Climate change is a consequence of the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. As these fuels combust, Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouse gasses, such as nitrogen and methane, are released into the atmosphere. They accumulate beneath our ozone layer, trapping sunlight that has reflected off the earth, thereby increasing the average global temperature and causing significant changes in natural, ecological and social systems.
How does climate change affect our wellbeing and society?
As a society, we have structured our day-to-day lives around historical and current climate conditions. We are accustomed to a normal range of conditions and may be sensitive to extremes that fall outside of this range (https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts/society.html). Weather and climate play a significant role in people 's health. Warmer average temperatures could increase the number …show more content…
This is where the Kyoto Protocol comes into the mix. It’s an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention and its main objective is to make participating nations reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases. These countries strive to reduce emission output levels by around 5%, relative to the levels in 1990. The hope was to reach this goal by 2012. (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol).
That’s the Kyoto protocol. Just how effective has it been? Let’s jump across the ditch for a moment. Australia didn’t sign into the Kyoto protocol until 2007, but they did agree to hold their output of greenhouse gas emissions to 8 percent above the 1990 level for the 2008-2012