
in Australia (Harper, Harper and Snowden, 2017).
Science also influences climate changes from various ways. O'Riordan (2014) defines
that science is the study of the behavior and nature of natural things and knowledge. It is an
indispensable tool for understanding and analyzing the cause of climate change and ultimately
helping to improve and develop environment for people. Science helps human beings by
predicting global warming, natural disasters and advance methods. It is a technique to tackle
complex risks and issues for humanity like pollution, climate change, poverty reduction and
biodiversity loss. Along with this, sustainability science approach is necessary for making
effective decisions towards global sustainability (Unesco, 2018). The different fields study like
energy, pollution, climate change, and natural resources are possible through environmental
science. In environmental science, scientists use their knowledge, skills and talents to reduce the
negative impact of global warming.
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Additionally, environment science is the intellectual field that takes biological, chemical
and biological science to study and evaluate the causes of global warming and shows solutions to
eliminate global warming. In this way, science is left enormous impact on the global warming.
Furthermore, zoology, geology, aceanology, geography and physics are used by environmental
science (Olabisi and Adewale, 2016). The scientists have good knowledge in political science,
economics and sociology. Science is more concerned to discover the ways to live more
sustainably in the country. It helps in conserving the resources more appropriately and hassle
free manner (Harper, Harper and Snowden, 2017). Apart from this, science minimizes
unnecessary waste by using unique and effective techniques in the atmosphere. In this way,
environmental science helps to avert adverse impact of global warming (Conserve energy future,
2018).
Recommendations
Some of the recommendations have been given to shrink the negative impact of global
warming or climate change which has been stated below.
 People should reduce water wastage to save the human life. Recycling water in home
shall be done by people to reduce global warming
 People can conserve energy at home by minimizing door opening while using the oven.
Along with this, minimum chemical use should be done by them at home. It will reduce
adverse impact of climate change.
 An appropriate reusable container should be bought while purchasing a plastic water
bottle. Furthermore, solar energy must be used to reduce global warming in house.
 Plantation must be done to save trees and reduce air pollution. Along with this, people
should conserve electricity to save environment.
 If people are not using rooms then heating and air conditioning vents should be closed to
reduce the amount of energy. Along with this solar panels should be used to save energy.
It will help to prevent the negative impact of climate change.
Conclusion
On the above mentioned analysis, it has been concluded that global warming or climate
change is one of biggest concern for each and every person. There are several effects of climate
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change that serious influencing people health, environment and biodiversities. If still people do
not take any harsh action to avert and reduce the climate change, our mother will be sick gravely.
Global warming also increases some psychological issues such strain, anxiety and violence
among the communities. Due to climate change, the temperature of the earth increases which
influences the life of people. Climate change also influences productivity and profits of many
companies. Erosion and gas emission should control to eliminate adverse impact of climate
change. In addition, science also plays a major role to minimize the impact of global warming.
Strict actions and steps must be taken by the government to deal with this issue globally.
Additionally, people should also protect the environment to prevent negative effect of climate
change. To give better place to next generation, people should know how to reduce the climate
changes.
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References
Arnell, N.W. and Gosling, S.N., 2013. The impacts of climate change on river flow regimes at
the global scale. Journal of Hydrology, 486, pp.351-364.
Conserve energy future. 2018. What is environmental science [Online]. Available at
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/what-is-environmental-science-and-its-
components.php. [Retrieved from 9th April].
Ecoglobe. 2018. Australia confronts environmental issues and climate change [Online].
Available at http://eco-globe.com/australia-confronts-environmental-issues-climate-change/.
[Retrieved from 9th April 2018].
Evans, M.C., 2016. Deforestation in Australia: drivers, trends and policy responses. Pacific
Conservation Biology, 22(2), pp.130-150.
Harper, C., Harper, C.L. and Snowden, M., 2017. Environment and society: Human perspectives
on environmental issues. Routledge.
Markham., D. 2018. Global warming effects and causes: A top 10 list [Online]. Available at
http://planetsave.com/2009/06/07/global-warming-effects-and-causes-a-top-10-list/. [Retrieved
from 9th April 2018].
Melillo, J.M., 2014. Climate change impacts in the United States: the third national climate
assessment. Government Printing Office.
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Olabisi, O. and Adewale, K. eds., 2016. Handbook of thermoplastics (Vol. 41). CRC press.
O'Riordan, T. ed., 2014. Environmental science for environmental management. Routledge.
Paterson, M., 2013. Global warming and global politics. Routledge.
Ruddiman, W.F. ed., 2013. Tectonic uplift and climate change. Springer Science & Business
Media.
Seinfeld, J.H. and Pandis, S.N., 2016. Atmospheric chemistry and physics: from air pollution to
climate change. John Wiley & Sons.
Shove, E. and Spurling, N. eds., 2013. Sustainable practices: Social theory and climate
change (Vol. 95). Routledge.
Unesco, 2018. How science can help to create a sustainable world [Online]. Available at
https://en.unesco.org/news/how-science-can-help-create-sustainable-world. [Retrieved from 9th
April 2018]
Urry, J., 2015. Climate change and society. In Why the social sciences matter (pp. 45-59).
Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Weintrobe, S. ed., 2013. Engaging with climate change: Psychoanalytic and interdisciplinary
perspectives. Routledge.
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