What are the main causes of climate change and how can you reduce them?

As principais causas das mudanças climáticas incluem emissões de gases de efeito estufa provenientes da queima de combustíveis fósseis, desmatamento e atividades industriais. Para reduzi-las, é crucial adotar fontes de energia renovável, promover práticas agrícolas sustentáveis, conservar florestas e implementar políticas globais de mitigação das emissões.

For over 40 years the world has been talking about reducing emissions, but today they are higher than ever. Until we set a global, market-based price on pollution this will not change. This can be achieved by setting legally binding, science-based limits on fossil fuel production, such as for example a 50% reduction by 2030. The free market should then be allowed to set any price on fuel necessary until these reductions are made. Proceeds of the extra revenue should be split between fossil fuel producers as a way to build a "pension plan" for when production falls to zero, and consumers as a refund, i.e. carbon dividend to lessen the economic impact. Producers should be legislated into saving/investing the extra profits vs. paying them out.

Climate change is primarily caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, which trap heat and contribute to global warming. Key GHGs include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and fluorinated gases (F-gases). These gases originate from activities such as burning fossil fuels, agricultural practices, land use changes, waste management, and industrial processes. Mitigating GHG emissions involves adopting renewable energy sources, enhancing energy efficiency, minimizing meat and dairy consumption, reducing food waste, and opting for low-emission transportation methods. These actions contribute to efforts in combating climate change.

It is important to note that GHGs are a variable to climate change due to the abnormal amount of it released into the atmosphere from human activities. Fossil fuels being the greatest source of GHG pollutants. The earth has been through many warming and cooling cycles, of which most were induced by natural or extraterrestrial events. Events such as intense volcanic activity or asteroid impacts can cause rapid changes to atmospheric GHG concentrations. While such events may be beyond our control, our dependence on fossil fuels continues to aggravate our climate change predicament.

This point refers to the land as a thermal sink. The Albedo effect refers to sunlight being reflected from the earth's surface (ice/water/glass). This has become a major climate change variable in our polar regions where sea ice and glaciers would typically contribute to a higher albedo effect, lowering the surface temperature. The warmer climate results in lower sea ice production and loss of glaciers = more sea surface able to absorb more heat from sunlight, further warming the climate system. Thus creating a negative feedback loop. The Albedo effect could also create a detrimental effect by reflecting solar radiation into the atmosphere where it is trapped and accumulated by GHGs, when it would otherwise be dissipated into space.

Yes that is true, every individual has responsibility to act against global warming as possible as we can since we are all responsible for what happening around us. Personal actions might be tiny in one’s perspective but it can do miracle as a whole.

Top five ways to act on climate change as an individual: 1. Do not vote for any politician not willing to take serious, legally-binding action on climate change. 2. Do not fly until planes are climate-neutral. Even one flight can be equivalent to most of your annual emissions. We need to put pressure on the industry to change by not giving them our money. 3. Buy an electric car. They are more expensive up-front, but require much less maintenance and produce no emissions during use. Even if your jurisdiction gets its electricity from fossil fuels, electric cars are much more efficient than burning gasoline in your small engine. 4. Live in a smaller house, and reduce consumption overall. 5. Be a climate conscientious investor.

As long as the fossil fuel industry is using their substantial profits to lobby against action, there will be no success in tackling climate change. The industry needs to understand that it would be better off to push for globally binding limits on production, i.e. global curtailment, in exchange for being allowed to keep a portion of the inevitably immense extra profits that would result from the cost of energy becoming dramatically higher. These extra profits then need to be invested the way Berkshire Hathaway re-invests their insurance profits. This would allow fossil fuel producers to "retire" extremely wealthy over the next 10-20 years and in the process save the planet.