Discovery of Cimate Change

 History of climate change

Climate change is the long-term alteration in Earth’s climate and weather patterns. It took nearly a century of research and data to convince the vast majority of the scientific community that human activity could alter the climate of our entire planet. In the 1800s, experiments suggesting that human-produced carbon dioxide (CO2) and other gases could collect in the atmosphere and insulate Earth were met with more curiosity than concern. By the late 1950s, CO2 readings would offer some of the first data to corroborate the global warming theory. Eventually an abundance of data, along with climate modeling and real-world weather events would show not only that global warming was real, but that it also presented a host of catastrophic consequences.

Early Inklings That Humans Can Alter Global Climate

Dating back to the ancient Greeks, many people had proposed that humans could change temperatures and influence rainfall by chopping down trees, plowing fields or irrigating a desert.

One theory of climate effects, widely believed until the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, held that “rain follows the plow,” the now-discredited idea that tilling soil and other agricultural practices would result in increased rainfall.

Accurate or not, those perceived climate effects were merely local. The idea that humans could somehow alter climate on a global scale would seem far-fetched for centuries.

The Greenhouse Effect

In the 1820s, French mathematician and physicist Joseph Fourier proposed that energy reaching the planet as sunlight must be balanced by energy returning to space since heated surfaces emit radiation. But some of that energy, he reasoned, must be held within the atmosphere and not return to space, keeping Earth warm.

He proposed that Earth’s thin covering of air—its atmosphere—acts the way a glass greenhouse would. Energy enters through the glass walls, but is then trapped inside, much like a warm greenhouse.

This theory was further explored by the work of Eunice Newton Foote in the 1850s. Foote's experiments using glass cylinders demonstrated that the heating effect of the sun was greater in moist air than dry air. She detected the highest degree of heating occurred in a cylinder containing carbon dioxide. Her work would foreshadow the work of Irish scientist John Tyndall who also zeroed-in on what kinds of gases played the biggest role in absorbing heat.

Experts have since understood that the greenhouse analogy was an oversimplification, since outgoing infrared radiation isn’t exactly trapped by Earth’s atmosphere but absorbed. The more greenhouse gases there are, the more energy is kept within Earth’s atmosphere. 

Greenhouse Gases

But the so-called greenhouse effect analogy stuck and some 50 years later, the work of Eunice Newton Foote offered further insight into how heat could be absorbed in Earth's atmosphere. In the 1850s. Foote's experiments using glass cylinders demonstrated that the heating effect of the sun was greater in moist air than dry air. And she detected the highest degree of heating occurred in a cylinder containing carbon dioxide. Although Foote, an amateur scientist, was never recognized in her lifetime, her work foreshadowed the findings of Irish scientist John Tyndall.

Welcoming a Warmer Earth

Back in the 1890s, however, the concept of warming the planet was remote and even welcomed.

As Arrehenius wrote, “By the influence of the increasing percentage of carbonic acid [CO2] in the atmosphere, we may hope to enjoy ages with more equable and better climates, especially as regards the colder regions of the earth.”

By the 1930s, at least one scientist would start to claim that carbon emissions might already be having a warming effect.

Keeling Curve

Most famous among those research projects was a monitoring station established in 1958 by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography on top of Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory.

Scripps geochemist Charles Keeling was instrumental in outlining a way to record CO2 levels and in securing funding for the observatory, which was positioned in the center of the Pacific Ocean.

Data from the observatory revealed what would become known as the “Keeling Curve.” The upward, saw tooth-shaped curve showed a steady rise in CO2 levels, along with short, jagged up-and-down levels of the gas produced by repeated wintering and greening of the Northern Hemisphere.

The dawn of advanced computer modeling in the 1960s began to predict possible outcomes of the rise in CO2 levels made evident by the Keeling Curve. Computer models consistently showed that a doubling of CO2 could produce a warming of 2 degrees C or 3.6 degrees F within the next century.

How to stop Climate change

Islamic Finance Can Be a Powerful Tool to Boost Climate Action

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports sounded an alarm that without urgent climate action, many parts of Asia and the Pacific may become unlivable within the next three decades. This warning builds on recent climate-related events, such as this year’s devastating floods in Pakistan and Asia’s hottest year on record in 2020, all of which threaten decades of economic and social development gains.

Every dollar that can be mobilized in the fight against climate change is needed. And there is a significant source of funds that has so far only reached a fraction of its climate potential: Islamic finance.

Since its inception in the 1970s, the faith-based Islamic finance industry has grown to almost $3 trillion globally, and its focus on tangible assets offers strong potential to support climate action. The Islamic finance industry is well established in parts of Asia and the Pacific, including Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan, which are amongst the leading countries in the Islamic finance industry globally.

However, there is significant untapped potential, particularly related to increasing household access to banking and increasing the penetration of Islamic capital markets and Islamic social finance products in some countries. For example, more than half of the populations of Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan and Tajikistan do not have an account at a financial institution, according to the global FINDEX database.

Beyond Islamic banking, the penetration of Islamic capital markets in many Asian countries remains small, and modern Islamic social finance products, especially for zakat (compulsory almsgiving) collection, donations (sadaqah), interest-free loans (qard) and endowments (awqaf) have not yet reached their potential. According to UNDP, zakat alone could help mobilize globally $200 billion to $1 trillion annually for the Sustainable Development Goal agenda.

The strategic importance of the climate change agenda for the Islamic finance industry has been recognized by faith leaders, development policy makers, academics and industry experts who jointly issued the Islamic Declaration on Global Climate Change in 2015 calling for a transition of the industry to a green and inclusive finance agenda.

The fossil fuel industry is blocking climate change action

Major oil and gas companies including BP, Exxon and Shell have spent hundreds of millions of pounds trying to delay or stop government policies that would have helped tackle the climate crisis. 

Despite the effects of climate change becoming more and more obvious, big polluting corporations – the ones responsible for the majority of carbon emissions – continue to carry on drilling for and burning fossil fuels.

Industries including banks, car and energy companies also make profits from fossil fuels. These industries are knowingly putting money over the future of our planet and the safety of its people.

The main ways to stop climate change are to pressure government and business to:

• Keep fossil fuels in the ground. Fossil fuels include coal, oil and gas – and the more that are extracted and burned, the worse climate change will get. All countries need to move their economies away from fossil fuels as soon as possible.
• Invest in renewable energy. Changing our main energy sources to clean and renewable energy is the best way to stop using fossil fuels. These include technologies like solar, wind, wave, tidal and geothermal power.
• Switch to sustainable transport. Petrol and diesel vehicles, planes and ships use fossil fuels. Reducing car use, switching to electric vehicles and minimising plane travel will not only help stop climate change, it will reduce air pollution too.
• Help us keep our homes cosy. Homes shouldn’t be draughty and cold – it’s a waste of money, and miserable in the winter. The government can help households heat our homes in a green way – such as by insulating walls and roofs and switching away from oil or gas boilers to heat pumps.
• Improve farming and encourage vegan diets. One of the best ways for individuals to help stop climate change is by reducing their meat and dairy consumption, or by going fully vegan. Businesses and food retailers can improve farming practices and provide more plant-based products to help people make the shift.
• Restore nature to absorb more carbon. The natural world is very good at cleaning up our emissions, but we need to look after it. Planting trees in the right places or giving land back to nature through ‘rewilding’ schemes is a good place to start. This is because photosynthesising plants draw down carbon dioxide as they grow, locking it away in soils.
• Protect forests like the Amazon. Forests are crucial in the fight against climate change, and protecting them is an important climate solution. Cutting down forests on an industrial scale destroys giant trees which could be sucking up huge amounts of carbon. Yet companies destroy forests to make way for animal farming, soya or palm oil plantations. Governments can stop them by making better laws.
• Protect the oceans. Oceans also absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which helps to keep our climate stable. But many are overfished, used for oil and gas drilling or threatened by deep sea mining. Protecting oceans and the life in them is ultimately a way to protect ourselves from climate change.
• Reduce how much people consume. Our transport, fashion, food and other lifestyle choices all have different impacts on the climate. This is often by design – fashion and technology companies, for example, will release far more products than are realistically needed. But while reducing consumption of these products might be hard, it’s most certainly worth it. Reducing overall consumption in more wealthy countries can help put less strain on the planet.
• Reduce plastic. Plastic is made from oil, and the process of extracting, refining and turning oil into plastic (or even polyester, for clothing) is surprisingly carbon-intense. It doesn’t break down quickly in nature so a lot of plastic is burned, which contributes to emissions. Demand for plastic is rising so quickly that creating and disposing of plastics will account for 17% of the global carbon budget by 2050 (this is the emissions count we need to stay within according to the Paris agreement).

• What are world leaders doing to stop climate change?

  With such a huge crisis facing the entire planet, the international response should be swift and decisive. Yet progress by world governments has been achingly slow. Many commitments to reduce carbon emissions have been set, but few are binding and targets are often missed. 

  In Paris in 2015, world leaders from 197 countries pledged to put people first and reduce their countries’ greenhouse gas emissions. The Paris agreement has the aim of limiting global warming to well below 2ºC and ideally to 1.5°C. 

  If governments act swiftly on the promises they made in the Paris climate agreement, and implement the solutions now, there’s still hope of avoiding the worst consequences of climate change.

• Here are different ways you can be part of the climate solution:   

• 1.Spread the word

• Encourage your friends, family and co-workers to reduce their carbon pollution. Join a global movement like Count Us In, which aims to inspire 1 billion people to take practical steps and challenge their leaders to act more boldly on climate. Organizers of the platform say that if 1 billion people took action, they could reduce as much as 20 per cent of global carbon emissions. Or you could sign up to the UN’s #ActNow campaign on climate change and sustainability and add your voice to this critical global debate.

• 2. Keep up the political pressure

• Lobby local politicians and businesses to support efforts to cut emissions and reduce carbon pollution. #ActNow Speak Up has sections on political pressure and corporate action - and Count Us In also has some handy tips for how to do this. Pick an environmental issue you care about, decide on a specific request for change and then try to arrange a meeting with your local representative. It might seem intimidating but your voice deserves to be heard. If humanity is to succeed in tackling the climate emergency, politicians must be part of the solution. It’s up to all of us to keep up with the pressure. 

• 4. Rein in your power use

  If you can, switch to a zero-carbon or renewable energy provider. Install solar panels on your roof. Be more efficient: turn your heating down a degree or two, if possible. Switch off appliances and lights when you are not using them and better yet buy the most efficient products in the first place (hint: this will save you money!). Insulate your loft or roof: you’ll be warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer and 5. Tweak your diet

• Eat more plant-based meals – your body and the planet will thank you. Today, around 60 per cent of the world’s agricultural land is used for livestock grazing and people in many countries are consuming more animal-sourced food than is healthy. Plant-rich diets can help reduce chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer.