Effects of Climate Change

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by

James Walters
in
Effects of Climate Change

Here we look at the Effects of Climate Change; Flooding; Drought; Wildfires; and Food. This is part of our series on helping climate change by Growing, Eating, and Living in a Way That Could Be Sustained Forever.

Welcome to part 3 of our mini series on climate change.

In this mini series, we’re covering everything from what is climate change, the causes, the effects, and how you can help to stop climate change.

If you already know that it’s important to do something about climate change, here are the things that you can do:

  1. Check out #VoteWithOurMoney with 6 Steps to Help Stop Climate Change
  2. Try the Sustainability Roadmap with 40+ Solutions to Climate Change
  3. Use the Company Directory to Help You Grow, Eat, and Live Sustainably

If you want some more facts before making any decisions, let’s get into the details:

In part 1 we covered What Is Climate Change? and in part 2 we covered the Causes of Climate Change

For part 3, we’re looking at the effects of climate change.

We’ll focus on climate change caused by human activity, which is the cause for the current climate crisis.

Flooding Is One of the Effects of Climate Change

As the planet heats up, more ice melts, and more water evaporates from the ground, soil, and plants, which puts more moisture into the atmosphere. That moisture turns into rain.

The result is more severe rain, more extreme weather. We’ve all already experienced this extreme weather, at home and in news reports from other countries.

But why does flooding actually happen?

Well, part of why climate change is happening is because we’ve cut down too many trees, and we farm in a way that degenerates the soil.

When soil is degenerated it can’t absorb water quickly, and it can’t hold as much water.

When there’s rain, water hits the ground and just runs off into ditches, streams, and rivers.

As the soil is already degraded, the rain carries away topsoil.

That topsoil ends up in ditches, streams, and rivers.

That soil then helps to block ditches, streams, and rivers.

The water has nowhere to go, which gives us floods.

Let’s also not forget that:

“Water, not carbon, is the primary greenhouse gas, and that water is responsible for most of the heating and cooling dynamics of our blue planet.”

— Walter Jehne, Soil Microbiologist and Climate Scientist

So, if water is the primary greenhouse gas, by cutting down trees and destroying soil, we’re releasing more water and speeding up climate change, which, in turn, heats up the planet to melt more ice and evaporate more water.

I’ll cover solutions to flooding in the next part of this mini series.

Drought Is Another Effect of Climate Change

Drought is an effect of climate change because we’ve cut down trees and destroyed soil.

As the planet heats up, more water evaporates into the atmosphere.

When it rains, the soil isn’t able to absorb the water, and there are no trees and plants to hold the water.

That gives us drought.

We’ve all experienced droughts. Either with hosepipe bans or on the news where we see countries with desert conditions.

By 2040, Waterwise expects more than half of our summers to exceed 2003 temperatures, which means more water shortages.

If you think that some areas of the planet always used to be deserts, areas like the Central Valley of California or The “Fertile Crescent” in the Middle East, well, you’d be wrong.

The Central Valley of California used to be lush with life, and The “Fertile Crescent” in the Middle East was the birthplace of civilization because of its vast resource of fertile topsoil.

I’ll cover solutions to drought in the next part of this mini series.

Then There Are More Wildfires

Natural fires and controlled burning are an important part of nature. They help to clear areas so that new growth can emerge, keeping the ground clean and plants healthy.

However, when we cut down natural forest and use that space to create plantations of monocultures, we create unhealthy environments.

Trees are planted too closely together, which means there’s more fuel for wildfires. It also means that plantation trees are less healthy, because there is no biodiversity, and this means the trees have more chance of dying. Dead wood burns more easily.

Wildfires aren’t reported that much in the UK so let’s consider an area that has recently been in the global news, California.

Since the 1980s, more than 1/7th of California has burned in wildfires.

Wildfires are high-intensity, super fires, that cause nothing but damage. Wildfires bake and destroy the soil and seeds. Wildfires are so intense they’re either difficult or impossible to stop.

California is a long way from the UK, so why does that affect us?

Well, our weather is global. More wildfires in California means more water evaporating into the atmosphere, more CO2 from burning wood, more climate change and global heating.

I’ll cover solutions to wildfires in the next part of this mini series.

We Need a Stable Climate for Food and Water

Flooding, drought, and wildfires may seem like big issues that aren’t connected to each of us, but, if the climate is unstable, if soil is degraded, then how can food be grown and fresh water be available?

The Met Office predicts that in future the UK will see:

  1. Winters that are warmer and wetter
  2. Summers that are hotter and drier
  3. Weather extremes that are more frequent and intense

Every One of Us Can Help Stop Climate Change

We still have time to take action and help stop climate change.

The next goal in the climate crisis is to halve global emissions by 2030.

By changing how we live, where we keep our money, how we spend our money, we can all play our part in stopping climate change.

Here’s one example of how changing the food that we buy can reverse climate change:

  1. The FAO says there are 12.1 billion acres of grasslands and cropland
  2. If everyone used carbon-building practices [i.e. biodynamics or regenerative] on those acres
  3. We could remove 50 ppm of carbon from the atmosphere, in under 5 years!
  4. That gets us very close to the target of 350ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere
  5. That can happen if we buy food produced using regenerative farming

The most important event in the history of climate change is happening in November 2021, the UN Climate Change Conference Glasgow. What I, you, everyone of us do has an impact on climate change and the decisions that governments make. We don’t need to wait for governments to tell us what to do. We can all make changes to the way we live and how we spend our money, showing that we prioritise people and planet, and those changes will encourage or force businesses and governments to change too.

In the next 6 parts of this mini series, I’ll cover how to stop global warming and how to stop climate change, and I’ll give you the ideas and solutions of what you can do.

Want To Get Updates About This Mini Series?

You can get updates about this mini series by Subscribing to Our Newsletter, Subscribing to Our Podcast, or Subscribing to Our YouTube Channel.

Here Is What You Can Do

Want to Continue Your Journey?

Where Next?

There is so much inspiring information to give you ideas of how to help climate change by growing, eating, and living sustainably, you can:

  1. Read Our Articles
  2. Sign-Up to Our Free Email Newsletter
  3. Get Started and Vote with Your Money
  4. Try the Sustainability Roadmap
  5. Use the Company Directory
  6. Support Nafford Junction

Help Us Inspire Others

If you are passionate about helping climate change, please consider supporting Nafford Junction, you can:

  1. Become a Patron to Give Regular Contributions
  2. Buy Me a Coffee to Make a One-Off Contribution
  3. Create for Us and Publish Thought Provoking Content
  4. Become an Inspiring Leader and Advertise with Us
  5. Go to NaffordJunction.co.uk/support

Sources Used to Create This

  1. Why Communities Should Invest in Regenerative Agriculture and the Soil Sponge
  2. Save Water – Waterwise
  3. Fertile Crescent
  4. Cultural Burning
  5. Met Office Predicted Future Weather
  6. Why 350?
  7. UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) at the SEC – Glasgow 2021
  8. The Top Statistics that Reveal the Environmental Damage of Water Wastage Worldwide

Production Notes

This was produced by me, James Walters, as a personal project to help stop climate change by inspiring others to grow, eat, and live sustainably.

Any advice given is the opinion of those involved and does not constitute medical, financial, or legal advice.

* We include links we think you will find useful. If you buy through those links, we may earn a small commission. It’s one way to support our work and to inspire as many people as possible.