What is climate change and how do we combat it?

Today's write-up is on climate change and how to combat it in my country. In this article, you will find my proposed specific measures on how to combat climate change. These are the effects of climate change that I have personally witnessed: high temperature which causes heat and makes it hard to sleep at night, Increase in the rate of flood occurrence in my area has also been a major concern. Flood happens as a result of blockages in gutters or canals making the water trapped in a particular place for a long period of time.

Before I go to the effect of climate change in my area, let me quickly explain what climate is in a layman's language.

 CLIMATE is the average weather in a place over many years. While the weather can change in just a few hours, climate takes hundreds, thousands, even millions of years to change. Nigeria enjoys the humid tropical climate type, Because of its location just north of the equator

CLIMATE CHANGE is a change in the usual weather found in a place. This could be a change in how much rain a place usually gets in a year. Or it could be a change in a place's usual temperature for a month or season. Climate change is when the average long-term weather patterns of a region are altered for an extended period of time, typically decades or longer. Examples include shifts in wind patterns, the average temperature or the amount of precipitation. These changes can affect one region, many regions or the whole planet.  Climate changes are caused by changes in the total amount of energy that is kept within the Earth's atmosphere. This change in energy is then spread out around the globe mainly by ocean currents as well as wind and weather patterns to affect the climates of different regions.

                                    WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE?

Some are natural: which includes changes in the solar activities. Natural processes such as volcanic eruptions, variations in Earth's orbit or changes in the sun's intensity are possible causes.

Some are caused by humans, and these include deforestation and green house gas emissions from human activities .Most scientists say that humans can change climate too. People drive cars, cutting down of forests. People heat and cool their houses. People cook food. All those things take energy .These gases are called greenhouse gases One way we get energy is by burning coal, oil and gas. Burning these things puts gases into the air. The gases cause the air to heat up. This can change the climate of a place. It also can change Earth's climate.

to the burning of coal.

Human activities have caused the Earth's average temperature to increase by more than 0.75°C over the last 100 years and the increase of world-wide sea levels.

                        WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE?

· Warmer temperature

· Rainfall patterns and growing seasons are changing.

· The warming climate likely will cause more floods, droughts and heat waves. The heat waves may get hotter

· Increasing number and size of forest fires

· Rising sea levels (predicted to be as high as two feet by the end of the next century)

· Reduced snow pack.

· Increasing acidity in the ocean, resulting in bleaching of coral reefs and damage to oceanic wildlife.

· Desertification, rising sea-levels as well as stronger extreme weather events like hurricanes.