Causes and effects of climate change on the world
Executive Summary
This purpose of this report is to highlight the main causes and effects of climate changes around the world. Climate change can be linked back to two major causes, natural causes, and more profoundly, human activity. Some examples of these are solar and orbital variations, ocean circulation, deforestation and mass consumption of fossil fuels. As a result of climate change, sea levels are rising, devouring low lying coastal lands.
This report also examines some propositions from the Australian Government, on how to slow down this daunting yet inevitable calamity. The Australian Government is taking the initiative to control carbon dioxide emissions by encouraging households to “cool it”, in hopes of slowing down rapidly rising sea levels, and preserving Australia as a whole. In addition, clean air is beneficial to the health of all Australians. However, this project is a huge investment, it cause the higher cost in business, especially transportation.
In addition, a brief environmental analysis was done on the Intercontinental Hotel , Sydney. The Intercontinental Hotel, Sydney has put into practice an EMS (Environmental Management System) in response to the financial crisis. This system concentrates on the efficient use of Energy, Waste, Water and the betterment of the community. Intercontinental Sydney has been continuously investing to sophisticate their system, as they're aiming to improve their triple bottom line. The implementation of EMS can reduce the use of energy, create a superior product image.
Although systems like the EMS are not feasible in any household, families can still make an impact in the battle to delay global warming by taking up their social responsibilities in preserving the environment. More over it is vital that large organizations and businesses start gearing towards environmentally friendly methods of operation, otherwise, the environment in which the business operates and the business itself will diminish.
1. Introduction
Climate Change is a significant issue around the world. “Climate is always changing, but it is now so at an unnatural pace” (Tim 2006). The change is in such a fast pace that professional around the globe claim that it could damage our world. It affects our community, the human health, economic prosperity and many other aspects. It also influences the tourism industry seriously. For example, in Australia alone, some tourist attractions are disappearing or will disappear due to the change in climate. Because of this, people nowadays are paying more and more attention to environmental protection.
The main cause of climate change is human activities. The advancement in technology raises people's standard of living and the rate of resource utilization. People are asking for more resources, and many of them are wasted. The burning fossil fuels also contributed to this unnatural change in climate. Lots of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases are emitted when fossil fuels are burnt. Currently, more than 7 billion tons of carbon dioxide is emitted globally each year and the amount is increasing year by year.
The purpose of this report is to discuss the causes and effects of climate change on the world, with focuses on Australia. Besides, the effects of implementing pollution reduction schemes on tourism industry in Australia are also covered. In addition, an analysis is performed on the environment management program of the Intercontinental Hotel and how the financial crisis has affected the hotel. The information in this report was gathered from both primary and secondary sources, including the internet, journal databases, corporate websites and lecture notes.
2. Causes and effects of climate change on the world
2.1. The cause of climate change
Climate change is the long term seasonal changes. (Department of Ecology 2007) It can be divided into 2 categories - natural cause and human activity.
Natural:
The earth's tilt
The change of the earth's tilt (obliquity) between 22.5° and 24.5° can influence the climate variation. A larger tilt results in a greater variation of climate (e.g. a colder winters and warmer summers). (Pidwirny, M. 2006)
Solar variations
When the sun's magnetic activity increases, it radiates more heats with many sunspots. Although these changes represent only a tiny percentage of the sun's total energy output, it can produce a significant change in the earth's heat balance (Parliament of Australia 2008).
Volcanoes
Volcano activities also have significant effects on climatic patterns. When a volcano erupts, which may last for only a few days, large volumes of sulphur dioxide (SO2), water vapor, dust and ashes will be throw out to the atmosphere. (Pidwirny, M. 2006)
Human Activity:
The world population has now exceeded 6700 million compared to only 978 million in 1800. Because of the huge growth in population, demand for resources (e.g. coal, oil, natural gas, fresh water, crops, fish etc.) also increases relatively. (BMJ medical publication of the year 2008)
Electricity is the main source of power in urban areas. People need electricity at homes, for transportation and at work. The most common way of producing electricity is by burning fossil fuels. According to the Energy Supply Association of Australia, over 80% of the current electricity production is from non renewable energy source (e.g. Black coal, brown coal, natural gas and oil). When blazing these non renewable energy sources, a lot of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere. These carbon dioxide act like glasses of a greenhouse and trap solar heat within the earth. (State Government of Victoria 2009). Therefore, when there is more and more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it will be more difficult for solar heat to get out from the earth, causing global warming, i.e. the earth becoming warmer.
Deforestation
Forests store large amounts of carbon, both in living trees and within the soil in the form of decaying plant matter. Green plants in forests also absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide by performing photosynthesis. However, when these forests are logged or burnt, the carbon stored will immediately be released to the atmosphere, increasing the amount of greenhouse gases and accelerating the rate of climate change. (Greenpeace UK n.d).
2.2. Impacts of climate change on the world
Climate change is a very serious problem that it can change our world. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are accelerating Global Warming. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), it indicates that the air temperature of the world's surface has risen an average of 0.6°C during the past 100 years. (Lisa 2008). Because the earth is becoming warmer, there are lots of consequences that human has to bear.
Sea level
As a result of the increasing of world's surface temperature, the ice land in both the North and South Pole has melted and the sea level is rising unceasingly. Between 1961 and 2003, the average rate of sea level rise is 1.8 ±0.5mm per year. In the 21st century, the rising rate is even worse (Bates et al 2008). It brings flooding to coastal areas frequently, sometimes even swallows up the lower land. Some destinations are disappearing due to the continual rise of sea level, such as the Maldives (One World UK 2008).
Human health
“Some scientists have suggested that a warmer world will be a sicker world.” (BBC Weather Centre 2007). The change of temperature facilitates the spread of diseases and illnesses, greatly affecting lives of people. The change in climate will also affect human health through natural disaster, bringing heatwaves, floods and droughts, all of which promotes death and diseases. (World Health Organization 2008)
Ecosystem and Wildlife
Climate change can influence the habitats of animals. When the sea level rises, the land areas are reduced. Thus, habitats of animals will disappear. Also the rising in temperature affects crops yield and causes problems along the food chain (BBC Weather Centre 2007).
Seasonal duration
In places with four distinctive seasons, each season should share 3 months among the 12. However, because of global warming and other climate changes, many places are having a shorter winter and may experience less snow in winter.
2.3. Focus on Australia
In Australia, climate change is a significant problem. If the sea level keeps rising, it will have serious impact on coastal communities and economies. It also affects the tourism industry because many of the great scenery and tourist attractions are destroyed, for example the Great Barrier Reef (SquareCircleZ 2006).
Another problem caused by climate change is the frequent bushfire occur in Victoria. Not only did it kill a large number of people, air quality is also affected.
The Australian government has taken actions to mitigate the problem of climate change. Examples are the white paper on pollution reduction scheme and other suggestions from the IPCC are also considered.
3. Effects of the proposed pollution reduction scheme on Australia Tourism
In Australia, tourism is a very important source of income. However, climate change poses threats to the tourism industry. A beautiful scenery or tourist attraction is very important to tourism industry. The increase in greenhouse gases has destroyed and will destroy a lot of these attractions. These natural resources are not replaceable. Therefore, the Australian Government should take more actions in protecting the country's natural assets.
The pollution reduction scheme is one of the suggestions for reducing emission of carbon dioxide for mitigating the problem (White Paper 2008). Of course saving the environment is beneficial to the tourism industry, there are some disadvantages. Below describes the advantages and disadvantages posed by the scheme.
After the implementation of the white paper, the Australian Government gives lots of help to control the emission of carbon dioxide. As proposed, the air pollution index would be decreased, which is better to human health. In addition, it is expected that the number of tourist will be increased as the pollution of air will no longer be a concern to tourist. When carbon dioxide emission is reduced, it can help lessening the effects of global warming and the rising in sea level. The rise in sea level continuously make some destinations in Australia vanishing. When there is less traveling spots, tourists are less likely to choose Australia as their destination. Therefore by lessening the effect of global warming and decelerating the rise in sea level is an important job for Australia. Having a protection policy will also attract more eco tours.
On the other hand, businesses need to invest more in order to achieve the targets of the pollution reduction scheme. Businesses will have to employ more professionals and advanced technologies, which will incur a higher cost. According to the white paper, transportation contributes the most of the carbon dioxide emission. A huge amount of money will be needed to improve the current situation, for example the promotion of using hybrid cars etc. Some of the increase in transportation cost will be borne by consumers and tourists. It would make tourists pay more on their trip and may deter these tourist choices of destination.
4. Environment Analysis of Intercontinental hotel
The hotel industry can be the international leader for environment management. Not only will improve the industry's image, it will also help save costs and benefit the community. The Intercontinental Hotel realizes this responsibility and opportunity and therefore, implemented different environmental policies to their hotels. Although investing into environmental protection projects requires a large amount of money, the IHG is still willing to invest in it. They are developing the hotel in a sustainable way by focusing on 4 aspects: Energy, Waste, Water, and Community (IHG 2009).
In terms of the first aspect “Energy”, The IHG understands that burning fossil fuels will cause global warming. To decrease the contribution of greenhouse gases especially carbon dioxide, the IHG invests in energy efficient products (energy efficient light bulbs). Energy consumption is also reduced by different means. For example the lights and equipments in rooms will operate only in the presence of a key card. Environmentally friendly options are also provided for the customers. The IHG is also actively developing the use of sustainable power sources, e.g. wind and solar power.
On the “Waste” aspect, a waste management system which uses recycled materials is also implemented. In this way, amount of waste going to the landfill is also reduced. For the use of “Water”, the IHG hotels are using water efficient showerheads. And they will collect the rainwater instead of the tap water. With all systems implemented, experience of customers are not reduced but optimized. Finally, the IHG works closely with local communities to protect the environment and promote a green culture.
In addition, the hotel is educating guests and staff to preserve the environment. Notes are made to staff to remind them the rules of protecting the environment. Also, newspaper will only be provided to the guests who have requested in order to save paper. The Environmental Management System of the IHG is of high quality and this system won the award “Innovator Award in CSR”.
5. The effects of the financial crisis on environmental operations for the hotel
The financial crisis has caused shrinking of many businesses, some even closed down. While other hotels are starting to reduce or stop the investment in environmental protection projects, the Intercontinental Hotel hasn't cut down any investment but rather perceived it as their responsibility.
The IHG also consider the long term benefit brought by environmental operations rather than the short term. Therefore, the IGH is still willing to invest in EMS. The IHG thinks that the EMS will help build up a better brand image of the company. It will also act as a way of promotion to the group as nowadays people are paying more and more attention to the protection of environment. Although profit may be influenced by the crisis, the IHG can still use this as a promotion strategy and draw more customers.
Environmental protection is not only important to the industry, it is also very important to the community. If the hotel is paying efforts together with the community on environment protection issues, the hotel and the community understand each others' needs better and can build a closer relationship with the community. In this way, a better image of the hotel is perceived, and local tourists or businesses will put the hotel as the first priority for vacation or holding business meetings.
6. Conclusion
To conclude, climate change is very damaging. It is mainly caused by natural and human activities. The emission of carbon dioxide contributed to the acceleration of global warming and brings about lots of other issues, such as the rising sea level, endangering human health, ecosystem and wildlife.
It is obvious that climate change is a huge threat to the world. Due to the fact that tourism depends highly on the health of environment, the tourism industry is one of the most heavily affected industries. For the hotels, although the cost of implementing an environment management system is very high, the long term benefits EMS brings about is even more. Implementing EMS is a long term policy, hotels should feel obliged to environmental protection and have corporative responsibility (CR). The benefits from EMS include the reduction in energy consumption, a better brand image, and a closer relationship with local communities.
The environment is irreplaceable. No matter which party you are representing, both businesses and communities are responsible to protect the environment.
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