Sustainable Living Guide Contributions, Part Four of Four: Sustaining our Atmosphere and Climate

Sustainable Living Guide Contributions, Part Four of Four:
Sustaining our Atmosphere and Climate
Your Term: CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION
Climate change is a complex issue facing us today, and this change is a global problem that also involves various dimensions such as society, scientific, economic, ethical, and ethical questions. The problem is being felt on both small and large scale. If not well mitigated, this menace will be around us for several decades to come since the planet has taken a while to respond to the rising rate of global warming caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide. Climate change and global warming will continue affecting human beings even though we reduce heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Through this, human beings are constantly committed to reducing the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Climate change adaptation is an approach used to respond to climate change, and this term can be described as the process of adjusting to the expected or current climate changes and their adverse effects.
Along with climate change mitigation, it is one method of responding to the negative impacts of climate change. Climate change mitigation is the reduction of the levels of greenhouse gases, for instance, by burning fossils for transport, heat, or electricity, while climate change adaptation aims to cut down the vulnerability of climate change's adverse effects such as food insecurity, extreme weather conditions, and sea-level encroachment. Adaptation also entails taking advantage of the beneficial opportunities associated with climate change, such as increasing yields and longer growing seasons in some areas. Throughout history, societies and human beings have coped with and adjusted to climate changes with a varying degree of success. Climate change, especially drought, has been the cause of the fall and rise of different civilizations globally.

The earth's climate has been stable for decades, and this stability has been essential for the development of modern civilization and life. Modern life has been adjusted to suit the stable climate that we are now accustomed to. As agents of climate change, human beings have learned how to adapt, and the faster the changes of climate, the harder it will be to adapt since climate change has affected both living and non-living things. It is responsible for the changing weather patterns, water supply and quality, human health, and agriculture. The rising of the sea levels caused by melting glaciers on the land are adding more water to the oceans, warmer temperatures have caused glaciers to melt faster than they can really accumulate newer snows, and this has added more water into the oceans causing the sea levels to rise. The rising sea levels have endangered the lives of those living near the oceans as millions of people could be rendered homeless by floods, and the most disastrous flood was experienced in some parts of Africa, causing more than 900 deaths, and thousands were left homeless (Agyei, 2016). Human being has also been affected by climate-sensitive diseases and infections, especially in developing countries. Examples of these diseases include malaria and dengue fever, which may increase in regions projected to r...