climate change essay conclusion

Climate Change: Evidence and Causes: Update 2020 (2020)

Chapter: conclusion, c onclusion.

This document explains that there are well-understood physical mechanisms by which changes in the amounts of greenhouse gases cause climate changes. It discusses the evidence that the concentrations of these gases in the atmosphere have increased and are still increasing rapidly, that climate change is occurring, and that most of the recent change is almost certainly due to emissions of greenhouse gases caused by human activities. Further climate change is inevitable; if emissions of greenhouse gases continue unabated, future changes will substantially exceed those that have occurred so far. There remains a range of estimates of the magnitude and regional expression of future change, but increases in the extremes of climate that can adversely affect natural ecosystems and human activities and infrastructure are expected.

Citizens and governments can choose among several options (or a mixture of those options) in response to this information: they can change their pattern of energy production and usage in order to limit emissions of greenhouse gases and hence the magnitude of climate changes; they can wait for changes to occur and accept the losses, damage, and suffering that arise; they can adapt to actual and expected changes as much as possible; or they can seek as yet unproven “geoengineering” solutions to counteract some of the climate changes that would otherwise occur. Each of these options has risks, attractions and costs, and what is actually done may be a mixture of these different options. Different nations and communities will vary in their vulnerability and their capacity to adapt. There is an important debate to be had about choices among these options, to decide what is best for each group or nation, and most importantly for the global population as a whole. The options have to be discussed at a global scale because in many cases those communities that are most vulnerable control few of the emissions, either past or future. Our description of the science of climate change, with both its facts and its uncertainties, is offered as a basis to inform that policy debate.

A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The following individuals served as the primary writing team for the 2014 and 2020 editions of this document:

Eric Wolff FRS, (UK lead), University of Cambridge
Inez Fung (NAS, US lead), University of California, Berkeley
Brian Hoskins FRS, Grantham Institute for Climate Change
John F.B. Mitchell FRS, UK Met Office
Tim Palmer FRS, University of Oxford
Benjamin Santer (NAS), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
John Shepherd FRS, University of Southampton
Keith Shine FRS, University of Reading.
Susan Solomon (NAS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Kevin Trenberth, National Center for Atmospheric Research
John Walsh, University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Don Wuebbles, University of Illinois

Staff support for the 2020 revision was provided by Richard Walker, Amanda Purcell, Nancy Huddleston, and Michael Hudson. We offer special thanks to Rebecca Lindsey and NOAA Climate.gov for providing data and figure updates.

The following individuals served as reviewers of the 2014 document in accordance with procedures approved by the Royal Society and the National Academy of Sciences:

Richard Alley (NAS), Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University
Alec Broers FRS, Former President of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Harry Elderfield FRS, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge
Joanna Haigh FRS, Professor of Atmospheric Physics, Imperial College London
Isaac Held (NAS), NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
John Kutzbach (NAS), Center for Climatic Research, University of Wisconsin
Jerry Meehl, Senior Scientist, National Center for Atmospheric Research
John Pendry FRS, Imperial College London
John Pyle FRS, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge
Gavin Schmidt, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Emily Shuckburgh, British Antarctic Survey
Gabrielle Walker, Journalist
Andrew Watson FRS, University of East Anglia

The Support for the 2014 Edition was provided by NAS Endowment Funds. We offer sincere thanks to the Ralph J. and Carol M. Cicerone Endowment for NAS Missions for supporting the production of this 2020 Edition.

F OR FURTHER READING

For more detailed discussion of the topics addressed in this document (including references to the underlying original research), see:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2019: Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate [ https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc ]
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), 2019: Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda [ https://www.nap.edu/catalog/25259 ]
Royal Society, 2018: Greenhouse gas removal [ https://raeng.org.uk/greenhousegasremoval ]
U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), 2018: Fourth National Climate Assessment Volume II: Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States [ https://nca2018.globalchange.gov ]
IPCC, 2018: Global Warming of 1.5°C [ https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15 ]
USGCRP, 2017: Fourth National Climate Assessment Volume I: Climate Science Special Reports [ https://science2017.globalchange.gov ]
NASEM, 2016: Attribution of Extreme Weather Events in the Context of Climate Change [ https://www.nap.edu/catalog/21852 ]
IPCC, 2013: Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) Working Group 1. Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis [ https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1 ]
NRC, 2013: Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change: Anticipating Surprises [ https://www.nap.edu/catalog/18373 ]
NRC, 2011: Climate Stabilization Targets: Emissions, Concentrations, and Impacts Over Decades to Millennia [ https://www.nap.edu/catalog/12877 ]
Royal Society 2010: Climate Change: A Summary of the Science [ https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/publications/2010/climate-change-summary-science ]
NRC, 2010: America’s Climate Choices: Advancing the Science of Climate Change [ https://www.nap.edu/catalog/12782 ]

Much of the original data underlying the scientific findings discussed here are available at:

https://data.ucar.edu/
https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu
https://iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu
https://ess-dive.lbl.gov/
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/
https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/
http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu
http://hahana.soest.hawaii.edu/hot/

Climate change is one of the defining issues of our time. It is now more certain than ever, based on many lines of evidence, that humans are changing Earth's climate. The Royal Society and the US National Academy of Sciences, with their similar missions to promote the use of science to benefit society and to inform critical policy debates, produced the original Climate Change: Evidence and Causes in 2014. It was written and reviewed by a UK-US team of leading climate scientists. This new edition, prepared by the same author team, has been updated with the most recent climate data and scientific analyses, all of which reinforce our understanding of human-caused climate change.

Scientific information is a vital component for society to make informed decisions about how to reduce the magnitude of climate change and how to adapt to its impacts. This booklet serves as a key reference document for decision makers, policy makers, educators, and others seeking authoritative answers about the current state of climate-change science.

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Climate Change Essay for Students and Children

500+ words climate change essay.

Climate change refers to the change in the environmental conditions of the earth. This happens due to many internal and external factors. The climatic change has become a global concern over the last few decades. Besides, these climatic changes affect life on the earth in various ways. These climatic changes are having various impacts on the ecosystem and ecology. Due to these changes, a number of species of plants and animals have gone extinct.

When Did it Start?

The climate started changing a long time ago due to human activities but we came to know about it in the last century. During the last century, we started noticing the climatic change and its effect on human life. We started researching on climate change and came to know that the earth temperature is rising due to a phenomenon called the greenhouse effect. The warming up of earth surface causes many ozone depletion, affect our agriculture , water supply, transportation, and several other problems.

Reason Of Climate Change

Although there are hundreds of reason for the climatic change we are only going to discuss the natural and manmade (human) reasons.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Natural Reasons

These include volcanic eruption , solar radiation, tectonic plate movement, orbital variations. Due to these activities, the geographical condition of an area become quite harmful for life to survive. Also, these activities raise the temperature of the earth to a great extent causing an imbalance in nature.

Human Reasons

Man due to his need and greed has done many activities that not only harm the environment but himself too. Many plant and animal species go extinct due to human activity. Human activities that harm the climate include deforestation, using fossil fuel , industrial waste , a different type of pollution and many more. All these things damage the climate and ecosystem very badly. And many species of animals and birds got extinct or on a verge of extinction due to hunting.

Effects Of Climatic Change

These climatic changes have a negative impact on the environment. The ocean level is rising, glaciers are melting, CO2 in the air is increasing, forest and wildlife are declining, and water life is also getting disturbed due to climatic changes. Apart from that, it is calculated that if this change keeps on going then many species of plants and animals will get extinct. And there will be a heavy loss to the environment.

What will be Future?

If we do not do anything and things continue to go on like right now then a day in future will come when humans will become extinct from the surface of the earth. But instead of neglecting these problems we start acting on then we can save the earth and our future.

Although humans mistake has caused great damage to the climate and ecosystem. But, it is not late to start again and try to undo what we have done until now to damage the environment. And if every human start contributing to the environment then we can be sure of our existence in the future.

{ “@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “FAQPage”, “mainEntity”: [ { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What is climate change and how it affects humans?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Climate change is a phenomenon that happens because of human and natural reasons. And it is one of the most serious problems that not only affect the environment but also human beings. It affects human in several ways but in simple language, we can say that it causes many diseases and disasters that destroy life on earth.” } }, { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “Can we stop these climatic changes?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Yes, we can stop these climatic changes but for that, every one of us has to come forward and has to adapt ways that can reduce and control our bad habits that affect the environment. We have to the initiative and make everyone aware of the climatic changes.” } } ] }

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Argumentative Essay Writing

Argumentative Essay About Climate Change

Make Your Case: A Guide to Writing an Argumentative Essay on Climate Change

Published on: Mar 2, 2023

Last updated on: Jan 31, 2024

What is an Argumentative Essay about Climate Change?

The main focus will be on trying to prove that global warming is caused by human activities. Your goal should be to convince your readers that human activity is causing climate change.

To achieve this, you will need to use a variety of research methods to collect data on the topic. You need to make an argument as to why climate change needs to be taken more seriously.

Argumentative Essay Outline about Climate Change

An argumentative essay about climate change requires a student to take an opinionated stance on the subject.

The outline of your paper should include the following sections:

Argumentative Essay About Climate Change Introduction

The first step is to introduce the topic and provide an overview of the main points you will cover in the essay.

This should include a brief description of what climate change is. Furthermore, it should include current research on how humans are contributing to global warming.

An example is:

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Thesis Statement For Climate Change Argumentative Essay

The thesis statement should be a clear and concise description of your opinion on the topic. It should be established early in the essay and reiterated throughout.

For example, an argumentative essay about climate change could have a thesis statement such as:

Climate Change Argumentative Essay Conclusion

The conclusion should restate your thesis statement and summarize the main points of the essay.

It should also provide a call to action, encouraging readers to take steps toward addressing climate change.

For example,

How To Write An Argumentative Essay On Climate Change

Writing an argumentative essay about climate change requires a student to take an opinionated stance on the subject.

Following are the steps to follow for writing an argumentative essay about climate change

Do Your Research

The first step is researching the topic and collecting evidence to back up your argument.

You should look at scientific research, articles, and data on climate change as well as current policy solutions.

Pick A Catchy Title

Once you have gathered your evidence, it is time to pick a title for your essay. It should be specific and concise.

Outline Your Essay

After selecting a title, create an outline of the main points you will include in the essay.

This should include an introduction, body paragraphs that provide evidence for your argument, and a conclusion.

Compose Your Essay

Finally, begin writing your essay. Start with an introduction that provides a brief overview of the main points you will cover and includes your thesis statement.

Then move on to the body paragraphs, providing evidence to back up your argument.

Finally, conclude the essay by restating your thesis statement and summarizing the main points.

Proofread and Revise

Once you have finished writing the essay, it is important to proofread and revise your work.

Check for any spelling or grammatical errors, and make sure the argument is clear and logical.

Finally, consider having someone else read over the essay for a fresh perspective.

By following these steps, you can create an effective argumentative essay on climate change. Good luck!

Examples Of Argumentative Essays About Climate Change

Climate Change is real and happening right now. It is one of the most urgent environmental issues that we face today.

Argumentative essays about this topic can help raise awareness that we need to protect our planet.

Below you will find some examples of argumentative essays on climate change written by CollegeEssay.orgâs expert essay writers.

Argumentative Essay About Climate Change And Global Warming

Persuasive Essay About Climate Change

Argumentative Essay About Climate Change In The Philippines

Argumentative Essay About Climate Change Caused By Humans

Geography Argumentative Essay About Climate Change

Check our extensive blog on argumentative essay examples to ace your next essay!

Good Argumentative Essay Topics About Climate Change

Choosing a great topic is essential to help your readers understand and engage with the issue.

Here are some suggestions:

Should governments fund projects that will reduce the effects of climate change?
Is it too late to stop global warming and climate change?
Are international treaties effective in reducing carbon dioxide emissions?
What are the economic implications of climate change?
Should renewable energy be mandated as a priority over traditional fossil fuels?
How can individuals help reduce their carbon footprint and fight climate change?
Are regulations on industry enough to reduce global warming and climate change?
Could geoengineering be used to mitigate climate change?
What are the social and political effects of global warming and climate change?
Should companies be held accountable for their contribution to climate change?

Check our comprehensive blog on argumentative essay topics to get more topic ideas!

We hope these topics and resources help you write a great argumentative essay about climate change.

Now that you know how to write an argumentative essay about climate change, itâs time to put your skills to the test.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good introduction to climate change.

An introduction to a climate change essay can include a short description of why the topic is important and/or relevant.

It can also provide an overview of what will be discussed in the body of the essay.

The introduction should conclude with a clear, focused thesis statement that outlines the main argument in your essay.

What is a good thesis statement for climate change?

A good thesis statement for a climate change essay should state the main point or argument you will make in your essay.

You could argue that “The science behind climate change is irrefutable and must be addressed by governments, businesses, and individuals.”

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Home — Essay Samples — Environment — Environment Problems — Climate Change

Essays on Climate Change

Climate change: essay topics for college students.

Welcome to our resource page designed for college students seeking inspiration for their climate change essays. The choice of topic is a crucial first step in the writing process, reflecting your personal interests and creativity. This page aims to guide you through selecting a compelling essay topic that not only captivates your interest but also challenges you to think critically and analytically.

Depending on your assignment requirements or personal preference, essays can be categorized into several types. Below, you will find a variety of climate change essay topics categorized by essay type. Each topic is accompanied by an introductory paragraph example, highlighting a clear thesis statement, and a conclusion paragraph example that summarizes the essay's main points and reiterates the thesis.

Argumentative Essays

Topic: The Effectiveness of International Agreements in Combating Climate Change

Introduction Example: Despite the global consensus on the urgent need to address climate change, the effectiveness of international agreements remains a contentious issue. This essay will argue that while such agreements have made significant strides in promoting global cooperation, they fall short in enforcing tangible changes due to lack of binding enforcement mechanisms. Thesis Statement: International agreements, though crucial, are not sufficiently effective in combating climate change without enforceable commitments.

Conclusion Example: In summarizing, international agreements provide a framework for climate action but lack the enforcement necessary for real change. To combat climate change effectively, these agreements must be accompanied by binding commitments that ensure countries adhere to their promises, underscoring the need for a more robust global enforcement mechanism.

Compare and Contrast Essays

Topic: Renewable Energy Sources vs. Fossil Fuels: A Comparative Analysis

Introduction Example: The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is often touted as a pivotal solution to climate change. This essay will compare and contrast these two energy sources, highlighting differences in environmental impact, cost-effectiveness, and long-term sustainability. Thesis Statement: Renewable energy sources, despite higher initial costs, are more environmentally sustainable and cost-effective in the long run compared to fossil fuels.

Conclusion Example: Through this comparative analysis, it is clear that renewable energy sources offer a more sustainable and cost-effective solution to powering our world than fossil fuels. Embracing renewables not only mitigates the impact of climate change but also secures a sustainable energy future.

Descriptive Essays

Topic: The Impact of Climate Change on Coral Reefs

Introduction Example: Coral reefs, often referred to as the rainforests of the sea, are facing unprecedented threats from climate change. This essay aims to describe the profound impact of rising temperatures and ocean acidification on coral reef ecosystems. Thesis Statement: Climate change poses a severe threat to coral reefs, leading to bleaching events, habitat loss, and a decline in marine biodiversity.

Conclusion Example: The devastation of coral reefs is a stark reminder of the broader impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. Protecting these vital habitats requires immediate action to mitigate the effects of climate change and preserve marine biodiversity for future generations.

Persuasive Essays

Topic: The Role of Individual Actions in Mitigating Climate Change

Introduction Example: While the role of governments and corporations is often emphasized in the fight against climate change, individual actions play a crucial part in this global challenge. This essay will persuade readers that personal lifestyle choices can significantly impact efforts to mitigate climate change. Thesis Statement: Individual actions, when collectively embraced, can drive significant environmental change and are essential in the fight against climate change.

Conclusion Example: In conclusion, the cumulative effect of individual actions can make a substantial difference in addressing climate change. By adopting more sustainable lifestyles, individuals can contribute to a larger movement towards environmental stewardship and climate action.

Narrative Essays

Topic: A Personal Journey Towards Sustainable Living

Introduction Example: Embarking on a journey towards sustainable living is both a personal challenge and a contribution to the global fight against climate change. This narrative essay will share my journey of adopting a more sustainable lifestyle, reflecting on the challenges, successes, and insights gained along the way. Thesis Statement: Through personal commitment to sustainable living, individuals can contribute meaningfully to mitigating climate change while discovering the intrinsic rewards of a simpler, more purposeful lifestyle.

Conclusion Example: This journey towards sustainable living has not only contributed to climate action but has also offered a deeper appreciation for the importance of individual choices. As more people embark on similar journeys, the collective impact on our planet can be transformative.

Engagement and Creativity

We encourage you to select a topic that resonates with your personal interests and academic goals. Dive deep into your chosen subject, employ critical thinking, and let your creativity flow as you explore different perspectives and solutions to climate change. Remember, the best essays are not only informative but also engaging and thought-provoking.

Educational Value

Writing on these topics will not only enhance your understanding of climate change and its implications but also develop your skills in research, critical thinking, persuasive writing, and narrative storytelling. Each essay type offers a unique opportunity to explore different facets of the climate crisis, encouraging you to engage with the material in a meaningful way.

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The Effects of Climate Change on Global Weather Patterns

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How Global Warming Changed Earth's Environment

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Mother Nature and Climate Change: We Must Take Action

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Climate change refers to the long-term alteration of Earth's climate patterns, encompassing variations in temperature, precipitation, wind patterns, and other atmospheric conditions. It is primarily driven by natural processes but has been significantly accelerated by human activities, such as the emission of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels and deforestation.

Greta Thunberg is a prominent figure in the fight against climate change. As a Swedish environmental activist, she gained international attention for her efforts to raise awareness about the urgent need for climate action. Thunberg initiated the "Fridays for Future" movement, inspiring students worldwide to strike from school to demand government action on climate change. Dr. James Hansen, a renowned climate scientist, has made significant contributions to the field of climate research. He was one of the first scientists to warn about the dangers of human-induced global warming. Dr. Hansen's testimony before the U.S. Congress in 1988 played a crucial role in raising awareness about climate change and its potential consequences.

The historical context of climate change dates back centuries, with notable events highlighting the understanding and awareness of this global issue. One significant event is the Industrial Revolution, which began in the 18th century and marked a shift towards mass production and increased use of fossil fuels. This period of rapid industrialization contributed to the substantial release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, setting the stage for the ongoing climate crisis. In the late 19th century, scientists such as Svante Arrhenius started to explore the relationship between carbon dioxide levels and Earth's temperature. However, it was not until the mid-20th century that climate change gained significant attention. In 1958, the Keeling Curve measurements began, demonstrating the rising trend of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. The 1980s witnessed a turning point with the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. This international body assesses scientific research on climate change and provides policymakers with valuable insights. Another notable event was the adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992, which laid the foundation for global cooperation on addressing climate change. Since then, several key events have shaped the discourse on climate change, including the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, and the Paris Agreement in 2015.

Greenhouse gas emissions: The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, releases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) into the atmosphere, trapping heat and contributing to global warming. Deforestation: The clearing of forests for agriculture, logging, and urbanization reduces the Earth's capacity to absorb CO2, leading to higher greenhouse gas concentrations. Industrial activities: Industrial processes, including manufacturing, construction, and chemical production, release CO2 and other greenhouse gases through energy consumption and the use of certain chemicals. Agricultural practices: Livestock farming produces methane through enteric fermentation and manure management, while the use of synthetic fertilizers releases nitrous oxide. Land use changes: Converting land for agriculture, urban development, or other purposes alters natural ecosystems and contributes to the release of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Waste management: Improper handling and decomposition of organic waste in landfills produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Changes in land and water management: Alterations in land and water use, such as dam construction, can impact natural systems and disrupt the carbon cycle. Natural factors: Natural processes like volcanic eruptions and variations in solar radiation can temporarily influence climate patterns.

Rising temperatures: Global warming leads to increased average temperatures worldwide, resulting in heatwaves, melting glaciers and polar ice, and rising sea levels. Extreme weather events: Climate change intensifies extreme weather events such as hurricanes, droughts, floods, and wildfires, leading to devastating impacts on ecosystems, communities, and infrastructure. Disruption of ecosystems: Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns disrupt ecosystems, affecting biodiversity, migration patterns, and the survival of plant and animal species. Water scarcity: Changing climate patterns can alter rainfall patterns, causing water scarcity in certain regions, affecting agriculture, drinking water supplies, and ecosystems that depend on water sources. Health impacts: Climate change contributes to the spread of diseases, heat-related illnesses, and respiratory problems due to increased air pollution and the expansion of disease vectors. Economic losses: Extreme weather events and disruptions to agricultural productivity can result in significant economic losses, impacting industries, livelihoods, and global supply chains. Food security challenges: Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns affect crop yields, leading to food shortages, increased food prices, and challenges in ensuring global food security. Displacement of populations: Rising sea levels and extreme weather events can lead to the displacement of communities and the loss of homes and livelihoods, resulting in climate-induced migration.

Transition to renewable energy: Shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydropower can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change. Energy efficiency: Improving energy efficiency in industries, transportation, and buildings can reduce energy consumption and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable transportation: Promoting electric vehicles, public transportation, and biking/walking infrastructure can reduce emissions from the transportation sector, a major contributor to climate change. Forest conservation and reforestation: Protecting existing forests and implementing reforestation projects can help absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and preserve biodiversity. Sustainable agriculture: Adopting practices such as organic farming, agroforestry, and precision agriculture can reduce emissions from agriculture and promote soil health. Circular economy: Shifting towards a circular economy model that emphasizes recycling, waste reduction, and sustainable production can reduce emissions and minimize resource consumption. Climate policy and international cooperation: Implementing strong climate policies, such as carbon pricing and emissions trading, and fostering international cooperation to address climate change can drive collective action and accountability. Public awareness and education: Raising awareness about climate change and promoting education on sustainable practices can inspire individuals and communities to take action and make environmentally conscious choices.

Climate change has garnered significant attention in media, with various forms of media portraying its impact and raising awareness about the issue. Films like "An Inconvenient Truth" (2006) by Al Gore and "Before the Flood" (2016) by Leonardo DiCaprio present compelling documentaries that highlight the consequences of climate change and advocate for urgent action. These films use scientific evidence, expert interviews, and compelling visuals to engage and inform audiences.

In addition to documentaries, climate change is frequently depicted in news media through articles, reports, and opinion pieces. News outlets often cover climate-related events, such as extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and environmental activism. For instance, media coverage of global climate strikes led by young activists like Greta Thunberg has amplified the urgency of the issue and mobilized public discourse.

Furthermore, climate change is a recurring theme in literature, with books like "The Water Will Come" by Jeff Goodell and "The Sixth Extinction" by Elizabeth Kolbert exploring the environmental challenges we face. These literary works offer in-depth analysis, personal stories, and scientific research to provide readers with a deeper understanding of climate change.

1. The levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth's atmosphere are currently higher than any recorded in the past 800,000 years. According to data from ice core samples, pre-industrial CO2 levels averaged around 280 parts per million (ppm), while current levels have exceeded 410 ppm. 2. Rising global temperatures have led to the loss of an estimated 150 billion tons of ice per year from glaciers worldwide. If the current trend continues, it is projected that sea levels could rise by about 0.3 to 1 meter by the end of the century, endangering low-lying areas and increasing the frequency of coastal flooding. 3. The year 2020 tied with 2016 as the hottest year on record, according to data from multiple global temperature datasets. This warming trend is consistent with long-term climate change caused by human activities.

Climate change is a critical and pressing global issue that warrants extensive analysis and discussion. Writing an essay on this topic is crucial for several reasons. Firstly, climate change poses significant threats to our planet's ecosystems, biodiversity, and human well-being. By exploring the causes, impacts, and potential solutions of climate change, we can raise awareness and foster a sense of urgency to address this issue. Secondly, climate change is intricately linked to various socio-economic and political factors. It intersects with topics such as sustainable development, environmental justice, and global governance. Understanding these complex connections is essential for informed decision-making and policy formulation. Furthermore, climate change is a subject of great scientific interest and ongoing research. It offers an opportunity to delve into interdisciplinary fields like climatology, ecology, economics, and social sciences. Writing an essay on climate change allows for the exploration of scientific studies, data analysis, and the evaluation of different perspectives.

1. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2018). Global warming of 1.5°C. Retrieved from https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/ 2. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (n.d.). Climate change: How do we know? Retrieved from https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/ 3. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (2015). Paris Agreement. Retrieved from https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement 4. World Health Organization. (2018). Climate change and health. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health 5. Environmental Protection Agency. (2021). Climate change indicators: Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/greenhouse-gases 6. United Nations Environment Programme. (2020). Emissions gap report 2020. Retrieved from https://www.unep.org/emissions-gap-report-2020 7. Stern, N. (2007). The economics of climate change: The Stern Review. Cambridge University Press. 8. Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. (2019). Summary for policymakers of the global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Retrieved from https://ipbes.net/sites/default/files/2020-02/ipbes_global_assessment_report_summary_for_policymakers_en.pdf 9. World Meteorological Organization. (2021). State of the global climate 2020. Retrieved from https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10739 10. Cook, J., Oreskes, N., Doran, P. T., Anderegg, W. R., Verheggen, B., Maibach, E. W., ... & Nuccitelli, D. (2016). Consensus on consensus: A synthesis of consensus estimates on human-caused global warming. Environmental Research Letters, 11(4), 048002. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/4/048002

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Essay on Climate Change: Check Samples in 100, 250 Words

Updated on
Sep 21, 2023

Writing an essay on climate change is crucial to raise awareness and advocate for action. The world is facing environmental challenges, so in a situation like this such essay topics can serve as s platform to discuss the causes, effects, and solutions to this pressing issue. They offer an opportunity to engage readers in understanding the urgency of mitigating climate change for the sake of our planet’s future.

Must Read: Essay On Environment

This Blog Includes:

What is climate change, what are the causes of climate change, what are the effects of climate change, how to fight climate change, essay on climate change in 100 words, climate change sample essay 250 words.

Climate change is the significant variation of average weather conditions becoming, for example, warmer, wetter, or drier—over several decades or longer. It may be natural or anthropogenic. However, in recent times, it’s been in the top headlines due to escalations caused by human interference.

Obama at the First Session of COP21 rightly quoted “We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change, and the last generation that can do something about it.”.Identifying the causes of climate change is the first step to take in our fight against climate change. Below stated are some of the causes of climate change:

Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Mainly from burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) for energy and transportation.
Deforestation: The cutting down of trees reduces the planet’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide.
Industrial Processes: Certain manufacturing activities release potent greenhouse gases.
Agriculture: Livestock and rice cultivation emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Climate change poses a huge risk to almost all life forms on Earth. The effects of climate change are listed below:

Global Warming: Increased temperatures due to trapped heat from greenhouse gases.
Melting Ice and Rising Sea Levels: Ice caps and glaciers melt, causing oceans to rise.
Extreme Weather Events: More frequent and severe hurricanes, droughts, and wildfires.
Ocean Acidification: Oceans absorb excess CO2, leading to more acidic waters harming marine life.
Disrupted Ecosystems: Shifting climate patterns disrupt habitats and threaten biodiversity.
Food and Water Scarcity: Altered weather affects crop yields and strains water resources.
Human Health Risks: Heat-related illnesses and the spread of diseases.
Economic Impact: Damage to infrastructure and increased disaster-related costs.
Migration and Conflict: Climate-induced displacement and resource competition.

‘Climate change is a terrible problem, and it absolutely needs to be solved. It deserves to be a huge priority,’ says Bill Gates. The below points highlight key actions to combat climate change effectively.

Energy Efficiency: Improve energy efficiency in all sectors.
Protect Forests: Stop deforestation and promote reforestation.
Sustainable Agriculture: Adopt eco-friendly farming practices.
Advocacy: Raise awareness and advocate for climate-friendly policies.
Innovation: Invest in green technologies and research.
Government Policies: Enforce climate-friendly regulations and targets.
Corporate Responsibility: Encourage sustainable business practices.
Individual Action: Reduce personal carbon footprint and inspire others.

Climate change refers to long-term alterations in Earth’s climate patterns, primarily driven by human activities, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation, which release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases trap heat, leading to global warming. The consequences of climate change are widespread and devastating. Rising temperatures cause polar ice caps to melt, contributing to sea level rise and threatening coastal communities. Extreme weather events, like hurricanes and wildfires, become more frequent and severe, endangering lives and livelihoods. Additionally, shifts in weather patterns can disrupt agriculture, leading to food shortages. To combat climate change, global cooperation, renewable energy adoption, and sustainable practices are crucial for a more sustainable future.

Must Read: Essay On Global Warming

Climate change represents a pressing global challenge that demands immediate attention and concerted efforts. Human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, have significantly increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This results in a greenhouse effect, trapping heat and leading to a rise in global temperatures, commonly referred to as global warming.

The consequences of climate change are far-reaching and profound. Rising sea levels threaten coastal communities, displacing millions and endangering vital infrastructure. Extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, droughts, and wildfires, have become more frequent and severe, causing devastating economic and human losses. Disrupted ecosystems affect biodiversity and the availability of vital resources, from clean water to agricultural yields.

Moreover, climate change has serious implications for food and water security. Changing weather patterns disrupt traditional farming practices and strain freshwater resources, potentially leading to conflicts over access to essential commodities.

Addressing climate change necessitates a multifaceted approach. First, countries must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through the transition to renewable energy sources, increased energy efficiency, and reforestation efforts. International cooperation is crucial to set emission reduction targets and hold nations accountable for meeting them.

In conclusion, climate change is a global crisis with profound and immediate consequences. Urgent action is needed to mitigate its impacts and secure a sustainable future for our planet. By reducing emissions and implementing adaptation strategies, we can protect vulnerable communities, preserve ecosystems, and ensure a livable planet for future generations. The time to act is now.

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in Earth’s climate patterns, primarily driven by human activities like burning fossil fuels and deforestation.

Five key causes of climate change include excessive greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, notably burning fossil fuels and deforestation.

We hope this blog gave you an idea about how to write and present an essay on climate change that puts forth your opinions. The skill of writing an essay comes in handy when appearing for standardized language tests. Thinking of taking one soon? Leverage Edu provides the best online test prep for the same via Leverage Live . Register today to know more!

Amisha Khushara

With a heart full of passion for writing, I pour my emotions into every piece I create. I strive to connect with readers on a personal level, infusing my work with authenticity and relatability. Writing isn't just a skill; it's my heartfelt expression to touch hearts and minds.

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Steps To Follow While Writing An Essay On Climate Change

Table of Contents

Climate change is the most essential issue of our generation; we are the first to witness its early signs and the last who have a chance of stopping them from happening.

Living in a bubble of denial can only get us this far; the planet which is our home is already a scene for melting glaciers, raising floods, extinction of species… the list goes on and on. Spreading awareness on matters of climate change through any means available, including as seemingly trivial form as writing a school essay, cannot be underestimated.

Follow the guidelines suggested in the paragraphs below to learn how to create a perfect essay that will get you an appraisal of your teacher.

Essay on climate changes: how to write?

If you really want to make your teacher gasp while they are reading your work, there are three vital things to pay attention to .

First of all, read the topic carefully and understand it’s specific, i.e., what is expected from you.

For instance, if it is the role of individuals in helping prevent climate change, you should not focus so much on the global problems, but speak about how small changes all of us can introduce in our routines will eventually have a positive environmental effect.

Secondly, determine your personal take on the problem . Search for materials on your subject using keywords, and pile up the evidence that supports your point of view.

Finally, write a conclusion. Make sure that the conclusion you make reflects the viewpoints you have been expressing all throughout your essay.

Below you will find a more detailed breakdown of tasks you will have to accomplish to complete writing an essay on climate changes that is worthy of a top mark.

Check if it is an argumentative essay on climate change or more of a speculative one? Arrange your writing accordingly.

Craft the outline and don’t go off-topic.
Search for keywords .
Make a plan .
Avoid the most common mistakes from the start.
Write an introduction thinking about what you will write later.
Develop your ideas according to the outline .
Make a conclusion which is consistent with what you’ve written in the main paragraphs.
Proofread the draft , correct mistakes and print out the hard copy. All set!

One of the most focal of your writing will be factual evidence. When writing on climate change, resort to providing data shared by international organizations like IPCC , WWF , or World Bank .

It is undeniable that among the main causes of climate change, unfortunately, there are oil and fossil fuels that are the basis of the whole economy and still invaluable sources of energy.

Although everyone knows that oil resources are polluting and that it would be much more useful and environmentally sustainable to rely on renewable energies such as wind and solar energies and electricity, the power of the world seem not to notice or pretend not to see for don’t go against your own interests.

The time has come to react and raise awareness of the use of renewable energy sources.

In addition to the causes already mentioned, we must consider the increase in the carbon dioxide air that traps heat in our atmosphere, thus increasing the temperatures with the consequent of the Arctic glaciers melting.

WWF reported that in 2016, the recorded data was quite worrying with a constant increase in temperatures and a 40% decrease in Arctic marine glaciers.

Topics for essay on global warming and climate change

If you do not have any specific topic to write on, consider yourself lucky. You can pick one that you are passionate about – and in fact, this is what you should do! If we think back to the very definition of essay, it is nothing more than a few paragraphs of expressing one’s personal attitude and viewpoints on a certain subject. Surely, you need to pick a subject that you are opinionated about to deliver a readable piece of writing!

Another point to consider is quaintness and topicality factors. You don’t want to end up writing on a subject that the rest of your class will, and in all honesty, that has zero novelty to it.

Even if it is something as trivial as the greenhouse effect, add an unexpected perspective to it: the greenhouse effect from the standpoint of the feline population of Montenegro. Sounds lunatic, but you get the drift.

Do not worry, below you will find the list of legitimately coverable topics to choose from:

The last generation able to fight the global crisis.
Climate change: top 10 unexpected causes.
Climate changes. Things anyone can do.
Climate changes concern everyone. Is it true?
The Mauna Loa volcano: climate change is here.
Water pollution and coastal cities: what needs to be done?
Is there global warming if it’s still cold?
The CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.
Celebrity activists and climate changes.
Individual responsibility for the environment.
How the loss of biodiversity is the biggest loss for humanity.
Ways to fight global warming at home.
Sustainable living as a way of fighting climate change.
Climate change fighting countries to look up to.
Industrial responsibility and climate change.
What future will be like if we fail to make an environmental stand?
Discovering water on Mars: a new planet to live on?
Climate change effects on poor countries.
Nuclear power laws and climate change.
Is it true that climate change is caused by man?

Mistakes to avoid when writing an essay on climate change

When composing your essay, you must avoid the following (quite common!) mistakes:

Clichés – no one wants to read universal truths presented as relevant discoveries.
Repeating an idea already expressed – don’t waste your readers’ time .
Making an accumulation of ideas that are not connected and that do not follow one another; structure your ideas logically .
Being contradictive (check consistency).
Using bad or tired collocations .
Using lackluster adjectives like “good”/”bad”. Instead, think of more eye-catching synonyms.

Structure your essay in a logical way : introduce your thesis, develop your ideas in at least 2 parts that contain several paragraphs, and draw a conclusion.

Bottom line

Writing an essay on global warming and climate change is essentially reflecting on the inevitable consequence of the irresponsible behavior of people inhabiting the planet. Outside of big-scale thinking, there is something each of us can do, and by shaping minds the right way, essential change can be done daily.

Each of us can act to protect the environment, reducing the use of plastic, recycling, buying food with as little packaging as possible, or turning off water and light when not in use. Every little help, even a short essay on climate change can help make a difference.

Can’t wait to save the planet? Do it, while we write your essay. Easy order, complete confidentiality, timely delivery. Click the button to learn more!

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Why abortion should be legal – essay writing tips & tricks, a comprehensive guide on how to grade papers.

6.4 Annotated Student Sample: “Slowing Climate Change” by Shawn Krukowski

Learning outcomes.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Identify the features common to proposals.
Analyze the organizational structure of a proposal and how writers develop ideas.
Articulate how writers use and cite evidence to build credibility.
Identify sources of evidence within a text and in source citations.

Introduction

The proposal that follows was written by student Shawn Krukowski for a first-year composition course. Shawn’s assignment was to research a contemporary problem and propose one or more solutions. Deeply concerned about climate change, Shawn chose to research ways to slow the process. In his proposal, he recommends two solutions he thinks are most promising.

Living by Their Own Words

A call to action.

student sample text The earth’s climate is changing. Although the climate has been changing slowly for the past 22,000 years, the rate of change has increased dramatically. Previously, natural climate changes occurred gradually, sometimes extending over thousands of years. Since the mid-20th century, however, climate change has accelerated exponentially, a result primarily of human activities, and is reaching a crisis level. end student sample text

student sample text Critical as it is, however, climate change can be controlled. Thanks to current knowledge of science and existing technologies, it is possible to respond effectively. Although many concerned citizens, companies, and organizations in the private sector are taking action in their own spheres, other individuals, corporations, and organizations are ignoring, or even denying, the problem. What is needed to slow climate change is unified action in two key areas—mitigation and adaptation—spurred by government leadership in the United States and a global commitment to addressing the problem immediately. end student sample text

annotated text Introduction. The proposal opens with an overview of the problem and pivots to the solution in the second paragraph. end annotated text

annotated text Thesis Statement. The thesis statement in last sentence of the introduction previews the organization of the proposal and the recommended solutions. end annotated text

Problem: Negative Effects of Climate Change

annotated text Heading. Centered, boldface headings mark major sections of the proposal. end annotated text

annotated text Body. The three paragraphs under this heading discuss the problem. end annotated text

annotated text Topic Sentence. The paragraph opens with a sentence stating the topics developed in the following paragraphs. end annotated text

student sample text For the 4,000 years leading up to the Industrial Revolution, global temperatures remained relatively constant, with a few dips of less than 1°C. Previous climate change occurred so gradually that life forms were able to adapt to it. Some species became extinct, but others survived and thrived. In just the past 100 years, however, temperatures have risen by approximately the same amount that they rose over the previous 4,000 years. end student sample text

annotated text Audience. Without knowing for sure the extent of readers’ knowledge of climate change, the writer provides background for them to understand the problem. end annotated text

student sample text The rapid increase in temperature has a negative global impact. First, as temperatures rise, glaciers and polar ice are melting at a faster rate; in fact, by the middle of this century, the Arctic Ocean is projected to be ice-free in summer. As a result, global sea levels are projected to rise from two to four feet by 2100 (U.S. Global Change Research Program [USGCRP], 2014a). If this rise actually does happen, many coastal ecosystems and human communities will disappear. end student sample text

annotated text Discussion of the Problem. The first main point of the problem is discussed in this paragraph. end annotated text

annotated text Statistics as Evidence. The writer provides specific numbers and cites the source in APA style. end annotated text

annotated text Transitions . The writer uses transitions here (first, as a result , and second in the next paragraph) and elsewhere to make connections between ideas and to enable readers to follow them more easily. At the same time, the transitions give the proposal coherence. end annotated text

student sample text Second, weather of all types is becoming more extreme: heat waves are hotter, cold snaps are colder, and precipitation patterns are changing, causing longer droughts and increased flooding. Oceans are becoming more acidic as they increase their absorption of carbon dioxide. This change affects coral reefs and other marine life. Since the 1980s, hurricanes have increased in frequency, intensity, and duration. As shown in Figure 6.5, the 2020 hurricane season was the most active on record, with 30 named storms, a recording-breaking 11 storms hitting the U.S. coastline (compared to 9 in 1916), and 10 named storms in September—the highest monthly number on record. Together, these storms caused more than $40 billion in damage. Not only was this the fifth consecutive above-normal hurricane season, it was preceded by four consecutive above-normal years in 1998 to 2001 (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2020). end student sample text

annotated text Discussion of the Problem. The second main point of the problem is discussed in this paragraph. end annotated text

annotated text Visual as Evidence. The writer refers to “Figure 6.4” in the text and places the figure below the paragraph. end annotated text

annotated text Source Citation in APA Style: Visual. The writer gives the figure a number, a title, an explanatory note, and a source citation. The source is also cited in the list of references. end annotated text

Solutions: Mitigation and Adaptation

annotated text Heading. The centered, boldface heading marks the start of the solutions section of the proposal. end annotated text

annotated text Body. The eight paragraphs under this heading discuss the solutions given in the thesis statement. end annotated text

student sample text To control the effects of climate change, immediate action in two key ways is needed: mitigation and adaptation. Mitigating climate change by reducing and stabilizing the carbon emissions that produce greenhouse gases is the only long-term way to avoid a disastrous future. In addition, adaptation is imperative to allow ecosystems, food systems, and development to become more sustainable. end student sample text

student sample text Mitigation and adaptation will not happen on their own; action on such a vast scale will require governments around the globe to take initiatives. The United States needs to cooperate with other nations and assume a leadership role in fighting climate change. end student sample text

annotated text Objective Stance. The writer presents evidence (facts, statistics, and examples) in neutral, unemotional language, which builds credibility, or ethos, with readers. end annotated text

annotated text Heading. The flush-left, boldface heading marks the first subsection of the solutions. end annotated text

annotated text Topic Sentence. The paragraph opens with a sentence stating the solution developed in the following paragraphs. end annotated text

student sample text The first challenge is to reduce the flow of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The Union of Concerned Scientists (2020) warns that “net zero” carbon emissions—meaning that no more carbon enters the atmosphere than is removed—needs to be reached by 2050 or sooner. As shown in Figure 6.6, reducing carbon emissions will require a massive effort, given the skyrocketing rate of increase of greenhouse gases since 1900 (USGCRP, 2014b). end student sample text

annotated text Synthesis. In this paragraph, the writer synthesizes factual evidence from two sources and cites them in APA style. end annotated text

annotated text Visual as Evidence. The writer refers to “Figure 6.5” in the text and places the figure below the paragraph. end annotated text

student sample text Significant national policy changes must be made and must include multiple approaches; here are two areas of concern: end student sample text

annotated text Presentation of Solutions. For clarity, the writer numbers the two items to be discussed. end annotated text

student sample text 1. Transportation systems. In the United States in 2018, more than one-quarter—28.2 percent—of emissions resulted from the consumption of fossil fuels for transportation. More than half of these emissions came from passenger cars, light-duty trucks, sport utility vehicles, and minivans (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2020). Priorities for mitigation should include using fuels that emit less carbon; improving fuel efficiency; and reducing the need for travel through urban planning, telecommuting and videoconferencing, and biking and pedestrian initiatives. end student sample text

annotated text Source Citation in APA Style: Group Author. The parenthetical citation gives the group’s name, an abbreviation to be used in subsequent citations, and the year of publication. end annotated text

student sample text Curtailing travel has a demonstrable effect. Scientists have recorded a dramatic drop in emissions during government-imposed travel and business restrictions in 2020. Intended to slow the spread of COVID-19, these restrictions also decreased air pollution significantly. For example, during the first six weeks of restrictions in the San Francisco Bay area, traffic was reduced by about 45 percent, and emissions were roughly a quarter lower than the previous six weeks. Similar findings were observed around the globe, with reductions of up to 80 percent (Bourzac, 2020). end student sample text

annotated text Source Citation in APA Style: One Author. The parenthetical citation gives the author’s name and the year of publication. end annotated text

student sample text 2. Energy production. The second-largest source of emissions is the use of fossil fuels to produce energy, primarily electricity, which accounted for 26.9 percent of U.S. emissions (EPA, 2020). Fossil fuels can be replaced by solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal sources. Solar voltaic systems have the potential to become the least expensive energy in the world (Green America, 2020). Solar sources should be complemented by wind power, which tends to increase at night when the sun is absent. According to the Copenhagen Consensus, the most effective way to combat climate change is to increase investment in green research and development (Lomborg, 2020). Notable are successes in the countries of Morocco and The Gambia, both of which have committed to investing in national programs to limit emissions primarily by generating electricity from renewable sources (Mulvaney, 2019). end student sample text

annotated text Synthesis. The writer develops the paragraph by synthesizing evidence from four sources and cites them in APA style. end annotated text

student sample text A second way to move toward net zero is to actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Forests and oceans are so-called “sinks” that collect and store carbon (EPA, 2020). Tropical forests that once made up 12 percent of global land masses now cover only 5 percent, and the loss of these tropical forest sinks has caused 16 to 19 percent of greenhouse gas emissions (Green America, 2020). Worldwide reforestation is vital and demands both commitment and funding on a global scale. New technologies also allow “direct air capture,” which filers carbon from the air, and “carbon capture,” which prevents it from leaving smokestacks. end student sample text

student sample text All of these technologies should be governmentally supported and even mandated, where appropriate. end student sample text

annotated text Synthesis. The writer develops the paragraph by synthesizing evidence from two sources and cites them in APA style. end annotated text

annotated text Heading. The flush-left, boldface heading marks the second subsection of the solutions. end annotated text

student sample text Historically, civilizations have adapted to climate changes, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Our modern civilization is largely the result of climate stability over the past 12,000 years. However, as the climate changes, humans must learn to adapt on a national, community, and individual level in many areas. While each country sets its own laws and regulations, certain principles apply worldwide. end student sample text

student sample text 1. Infrastructure. Buildings—residential, commercial, and industrial—produce about 33 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide (Biello, 2007). Stricter standards for new construction, plus incentives for investing in insulation and other improvements to existing structures, are needed. Development in high-risk areas needs to be discouraged. Improved roads and transportation systems would help reduce fuel use. Incentives for decreasing energy consumption are needed to reduce rising demands for power. end student sample text

student sample text 2. Food waste. More than 30 percent of the food produced in the United States is never consumed, and food waste causes 44 gigatons of carbon emissions a year (Green America, 2020). In a landfill, the nutrients in wasted food never return to the soil; instead, methane, a greenhouse gas, is produced. High-income countries such as the United States need to address wasteful processing and distribution systems. Low-income countries, on the other hand, need an infrastructure that supports proper food storage and handling. Educating consumers also must be a priority. end student sample text

annotated text Source Citation in APA Style: Group Author. The parenthetical citation gives the group’s name and the year of publication. end annotated text

student sample text 3. Consumerism. People living in consumer nations have become accustomed to abundance. Many purchases are nonessential yet consume fossil fuels to manufacture, package, market, and ship products. During World War II, the U.S. government promoted the slogan “Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without.” This attitude was widely accepted because people recognized a common purpose in the war effort. A similar shift in mindset is needed today. end student sample text

student sample text Adaptation is not only possible but also economically advantageous. One case study is Walmart, which is the world’s largest company by revenue. According to Dearn (2020), the company announced a plan to reduce its global emissions to zero by 2040. Among the goals is powering its facilities with 100 percent renewable energy and using electric vehicles with zero emissions. As of 2020, about 29 percent of its energy is from renewable sources. Although the 2040 goal applies to Walmart facilities only, plans are underway to reduce indirect emissions, such as those from its supply chain. According to CEO Doug McMillon, the company’s commitment is to “becoming a regenerative company—one that works to restore, renew and replenish in addition to preserving our planet, and encourages others to do the same” (Dearn, 2020). In addition to encouraging other corporations, these goals present a challenge to the government to take action on climate change. end student sample text

annotated text Extended Example as Evidence. The writer indicates where borrowed information from the source begins and ends, and cites the source in APA style. end annotated text

annotated text Source Citation in APA Style: One Author. The parenthetical citation gives only the year of publication because the author’s name is cited in the sentence. end annotated text

Objections to Taking Action

annotated text Heading. The centered, boldface heading marks the start of the writer’s discussion of potential objections to the proposed solutions. end annotated text

annotated text Body. The writer devotes two paragraphs to objections. end annotated text

student sample text Despite scientific evidence, some people and groups deny that climate change is real or, if they admit it exists, insist it is not a valid concern. Those who think climate change is not a problem point to Earth’s millennia-long history of changing climate as evidence that life has always persisted. However, their claims do not consider the difference between “then” and “now.” Most of the change predates human civilization, which has benefited from thousands of years of stable climate. The rapid change since the Industrial Revolution is unprecedented in human history. end student sample text

student sample text Those who deny climate change or its dangers seek primarily to relax or remove pollution standards and regulations in order to protect, or maximize profit from, their industries. To date, their lobbying has been successful. For example, the world’s fossil-fuel industry received $5.3 trillion in 2015 alone, while the U.S. wind-energy industry received $12.3 billion in subsidies between 2000 and 2020 (Green America, 2020). end student sample text

Conclusion and Recommendation

annotated text Heading. The centered, boldface heading marks the start of the conclusion and recommendation. end annotated text

annotated text Conclusion and Recommendation. The proposal concludes with a restatement of the proposed solutions and a call to action. end annotated text

student sample text Greenhouse gases can be reduced to acceptable levels; the technology already exists. But that technology cannot function without strong governmental policies prioritizing the environment, coupled with serious investment in research and development of climate-friendly technologies. end student sample text

student sample text The United States government must place its full support behind efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses and mitigate climate change. Rejoining the Paris Agreement is a good first step, but it is not enough. Citizens must demand that their elected officials at the local, state, and national levels accept responsibility to take action on both mitigation and adaptation. Without full governmental support, good intentions fall short of reaching net-zero emissions and cannot achieve the adaptation in attitude and lifestyle necessary for public compliance. There is no alternative to accepting this reality. Addressing climate change is too important to remain optional. end student sample text

Biello, D. (2007, May 25). Combatting climate change: Farming out global warming solutions. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/combating-climate-change-farming-forestry/

Bourzac, K. (2020, September 25). COVID-19 lockdowns had strange effects on air pollution across the globe. Chemical & Engineering News. https://cen.acs.org/environment/atmospheric-chemistry/COVID-19-lockdowns-had-strange-effects-on-air-pollution-across-the-globe/98/i37

Dearn, G. (2020, September 21). Walmart said it will eliminate its carbon footprint by 2040 — but not for its supply chain, which makes up the bulk of its emissions. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-targets-zero-carbon-emissions-2040-not-suppliers-2020-9

Green America (2020). Top 10 solutions to reverse climate change. https://www.greenamerica.org/climate-change-100-reasons-hope/top-10-solutions-reverse-climate-change.

Lomborg, B. (2020, July 17). The alarm about climate change is blinding us to sensible solutions. The Globe and Mail. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-alarm-about-climate-change-is-blinding-us-to-sensible-solutions/

Mulvaney, K. (2019, September 19). Climate change report card: These countries are reaching targets. National Geographic . https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/09/climate-change-report-card-co2-emissions/

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2020, November 24). Record-breaking Atlantic hurricane season draws to an end. https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/record-breaking-atlantic-hurricane-season-draws-to-end

Union of Concerned Scientists (2020). Climate solutions. https://www.ucsusa.org/climate/solutions

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2020). Sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse Gas Emissions. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions

U.S. Global Change Research Program (2014a). Melting ice. National Climate Assessment. https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/our-changing-climate/melting-ice

U.S. Global Change Research Program (2014b). Our changing climate. National Climate Assessment. https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/highlights/report-findings/our-changing-climate#tab1-images

annotated text References Page in APA Style. All sources cited in the text of the report—and only those sources—are listed in alphabetical order with full publication information. See the Handbook for more on APA documentation style. end annotated text

The following link takes you to another model of an annotated sample paper on solutions to animal testing posted by the University of Arizona’s Global Campus Writing Center.

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Climate Change Essay

500+ words essay on climate change.

Climate change is a major global challenge today, and the world is becoming more vulnerable to this change. Climate change refers to the changes in Earth’s climate condition. It describes the changes in the atmosphere which have taken place over a period ranging from decades to millions of years. A recent report from the United Nations predicted that the average global temperature could increase by 6˚ Celsius at the end of the century. Climate change has an adverse effect on the environment and ecosystem. With the help of this essay, students will get to know the causes and effects of climate change and possible solutions. Also, they will be able to write essays on similar topics and can boost their writing skills.

What Causes Climate Change?

The Earth’s climate has always changed and evolved. Some of these changes have been due to natural causes such as volcanic eruptions, floods, forest fires etc., but quite a few of them are due to human activities. Human activities such as deforestation, burning fossil fuels, farming livestock etc., generate an enormous amount of greenhouse gases. This results in the greenhouse effect and global warming which are the major causes of climate change.

Effects of Climate Change

If the current situation of climate change continues in a similar manner, then it will impact all forms of life on the earth. The earth’s temperature will rise, the monsoon patterns will change, sea levels will rise, and storms, volcanic eruptions and natural disasters will occur frequently. The biological and ecological balance of the earth will get disturbed. The environment will get polluted and humans will not be able to get fresh air to breathe and fresh water to drink. Life on earth will come to an end.

Steps to be Taken to Reduce Climate Change

The Government of India has taken many measures to improve the dire situation of Climate Change. The Ministry of Environment and Forests is the nodal agency for climate change issues in India. It has initiated several climate-friendly measures, particularly in the area of renewable energy. India took several steps and policy initiatives to create awareness about climate change and help capacity building for adaptation measures. It has initiated a “Green India” programme under which various trees are planted to make the forest land more green and fertile.

We need to follow the path of sustainable development to effectively address the concerns of climate change. We need to minimise the use of fossil fuels, which is the major cause of global warming. We must adopt alternative sources of energy, such as hydropower, solar and wind energy to make a progressive transition to clean energy. Mahatma Gandhi said that “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not any man’s greed”. With this view, we must remodel our outlook and achieve the goal of sustainable development. By adopting clean technologies, equitable distribution of resources and addressing the issues of equity and justice, we can make our developmental process more harmonious with nature.

We hope students liked this essay on Climate Change and gathered useful information on this topic so that they can write essays in their own words. To get more study material related to the CBSE, ICSE, State Board and Competitive exams, keep visiting the BYJU’S website.

Frequently Asked Questions on climate change Essay

What are the reasons for climate change.

1. Deforestation 2. Excessive usage of fossil fuels 3. Water, Soil pollution 4. Plastic and other non-biodegradable waste 5. Wildlife and nature extinction

How can we save this climate change situation?

1. Avoid over usage of natural resources 2. Do not use or buy items made from animals 3. Avoid plastic usage and pollution

Are there any natural causes for climate change?

Yes, some of the natural causes for climate change are: 1. Solar variations 2. Volcanic eruption and tsunamis 3. Earth’s orbital changes

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Essay on Climate Change

Climate Change Essay - The globe is growing increasingly sensitive to climate change. It is currently a serious worldwide concern. The term "Climate Change" describes changes to the earth's climate. It explains the atmospheric changes that have occurred across time, spanning from decades to millions of years. Here are some sample essays on climate change.

100 Words Essay on Climate Change

200 words essay on climate change, 500 words essay on climate change.

The climatic conditions on Earth are changing due to climate change. Several internal and external variables, such as solar radiation, variations in the Earth's orbit, volcanic eruptions, plate tectonics, etc., are to blame for this.

There are strategies for climate change reduction. If not implemented, the weather might get worse, there might be water scarcity, there could be lower agricultural output, and it might affect people's ability to make a living. In order to breathe clean air and drink pure water, you must concentrate on limiting human activity. These are the simple measures that may be taken to safeguard the environment and its resources.

The climate of the Earth has changed significantly over time. While some of these changes were brought on by natural events like volcanic eruptions, floods, forest fires, etc., many of the changes were brought on by human activity. The burning of fossil fuels, domesticating livestock, and other human activities produce a significant quantity of greenhouse gases. This results in an increase of greenhouse effect and global warming which are the major causes for climate change.

Reasons of Climate Change

Some of the reasons of climate change are:

Deforestation

Excessive use of fossil fuels

Water and soil pollution

Plastic and other non biodegradable waste

Wildlife and nature extinction

Consequences of Climate Change

All kinds of life on earth will be affected by climate change if it continues to change at the same pace. The earth's temperature will increase, the monsoon patterns will shift, the sea level will rise, and there will be more frequent storms, volcano eruptions, and other natural calamities. The earth's biological and ecological equilibrium will be disturbed. Humans won't be able to access clean water or air to breathe when the environment becomes contaminated. The end of life on this earth is imminent. To reduce the issue of climate change, we need to bring social awareness along with strict measures to protect and preserve the natural environment.

A shift in the world's climatic pattern is referred to as climate change. Over the centuries, the climate pattern of our planet has undergone modifications. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has significantly grown.

When Did Climate Change Begin

It is possible to see signs of climate change as early as the beginning of the industrial revolution. The pace at which the manufacturers produced things on a large scale required a significant amount of raw materials. Since the raw materials being transformed into finished products now have such huge potential for profit, these business models have spread quickly over the world. Hazardous substances and chemicals build up in the environment as a result of company emissions and waste disposal.

Although climate change is a natural occurrence, it is evident that human activity is turning into the primary cause of the current climate change situation. The major cause is the growing population. Natural resources are utilised more and more as a result of the population's fast growth placing a heavy burden on the available resources. Over time, as more and more products and services are created, pollution will eventually increase.

Causes of Climate Change

There are a number of factors that have contributed towards weather change in the past and continue to do so. Let us look at a few:

Solar Radiation |The climate of earth is determined by how quickly the sun's energy is absorbed and distributed throughout space. This energy is transmitted throughout the world by the winds, ocean currents etc which affects the climatic conditions of the world. Changes in solar intensity have an effect on the world's climate.

Deforestation | The atmosphere's carbon dioxide is stored by trees. As a result of their destruction, carbon dioxide builds up more quickly since there are no trees to absorb it. Additionally, trees release the carbon they stored when we burn them.

Agriculture | Many kinds of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere by growing crops and raising livestock. Animals, for instance, create methane, a greenhouse gas that is 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The nitrous oxide used in fertilisers is roughly 300 times more strong than carbon dioxide.

How to Prevent Climate Change

We need to look out for drastic steps to stop climate change since it is affecting the resources and life on our planet. We can stop climate change if the right solutions are put in place. Here are some strategies for reducing climate change:

Raising public awareness of climate change

Prohibiting tree-cutting and deforestation.

Ensure the surroundings are clean.

Refrain from using chemical fertilisers.

Water and other natural resource waste should be reduced.

Protect the animals and plants.

Purchase energy-efficient goods and equipment.

Increase the number of trees in the neighbourhood and its surroundings.

Follow the law and safeguard the environment's resources.

Reduce the amount of energy you use.

During the last few decades especially, climate change has grown to be of concern. Global concern has been raised over changes in the Earth's climatic pattern. The causes of climate change are numerous, as well as the effects of it and it is our responsibility as inhabitants of this planet to look after its well being and leave it in a better condition for future generations.

Explore Career Options (By Industry)

Construction
Entertainment
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Data Administrator

Database professionals use software to store and organise data such as financial information, and customer shipping records. Individuals who opt for a career as data administrators ensure that data is available for users and secured from unauthorised sales. DB administrators may work in various types of industries. It may involve computer systems design, service firms, insurance companies, banks and hospitals.

Bio Medical Engineer

The field of biomedical engineering opens up a universe of expert chances. An Individual in the biomedical engineering career path work in the field of engineering as well as medicine, in order to find out solutions to common problems of the two fields. The biomedical engineering job opportunities are to collaborate with doctors and researchers to develop medical systems, equipment, or devices that can solve clinical problems. Here we will be discussing jobs after biomedical engineering, how to get a job in biomedical engineering, biomedical engineering scope, and salary.

Ethical Hacker

A career as ethical hacker involves various challenges and provides lucrative opportunities in the digital era where every giant business and startup owns its cyberspace on the world wide web. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path try to find the vulnerabilities in the cyber system to get its authority. If he or she succeeds in it then he or she gets its illegal authority. Individuals in the ethical hacker career path then steal information or delete the file that could affect the business, functioning, or services of the organization.

GIS officer work on various GIS software to conduct a study and gather spatial and non-spatial information. GIS experts update the GIS data and maintain it. The databases include aerial or satellite imagery, latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates, and manually digitized images of maps. In a career as GIS expert, one is responsible for creating online and mobile maps.

Data Analyst

The invention of the database has given fresh breath to the people involved in the data analytics career path. Analysis refers to splitting up a whole into its individual components for individual analysis. Data analysis is a method through which raw data are processed and transformed into information that would be beneficial for user strategic thinking.

Data are collected and examined to respond to questions, evaluate hypotheses or contradict theories. It is a tool for analyzing, transforming, modeling, and arranging data with useful knowledge, to assist in decision-making and methods, encompassing various strategies, and is used in different fields of business, research, and social science.

Geothermal Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as geothermal engineers are the professionals involved in the processing of geothermal energy. The responsibilities of geothermal engineers may vary depending on the workplace location. Those who work in fields design facilities to process and distribute geothermal energy. They oversee the functioning of machinery used in the field.

Database Architect

If you are intrigued by the programming world and are interested in developing communications networks then a career as database architect may be a good option for you. Data architect roles and responsibilities include building design models for data communication networks. Wide Area Networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), and intranets are included in the database networks. It is expected that database architects will have in-depth knowledge of a company's business to develop a network to fulfil the requirements of the organisation. Stay tuned as we look at the larger picture and give you more information on what is db architecture, why you should pursue database architecture, what to expect from such a degree and what your job opportunities will be after graduation. Here, we will be discussing how to become a data architect. Students can visit NIT Trichy , IIT Kharagpur , JMI New Delhi .

Remote Sensing Technician

Individuals who opt for a career as a remote sensing technician possess unique personalities. Remote sensing analysts seem to be rational human beings, they are strong, independent, persistent, sincere, realistic and resourceful. Some of them are analytical as well, which means they are intelligent, introspective and inquisitive.

Remote sensing scientists use remote sensing technology to support scientists in fields such as community planning, flight planning or the management of natural resources. Analysing data collected from aircraft, satellites or ground-based platforms using statistical analysis software, image analysis software or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a significant part of their work. Do you want to learn how to become remote sensing technician? There's no need to be concerned; we've devised a simple remote sensing technician career path for you. Scroll through the pages and read.

Budget Analyst

Budget analysis, in a nutshell, entails thoroughly analyzing the details of a financial budget. The budget analysis aims to better understand and manage revenue. Budget analysts assist in the achievement of financial targets, the preservation of profitability, and the pursuit of long-term growth for a business. Budget analysts generally have a bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, or a closely related field. Knowledge of Financial Management is of prime importance in this career.

Underwriter

An underwriter is a person who assesses and evaluates the risk of insurance in his or her field like mortgage, loan, health policy, investment, and so on and so forth. The underwriter career path does involve risks as analysing the risks means finding out if there is a way for the insurance underwriter jobs to recover the money from its clients. If the risk turns out to be too much for the company then in the future it is an underwriter who will be held accountable for it. Therefore, one must carry out his or her job with a lot of attention and diligence.

Finance Executive

Product manager.

A Product Manager is a professional responsible for product planning and marketing. He or she manages the product throughout the Product Life Cycle, gathering and prioritising the product. A product manager job description includes defining the product vision and working closely with team members of other departments to deliver winning products.

Operations Manager

Individuals in the operations manager jobs are responsible for ensuring the efficiency of each department to acquire its optimal goal. They plan the use of resources and distribution of materials. The operations manager's job description includes managing budgets, negotiating contracts, and performing administrative tasks.

Stock Analyst

Individuals who opt for a career as a stock analyst examine the company's investments makes decisions and keep track of financial securities. The nature of such investments will differ from one business to the next. Individuals in the stock analyst career use data mining to forecast a company's profits and revenues, advise clients on whether to buy or sell, participate in seminars, and discussing financial matters with executives and evaluate annual reports.

A Researcher is a professional who is responsible for collecting data and information by reviewing the literature and conducting experiments and surveys. He or she uses various methodological processes to provide accurate data and information that is utilised by academicians and other industry professionals. Here, we will discuss what is a researcher, the researcher's salary, types of researchers.

Welding Engineer

Welding Engineer Job Description: A Welding Engineer work involves managing welding projects and supervising welding teams. He or she is responsible for reviewing welding procedures, processes and documentation. A career as Welding Engineer involves conducting failure analyses and causes on welding issues.

Transportation Planner

A career as Transportation Planner requires technical application of science and technology in engineering, particularly the concepts, equipment and technologies involved in the production of products and services. In fields like land use, infrastructure review, ecological standards and street design, he or she considers issues of health, environment and performance. A Transportation Planner assigns resources for implementing and designing programmes. He or she is responsible for assessing needs, preparing plans and forecasts and compliance with regulations.

Environmental Engineer

Individuals who opt for a career as an environmental engineer are construction professionals who utilise the skills and knowledge of biology, soil science, chemistry and the concept of engineering to design and develop projects that serve as solutions to various environmental problems.

Safety Manager

A Safety Manager is a professional responsible for employee’s safety at work. He or she plans, implements and oversees the company’s employee safety. A Safety Manager ensures compliance and adherence to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) guidelines.

Conservation Architect

A Conservation Architect is a professional responsible for conserving and restoring buildings or monuments having a historic value. He or she applies techniques to document and stabilise the object’s state without any further damage. A Conservation Architect restores the monuments and heritage buildings to bring them back to their original state.

Structural Engineer

A Structural Engineer designs buildings, bridges, and other related structures. He or she analyzes the structures and makes sure the structures are strong enough to be used by the people. A career as a Structural Engineer requires working in the construction process. It comes under the civil engineering discipline. A Structure Engineer creates structural models with the help of computer-aided design software.

Highway Engineer

Highway Engineer Job Description: A Highway Engineer is a civil engineer who specialises in planning and building thousands of miles of roads that support connectivity and allow transportation across the country. He or she ensures that traffic management schemes are effectively planned concerning economic sustainability and successful implementation.

Field Surveyor

Are you searching for a Field Surveyor Job Description? A Field Surveyor is a professional responsible for conducting field surveys for various places or geographical conditions. He or she collects the required data and information as per the instructions given by senior officials.

Orthotist and Prosthetist

Orthotists and Prosthetists are professionals who provide aid to patients with disabilities. They fix them to artificial limbs (prosthetics) and help them to regain stability. There are times when people lose their limbs in an accident. In some other occasions, they are born without a limb or orthopaedic impairment. Orthotists and prosthetists play a crucial role in their lives with fixing them to assistive devices and provide mobility.

Pathologist

A career in pathology in India is filled with several responsibilities as it is a medical branch and affects human lives. The demand for pathologists has been increasing over the past few years as people are getting more aware of different diseases. Not only that, but an increase in population and lifestyle changes have also contributed to the increase in a pathologist’s demand. The pathology careers provide an extremely huge number of opportunities and if you want to be a part of the medical field you can consider being a pathologist. If you want to know more about a career in pathology in India then continue reading this article.

Veterinary Doctor

Speech therapist, gynaecologist.

Gynaecology can be defined as the study of the female body. The job outlook for gynaecology is excellent since there is evergreen demand for one because of their responsibility of dealing with not only women’s health but also fertility and pregnancy issues. Although most women prefer to have a women obstetrician gynaecologist as their doctor, men also explore a career as a gynaecologist and there are ample amounts of male doctors in the field who are gynaecologists and aid women during delivery and childbirth.

Audiologist

The audiologist career involves audiology professionals who are responsible to treat hearing loss and proactively preventing the relevant damage. Individuals who opt for a career as an audiologist use various testing strategies with the aim to determine if someone has a normal sensitivity to sounds or not. After the identification of hearing loss, a hearing doctor is required to determine which sections of the hearing are affected, to what extent they are affected, and where the wound causing the hearing loss is found. As soon as the hearing loss is identified, the patients are provided with recommendations for interventions and rehabilitation such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and appropriate medical referrals. While audiology is a branch of science that studies and researches hearing, balance, and related disorders.

An oncologist is a specialised doctor responsible for providing medical care to patients diagnosed with cancer. He or she uses several therapies to control the cancer and its effect on the human body such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy and biopsy. An oncologist designs a treatment plan based on a pathology report after diagnosing the type of cancer and where it is spreading inside the body.

Are you searching for an ‘Anatomist job description’? An Anatomist is a research professional who applies the laws of biological science to determine the ability of bodies of various living organisms including animals and humans to regenerate the damaged or destroyed organs. If you want to know what does an anatomist do, then read the entire article, where we will answer all your questions.

For an individual who opts for a career as an actor, the primary responsibility is to completely speak to the character he or she is playing and to persuade the crowd that the character is genuine by connecting with them and bringing them into the story. This applies to significant roles and littler parts, as all roles join to make an effective creation. Here in this article, we will discuss how to become an actor in India, actor exams, actor salary in India, and actor jobs.

Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats create and direct original routines for themselves, in addition to developing interpretations of existing routines. The work of circus acrobats can be seen in a variety of performance settings, including circus, reality shows, sports events like the Olympics, movies and commercials. Individuals who opt for a career as acrobats must be prepared to face rejections and intermittent periods of work. The creativity of acrobats may extend to other aspects of the performance. For example, acrobats in the circus may work with gym trainers, celebrities or collaborate with other professionals to enhance such performance elements as costume and or maybe at the teaching end of the career.

Video Game Designer

Career as a video game designer is filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. A video game designer is someone who is involved in the process of creating a game from day one. He or she is responsible for fulfilling duties like designing the character of the game, the several levels involved, plot, art and similar other elements. Individuals who opt for a career as a video game designer may also write the codes for the game using different programming languages.

Depending on the video game designer job description and experience they may also have to lead a team and do the early testing of the game in order to suggest changes and find loopholes.

Radio Jockey

Radio Jockey is an exciting, promising career and a great challenge for music lovers. If you are really interested in a career as radio jockey, then it is very important for an RJ to have an automatic, fun, and friendly personality. If you want to get a job done in this field, a strong command of the language and a good voice are always good things. Apart from this, in order to be a good radio jockey, you will also listen to good radio jockeys so that you can understand their style and later make your own by practicing.

A career as radio jockey has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. If you want to know more about a career as radio jockey, and how to become a radio jockey then continue reading the article.

Choreographer

The word “choreography" actually comes from Greek words that mean “dance writing." Individuals who opt for a career as a choreographer create and direct original dances, in addition to developing interpretations of existing dances. A Choreographer dances and utilises his or her creativity in other aspects of dance performance. For example, he or she may work with the music director to select music or collaborate with other famous choreographers to enhance such performance elements as lighting, costume and set design.

Social Media Manager

A career as social media manager involves implementing the company’s or brand’s marketing plan across all social media channels. Social media managers help in building or improving a brand’s or a company’s website traffic, build brand awareness, create and implement marketing and brand strategy. Social media managers are key to important social communication as well.

Photographer

Photography is considered both a science and an art, an artistic means of expression in which the camera replaces the pen. In a career as a photographer, an individual is hired to capture the moments of public and private events, such as press conferences or weddings, or may also work inside a studio, where people go to get their picture clicked. Photography is divided into many streams each generating numerous career opportunities in photography. With the boom in advertising, media, and the fashion industry, photography has emerged as a lucrative and thrilling career option for many Indian youths.

An individual who is pursuing a career as a producer is responsible for managing the business aspects of production. They are involved in each aspect of production from its inception to deception. Famous movie producers review the script, recommend changes and visualise the story.

They are responsible for overseeing the finance involved in the project and distributing the film for broadcasting on various platforms. A career as a producer is quite fulfilling as well as exhaustive in terms of playing different roles in order for a production to be successful. Famous movie producers are responsible for hiring creative and technical personnel on contract basis.

Copy Writer

In a career as a copywriter, one has to consult with the client and understand the brief well. A career as a copywriter has a lot to offer to deserving candidates. Several new mediums of advertising are opening therefore making it a lucrative career choice. Students can pursue various copywriter courses such as Journalism , Advertising , Marketing Management . Here, we have discussed how to become a freelance copywriter, copywriter career path, how to become a copywriter in India, and copywriting career outlook.

In a career as a vlogger, one generally works for himself or herself. However, once an individual has gained viewership there are several brands and companies that approach them for paid collaboration. It is one of those fields where an individual can earn well while following his or her passion.

Ever since internet costs got reduced the viewership for these types of content has increased on a large scale. Therefore, a career as a vlogger has a lot to offer. If you want to know more about the Vlogger eligibility, roles and responsibilities then continue reading the article.

For publishing books, newspapers, magazines and digital material, editorial and commercial strategies are set by publishers. Individuals in publishing career paths make choices about the markets their businesses will reach and the type of content that their audience will be served. Individuals in book publisher careers collaborate with editorial staff, designers, authors, and freelance contributors who develop and manage the creation of content.

Careers in journalism are filled with excitement as well as responsibilities. One cannot afford to miss out on the details. As it is the small details that provide insights into a story. Depending on those insights a journalist goes about writing a news article. A journalism career can be stressful at times but if you are someone who is passionate about it then it is the right choice for you. If you want to know more about the media field and journalist career then continue reading this article.

Individuals in the editor career path is an unsung hero of the news industry who polishes the language of the news stories provided by stringers, reporters, copywriters and content writers and also news agencies. Individuals who opt for a career as an editor make it more persuasive, concise and clear for readers. In this article, we will discuss the details of the editor's career path such as how to become an editor in India, editor salary in India and editor skills and qualities.

Individuals who opt for a career as a reporter may often be at work on national holidays and festivities. He or she pitches various story ideas and covers news stories in risky situations. Students can pursue a BMC (Bachelor of Mass Communication) , B.M.M. (Bachelor of Mass Media) , or MAJMC (MA in Journalism and Mass Communication) to become a reporter. While we sit at home reporters travel to locations to collect information that carries a news value.

Corporate Executive

Are you searching for a Corporate Executive job description? A Corporate Executive role comes with administrative duties. He or she provides support to the leadership of the organisation. A Corporate Executive fulfils the business purpose and ensures its financial stability. In this article, we are going to discuss how to become corporate executive.

Multimedia Specialist

A multimedia specialist is a media professional who creates, audio, videos, graphic image files, computer animations for multimedia applications. He or she is responsible for planning, producing, and maintaining websites and applications.

Quality Controller

A quality controller plays a crucial role in an organisation. He or she is responsible for performing quality checks on manufactured products. He or she identifies the defects in a product and rejects the product.

A quality controller records detailed information about products with defects and sends it to the supervisor or plant manager to take necessary actions to improve the production process.

Production Manager

A QA Lead is in charge of the QA Team. The role of QA Lead comes with the responsibility of assessing services and products in order to determine that he or she meets the quality standards. He or she develops, implements and manages test plans.

Process Development Engineer

The Process Development Engineers design, implement, manufacture, mine, and other production systems using technical knowledge and expertise in the industry. They use computer modeling software to test technologies and machinery. An individual who is opting career as Process Development Engineer is responsible for developing cost-effective and efficient processes. They also monitor the production process and ensure it functions smoothly and efficiently.

AWS Solution Architect

An AWS Solution Architect is someone who specializes in developing and implementing cloud computing systems. He or she has a good understanding of the various aspects of cloud computing and can confidently deploy and manage their systems. He or she troubleshoots the issues and evaluates the risk from the third party.

Azure Administrator

An Azure Administrator is a professional responsible for implementing, monitoring, and maintaining Azure Solutions. He or she manages cloud infrastructure service instances and various cloud servers as well as sets up public and private cloud systems.

Computer Programmer

Careers in computer programming primarily refer to the systematic act of writing code and moreover include wider computer science areas. The word 'programmer' or 'coder' has entered into practice with the growing number of newly self-taught tech enthusiasts. Computer programming careers involve the use of designs created by software developers and engineers and transforming them into commands that can be implemented by computers. These commands result in regular usage of social media sites, word-processing applications and browsers.

Information Security Manager

Individuals in the information security manager career path involves in overseeing and controlling all aspects of computer security. The IT security manager job description includes planning and carrying out security measures to protect the business data and information from corruption, theft, unauthorised access, and deliberate attack

ITSM Manager

Automation test engineer.

An Automation Test Engineer job involves executing automated test scripts. He or she identifies the project’s problems and troubleshoots them. The role involves documenting the defect using management tools. He or she works with the application team in order to resolve any issues arising during the testing process.

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Our Future Is Now - A Climate Change Essay by Francesca Minicozzi, '21

Francesca Minicozzi (class of 2021) is a Writing/Biology major who plans to study medicine after graduation. She wrote this essay on climate change for WR 355/Travel Writing, which she took while studying abroad in Newcastle in spring 2020. Although the coronavirus pandemic curtailed Francesca’s time abroad, her months in Newcastle prompted her to learn more about climate change. Terre Ryan Associate Professor, Writing Department

Our Future Is Now

By Francesca Minicozzi, '21 Writing and Biology Major

“If you don’t mind me asking, how is the United States preparing for climate change?” my flat mate, Zac, asked me back in March, when we were both still in Newcastle. He and I were accustomed to asking each other about the differences between our home countries; he came from Cambridge, while I originated in Long Island, New York. This was one of our numerous conversations about issues that impact our generation, which we usually discussed while cooking dinner in our communal kitchen. In the moment of our conversation, I did not have as strong an answer for him as I would have liked. Instead, I informed him of the few changes I had witnessed within my home state of New York.

Zac’s response was consistent with his normal, diplomatic self. “I have been following the BBC news in terms of the climate crisis for the past few years. The U.K. has been working hard to transition to renewable energy sources. Similar to the United States, here in the United Kingdom we have converted over to solar panels too. My home does not have solar panels, but a lot of our neighbors have switched to solar energy in the past few years.”

“Our two countries are similar, yet so different,” I thought. Our conversation continued as we prepared our meals, with topics ranging from climate change to the upcoming presidential election to Britain’s exit from the European Union. However, I could not shake the fact that I knew so little about a topic so crucial to my generation.

After I abruptly returned home from the United Kingdom because of the global pandemic, my conversation with my flat mate lingered in my mind. Before the coronavirus surpassed climate change headlines, I had seen the number of internet postings regarding protests to protect the planet dramatically increase. Yet the idea of our planet becoming barren and unlivable in a not-so-distant future had previously upset me to the point where a part of me refused to deal with it. After I returned from studying abroad, I decided to educate myself on the climate crisis.

My quest for climate change knowledge required a thorough understanding of the difference between “climate change” and “global warming.” Climate change is defined as “a pattern of change affecting global or regional climate,” based on “average temperature and rainfall measurements” as well as the frequency of extreme weather events. 1 These varied temperature and weather events link back to both natural incidents and human activity. 2 Likewise, the term global warming was coined “to describe climate change caused by humans.” 3 Not only that, but global warming is most recently attributed to an increase in “global average temperature,” mainly due to greenhouse gas emissions produced by humans. 4

I next questioned why the term “climate change” seemed to take over the term “global warming” in the United States. According to Frank Luntz, a leading Republican consultant, the term “global warming” functions as a rather intimidating phrase. During George W. Bush’s first presidential term, Luntz argued in favor of using the less daunting phrase “climate change” in an attempt to overcome the environmental battle amongst Democrats and Republicans. 5 Since President Bush’s term, Luntz remains just one political consultant out of many politicians who has recognized the need to address climate change. In an article from 2019, Luntz proclaimed that political parties aside, the climate crisis affects everyone. Luntz argued that politicians should steer clear of trying to communicate “the complicated science of climate change,” and instead engage voters by explaining how climate change personally impacts citizens with natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and forest fires. 6 He even suggested that a shift away from words like “sustainability” would gear Americans towards what they really want: a “cleaner, safer, healthier” environment. 7

The idea of a cleaner and heathier environment remains easier said than done. The Paris Climate Agreement, introduced in 2015, began the United Nations’ “effort to combat global climate change.” 8 This agreement marked a global initiative to “limit global temperature increase in this century to 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels,” while simultaneously “pursuing means to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees.” 9 Every country on earth has joined together in this agreement for the common purpose of saving our planet. 10 So, what could go wrong here? As much as this sounds like a compelling step in the right direction for climate change, President Donald Trump thought otherwise. In June 2017, President Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement with his proclamation of climate change as a “’hoax’ perpetrated by China.” 11 President Trump continued to question the scientific facts behind climate change, remaining an advocate for the expansion of domestic fossil fuel production. 12 He reversed environmental policies implemented by former President Barack Obama to reduce fossil fuel use. 13

Trump’s actions against the Paris Agreement, however, fail to represent the beliefs of Americans as a whole. The majority of American citizens feel passionate about the fight against climate change. To demonstrate their support, some have gone as far as creating initiatives including America’s Pledge and We Are Still In. 14 Although the United States officially exited the Paris Agreement on November 4, 2020, this withdrawal may not survive permanently. 15 According to experts, our new president “could rejoin in as short as a month’s time.” 16 This offers a glimmer of hope.

The Paris Agreement declares that the United States will reduce greenhouse gas emission levels by 26 to 28 percent by the year 2025. 17 As a leader in greenhouse gas emissions, the United States needs to accept the climate crisis for the serious challenge that it presents and work together with other nations. The concept of working coherently with all nations remains rather tricky; however, I remain optimistic. I think we can learn from how other countries have adapted to the increased heating of our planet. During my recent study abroad experience in the United Kingdom, I was struck by Great Britain’s commitment to combating climate change.

Since the United Kingdom joined the Paris Agreement, the country targets a “net-zero” greenhouse gas emission for 2050. 18 This substantial alteration would mark an 80% reduction of greenhouse gases from 1990, if “clear, stable, and well-designed policies are implemented without interruption.” 19 In order to stay on top of reducing emissions, the United Kingdom tracks electricity and car emissions, “size of onshore and offshore wind farms,” amount of homes and “walls insulated, and boilers upgraded,” as well as the development of government policies, including grants for electric vehicles. 20 A strong grip on this data allows the United Kingdom to target necessary modifications that keep the country on track for 2050. In my brief semester in Newcastle, I took note of these significant changes. The city of Newcastle is small enough that many students and faculty are able to walk or bike to campus and nearby essential shops. However, when driving is unavoidable, the majority of the vehicles used are electric, and many British citizens place a strong emphasis on carpooling to further reduce emissions. The United Kingdom’s determination to severely reduce greenhouse emissions is ambitious and particularly admirable, especially as the United States struggles to shy away from its dependence on fossil fuels.

So how can we, as Americans, stand together to combat global climate change? Here are five adjustments Americans can make to their homes and daily routines that can dramatically make a difference:

Stay cautious of food waste. Studies demonstrate that “Americans throw away up to 40 percent of the food they buy.” 21 By being more mindful of the foods we purchase, opting for leftovers, composting wastes, and donating surplus food to those in need, we can make an individual difference that impacts the greater good. 22
Insulate your home. Insulation functions as a “cost-effective and accessible” method to combat climate change. 23 Homes with modern insulation reduce energy required to heat them, leading to a reduction of emissions and an overall savings; in comparison, older homes can “lose up to 35 percent of heat through their walls.” 24
Switch to LED Lighting. LED stands for “light-emitting diodes,” which use “90 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs and half as much as compact fluorescents.” 25 LED lights create light without producing heat, and therefore do not waste energy. Additionally, these lights have a longer duration than other bulbs, which means they offer a continuing savings. 26
Choose transportation wisely. Choose to walk or bike whenever the option presents itself. If walking or biking is not an option, use an electric or hybrid vehicle which emits less harmful gases. Furthermore, reduce the number of car trips taken, and carpool with others when applicable.
Finally, make your voice heard. The future of our planet remains in our hands, so we might as well use our voices to our advantage. Social media serves as a great platform for this. Moreover, using social media to share helpful hints to combat climate change within your community or to promote an upcoming protest proves beneficial in the long run. If we collectively put our voices to good use, together we can advocate for change.

As many of us are stuck at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these suggestions are slightly easier to put into place. With numerous “stay-at-home” orders in effect, Americans have the opportunity to make significant achievements for climate change. Personally, I have taken more precautions towards the amount of food consumed within my household during this pandemic. I have been more aware of food waste, opting for leftovers when too much food remains. Additionally, I have realized how powerful my voice is as a young college student. Now is the opportunity for Americans to share how they feel about climate change. During this unprecedented time, our voice is needed now more than ever in order to make a difference.

However, on a much larger scale, the coronavirus outbreak has shed light on reducing global energy consumption. Reductions in travel, both on the roads and in the air, have triggered a drop in emission rates. In fact, the International Energy Agency predicts a 6 percent decrease in energy consumption around the globe for this year alone. 27 This drop is “equivalent to losing the entire energy demand of India.” 28 Complete lockdowns have lowered the global demand for electricity and slashed CO2 emissions. However, in New York City, the shutdown has only decreased carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent. 29 This proves that a shift in personal behavior is simply not enough to “fix the carbon emission problem.” 30 Climate policies aimed to reduce fossil fuel production and promote clean technology will be crucial steppingstones to ameliorating climate change effects. Our current reduction of greenhouse gas emissions serves as “the sort of reduction we need every year until net-zero emissions are reached around 2050.” 31 From the start of the coronavirus pandemic, politicians came together for the common good of protecting humanity; this demonstrates that when necessary, global leaders are capable of putting humankind above the economy. 32

After researching statistics comparing the coronavirus to climate change, I thought back to the moment the virus reached pandemic status. I knew that a greater reason underlay all of this global turmoil. Our globe is in dire need of help, and the coronavirus reminds the world of what it means to work together. This pandemic marks a turning point in global efforts to slow down climate change. The methods we enact towards not only stopping the spread of the virus, but slowing down climate change, will ultimately depict how humanity will arise once this pandemic is suppressed. The future of our home planet lies in how we treat it right now.

“Climate Change: What Do All the Terms Mean?,” BBC News (BBC, May 1, 2019), https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48057733 )
Ibid.
Kate Yoder, “Frank Luntz, the GOP's Message Master, Calls for Climate Action,” Grist (Grist, July 26, 2019), https://grist.org/article/the-gops-most-famous-messaging-strategist-calls-for-climate-action
Melissa Denchak, “Paris Climate Agreement: Everything You Need to Know,” NRDC, April 29, 2020, https://www.nrdc.org/stories/paris-climate-agreement-everything-you-need-know)
“Donald J. Trump's Foreign Policy Positions,” Council on Foreign Relations (Council on Foreign Relations), accessed May 7, 2020, https://www.cfr.org/election2020/candidate-tracker/donald-j.-trump?gclid=CjwKCAjw4871BRAjEiwAbxXi21cneTRft_doA5if60euC6QCL7sr-Jwwv76IkgWaUTuyJNx9EzZzRBoCdjsQAvD_BwE#climate and energy )
David Doniger, “Paris Climate Agreement Explained: Does Congress Need to Sign Off?,” NRDC, December 15, 2016, https://www.nrdc.org/experts/david-doniger/paris-climate-agreement-explained-does-congress-need-sign )
“How the UK Is Progressing,” Committee on Climate Change, March 9, 2020, https://www.theccc.org.uk/what-is-climate-change/reducing-carbon-emissions/how-the-uk-is-progressing/)
Ibid.
“Top 10 Ways You Can Fight Climate Change,” Green America, accessed May 7, 2020, https://www.greenamerica.org/your-green-life/10-ways-you-can-fight-climate-change )
Matt McGrath, “Climate Change and Coronavirus: Five Charts about the Biggest Carbon Crash,” BBC News (BBC, May 5, 2020), https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/science-environment-52485712 )
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6 Conclusion

It is essential that societies seek ways of becoming environmentally sustainable and adaptable to unknowable environmental changes, particularly in the climate. This must happen in the context of globalisation. The concept of sustainability is coming to prominence at a time when established structures of government are being questioned and new ways of thinking about governance are being explored.

Globalisation has several dimensions that are relevant to the discussion of environmental change and sustainability. In addition to the widely used economic meaning of the term, political, social or cultural and ecological dimensions of globalisation are drawn out.

Three different views on the relationship between globalisation and the environment can be identified: ‘business learns’ sustainability (in its own self-interest),‘radical break’ with globalisation (and pursuit of sustainable grassroots alternatives), and ‘sustainability steps’ (incremental progress based in partnership but emphasising a role for government). There are empirical examples of each approach (Interface carpets, the Findhorn eco-village, the Forest Stewardship Council).

Comparison of the concepts of government and the more recently prominent term ‘governance’ demonstrates some of the strengths, but also the threats, implicit in a shift to more flexible and open-ended decision-making structures.

New forms of governance imply new ways of practising citizenship: writers now argue for cosmopolitan and ecological citizenship.

Communication and debate will be important if any – or a mix – of these approaches are to thrive, hence the media, and specifically quality web journalism, are a key location for advancing towards sustainability.

The Center for Global Studies

Climate change argumentation.

Carmen Vanderhoof, Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, Penn State

Carmen Vanderhoof is a doctoral candidate in Science Education at Penn State. Her research employs multimodal discourse analysis of elementary students engaged in a collaborative engineering design challenge in order to examine students’ decision-making practices. Prior to resuming graduate studies, she was a secondary science teacher and conducted molecular biology research.

Subject(s): Earth Science
Topic: Climate Change and Sustainability
Grade/Level: 9-12 (can be adapted to grades 6-8)
Objectives: Students will be able to write a scientific argument using evidence and reasoning to support claims. Students will also be able to reflect on the weaknesses in their own arguments in order to improve their argument and then respond to other arguments.
Suggested Time Allotment: 4-5 hours (extra time for extension)

This lesson is derived from Dr. Peter Buckland’s sustainability presentation for the Center for Global Studies . Dr. Peter Buckland, a Penn State alumnus, is a postdoctoral fellow for the Sustainability Institute. He has drawn together many resources for teaching about climate change, sustainability, and other environmental issues.

While there are many resources for teaching about climate change and sustainability, it may be tough to figure out where to start. There are massive amounts of data available to the general public and students need help searching for good sources of evidence. Prior to launching into a search, it would be worthwhile figuring out what the students already know about climate change, where they learned it, and how they feel about efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. There are many options for eliciting prior knowledge, including taking online quizzes, whole-class discussion, or drawing concept maps. For this initial step, it is important that students feel comfortable to share, without engaging in disagreements. The main idea is to increase students’ understanding about global warming, rather than focus on the potential controversial nature of this topic.

A major goal of this unit is to engage students in co-constructing evidence-based explanations through individual writing, sharing, re-writing, group discussion, and whole group reflection. The argumentation format presented here contains claims supported by evidence and reasoning (Claims Evidence Reasoning – CER). Argumentation in this sense is different from how the word “argument” is used in everyday language. Argumentation is a collaborative process towards an end goal, rather than a competition to win (Duschl & Osborne, 2002). Scientific argumentation is the process of negotiating and communicating findings through a series of claims supported by evidence from various sources along with a rationale or reasoning linking the claim with the evidence. For students, making the link between claim and evidence can be the most difficult part of the process.

Where does the evidence come from?

Evidence and data are often used synonymously, but there is a difference. Evidence is “the representation of data in a form that undergirds an argument that works to answer the original question” (Hand et al., 2009, p. 129). This explains why even though scientists may use the same data to draw explanations from, the final product may take different forms depending on which parts of the data were used and how. For example, in a court case experts from opposing sides may use the same data to persuade the jury to reach different conclusions. Another way to explain this distinction to students is “the story built from the data that leads to a claim is the evidence” (Hand et al., 2009, p. 129). Evidence can come from many sources – results from controlled experiments, measurements, books, articles, websites, personal observations, etc. It is important to discuss with students the issue of the source’s reliability and accuracy. When using data freely available online, ask yourself: Who conducted the study? Who funded the research? Where was it published or presented?

What is a claim and how do I find it?

A scientific claim is a statement that answers a question or an inference based on information, rather than just personal opinion.

How can I connect the claim(s) with the evidence?

That’s where the justification or reasoning comes in. This portion of the argument explains why the evidence is relevant to the claim or how the evidence supports the claim.

Implementation

Learning context and connecting to state standards.

This interdisciplinary unit can be used in an earth science class or adapted to environmental science, chemistry, or physics. The key to adapting the lesson is guiding students to sources of data that fit the discipline they are studying.

For earth science , students can explain the difference between climate and weather, describe the factors associated with global climate change, and explore a variety of data sources to draw their evidence from. Pennsylvania Academic Standards for earth and space science (secondary): 3.3.12.A1, 3.3.12.A6, 3.3.10.A7.

For environmental science , students can analyze the costs and benefits of pollution control measures. Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Environment and Ecology (secondary): 4.5.12.C.

For chemistry and physics , students can explain the function of greenhouse gases, construct a model of the greenhouse effect, and model energy flow through the atmosphere. Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Physical Sciences (secondary): 3.2.10.B6.

New Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Connections

Human impacts and global climate change are directly addressed in the NGSS. Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI): HS-ESS3-3, HS-ESS3-4, HS-ESS3-5, HS-ESS3-6.

Lesson 1: Introduction to climate change

What are greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect? (sample answer: greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane contribute to overall heating of the atmosphere; these gases trap heat just like the glass in a greenhouse or in a car)
What is the difference between weather and climate? (sample answer: weather is the daily temperature and precipitation measurements, while climate is a much longer pattern over multiple years)

Drawing of the greenhouse effect – as individuals or in pairs, have students look up the greenhouse effect and draw a diagram to represent it; share out with the class

Optional: figure out students’ beliefs about global warming using the Yale Six Americas Survey (students answer a series of questions and at the end they are given one of the following categories: alarmed, concerned, cautious, disengaged, doubtful, dismissive).

Lesson 2: Searching for and evaluating evidence

Compare different data sources and assess their credibility
Temperature
Precipitation
Storm surge
Ask the students to think about what types of claims they can make about climate change using the data they found (Sample claims: human activity is causing global warming or sea-level rise in the next fifty years will affect coastal cities like Amsterdam, Hong Kong, or New Orleans).

Lesson 3: Writing an argument using evidence

Claim – an inference or a statement that answers a question
Evidence – an outside source of information that supports the claim, often drawn from selected data
Reasoning – the justification/support for the claim; what connects the evidence with the claim
Extending arguments – have students exchange papers and notice the strengths of the other arguments they are reading (can do multiple cycles of reading); ask students to go back to their original argument and expand it with more evidence and/or more justification for why the evidence supports the claim
Anticipate Rebuttals – ask students to think and write about any weaknesses in their own argument

Lesson 4: Argumentation discussion

rebuttal – challenges a component of someone’s argument – for example, a challenge to the evidence used in the original argument
counterargument – a whole new argument that challenges the original argument
respect group members and their ideas
wait for group members to finish their turns before speaking
be mindful of your own contributions to the discussion (try not to take over the whole discussion so others can contribute too; conversely, if you didn’t already talk, find a way to bring in a new argument, expand on an existing argument, or challenge another argument)
Debate/discussion – In table groups have students share their arguments and practice rebuttals and counterarguments
Whole-group reflection – ask students to share key points from their discussion

Lesson 5: Argumentation in action case study

Mumbai, india case study.

Rishi is a thirteen year old boy who attends the Gayak Rafi Nagar Urdu Municipal school in Mumbai. There is a massive landfill called Deonar right across from his school. Every day 4,000 tons of waste are piled on top of the existing garbage spanning 132 hectares (roughly half a square mile). Rishi ventures out to the landfill after school to look for materials that he can later trade for a little bit of extra money to help his family. He feels lucky that he gets to go to school during the day; others are not so lucky. One of his friends, Aamir, had to stop going to school and work full time after his dad got injured. They often meet to chat while they dig through the garbage with sticks. Occasionally, they find books in okay shape, which aren’t worth anything in trade, but to them they are valuable.

One day Rishi was out to the market with his mom and saw the sky darken with a heavy smoke that blocked out the sun. They both hurried home and found out there was a state of emergency and the schools closed for two days. It took many days to put out the fire at Deonar. He heard his dad say that the fire was so bad that it could be seen from space. He wonders what it would be like to see Mumbai from up there. Some days he wishes the government would close down Deonar and clean it up. Other days he wonders what would happen to all the people that depend on it to live if the city shuts down Deonar.

Mumbai is one of the coastal cities that are considered vulnerable with increasing global temperature and sea level rise. The urban poor are most affected by climate change. Their shelter could be wiped out by a tropical storm and rebuilding would be very difficult.

Write a letter to a public official who may be able to influence policy in Mumbai.

What would you recommend they do? Should they close Deonar? What can they do to reduce air pollution in the city and prepare for possible storms? Remember to use evidence in your argument.

If students want to read the articles that inspired the case study direct them to: http://unhabitat.org/urban-themes/climate-change/

http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2012-07-06/top-20-cities-with-billions-at-risk-from-climate-change.html#slide16

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-26/smelly-dumps-drive-away-affordable-homes-in-land-starved-mumbai

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05/asia/mumbai-giant-garbage-dump-fire/

Resources:

Lines of Evidence video from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine http://nas-sites.org/americasclimatechoices/videos-multimedia/climate-change-lines-of-evidence-videos/
Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN)
Climate maps from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Sources of data from NASA
Explore the original source of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences (PNAS) study

Differentiated Instruction

For visual learners – use diagrams, encourage students to map out their arguments prior to writing them
For auditory learners – use the lines of evidence video
For ESL students – provide them with a variety of greenhouse gases diagrams, allow for a more flexible argument format and focus on general meaning-making – ex. using arrows to connect their sources of evidence to claims
For advanced learners – ask them to search through larger data sets and make comparisons between data from different sources; they can also research environmental policies and why they stalled out in congress
For learners that need more support – print out excerpts from articles; pinpoint the main ideas to help with the research; help students connect their evidence with their claims; consider allowing students to work in pairs to accomplish the writing task

Argument write-up – check that students’ arguments contain claims supported by evidence and reasoning and that they thought about possible weaknesses in their own arguments.

Case study letter – check that students included evidence in their letter.

References:

Duschl, R. A., & Osborne, J. (2002). Supporting and promoting argumentation discourse in science education.

Hand, B. et al. (2009) Negotiating Science: The Critical Role of Argumentation in Student Inquiry. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

McNeill, K. L., & Krajcik, J. (2012). Claim, evidence and reasoning: Supporting grade 5 – 8 students in constructing scientiﬁc explanations. New York, NY: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.

Sawyer, R. K. (Ed.). (2014). The Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

https://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/basics/today/greenhouse-gases.html

http://unhabitat.org/urban-themes/climate-change/

Climate Change

Western students believe climate change is real, man made, and actively participate in making environmentally-friendly decisions in their daily lives. It’s important to raise awareness of this issue beyond the university population, but knowing Bellingham has a solid understanding of climate change suggests the community cares about taking care of the town. If we were to expand this experiment to other areas, we’d be interested in giving the same survey to students in rural conservative areas just to see how much the results change. In order to improve the earth’s climate, students can’t do much to change the world individually other than think about how their decisions are affecting the climate. If everyone did this, just imagine how much it would slow the rate of climate change! More than anything, we need to raise awareness of how quickly humans are destroying the planet and elect a president who acknowledges this as a legitimate problem that needs to be slowed now rather than later when it’s too late. Even if, somehow, climate change isn’t affected by humans, what’s the worst that could happen by making better decisions for the benefit our planet?

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Article Contents

Introduction, the analytical framework: linking climate change, vulnerability, and conflict, methodology: a systematic review, pathways between climate change and violent conflict in the mena region, evaluating the “pathways” framework in the mena region.

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Climate Change and Violent Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa

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Kyungmee Kim, Tània Ferré Garcia, Climate Change and Violent Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa, International Studies Review , Volume 25, Issue 4, December 2023, viad053, https://doi.org/10.1093/isr/viad053

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Previous research has demonstrated that climate change can escalate the risks for violent conflict through various pathways. Existing evidence suggests that contextual factors, such as migration and livelihood options, governance arrangements, and existing conflict dynamics, can influence the pathways through which climate change leads to conflict. This important insight leads to an inquiry to identify sets of conditions and processes that make climate-related violent conflict more likely. In this analytic essay, we conduct a systematic review of scholarly literature published during the period 1989–2022 and explore the climate-conflict pathways in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Through the systematic review of forty-one peer-reviewed publications in English, we identify that society’s ability to cope with the changing climate and extreme weather events is influenced by a range of factors, including preceding government policies that led to the mismanagement of land and water and existing conflict dynamics in the MENA region. Empirical research to unpack the complex and diverse relationship between the climate shocks and violent conflict in the MENA region needs advancing. Several avenues for future research are highlighted such as more studies on North Africa and the Gulf region, with focus on the implications of floods and heatwaves, and exploring climate implications on non-agriculture sectors including the critical oil sector.

Investigaciones previas que han demostrado que el cambio climático puede llegar a aumentar la probabilidad del riesgo de conflictos violentos a través de diversos mecanismos. Las pruebas existentes sugieren que los factores contextuales, tales como la migración y las opciones de medios de subsistencia, los acuerdos de gobernanza y la dinámica de conflicto existente, pueden influir en las vías a través de las cuales el cambio climático conduce a los conflictos. Esta percepción motiva una investigación con el objetivo de identificar una serie de condiciones y procesos que hacen que incrementan la probabilidad de conflictos violentos relacionados con el clima. En este ensayo analítico, llevamos a cabo una revisión sistemática de la literatura académica publicada durante el período entre 1989 y 2022. El estudio explora las vías de conflicto climático en la región de Oriente Medio y el Norte de África (MENA, por sus siglas en inglés). A través de la revisión sistemática de 41 publicaciones en inglés revisadas por expertos, fenómenos meteorológicos extremos está influenciada por una serie de factores, que incluyen tanto las políticas gubernamentales precedentes que condujeron a la mala gestión de la tierra y el agua como la dinámica de conflicto existente en la región MENA. Es esencial avanzar en la investigación empírica para poder desentrañar la compleja y diversa relación existente entre las perturbaciones climáticas y los conflictos violentos en la región de Oriente Medio y el Norte de África. Destacamos varias vías de investigación futura, como la realización de un mayor número estudios sobre el norte de África y la región del Golfo, con un enfoque en las implicaciones de las inundaciones y las olas de calor, así como la exploración de las implicaciones climáticas en los sectores no agrícolas, incluido el sector petrolero, de crítica importancia.

Des travaux de recherche antérieurs ont montré que le changement climatique pouvait aggraver les risques de conflits violents de bien des façons. Les éléments probants existants indiquent que les facteurs contextuels, comme les possibilités d'immigration et de moyens de subsistance, les arrangements gouvernementaux et les dynamiques de conflit existantes, peuvent avoir une incidence sur les mécanismes par lesquels le changement climatique peut créer des conflits. Cette information importante nous pousse à chercher les ensembles de conditions et de processus qui augmentent la probabilité des conflits violents en lien avec le climat. Dans cet article analytique, nous conduisons un examen systématique de la littérature académique publiée entre 1989 et 2022 pour nous intéresser aux liens entre climat et conflits dans la région du Moyen-Orient et de l'Afrique du Nord (MENA). En examinant de façon systématique 41 publications en anglais vérifiées par des pairs, nous remarquons que la capacité d'une société à gérer l’évolution du climat et les phénomènes météorologiques extrêmes est liée à un éventail de facteurs, y compris les politiques précédentes du gouvernement qui ont engendré une mauvaise gestion des terres et de l'eau et les dynamiques de conflit existantes dans la région MENA. La recherche empirique pour décortiquer la relation complexe et plurielle entre les crises climatiques et les conflits violents dans la région MENA doit avancer. Plusieurs pistes de recherches ultérieures sont présentées, comme davantage d’études dans la région de l'Afrique du Nord et du Golfe, en se concentrant plus particulièrement sur les implications des inondations et des vagues de chaleur, et l'analyse des conséquences climatiques sur les secteurs hors agriculture, notamment le secteur décisif du pétrole.

Climate change contributes to conflict risk and undermines livelihoods and human security. The impact of climate change overburdens countries in demanding security environments and exacerbates political instability, which may lead to violent conflict. Researchers have sought to explain the relationship between climate change and violent conflict and climate change as a growing factor for security risks ( Gleditsch 2012 ; Meierding 2013 ; Sakaguchi, Varughese, and Auld 2017 ; Ide 2018 ; Van Baalen and Mobjörk 2018 ). There is a greater consensus that climate change has an impact on human security and sustaining peace ( Abrahams 2020 ; Black et al. 2022 ; Morales-Muñoz et al. 2022 ). The evidence has been gathered on the physical changes in diverse livelihood systems and human migration and the negative effects on human adaptation capacities ( IPCC 2022 ). The debate may have to move on from whether climate change has been the primary cause of a war or not ( Verhoeven 2011 ; e.g., Selby et al. 2017 ). Our understanding of what context climate change matters for conflict and security and how relevant factors play out in local contexts should be based on comprehensive and systematic research that considers various scales, time periods, and localities.

Moreover, existing evidence suggests that climate-related security risks are context specific, and there are multiple pathways by which climate change influences the onsets and patterns of armed conflict ( Brzoska and Fröhlich 2016 ; Mobjörk, Krampe, and Tarif 2020 ). The “climate insecurity pathway” framework assumes that climate change may not be the only contributor to violent conflict but also other factors leading to insecurity such as internal and international migration, livelihood options, and governance arrangements ( Van Baalen and Mobjörk 2018 ). Existing conflict dynamics and security environments can exacerbate climate-related security risks. This analytic essay contributes to the debate on how climate change affects the risk of violent conflict by conducting a systematic review of the literature directly or indirectly linking climate change of violent conflict focusing on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), a region that has been severely impacted by both. 1 By conducting a systematic literature review, we are particularly interested in synthesizing existing evidence to better understand the climate-conflict links in the MENA region. We included forty-one peer-reviewed articles published between 1989 and 2022 in the analysis. Based on the review, we conclude that the relationship between climate change and violent conflict is predominantly indirect and diverse, highlighting the need to avoid oversimplified assumptions. Climate change’s contribution to conflict risk in the MENA region is further mediated by political economy, institutional weaknesses, elite competition, and existing socio-political relations. A careful examination of evidence is crucial for comprehensive climate security discussions in general and policy considerations for the MENA region. The following systematic review of literature showcases the linkages between climate exposure and various sources of vulnerability in the MENA region.

Climate Exposure and Social Vulnerability in the MENA Region

The MENA region is facing major security challenges from its vulnerability to climate change and violent conflict. The region is the world’s most water-stressed region, hosting thirteen of the world’s twenty most water-stressed countries, with currently over 82 percent of its terrain covered in desert ( Sieghart and Betre 2018 ). Indeed, water rationing and the limitation of water supplies are already a reality in parts of Algeria, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, and Jordan ( Sowers, Vengosh, and Weinthal 2011 ). Recent climate science predicts an average global warming of 1.5°C under the business-as-usual scenario, while in the MENA region, it is expected to increase up to 4°C ( Gaub and Lienard 2021 ). Furthermore, the level of mean precipitation is also expected to decrease in the region ( Zittis , et al. 2020 ). By the end of the century, about half of the MENA population could be annually exposed to super- and ultra-extreme heatwaves ( Zittis et al. 2021 ). In essence, the region is likely to become drier and experience extremely high temperatures, followed by extreme and chronic water shortages becoming more frequent.

Many countries in the MENA region are vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to their weak adaptive capacity ( Sowers et al. 2011 ; Namdar, Karami, and Keshavarz 2021 ). The adaptive capacity to climate change varies across the MENA region. While oil-exporting Gulf states have the financial resources for investments in water desalination and wastewater technologies, others suffer from a lack of financial resources and water conservation policies ( Sowers et al. 2011 ). The adverse effect of climate change on agricultural productivity is likely to affect the livelihood conditions of rural populations and may contribute to rural-to-urban migration in some cases ( Waha et al. 2017 ). Changes in precipitation and extreme weather events can reduce the region’s agriculture yields, as up to 70 percent of the crops are rain-fed ( Waha et al. 2017 ). Climate change impacts present a threat to food security in the MENA region and exacerbate the vulnerability to global food price volatility, including Egypt and Lebanon. Countries with a high level of imported grain dependency witness significant inflations in cereal prices that can be a source of political instability ( Tanchum 2021 ). Food price volatility has contributed to political stability in the past, especially during the Arab Spring, and the combined effect of reduced water discharge with the demographic trend of the youth bulge could present a challenge to the political stability of a region ( Borghesi and Ticci 2019 ).

Over the past decade, several of the world’s deadliest conflicts flared up in the MENA region, particularly in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Turkey ( Palik et al. 2020 ). The intractable conflict between Israel and Palestine has caused immense human suffering and disrupted regional stability. These conflicts are linked to long-running inequalities and grievances and economic and political instability, which make conflict resolution exceptionally challenging. Deterioration of the physical environment and land degradation further exacerbate risks of communal conflict and political instability in the future. Violent conflict, on the other hand, has been destructive to the adjoining environment. For instance, the effect of intense armed conflict has been significant in Syria’s already declining land and water resources ( Mohamed, Anders, and Schneider 2020 ). Environmental degradation leading to water and food insecurity has adversely affected the livelihoods of the population.

The linkages between conflict and the environment are an integral component that constitutes peace and security in the MENA region. The arid natural environment of the region and the changing climate are part of consideration when analyzing conflict in the region ( Smith and Krampe 2019 ). This article focuses on the MENA region and analyzes the role of climate-related environmental factors in violent conflict by drawing evidence from existing research. This systematic review provides an overview of conditions and processes in the climate-conflict nexus. The findings demonstrate that indirect pathways between climate change and violent conflict that are found in other regions such as East Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, and West Africa are also applicable to the MENA region. In addition, downstream impacts of water development projects such as dams and irrigation projects in transboundary river basins, weaponization of water by armed groups, and the government’s mismanagement of water and land have particularly affected vulnerability to climate change in the MENA region. Climate change exacerbates water scarcity in the MENA region, which in turn can incentivize policies such as unilaterally building water storages and weaponization of water as an instrument for leverage during armed conflicts. These MENA region-specific dimensions of climate-conflict pathways appear to be influenced by the region’s internal politics, relations between neighboring countries, and conflict dynamics.

The article is organized in the following order. We present the analytical framework of a set of pathways that connects climate change and violent conflict and then an outline of the methodology for a systematic review, which includes the operationalization of the variables and the sampling strategy. This is followed by the description of the methodology for conducting a systematic review. The review of literature is organized into four categories that are specified in the analytical framework, and then a synthesized analysis is detailed. Finally, we conclude by summarizing policy and research relevant implications from the finding in the MENA regional contexts with a set of recommendations.

The climate-conflict nexus is complex. Climate change has implications for various forms of interstate and intrastate conflict, including communal violence, insurgencies, mass civil resistance campaigns, protests, and interpersonal disputes ( Hendrix et al. 2023 ). Specific contexts of environment, socio-political systems, and pre-existing conflict matter when examining the connection between climate-related environmental changes and conflict. The analytical framework is based on a premise that the relationship between climate change and conflict is mediated by social, political, and ecological vulnerability ( Daoudy 2021 ). When climate impacts contribute to social outcomes such as deteriorating livelihood conditions, migration, escalation of armed groups’ tactics, and elite capture, risks of violent conflict can increase. The following outlines four “pathways” between climate change and conflict ( Figure 1 ).

A framework of climate insecurity pathways

The deterioration of livelihood conditions is a centerpiece in linking environmental changes and violent conflict. Climate-exposed sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fishery, energy, and tourism are highly likely to suffer from economic damages from climate change ( IPCC 2022 , SPM-11). Consequently, people whose livelihoods are dependent on the natural environment are subjected to additional economic burdens due to the changing climate or climate shocks. Extreme weather events such as droughts, heatwaves, sandstorms, flooding, and long-term changes in the environment can affect the income from the aforementioned sectors ( IPCC 2022 , SPM-11). Populations with low adaptive capacity including marginalized groups are disproportionately affected and vulnerable to short-term economic damages related to climate change ( IPCC 2022 , SPM-8). Demographic changes may accelerate the deterioration of livelihood conditions. Population growth in the MENA region has been rapid from 105 million in 1960 to 486 million in 2021 ( World Bank 2022 ), which means more land and water are required for livelihoods. Climate change can worsen coastal erosion and decline tin he productivity of coastal plains in Israel and Morocco, which are important for food production. Sea-level rise has negative impacts on deltas, coastal plains, and human settlements, and tourism and industrial activities are also expected to decline due to heatwaves and worsening water shortages ( Sowers et al. 2011 ).

Existing studies focus on various socio-economic outcomes of climate and environmental changes and their implications on conflict mobilization. Agriculture, fisheries, and livestock sectors are particularly susceptible to the loss of income due to climate shocks such as prolonged droughts ( von Uexkull 2014 ; Schmidt and Pearson 2016 ). Loss of income due to the deterioration of livelihood conditions can lead individuals to seek alternative sources of livelihood, and some may turn to illicit activities, including joining non-state armed groups ( Barnett and Adger 2007 , 644; Seter 2016 , 5).

Another category of social outcomes includes changes in migration and mobility patterns. Migration is one of the climate adaptation strategies, and subsequent socioeconomic and political impacts of migration can be linked to conflict. Declining livelihood conditions can trigger rural-to-urban migration in search for alternative livelihoods ( Rüttinger et al. 2015 , 27). Long-term climate change and weather shocks may accelerate environmental degradation and declining livelihood conditions. The increased migration flow accelerates urbanization and creates instability in hosting cities with inadequate infrastructure for public services ( Balsari, Dresser, and Leaning 2020 ).

Changing migratory patterns of pastoralist or agropastoral groups, influenced by the availability of grazing land and water, can be linked to clashes with other communities ( Abroulaye et al. 2015 ; Mohammed Ali 2019 ). Violent communal clashes and livestock raiding, which have become increasingly lethal, are linked to intensified competition over scarce resources for pastoralist populations ( Detges 2014 ). For instance, farmer-herder conflicts in the Sahel region have become increasingly lethal during recent decades, especially in areas with a higher population and livestock density.

Previous research also focuses on the role of elites who have leveraged social outcomes of climate change for their benefit. Here, elite actors include traditional elites, privileged groups with economic and political power, and even armed group leaders. More frequent and intense climate-related extreme weather events can provide additional opportunities for local elites to capture resources. When climate-induced disasters such as droughts and floods cause humanitarian crises, their basic needs and post-disaster reconstruction would bring in additional resources to the disaster-hit regions, which can be exploited by local elites. Humanitarian aid delivery often needs to cooperate with local elites, whose influence over the aid provision can further strengthen the client-patronage relationship, which is a source of tension ( Uson 2017 ). Elite capture of resources, particularly land, is likely to generate strains within and between communities ( Zaman 1991 ). Local grievances over land rights can be exploited in intercommunal conflict or national conflicts ( Chavunduka and Bromley 2011 ). National elites can exploit local grievances of a population segment that are closely related to climate change. Inadequate government responses to Cyclone Bhola in 1970 led to a devastating human toll in the Bay of Bengal and contributed to the rise of the independence movement, which subsequently led to the secession of Bangladesh ( Busby 2022 , 181).

Changing environmental conditions by climate change may influence armed group tactics and behaviors. Armed groups have utilized the local grievances for a recruitment drive for the youth ( Benjaminsen and Ba 2019 ). Climate change also affects the way of wars are to be fought. In warm climates, prolonged and unpredictable rainy seasons can alter the fighting season and patterns. Due to the reduced water availability in some areas, the strategic importance of water access points and infrastructure may have become more salient. Armed groups can escalate the conflict by weaponizing water by flooding farmland and cities or depriving the population of water ( King 2015 ). Amid droughts and unreliable rainfalls, armed groups may consider water weaponization as a more effective tactic in order to influence and control communities already experiencing water scarcity.

The analytical framework of climate-conflict pathways is applied to analyze findings from existing research relevant to the MENA region. The following details a method of a systematic review of the literature.

This paper leverages from existing evidence by conducting a systematic review of existing studies. Systematic review method has been extensively employed in examining the linkage between climate change and violent conflict ( Ide 2018 ; Nordqvist and Krampe 2018 ; Van Baalen and Mobjörk 2018 ; Tarif 2022 ). Systematic reviews differ from a traditional sense of literature review in a way that it is “focused” and “systematic”; it zooms on a specific research question; and is based on pre-established sets of principles for literature selection. Systematic and focused nature of the review is helpful to “locate previous research, select relevant literature, evaluate contributions and analyses, and synthesize data” ( Denyer and Tranfield 2009 , 671). This approach is particularly useful to yield new insights and provide clarification on frequently debated issues ( Dacombe 2018 , 155). In addition, the method is a highly relevant policy tool that promotes evidence-based policymaking.

We have used the following set of principles for locating, selecting, and evaluating the literature. A Boolean search string containing keywords was composed with keywords from climate change and violent conflict. 2 Search words for climate-related environmental conditions include terms related to the effects of extreme weather events or long-term environmental changes on nature-based livelihoods and water and food insecurity, involuntary displacement, which are adopted from previous research done in a similar scope ( Nordqvist and Krampe 2018 ; Van Baalen and Mobjörk 2018 ; Tarif 2022 ). Several social outcomes are theorized as consequences of climate change such as internal and cross-border migration and elite exploitation of changing environmental conditions. In the paper, violent conflict is defined as the situation when one or more actors engaged in violence against hostile groups due to incompatibilities. This broad definition allows include interstate wars, terrorism to communal clashes involving violence. The definition does not include protests and non-violent actions, which are a crucial class of social phenomena leading to political instability and violence. We paid attention to this element in the analysis but excluded studies exclusively focusing on non-violent conflict (e.g., Ide et al. 2021 ). We used specific keywords relevant to conflict actors and types of conflict in the MENA region.

The Boolean search string was used in searching the abstracts of existing studies in English published during 1989–2020 from Web of Science, a major database of scholarly literature. From the search results, we read the abstracts and selected items with relevance to the relationship between climate-related environmental changes and conflict. The initial screening found 141 articles, which then were reviewed manually for their relevance to the inquiry (see the Online Appendix). In the screening process, we excluded a number of studies that focused on the impact of armed conflict on the environment and studies that did not explicitly focus on violent conflict. Similarly, studies that do not explicitly focus on climate change as in long-term climate trends, climate hazards, and weather events were excluded. Another set of articles that were removed from the list were commentaries and reviews that were not based on either qualitative or quantitative empirical material. While all the selected articles either have at least one country in the MENA region or adapt a regional focus on the MENA, the specific definition of these regions varies. In our literature review, we adhere to a specific list of countries that we recognize as part of the region. 3 After the screening, we manually searched the bibliographies of the selected articles and included eleven relevant articles. In total, forty-one articles are reviewed with a focus on a set of categories stemmed from the analytical framework for explaining the relationship between climate-related environmental change and violent conflict ( Figure 2 ).

Peer-reviewed articles reviewed

The geographical focus of the reviewed studies demonstrates that much of the scholarship focuses on Syria and Iraq. In contrast, North African countries and Gulf countries have received relatively limited attention ( Figure 3 ). The high number of research works focusing on Syria can be explained by the high profile of the contested linkage between climate change and the Syrian civil war. While media narratives have regarded Syria as a prime example of an armed conflict fuelled by climate change and several prominent public figures have publicized it as an illustration of the nexus, it is worth noting that scholarly research has presented differing perspectives on the direct causative role of climate change in conflict escalation ( Miller 2015 ; “Climate Wars - Syria” with Thomas Friedman 2017 ; VICE 2017 ).

The distribution of geographical focus of the reviewed studies

Source: a map drawn by authors.

In this section, we discuss existing explanations from previous research that connect climate-related environmental changes and violent conflict in the MENA region. The linkages between the environmental changes related to climate change and violent conflict constitute a complex chain of events (e.g., Gleditsch 1998 ). Most empirical research contributes to examine parts of the chain under specific temporal and spatial scopes, and this is one reason why it is important to consider the broader implication of each piece of evidence, which then can contribute to the better understanding of the climate-conflict pathways as a larger phenomenon. For clarity and focus, we organized a set of findings from previous studies under four pre-determined analytical categories: worsening livelihood conditions, migration and mobility, armed groups, and elite exploitation. As explained earlier, these categories are not mutually exclusive; rather, explanations under different categories are interlinked and can mutually reinforce each other in different stages of mobilization and conflict.

Direct Link between Climate Change and Violent Conflict

Scholars have examined whether climate impacts such as warmer temperatures and precipitation anomalies are statistically correlated to violent conflict, and several studies have focused on specific countries within the MENA region ( Feizi, Janatabadi, and Torshizi 2019 ; Döring 2020 ; Helman and Zaitchik 2020 ; Helman, Zaitchik, and Funk 2020 ; Sofuoglu and Ay 2020 ; Linke and Ruether 2021 ). Findings from existing research on the direct impact of climate-related factors on violent conflict and political instability suggest that the relationship is not always linear and varied in specific country contexts ( Helman and Zaitchik 2020 ; Helman et al. 2020 ). Water scarcity, for instance, is not only associated with increased communal conflict but also cooperation ( Döring 2020 ). Warming did not unitarily increase or decrease conflict risk—warmer temperatures increased risks of violence in Africa but decreased in the Middle East, and warming did not have a linear effect but had a greater effect on conflict risk in warmer regions ( Helman et al. 2020 ). Increased temperatures and rainfall anomalies are positively associated with political instability in the MENA region ( Helman and Zaitchik 2020 ; Sofuoglu and Ay 2020 ). These findings caution against generalized or simplistic assumptions about the relationship between climate change and violent conflict.

Studies have found an insignificant relationship between water scarcity and violent conflict. Precipitation levels and droughts do not have a direct impact on communal violence in a model including the Middle East and Africa ( Döring 2020 ). The same study also found that communal conflict is more likely to occur in areas with lower rainfalls and limited groundwater availability. Groundwater is less affected by short-term droughts, but prolonged droughts and unsustainable extraction can lead to groundwater shortages, which is the case in northern Syria ( Kelley et al. 2015 ) and Yemen ( Weiss 2015 ). Rainfall variability does not seem to have significantly affected the intensity of civil war violence during the 2011–2019 Syrian civil war ( Linke and Ruether 2021 ). The discussion on climate change’s impact on armed group tactics and behavior is followed in the later part of the paper.

Droughts and water scarcity seem to be a source of social disputes and non-violent conflict ( Feizi et al. 2019 ; Bijani et al. 2020 ; Ide et al. 2021 ). Whether the tension over water scarcity escalates to non-violent conflict or not seems to be contingent on the pre-existing negative socio-political relationships between groups and the types of political systems ( Ide et al. 2021 ). In Iran, irregular rainfalls and water scarcity at the local level are linked to interpersonal conflict and communal tensions and can degrade state legitimacy and contribute to political instability ( Feizi et al. 2019 ; Bijani et al. 2020 ).

Evidence from existing studies on the direct climate-conflict link also alludes to the need to further explore the mechanisms between physical environmental changes and social outcomes. Both large- N and small- N studies can contribute to the understanding of the underlying mechanisms or indirect pathways connecting climate change and conflict. The following sections discuss livelihoods, migration, inadequate management, and armed group behaviors as the pathways between climate-related environmental changes and violent conflict.

Deteriorating Livelihood Conditions

Several studies evaluating the worsening livelihood mechanism in the MENA region focus on the relationship between droughts’ impacts on agriculture and conflict. Severe and frequent droughts due to climate change may affect the region’s food security and livelihoods. In the MENA countries, agriculture, fisheries, and livestock accounts for roughly 15 percent of the total population’s livelihood ( World Bank 2023 ). Agriculture dependency is one of the best predictors of violent conflict ( von Uexkull et al. 2016 ). Indeed, evidence from a study focusing on the MENA region and Africa shows a consistent result that conflict risk is higher in areas where the population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods ( Helman and Zaitchik 2020 ).

Droughts’ impact on agriculture is an important area of research in the implications of the changing climate on the deterioration of livelihood conditions. During the last three decades, droughts in the MENA region have become more frequent and severe. Three out of four most severe multi-year droughts in the Fertile Crescent region referring to parts of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt occurred during 1990–2015 ( Kelley et al. 2015 , 3243). The sub-region has historically witnessed periodic droughts; therefore, their agricultural systems are to a degree adaptive to drought conditions and low rainfalls. More frequent and intensifying droughts and drying conditions may jeopardize the population’s adaptive capacity, leading to far-reaching and consequential disruptions in societies. In particular, the 2007–2008 drought severely affected the agricultural production in the Fertile Crescent region. Annual wheat production in Iraq during 2008–2009 declined by 35 percent ( Selby 2019 , 264). Jordan and the West Bank in Palestine also experienced a reduction in agricultural production after the 2007–2008 drought ( Feitelson and Tubi 2017 ). However, none of these countries experienced the same extent of “shock” as in Syria, whose effects some refer to as the “collapse” of the agricultural sector. The 2007–2008 drought is considered “the worst drought in the instrumental record, causing widespread crop failure” and decimation of livestock populations in northeast Syria ( Kelley et al. 2015 , 3241).

A dozen of the reviewed authors have probed the linkage between the 2007 and 2008 multi-year droughts and their impacts on agricultural and livestock production and the Syrian conflict using quantitative and qualitative methods ( De Châtel 2014 ; Gleick 2014 ; Kelley et al. 2015 ; Eklund and Thompson 2017 ; Selby et al. 2017 ; Ide 2018 ; Karnieli et al. 2019 ; Ash and Obradovich 2020 ; Daoudy 2020a , 2021 ; Eklund et al. 2022 ). These reviewed research works have disagreed on what extent the drought’s contribution to the sharp decline in agricultural production and rural livelihood in Syria. Kelley et al. (2015 ) is one of the major empirical studies that argues for the linkage between the multi-year drought and the political instability, which argument is similar to Gleick (2014 ). Other studies have refuted the causal linkage between the drought and the Syrian civil war, but their core reasons for arguing against it have varied.

Several authors point out that the impact of climate shocks on livelihoods is mediated by water governance decisions. This argument downplays the role of climate change as the main driver of livelihood deterioration rather than a contributing factor. Despite being affected by similar rainfall deficits during 2007–2008, farmers in northern Syria generally experienced far worse consequences in productivity compared to northwest Iraq and southeast Turkey ( Eklund and Thompson 2017 ). Turkey’s substantial investment in water infrastructure and placing policies for better management during the 1990s and 2000s seem to have reduced their vulnerability to droughts ( Kelley et al. 2015 ; Eklund and Thompson 2017 ). On the contrary, the Syrian regime’s agricultural expansion policy, unsustainable groundwater use, and economic policy have exacerbated the population’s drought vulnerability. Agricultural expansion schemes in Syria more than doubled the irrigated area from 650,000 ha in 1985 to 1.4 million ha in 2005, driven by “a vision of development through agrarian modernization” ( Selby 2019 , 268). The policy overlooked physical limitations of groundwater resources by over-extracting water from aquifers at a rate of 300 percent or more than the basin’s yield and depleting aquifers prior to the 2007–2008 drought ( Selby 2019 , 266). Groundwater depletion in the region has a major effect on drought vulnerability because groundwater is an important source of water during low rainfall years ( Kelley et al. 2015 ).

Weiss (2015 ) makes a similar observation in Yemen, indicating that governance issues are mainly responsible for groundwater depletion in the country rather than climate-related environmental changes. Factors related to agrarian political economy and governance capacities further affect the vulnerability. The government’s capacity to deal with environmental changes and their impact on local economies and livelihoods is pointed out to be a key mediating factor in the linkage between climate change and violent conflict. The issues related to mismanagement and elite exploitation of climate change are further discussed in the later section of the article.

A few studies found differing climate impacts based on gender and ethnicity. Vulnerability to climate change varies between communities and countries, and intersectional identities of the affected people such as gender, age, and ethnicity influence their capacity to adapt to climate change and resilience ( Thomas et al. 2019 ). Evidence from Iran shows how women are forced to carry the “double burden” of doing off-farm work activities such as weeding or thinning cotton for minimal wages, in addition to the regular household and on-farm tasks ( Keshavarz, Karami, and Vanclay 2013 ). In Syria, the mechanization of agriculture has led to a significant loss of rural employment and disproportionately affected women ( Selby 2019 , 267). The disproportionate effect on women is related to structural gender inequality restricting women’s economic opportunities and wealth accumulation ( Selby 2019 ). This finding aligns with previous literature linking gender and climate change indicating that women are often worse affected by climate impacts due to restrictive norms and rights ( Denton 2002 ). In Israel, pastoralists are often disadvantaged due to the Israeli state’s resource allocation policies prioritizing farmers. In the northern Negev region, the state’s land appropriation disproportionately affected agri-pastoralist Bedouin tribes during the early 1900s. This has led to higher vulnerability of the Bedouins during droughts ( Tubi and Feitelson 2016 ). A similar pattern of marginalization is found in Hasakah, a region in northern Syria, where the state turned open range lands into farmlands ( Selby 2019 ). The findings on differing vulnerability and impacts on livelihoods are based on a handful of studies, and intersectional approaches are generally absent in most studies reviewed in the analytic essay.

Changes in Migration and Mobility Patterns

Migration represents a critical adaptation strategy for populations affected by climate-induced environmental changes. Existing research examines various linkages between climate-induced environmental changes and migration in the MENA region. The main discussions are related to the contribution of climate shocks in internal and international migration and migration as a source of political instability and conflict. Existing evidence in the reviewed studies does not fully confirm that climate shocks and changing climate conditions are the primary drivers of internal or international migration. The link between displacement and violent conflict seems to be contested as well.

One of the predominant narratives links climate, migration, and insecurity theorizes worsening of livelihood conditions due to climate change has led to distressed migration of rural population to urban or peri-urban areas, which can contribute to greater political instability ( Gleick 2014 ; Kelley et al. 2015 ; Feitelson and Tubi 2017 ; Ash and Obradovich 2020 ). This argument gained prominence after out-migration from drought-affected regions in northern Syria in 2008 and the agricultural sector collapse in 2010 preceded the 2011 uprising.

Several studies focus on empirically examining the migration patterns after the 2007–2008 droughts in the Levant ( De Châtel 2014 ; Gleick 2014 ; Kelley et al. 2015 ; Ash and Obradovich 2020 ). There seems to be a wide-ranging estimation of the scale of internal migration in Syria during this time ( Ide 2018 ). While acknowledging the multiple factors contributing to migration, researchers have debated on the number of displaced people in northern Syria and Iraq amid the 2007–2008 drought. While Gleick (2014 , 334) and Kelley et al . ( 2015 , 3241–2) estimate ∼1.5 million people to be internally displaced, others suggest 40–60,000 households or ∼ 300,000 displaced people ( Selby et al. 2017 , 254). Several methods are employed in estimating drought-induced migration. For instance, Ash and Obradovich (2020 ) used nightlight intensity as a proxy measure for population change, which seemed to detect the changes in population in drought-affected regions. Satellite imagery can be analyzed for measuring agricultural land use, which can be a proxy indicator for out-migration ( Eklund et al. 2022 ). Others relied on official statistics and survey data, which are based on a combination of census, fieldwork, and expert assessment (e.g., OCHA 2009 ). Nightlight intensity and satellite imagery are effective measurements of population changes, but remote sensing data provide little context about who moved, to where, and why. Fieldwork-based studies such as De Châtel (2014 ) provide insights into the socio-economic circumstances of migrants and their political orientation. A UN rapid assessment report is based on various UN-led field reports and assessments during 2006–2008 and supplies valuable on-the-ground information including changing migration patterns, children’s school enrollment, and water availability ( OCHA 2009 ). The evidence indicates that migration after the drought was indeed significant, although we cannot exactly say the scale of it. The question is whether these migrants play a role in the subsequent uprising and civil war.

Critics of this narrative argue that the Syrian uprising emerged due to political discontent, economic recession, youth unemployment, discrimination, and injustice, not because of the mass climate migrants ( De Châtel 2014 ; Selby et al. 2017 ; Daoudy 2020a ). Eklund et al. (2022 ) suggest migration triggered by the 2007–2008 droughts did not play a significant role in the uprising because migrants were likely to have returned as early as 2010 based on the satellite images showing full recovery of agricultural activities in drought-affected areas ( Eklund et al. 2022 ). Rural-to-urban migration in the MENA region is rather influenced by pre-existing socio-economic conditions and political decisions. For example, in Syria, the introduction of neoliberal agrarian policies by the government generated a significant degree of insecurity in the rural populations and prompted rural-to-urban migration ( De Châtel 2014 ; Selby 2019 ). And region’s demographic trend has a much greater and long-lasting impact on the pressure in urban areas. For instance, the urban population in Syria is estimated to have grown from 8.9 million in 2002 to 13.8 million in 2010, and most migrants lived in informal settlements with poor infrastructure and no jobs ( Kelley et al. 2015 ).

The narratives on climate change and migration in the MENA region in existing literature reflect how countries perceive climate-induced migration as a source of conflict and insecurity. Jordan, for instance, fears the influx of migration from the MENA region, mostly Palestine, Iraq, and Syria, would worsen the country’s water scarcity and thus security ( Weinthal, Zawahri, and Sowers 2015 ). Fears of “climate refugees” from Africa have shaped Israel’s discriminatory discourses and practices against African refugees and Bedouin communities inside the country ( Weinthal et al. 2015 ). Media reports have suggested that climate shocks in the MENA regions, where asylum seekers and irregular migrants originated from, have affected their decision to migrate ( O'Hagan 2015 ). More than 2.2 million migrants without legal permits have amassed at EU external borders during 2009–2017, and most migrants during this period were from the MENA region ( Cottier and Salehyan 2021 , 2).

Findings from existing research refute the idea of climate shocks would trigger refugee flows from the MENA region. Climate shocks and precipitation deficits are not linked to the increase of out-migration from the MENA region to Europe ( Abel et al. 2019 ; Cottier and Salehyan 2021 ). Severe droughts and drier weather conditions in the MENA region are associated with the reduced migration flow to Europe, which is contradictory from the popular media narrative about “climate refugees” ( Cottier and Salehyan 2021 ). This finding alone suggests that migration can be an “investment,” because the extra income generated from additional rain reduces financial barriers to emigrating ( Cottier and Salehyan 2021 , 6). The correlation between rainfall variability and asylum-seeking flows has been found during 2010–2012 when the Arab Spring swept a dozen MENA countries but not during other periods between 2006 and 2015 ( Abel et al. 2019 ). This finding demonstrates that the impact of climate change on generating asylum-seeking flows seems to be conditional on the origin country’s political stability.

Armed Group’s Tactical Considerations

Existing research specifically focusing on how climate change affects armed groups’ tactics is sparse in the MENA region (exception of Linke and Ruether 2021 ), but several research works demonstrate that armed groups may escalate their tactics due to the increased environmental stress on water and agricultural land. Changing climate conditions and weather shocks adversely affect water availability for agriculture. This trend underscores the notion that the strategic importance of controlling water and water infrastructure could emerge as an effective instrument for exerting pressure to local populations in times of armed conflicts. Previous research supplies evidence on how water is weaponized by armed groups, which is a case of escalation of tactics ( Grech-Madin 2020 ). Water weaponization is defined as the “intentional or unintentional damage or destruction of (sensitive) components of the water infrastructure like dams, treatment plants, pumping stations, piping and canal systems, sewage plants, reservoirs, wells, etc” ( von Lossow 2016 , 84).

Water has been used as both a target and a weapon by state and non-state actors. Existing studies focus on how non-state armed groups and government militaries have strategically attacked or captured water and other environmental infrastructure ( King 2015 ; von Lossow 2016 ; Sowers, Weinthal, and Zawahri 2017 ; Gleick 2019 ; Daoudy 2020b ). Water scarcity in the region is an incentivizing factor for government troops and armed groups to use water to incur damage to the local population. Attacks on water pipes, sanitation and desalination plants, water treatment, pumping and distribution facilities, and dams have occurred in Syria, Libya, and Yemen during civil wars. Targeting of water infrastructure also occurs in protracted conflict situations such as the Israel and Palestine conflict when Israel was accused of attacking wells in Gaza City ( von Lossow 2016 , 84). Particular attention has been drawn to rebel groups’ ability to use water for strategic but as well psychological terrorism ( King 2015 ).

The weaponization of water is not limited to targeting water infrastructure during wartime. Increasing water scarcity and the importance of water access influence the strategic calculation by armed groups on when and where they would deploy violence ( King 2015 ). Non-state armed groups such as the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq are known to have fought over the control of water infrastructure in the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers as part of their expansion strategy ( von Lossow 2016 ). Armed groups fight more intensely during the growing season, which is linked to tax revenue from agricultural harvest and control of the population who rely on farming ( Linke and Ruether 2021 , 116).

Armed groups can also use water as a tool of governance. By providing water and electricity to the local population, the Islamic State achieved ideological credibility as well as legitimacy over the local population, which was a core component of the IS claim of statehood ( King 2015 ; von Lossow 2016 ). Supplying water is a crucial governance function, so armed groups can obstruct water infrastructure to damage the conflict party’s control and legitimacy.

Elite Exploitation

Previous research demonstrates how elite exploitation is linked to protests and violent conflict by focusing on corruption, elite capture of disaster relief, and elite bias in the MENA region. Political patronage and ethnic, tribal, and religious networks for political mobilization shape elite behavior in the region. Political patronage is not unique to the MENA region, but clientelism explains the viability of political networks of some political elites in the MENA region who maintained power through providing resources and preferential treatment in return for votes, loyalty, and compliance ( Herb 1999 ; Haddad 2012 ). Social fabrics of the MENA are woven with diverse ethnic, tribal, and religious groups, and these minorities have also been part of political cleavage structures ( Belge and Karakoç 2015 ). Political mobilization along ethnic, tribal, and religious lines has been effective in the contexts when these identities are contested ( Yiftachel 1996 ). In the following, three main findings from existing research are outlined.

Climate change may increase opportunities for elites to appropriate humanitarian aid for their benefit, and elite exploitation can worsen the conflict risk amid climate-induced disasters and environmental scarcities. The risk of politicization of humanitarian and development aid has been extensively studied ( Doocy and Lyles 2018 ; Alqatabry and Butcher 2020 ). In situations of climate-induced disasters, local and central elites can have a significant influence on the planning and distribution of humanitarian aid. Political elites can be biased in their relationship with local elites, and this elite bias can have implications for local-level politics ( Brosché and Elfversson 2012 ). After the 2007–2008 drought in Syria, the Assad government directed the UN-led relief efforts to almost entirely focus on the Arab district of Al-Shaddadi, although the Kurdish communities were equally or worse affected ( Selby 2019 , 270). Unequal aid distribution can increase intercommunal tensions during droughts. State intervention can reduce the risk of conflict amid climate-related natural disasters. Tubi and Feitelson (2016 ) demonstrate how proactive relief provisions during droughts have reduced communal violence between Bedouin herders and Jewish farmers in Israel. The findings from Tubi and Feitelson (2016 ) confirm that the state’s capacity to adapt and absorb shocks remains essential for the inhabitants’ perceived marginal benefits and the opportunity cost of conflict ( Post et al. 2016 ).

Powerful elites compete over acquiring land and water resources from weak and vulnerable groups. Mismanagement and corruption in the public sector are other factors that affect the population’s access to water and basic services, which are simultaneously hampered by climate change ( Kim and Swain 2017 ). In Yemen, most communal conflict occurs over water and land when tribal elites compete with one another ( Weiss 2015 ). In southern Iraq, a large volume of water is illegally diverted for commercial farms owned by elites, which worsens water scarcity ( Mason 2022 ). Donor-funded projects for repairing Basra’s aging water infrastructure after the 2003 invasion, worth 2 billion USD over nearly two decades, were succumbed to widespread corruption ( Mason 2022 ). Bureaucratic procedures endow opportunities for officials to extort bribes such as well-licensing in Syria and water development project licensing in Lebanon ( De Châtel 2014 ; Mason and Khawlie 2016 ). In Syria, the government’s requirement to annually renew well licences was an opportunity for security personnel and local officials to collect bribes ( De Châtel 2014 , 12). Protestors in Dara’a, Syria initially demanded to end corruption in the water sector ( De Châtel 2014 ). In Iraq, the epidemic of corruption in the water sector endowed youth and urban poor grievances against the state, which led to widespread protests ( Human Rights Watch 2019 ).

Although the MENA region is a climate change hotspot, governance failures, and mismanagement account for declining water access ( Mason and Khawlie 2016 ; Selby et al. 2017 ; Daoudy 2021 ). Elites in the MENA region have leveraged climate change to explain some of the governance failures in the water and agriculture sectors. The Syrian state and security apparatus have exploited the narratives around climate change by portraying Syria as a “naturally water-scarce” country, although the reality on the ground shows a man-made water crisis due to corruption and inefficient management by the government authorities ( De Châtel 2014 , 9). Similarly, the Lebanese government blamed climate change for the reduction of water flow in the Hasbani Basin, while civil society representatives accused the government of “systematically neglecting their concerns” about water access ( Mason and Khawlie 2016 , 1352–3).

Tensions over transboundary water sharing may continue to rise in the MENA region ( Bulloch and Darwish 1993 ; Amery 2002 ). The Euphrates River and Tigris River are important water sources for Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran, and Turkey controls the water flow through the investment in the Southeastern Anatolia Project consisting of twenty-two large reservoirs and nineteen hydroelectric power stations on the upper tributaries of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. Karnieli et al. (2019 ) argue that Turkey’s transboundary investment and dam filling to be the primary driver of 2007–2008 droughts in Syria instead of climate change. This might be inconsequential because Turkey released additional water to Syria during the drought (see Kibaroglu and Scheumann 2011 , 297). As long as the downstream countries, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, see their domestic water problems to be attributed to the upstream dams in Turkey (e.g., Al-Muqdadi et al. 2016 ), transboundary rivers can be a source of interstate tension—although it is unlikely to develop into a full-scale armed conflict ( Bencala and Dabelko 2008 ). The impact of climate change in transboundary water governance is still an under-researched area that deserves more attention. Another area that can be a subject for further research is a growing sub-national competition over water such as brewing tension within Iraq due to the Kurdish Regional Government’s dam building plans ( Tinti 2023 ).

Existing evidence demonstrates that climate impacts, particularly droughts and drying trends, contribute to armed conflict in various ways. This section weighs in on the findings from the analysis to evaluate the overall framework of pathways to climate insecurity in the MENA region. The synthesis of findings highlights consensus and disagreement in existing studies and identifies the areas for further research.

Water scarcity in the MENA region is apparent at multiple scales, from domestic to transboundary, and has various implications for social vulnerability and political stability. The region’s water insecurity is as much driven by governance challenges as climatic and environmental trends. Severe droughts in the Levant during 2007–2009 appear to have led to the decline in agricultural production in the affected areas, but the drought vulnerability is mediated by groundwater availability, the viability of irrigation systems, and the capacity of water infrastructure ( Kelley et al. 2015 ). Decades of mismanagement of water resources and institutional failings undermine adaptive capacities in the region, demonstrated in examples from Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq ( Weiss 2015 ; Mason and Khawlie 2016 ; Selby 2019 ; Mason 2022 ).

The depletion of groundwater in parts of the MENA region is largely attributed to the government’s unsustainable agricultural and water policies. Groundwater offers an important source of reserve during droughts, and the unsustainable use of groundwater adversely affects farmers’ drought vulnerability. Government subsidies on fuels encouraged farmers to install diesel pumps to use groundwater for irrigation, without consideration for sustainability in Yemen and Syria ( Weiss 2015 ; Selby 2019 ). These governments’ agricultural and economic policies resulted in farmers growing more water-intensive crops such as cotton and citrus fruits, which accelerated groundwater depletion. Political elites used fuel subsidies to ensure support from farmers at the expense of the environment. These unsustainable water and agricultural policies are not technical “mismanagement” but embedded in a much larger political context and ideology ( Daoudy 2021 , 13). Considering political factors in climate vulnerability is an important aspect to understand the climate-conflict nexus in the MENA region.

This analytic essay also looks into the important debate about the contribution of droughts in the Syrian uprising and subsequent civil war. Fourteen out of thirty-nine existing studies focus on the Syrian conflict and examine various linkages between the conflict and climate-related environmental factors. The popular narrative portrays the Syrian civil war as a climate conflict that is triggered by climate-induced agricultural collapse resulting in mass displacement ( Gleick 2014 ; Werrell, Femia, and Sternberg 2015 ). Research refutes this narrative by contesting the empirical foundations. Drought-displaced people in urban or peri-urban areas did not participate in street protests ( De Châtel 2014 ), and a significant proportion of the displaced returned to northern Syria before the revolution began ( Eklund and Thompson 2017 ; Eklund et al. 2022 ). Reviewing the literature demonstrates that attributing the onset of the Syrian civil war solely to climate change lacks empirical substantiation. Nevertheless, climate-related environmental changes, such as falling groundwater levels, have significant impact on natural resources and livelihoods, which can consequently undermine human and environment security.

Internal migration is more prominent than international migration in the research focusing on climate-induced mobility in the MENA region. This is similar to other studies with different regional focus (e.g., Burrows and Kinney 2016 ). The disruption of the rural livelihoods appears to be a strong push factor in Syria, which can be worsened by droughts ( Fröhlich 2016 ). Data on migration seem to be a challenge in unpacking this complex phenomenon. It is challenging to disentangle environmental changes from economic drivers in migration decision-making. Satellite-based data provide reasonable proxy measures for in- and out-migration in locations (e.g., Ash and Obradovich 2020 ), but they do not offer insights on who moved from where to where and why. More studies incorporating qualitative data are needed to further the understanding of climate-induced internal migration.

There is clear evidence that armed groups have escalated their tactics by weaponizing water in the MENA region. Several studies demonstrate how armed groups escalate their tactics by weaponizing water. Such a wartime trend indicates a heightened risk for civilians and long-term consequences by destructing key water infrastructures. This finding is highly policy relevant for strengthening and enforcing international laws for civilian protection during armed conflict (see Grech-Madin 2021 ). In relation to the armed group’s tactics, more research is needed to unpack the role of climate-related environmental factors in the armed group’s recruitment and tactical decisions.

The findings on differing vulnerability and gendered impacts on livelihoods are based on a handful of studies, and intersectional approaches are generally absent in most studies reviewed in the analytic essay. How climate shocks have varying impacts on people based on their gender, age, livelihoods, ethnicity, and combinations of these identities is missing. If marginalization and grievances are key processes of climate-induced conflict, how climate change affects different segments of the population differently needs better understanding.

The relationship between climate change and violent conflict is primarily indirect and varied, cautioning against generalized assumptions. How climate change influences the risk of violent conflict in the MENA region is mediated by political economy, institutional shortcomings, and elite competition. The risk of violent conflict is contingent on pre-existing negative socio-political relationships, types of political systems, and different climate vulnerabilities of various social groups. Gendered climate vulnerabilities need better understanding for establishing the linkage between climate vulnerability and insecurity. Carefully examining existing evidence is important for both over general climate security discussions as well as for the policy discussions on the MENA region, which has remained a focal point of scholarly and policy debates concerning climate security ( Daoudy, Sowers, and Weinthal 2022 , 7).

Disentangling specific climate impacts is also crucial for enhancing government’s climate adaptation and disaster mitigation policies in the MENA region. Civil society representatives from the MENA region have been concerned that states and political elites blame climate change to legitimize inequalities and to devoid accountability ( Selby et al. 2017 ; Kausch 2022 ). As existing research demonstrated, water and food insecurity in the region is driven by a lack of state capacity to properly manage natural resources and the integrity of public institutions in the MENA region.

Future research should pay attention to other types of climate hazards, including floods, heatwaves, and dust storms. Existing research primarily focuses on droughts and precipitation deficits, failing to account for heatwaves and flooding, which also are common in the MENA region. Floods are understudied despite their severe humanitarian impact. For instance, heavy flooding forced more than 84,000 people to displacement in Yemen, 13,000 people in Iran, and 5,000 people in northern Iraq in 2021 ( IDMC 2023 ). How flooding affects livelihood conditions and social vulnerability would be considerably different from droughts. Studies from other regions suggest floods are not associated with communal violence ( Petrova 2022 ). Ultra-heatwaves are likely to worsen without substantial government interventions ( Zittis et al. 2021 ), and their impact on oil exploitation, tourism, and urban areas demands more research. Oil and tourism industries are economic backbones of several MENA countries, and adverse impact on these sectors is likely lead to ripple effects on the society. A decrease in oil production due to extreme heatwaves and dust storms will affect public service provisions by the governments, which can be a source of instability as previous research points out (e.g., Mason 2022 ).

Future research should look at non-violent conflicts, especially protests linked to climate change in the MENA region. There is already a substantial debate on the role of food security in political stability, such as in the Arab Spring ( Werrell and Femia 2013 ; Schilling et al. 2020 ). And few studies focus on under what conditions droughts and floods can lead to non-violent conflicts such as political unrest and protests ( Ide, Kristensen, and Bartusevičius 2021 ; Ide et al. 2021 ). Youth climate activists in the region have demanded their respective governments to take proactive climate actions ( Altaeb 2022 ). Climate change is becoming a politically salient topic, and the MENA region’s civil society has voiced its concerns about the inaction and growing uncertainty about the future. How the region’s climate activism interacts with politics appears to be an important area for future research.

The narrative about climate change and conflict in the MENA region is shaped by both scientific projections but also a “long history of colonial and postcolonial scholarship invoking environmental determinism as an explanation for underdevelopment” ( Daoudy et al. 2022 , 7). This calls for more “open” and critical approaches in researching the climate-conflict nexus in the region. The evidence from existing studies shows that current water and food insecurity in the MENA region are outcomes of domestic politics and institutional shortcomings rather than past climate change. This highlights the importance of governance reforms for enhancing adaptative capacity in the region ( Sowers et al. 2011 ). Improved understanding of how vulnerability to climate change interacts with political systems, institutions, and social relations can inform policy development. This enhanced understanding can equip relevant stakeholders to more effectively anticipate, prevent, and respond to the intricate web of risks entwining climate change and violent conflict, while concurrently enhancing resilience-building efforts.

We adopt SIPRI’s definition of the MENA region, which includes Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), North Yemen (–1990), South Yemen (–1990) and Yemen; (NA) Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. See “Regional coverage,” See SIPRI databases at https://www.sipri.org/databases/regional-coverage .

The search string was the following: AB=((climat* OR "climat* change" OR "climat* variability" OR rainfall OR precipitation OR drought OR "water scarcity" OR "land degradation" OR weather OR disaster OR temperature OR warming OR "sea level rise" OR desertification OR famine OR “soil erosion” OR flood*) AND (conflict OR jihad* OR armed OR insurgen* OR rebel* OR terror* OR violen* OR war) AND ("middle east*" OR “north africa*” OR MENA OR algeria OR bahrain OR egypt OR iran OR Iraq OR israel OR jordan OR kuwait OR lebanon OR libya OR morocco OR oman OR palestin* OR qatar OR “saudi arabia” OR syria OR tunisia OR “united arab emirates” OR yemen OR “western sahara”)).

Here, we use SIPRI’s definition of the MENA region, which includes Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), North Yemen (–1990), South Yemen (–1990) and Yemen; (NA) Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia.

Author’s note : This work is supported by funding from the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs as part of SIPRI’s Climate Change and Security Project and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for SIPRI’s Climate-Related Security and Development Risks Project. We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback for improving the manuscript. We are indebted to Florian Krampe, Farah Hegazi, and Kheira Tarif for their helpful comments throughout the writing process.

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The Regulatory Review In Depth

Assessing Financial Risk Amid Climate Risk

Brian connor.

Scholars urge banks and regulators to adapt financial risk models to respond to climate change.

Climate change presents many challenges across the economy, including increased payout risk for insurers, heightened borrowing costs for vulnerable communities, and massive agricultural losses from drought.

Banks can be exposed to these risks by lending to businesses and investing in assets across different industries and geographies. Stress tests are simulation exercises through which bank management and financial regulators assess how banks are likely to fare when faced with serious risks.

In a recent report , Viral V. Acharya , a professor at the New York University Stern School of Business , and several coauthors discuss how a stress test design that considers climate risk can help assess climate change’s impact on financial stability.

Under Federal Reserve System regulations and the Dodd-Frank Act , large banks must regularly conduct stress tests and report the results of such tests. The Federal Reserve uses this data to set the stress capital buffer requirement, which is designed to ensure that banks hold enough assets to cushion against a downturn.

Although the Federal Reserve has not yet signaled an intention to consider climate risk when developing stress test regulations, the European Central Bank has committed to consider climate change in its financial affairs.

Acharya and his coauthors explore how regulators can adapt the design and implementation of stress tests to incorporate climate risk.

Typically, regulators and bank managers design stress test scenarios by choosing a combination of economic and financial calamities that are known to challenge the resilience of individual banks and the broader financial system. For example, the Federal Reserve uses a “severely adverse scenario” featuring a large hike in unemployment accompanied by a collapse in residential and commercial real estate prices.

But climate change presents a different set of risks.

The Acharya team divides these risks into two types: physical risks and transition risks. Physical risks are related to the direct effects of climate change, such as floods and wildfires. Transition risks are associated with the technological and policy changes governments adopt to shift to a cleaner economy, such as electric vehicle adoption or carbon taxes.

These risks, which are still somewhat speculative and unknown, present difficulties in designing realistic stress test scenarios.

For instance, Acharya and his coauthors describe how aggressive policy changes aimed at preventing disasters will translate to an increase in short-term transition risks but might lead to a decline in long-run physical risks.

To balance short-term and long-run risks, the authors suggest that policymakers consider a variety of risk combinations across a portfolio of different scenarios. The De Nederlandsche Bank , for example, presents one scenario with a technological breakthrough paving the way for more renewable energy, another with a global increase in carbon emissions prices due to public policy measures, and a third with a combination of those scenarios.

Acharya and his coauthors suggest that banks use climate-informed stress test scenarios to model how different climate risks could impact them, and banks can better confront those risks by using stress tests that incorporate climate change.

Consider wildfires. The property damage from wildfires, Acharya and his coauthors explain , might imperil homeowners’ ability to pay their mortgages. A stress test model informed by climate risk would therefore show an increase in credit risk for the bank that holds these mortgages. Homes near the wildfires might also decline in value. This decline would hurt local property tax revenues, which could make it harder for cities and towns to pay off their debts, thus increasing the default risk of the municipal bonds that banks hold. A normal stress test might not be granular enough to identify these specific risks, but a climate-targeted stress test would be.

Climate change can also increase liquidity risk for banks. Depositors often withdraw funds to pay for immediate needs after a natural disaster. As natural disasters increase in frequency, a climate stress test could predict that the bank may struggle to meet its regulatory capital requirements . If a bank’s deposits are concentrated in a particular geographic area—which is often the case—the outcome of the stress test could be even more grave. Knowledge of these risks would encourage banks to geographically diversify.

Finally, if carbon taxes and other transition policies curb growth in carbon-heavy industries, climate-informed stress tests would warn banks with exposure to depositors in these industries that they should account for future liquidity difficulties.

Acharya and his coauthors suggest that U.S. regulators should contribute to research on the climate risks that banks face. Policymakers should invest in developing better ways of estimating the relationships between different risks, which will improve stress test scenarios, Acharya and his coauthors argue .

Some central banks outside of the United States have begun doing this. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and the Bank of Canada have adopted and modified scenarios and predictions from the Network for Greening the Financial System , a consortium of central banks and supervisors.

Climate change presents new risks to many individuals and businesses across the economy. Through deposits, loans, and investments, large banks could find themselves exposed to a combination of risks in the future. By incorporating climate risk into their stress test exercises, regulators and banks will be better equipped to understand emerging threats to financial stability, Acharya and his coauthors conclude .

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Climate change refers to the change in the environmental conditions of the earth. This happens due to many internal and external factors. The climatic change has become a global concern over the last few decades. Besides, these climatic changes affect life on the earth in various ways. These climatic changes are having various impacts on the ...
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Descriptive Essays. Topic: The Impact of Climate Change on Coral Reefs; Introduction Example: Coral reefs, often referred to as the rainforests of the sea, are facing unprecedented threats from climate change. This essay aims to describe the profound impact of rising temperatures and ocean acidification on coral reef ecosystems.
Climate Change Essay
Climate Change Essay. This essay sample was donated by a student to help the academic community. Papers provided by EduBirdie writers usually outdo students' samples. Climate change is a global phenomenon that affects us all. It can be challenging to wrap your head around such a complex issue, but understanding climate change is an essential ...
Climate Change: Causes, Effects, and Solutions
change happens widely because we are burning fossil fuels and that increases gases such as. CO2, methane, and some other gases in the atmosphere" (phone interview). According to the. Australian Greenhouse Office, the world depends on fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural. gas for 80% of its energy needs.
Essay on Climate Change: Check Samples in 100, 250 Words
Essay On Climate Change in 100 Words. Climate change refers to long-term alterations in Earth's climate patterns, primarily driven by human activities, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation, which release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases trap heat, leading to global warming. The consequences of climate change are ...
Summary of Conclusions
Climate change will affect the basic elements of life for people around the world - access to water, food production, health, and the environment. Hundreds of millions of people could suffer hunger, water shortages and coastal flooding as the world warms. Using the results from formal economic models, the Review estimates that if we don't act ...
Steps To Follow While Writing An Essay On Climate Change
Craft the outline and don't go off-topic. Search for keywords. Make a plan. Avoid the most common mistakes from the start. Write an introduction thinking about what you will write later. Develop your ideas according to the outline. Make a conclusion which is consistent with what you've written in the main paragraphs.
6.4 Annotated Student Sample: "Slowing Climate Change ...
Mitigating climate change by reducing and stabilizing the carbon emissions that produce greenhouse gases is the only long-term way to avoid a disastrous future. In addition, adaptation is imperative to allow ecosystems, food systems, and development to become more sustainable. end student sample text
Climate Change Essay for Students in English
Climate Change Essay: Go through the 500+ Words Essay on Climate Change and get ideas on how to write an effective essay on issues related to the environment. Boost your essay writing skills to score high marks in the English exam and also participate in various essay writing competitions.
1,000 Word Climate Change Essay
1,000 Word Climate Change Essay. Climate change in the world can be caused by various activities. When climate change occurs; temperatures can increase a dramatically. When temperature rises, many different changes can occur on Earth. For example, it can result in more floods, droughts, or intense rain, as well as more frequent and severe heat ...
Climate Change Essay
Climate Change Essay - The globe is growing increasingly sensitive to climate change. It is currently a serious worldwide concern. The term "Climate Change" describes changes to the earth's climate. It explains the atmospheric changes that have occurred across time, spanning from decades to millions of years. Here are some sample essays on ...
Our Future Is Now
She wrote this essay on climate change for WR 355/Travel Writing, which she took while studying abroad in Newcastle in spring 2020. Although the coronavirus pandemic curtailed Francesca's time abroad, her months in Newcastle prompted her to learn more about climate change. Terre Ryan Associate Professor, Writing Department. Our Future Is Now
Climate change: transitions to sustainability: 6 Conclusion
6 Conclusion. It is essential that societies seek ways of becoming environmentally sustainable and adaptable to unknowable environmental changes, particularly in the climate. This must happen in the context of globalisation. The concept of sustainability is coming to prominence at a time when established structures of government are being ...
Climate Explained: Introductory Essays About Climate Change Topics
Climate Explained, a part of Yale Climate Connections, is an essay collection that addresses an array of climate change questions and topics, including why it's cold outside if global warming is real, how we know that humans are responsible for global warming, and the relationship between climate change and national security.
Climate Change Argumentation
Summary. Subject (s): Earth Science. Topic: Climate Change and Sustainability. Grade/Level: 9-12 (can be adapted to grades 6-8) Objectives: Students will be able to write a scientific argument using evidence and reasoning to support claims. Students will also be able to reflect on the weaknesses in their own arguments in order to improve their ...
PDF Climate Explained: Introductory Essays About Climate Change Topics
Climate Explained is a collection of short primers that answer diverse climate change questions, including why it's cold outside if global warming is real, how we know that humans are responsible for global warming, and the relationship between climate change and national security. Image 1. Example Climate Explained essays on the Yale Climate ...
Climate Change
Conclusion. Western students believe climate change is real, man made, and actively participate in making environmentally-friendly decisions in their daily lives. It's important to raise awareness of this issue beyond the university population, but knowing Bellingham has a solid understanding of climate change suggests the community cares ...
Climate Change and Violent Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa
This analytic essay contributes to the debate on how climate change affects the risk of violent conflict by conducting a systematic review of the literature directly or indirectly linking climate change of violent conflict focusing on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), a region that has been severely impacted by both. 1 By conducting a ...
'On the Move' examines how climate change will alter where people live
At about 300 pages, the book is a relatively quick read, but Lustgarten's reporting is deep. Leaning on interviews with such high-profile sources as former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and ...
The Role of Geomatics Engineering in Climate Change Studies
Geomatics Engineers acquire, manage, analyse, model and present the geo-spatially referenced data quickly, accurately and reliably. They can classify the derived data with geographic information systems and produce many models according to needs. This study focuses on the role of the geomatics discipline in combatting climate change, the capability of measuring climate change parameters and ...
Assessing Financial Risk Amid Climate Risk
Climate change presents many challenges across the economy, including increased payout risk for insurers, heightened borrowing costs for vulnerable communities, and massive agricultural losses from drought.. Banks can be exposed to these risks by lending to businesses and investing in assets across different industries and geographies. Stress tests are simulation exercises through which bank ...