Eng. Heba Al- Farra

Climate change is one of the biggest crises facing humanity. So let's all get a grip on exactly what it is.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines it as a change of climate that is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity, altering the composition of the global atmosphere.

The world is getting warmer - because of us!

Human activity includes pollution that arises from industrial activity and other sources that produce greenhouse gases. These gases, such as carbon dioxide, have the ability to absorb the spectrum of infrared light and contribute to the warming of our atmosphere. Once produced, these gases can remain trapped in the atmosphere for tens or hundreds of years!

Earth's temperature goes up and down from year to year, but over the past half century, it has gone up a lot. So it's very clear now to us the pollution in our atmosphere could result in a variety of extreme weather events, and not just warming!

But what are the causes of climate change?

It is mainly resulting from gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases.

Moreover, 97 percent of scientists agree that...

climate change is man-made and real. We know it's happening, and we know why: Carbon pollution is warming our planet and creating dangerous weather events like extreme droughts, flooding, wildfires and super-storms. The effects of climate change are not isolated incidents. When considering the problem of climate change, the world needs to be considered as one ecological system. Do not think in terms of political divides, or the boundaries marked between countries.

What are the effects of climate change?

The projections of future climate change are already happening, and the evidence of rapid climate change is compelling:

* Global temperature rise

* Warming oceans

* Shrinking ice sheets

* Glacial retreat

* Decreased snow cover

* Sea level rise

* Declining Arctic sea ice

* Ocean acidification

* Extreme events

What can we do?

We can do a lot towards our world, beginning with reducing carbon pollution. Right now, scientists tell us that we're on track to see global temperatures rise by up to 4°C by the end of the century. But with a shift to a clean-energy economy, we can still create the sustainable and prosperous future we all want. But we have to act now.

Eng. Heba Al- Farra is an environmental engineer

By Eng. Heba Al- Farra