NSBE - Convention 2018 - 49

CLIM ATE

CHANGE

By Cha nc eé Lu nd y Russe ll, St acy W eis f eld and J im ena L ars on, P.E.

resident Barack Obama faced many challenges during his eight years in the
White House, but it was clear that he thought one problem was the toughest.
"No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate
change," he said during his State of the Union address in January 2015, one of
the many times he tried to focus the nation's attention on this topic.
You've probably heard the phrase "climate change" often since then, listening to
news about Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the forest fires in California last
year, for instance. But do you know what climate change is and how it impacts you?

WEATHER AND CLIMATE
To understand climate change, we first need to understand
the difference between weather and climate. Weather is the
short-term conditions in an area, such as temperature, clouds,
precipitation, humidity and wind. Climate is the long-term average of these weather conditions. Think about it this way: the
weather in Honolulu, Hawaii, today is 78 degrees Fahrenheit
and rainy. However, Honolulu's climate during February tends
to be mild (temperatures ranging between 65.4 and 80.4
degrees Fahrenheit) and rainy (average precipitation of 2.35
inches).
Our planet's climate has been constantly changing throughout history, mainly because of variations in the Earth's orbit
that change the amount of energy the planet receives from the
sun. But since the Industrial Revolution began, about 260 years
ago, the planet has been warming at a much faster rate. Why?

radiated back into outer space is being absorbed by the greenhouse gases and is warming the surface of the Earth too much.
This is known as "the greenhouse effect." The world is getting
hotter, as heat-trapping gases are making the atmosphere act
like a greenhouse, and that is causing climate change.

The Earth's atmosphere is composed mainly of nitrogen (78
percent) and oxygen (21 percent). Among the components of
the remaining 1 percent of the atmosphere are gases that trap
heat, enough to make our planet livable. Scientists call these
"greenhouse gases," and they include mainly water vapor
(H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), ozone (O3) and
nitrous oxide (N2O).
The manufacturing processes and manufactured products
made possible by the Industrial Revolution helped people in
many ways. Air conditioning, automobiles, and oil and gas
heat are just a few examples. But those industrial activities and
using those products also involved the burning of "fossil fuels,"
materials such as coal, petroleum and natural gas, which are
the ancient remains of plants and animals. Over the years,
we have added more manufactured "stuff" to our households
that requires burning fossil fuels, things such as automobiles,
personal hygiene products, processed foods, components of our
electronic devices, and more. Burning those fossil fuels releases
greenhouse gases, especially CO2, CH4 and N2O. And as people
have released more and more of those gases by burning fossil
fuels for more than two centuries, we have created a problem.
More and more heat from the sun that normally would have
www.nsbe.org

NORMAALS

'THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT'

WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES?
The effects of climate change are already being felt around
the world. Glaciers, ice sheets and snow cover are decreasing;
oceans are warming up and becoming more acidic; sea levels
are rising; and the number of extreme weather events, such as
hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, wildfires and droughts, is increasing. Last year, 2017, was the second-hottest year since 1880,
according to NASA, with record-setting high and low temperatures in many places. Scientists predict that unless we take
action now, these problems will only get worse.
Engineers are problem-solvers, so this article will give you,
our future engineers, some of the basic information you need
to know about climate change. But just as
CONTINUED ON PAGE 50
| CONVENTION 2018 | 49

http://www.nsbe.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NSBE - Convention 2018