DQ1&2 WK3 PUB 560
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Walden University *
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6665
Subject
Geography
Date
Nov 24, 2024
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docx
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6
Uploaded by SargentHare3785
1
DQ 1
Climate change is the single most dreaded predicament facing the world today. The
changes in the atmosphere due to greenhouse gas accumulation led to grave ramifications for all
living things, given that temperature changes will affect all life forms. Climate change is
predominantly influenced by two factors – anthropogenic and natural causes, each leaving its
mark. Ideally, anthropogenic factors refer to unnatural factors that lead to climate change. In
particular, it refers to human factors that induce the greenhouse effect by burning fossil fuels
(
Abatzoglou et al., 2018). On the other hand, the earth’s climate has also been altered through
events like solar variations, volcanic eruptions and orbital changes – what is referred to as natural
factors.
Undoubtedly climate change is a major environmental health challenge in the
contemporary world. The warmer climate is attributed to an increased risk of illnesses and death
due to extremely high temperatures and deteriorating air quality. According to CDC (2020),
climate change impacts vector-borne disease distribution as it affects the seasonal distribution of
vector populations. Yearly climate variations result in vector movement, adaptation, and
expansion to different geographical ranges, carrying disease with them. Extreme heat events
recently witnessed in most US cities also result in death. Deaths occur due to heat stroke,
cardiovascular and respiratory diseases (CDC, 2022). There are also increased hospitalization
rates and people suffering from respiratory ailments.
Moreover, climate change is seen as a major health challenge of the century as it
influences the strength and frequencies of extreme weather events such as floods and forest fires,
threatening human and animal safety to great lengths. According to research, global fire activity
2
is influenced majorly by human factors like land cover change and climate change (
Abatzoglou
et al., 2018). Heavy rainfalls are also becoming frequent in most parts of the world, leading to
severe flooding in Australia, China and other African countries. Due to these extreme events,
lives are lost, people displaced and infrastructure destroyed. Therefore, legislating policies that
curb anthropogenic climate change causes will help curb the ongoing climate change problem.
3
References
Abatzoglou, J. T., Williams, A. P., & Barbero, R. (2018).
Global Emergence Of Anthropogenic
Climate Change In Fire Weather Indices. Geophysical Research Letters.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL080959
CDC. (2020).
Diseases Carried By Vectors
. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
https://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/effects/vectors.htm
CDC. (2022).
Temperature Extremes
. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
https://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/effects/temperature_extremes.htm
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4
DQ 2
Global weather patterns are affected by climate change due to increased atmospheric
carbon dioxide concentrations
.
Precipitation is a crucial constituent of the water cycle and is the
most affected variable in climate studies (Sun et al., 2018). Recently, there have been higher
precipitation percentages globally that have come in intense single-day events. According to
Konapala et al. (2020), seasonal and annual mean precipitation affect water availability patterns,
severely impacting societies and ecosystems. As a result, one consequence of climate change is
extensive flooding leading to crop damage and soil erosion.
A current environmental health problem that will worsen due to climate change is
respiratory disorders. Climate change predisposes people to unhealthy air, both indoors and
outdoors. As temperatures get warmer worsening air quality, people inhale many pollutants
containing particulate matter that penetrates the respiratory system leading to asthma attacks and
the like
(Manisalidis et al., 2020). Moreover, chronic intoxication can occur due to breathing
poor-quality air. Wildfires caused by climate change also exacerbate respiratory and
cardiovascular ailments since the smoke levels generate too much carbon dioxide.
Local and regional policymakers alone will not be enough to combat climate change as it
requires multifaced and global efforts to succeed. For instance, poor nations are most affected by
the extremities of climate change despite contributing the least to greenhouse gas emissions that
cause climate change. Therefore, governments worldwide must pass legislations that enforce
harsher penalties for firms and nations culpable for high carbon emission. Respective
governments and global bodies like the UN can impose harsher carbon taxes. For instance, China
passed a new Environmental Protection Law, which is seen as the harshest environmental
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protection legislation in the country (
Liu et al., 2021). This law is representative of worldwide
environmental legislation to curb climate change.
6
References
Konapala, G., Mishra, A. K., Wada, Y., & Mann, M. E. (2020).
Climate Change Will Affect
Global Water Availability Through Compounding Changes In Seasonal Precipitation And
Evaporation. Nature Communications, 11(1).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16757-
w
Liu, Y., Wang, A., & Wu, Y. (2021).
Environmental Regulation And Green Innovation: Evidence
From China’s New Environmental Protection Law. Journal Of Cleaner Production, 297,
126698.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126698
Manisalidis, I., Stavropoulou, E., Stavropoulos, A., & Bezirtzoglou, E. (2020).
Environmental
And Health Impacts Of Air Pollution: A Review. Frontiers in Public Health,
8.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00014
Sun, Q., Miao, C., Duan, Q., Ashouri, H., Sorooshian, S., & Hsu, K.-L. (2018). A Review of
Global Precipitation Data Sets: Data Sources, Estimation, and Intercomparisons. Reviews
of Geophysics, 56(1), 79–107. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017rg000574
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