Climate Change Causes

Approximately 250 million years ago, almost all life was eradicated from the surface of the Earth In a short moment of geological time, when our planet experienced what is now known as the Permian-Triassic Extinction, or The Great Dying. Scientists have deduced that this was a result of of a sudden spike in global average temperature, which led to various natural calamities across the globe. Based on past and current research being conducted on the subject, climate change is more of a threat to life on this planet than it ever has been before. Recent meteorological data collected suggests that temperatures around the world are rising at an increasing rate – considering how devastating the effects of the last mass extinction as a result of climate

In its Fifth Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated that “there’s a more than 95% probability that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet” and that “industrial activities that our modern civilisation depends upon have raised atmospheric carbon dioxide levels from 280ppm to 400ppm in the last 150 years” (2014). Over the past couple of years, the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and oil has led to a significant increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere, which has directly led to global warming. As the name suggests, global warming has resulted in warming up of the planet, with some regions welcoming warmers temperatures, leading to increased evaporation and precipitation, thereby resulting in hurricanes and floods in some regions, and droughts and heat waves in others. Warmer temperatures are not limited to land masses; they have extended to the waters of the oceans, partially melting glaciers, thus leading to rising sea levels. These higher temperatures and shifting climate patterns may also change the make-up of natural plant