WHAT IS CLIMATE CHANGE?

IT’S CAUSES AND

CONSEQUENCES
CONTEN
TS
 MEANING OF CLIMATE CHANGE
 CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE
 CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE
CHANGE
 CONCLUSION
WHAT IS
CLIMATE?

Climate is the average daily weather for an extended

period of time at a certain location.
MEANING CONT.
… Weather reflects
 short term conditions of the
atmosphere, it can change from minute-to-minute,
hour-to-hour, day-to-day and season-to-season.
Climate is the average of weather over time and
space.
 Unlike “weather,” which means temperature, rainfall,
humidity of a particular time at a local area, “climate”
has spatial and temporal components.
 It
consists of many kinds of weather events, their
periodicities, intensities, and nature of dynamism.
 When we talk about climate change, we actually
understand more than the literal changes of weather
events over the time and space of that climate.
Meaning cont.
….
 E.G., changes in ocean current, melting of ice, and loss of
biodiversity are included in climate change; they are not
discussed as conventional events of weather.
 By climate change, we understand detrimental effects in
environment – emission of pollutants, temperature rise,
precipitation change, sea level rise, flooding, intensified
cyclones, abrupt frequency of events, ozone layer
depletion, biodiversity loss, vegetation change, and
drought – almost all negative impacts.
 Climate change is a term that refers to major changes in
temperature, rainfall, snow, or wind patterns lasting for
decades or longer.
 According to Working Group II of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); Climate change refers
to any change in the climate over time, whether
due to natural variability or as a result of human
activity
CAUSES OF
CLIMATE
CHANGE
WHAT CAUSES CLIMATE
CHANGE?
CAUSES OF CLIMATE
CHANGE

1) NATURAL CAUSES ----------- I) Volcanic

eruptions
ii) Ocean current

2) HUMAN CAUSES--------------- I) Human

activities--- Burning of oil, deforestation,
fertilizers
CAUSES CONT.
…
 since the industrial revolution began in 1750
human activities have contributed
substantially to climate change by adding
CO2 and other heat trapping gases to the
atmosphere.
houses gas These greenhave increased
emissions the Earth’s
causing
temperature
greenhouse effect
to surface
rise.
Causes cont.
…
• Earth’s temperature depends on the balance
between energy entering and leaving the
planet’s system.
• When incoming energy from the
sun is absorbed by the Earth
system, earth warms.
• When the sun’senergyis reflected back into
space, earth avoids warming.
• When absorbed energy is released
back into space, earth cools.
• Many factors both natural and human can
cause changes in earth’s energy balance
including :-
Causes cont.
…
a ) Variations in the sun’s energy reaching earth

b) Changes in the reflectivity of earth’s

atmosphere and surface
c) Changes in the greenhouse effect, which affects
the amount of heat retained by earth’s
atmosphere.

 THESE FACTORS HAVE CAUSED EARTH’S

CLIMATE TO CHANGE MANY TIMES.
Causes cont.
…
 Climate Change prior to the Industrial Revolution in
the 1700 can be explained by natural causes, such
as changes in the solar energy, volcanic eruptions,
and natural changes in the greenhouse gas
concentrations.

 Recent climate changes, however cannot be

explained by natural causes alone as most research
indicate that natural causes do not explain most
observed warming especially warming since the
mid-20th century.
 Humans are increasingly influencing the climate and
the earth’s temperature by burning fossil fuels,
cutting down rainforests and farming livestock.
Causes cont.
…
 These human activities release large amounts of CO2
(which is the primary greenhouse gas) in addition to
those naturally occurring in the atmosphere, increasing
the greenhouse effect and global warming.
 Scientists have known that CO2 is one of the main
greenhouse gases of importance to Earth’s energy
balance.

 Since
CO2 is already in the atmosphere naturally, why are
EMISSIONS from human activity significant?
 Human activities have significantly disturbed the natural
carbon cycle by extracting long-buried fossil fuels and
burning them for energy thus releasing CO2 to the
atmosphere.
 CONSEQUENCES
- Expansion of Greenhouse Effect
• The sun’s radiation that strikes the Earth’s
atmosphere in the form of light, Ultraviolet
Radiation (UV) and Infrared Radiation(IR).
• UV radiation has a shorter wavelength and a
higher energy level than visible light, while IR
radiation has a longer wavelength and a weaker
energy level.
• 30 percent of the radiation striking Earth's
atmosphere immediately reflected back out to
space by clouds, ice, snow, sand and other
reflective surfaces,
 CONSEQUENCES
- Expansion of Greenhouse Effect cont. …
• The remaining 70 percent of incoming solar radiation is
absorbed by the oceans, the land and the atmosphere. The
oceans, land and atmosphere release heat in the form of IR
thermal radiation, which passes out of the atmosphere and
into space.

• The exchange of incoming and outgoing radiation that

warms the Earth is often referred to as the greenhouse
effect because a greenhouse works in much the same way.
• Incoming UV radiation easily passes through the glass walls
of a greenhouse and is absorbed by the plants and hard
surfaces inside. Weaker IR radiation, however, has difficulty
passing through the glass walls and is trapped inside, thus
warming the greenhouse.
 CONSEQUENCES
- Global warming
• Gas molecules that absorb thermal infrared radiation, in
sufficient quantity, can force the climate system. These
type of gas molecules are called greenhouse gases

• Examples of greenhouse gasses are Carbon dioxide

(CO2), water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide (N2O), etc.

• The greenhouse gases act like a blanket, absorbing IR

radiation and preventing it from escaping into outer
space.

• The net effect is the gradual heating of Earth's

atmosphere and
surface, a process known as global warming.
 CONSEQUENCES
- Melting of polar ice sheets and glaciers
• Large ice formations, like glaciers and the polar ice caps,
naturally melt back a bit each summer. But in the winter,
snows, made primarily from evaporated seawater, are
generally sufficient to balance out the melting.
• Higher temperatures caused by global warming
have led to greater-than-average summer melting as
well as diminished snowfall due to later winters and
earlier springs.
• Increased heat is also causing the massive ice sheets
that cover Greenland and Antarctica to melt at an
accelerated pace.
• Scientists also believe meltwater from above and
seawater from below is seeping beneath Greenland's
and West Antarctica's ice sheets, causing them to move
more quickly into the sea.
 CONSEQUENCES
- Increase in sea level which results in flooding and
erosion of coastal and low lying areas

• The two major causes of global sea-level rise are

thermal expansion caused by warming of the
oceans (since water expands as it warms) and the
loss of land-based ice, such as glaciers and ice
sheets, due to increased melting.

- Extreme weather

• flooding, forest fires, wildfires, droughts, heat

waves
 CONSEQUENCES
- Risk to human health
• increase in number of heat-related
and cold- related deaths

- Risk for wildlife extinction

• Loss of habitat and species

- Imposes heavy cost on society and

economy
• agriculture, forestry, fisheries,
tourism, infrastructure
To conclude, the changes because of
climate change, include:

 Atmosphere and sea-level

pressure
 Wind fields
 Sea ice drift
 Melting ice coverings
 Change in precipitation
patterns
 Changes in hydrology
 Change in ocean current
 Water mass distribution
 Carbon cycle altered
 Biological systems affected
HOW DOES CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECT
MALAYSIA?
Malaysia is located near the equator and
is generally rather warm with rainfall
throughout the year with monsoon
seasons,
  Malaysia is a Party to
POLICY STATEMENT the UNFCCC and has
Ensure climate-resilient development ratified the Kyoto
to fulfil national aspirations for Protocol.
sustainability 
Malaysia is already
committed under the
With climate change, UNFCCC to, inter
the weather in alia, “formulate,
Malaysia is getting implement, publish and
regularly update
unbearably hot, We national and, where
now get torrential rain appropriate, regional
which is electrifying. programmes containing
measures to mitigate
We go from droughts climate change by
to addressing
floods anthropogenic
emissions by sources
and removals by sinks
of all greenhouse
 Copenhagen Accord commitments : The
Malaysian prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib
announced on 17 December 2009 (at copenhagen)
that Malaysia would cut “40 per cent of its 2005
GDp emission intensity levels by 2020 as its
contribution to combat climate change”. This in
principle commitment has, however, been
undermined by a lack of subsequent action.

 In mid 2009 Malaysia launched its Green technology

strategy, which remains the principal strategy
through which Malaysia intends to meet its carbon
intensity reduction goals.

 The small Renewable Energy power (sREp)

program, in place since 2001, aims to promote
the wider use of the renewable energy resources
available in Malaysia. Eligible renewable energy
sources include biomass, biogas, municipal waste,
solar, mini-hydro and wind. The program allows
for small power generation plants utilising
renewable energy (under 10MW) to sell their
electricity to the utility through the distribution grid
system.
THANK
YOU

Helen Prema Farah Shobah

REFERENC
ES
 Mohammad Ali(2012) Climate Change: What is in the Name,
Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
 EPA, United States Environmental Protection Agency
available at
www.epa.gov/climatechangeApril2010
 NASA Global Climate Change
 European Commission Report
 National Ocean Service, US Department of Commerce
 Livescience