Canada's Response to Climatic Change

Canada's Response to Climatic Change

Introduction

Will Canada's effort be enough to adapt and mitigate the change in climate? This paper aims to answer this resounding question by comparing two relevant sources that highlight some of the efforts that Canada has made on the issue, also determining whether they are enough to help the country in adapting to the rapid climatic changes. The two sources that have been chosen for comparison in this essay are 'Climate change: the science and the policy' by David King and 'Canada's Action on Climate Change' from the Government of Canada website.

Discussion

Although Canada has made significant efforts to facilitate adaptation to rapid climatic changes, leading pundits on the subject are in two minds on whether these efforts are enough to enable the country reduce greenhouse gas emissions by adapting to global warming impacts and mitigating the harmful effects of climatic change in the long run.

Causes

The two sources that have been used in this essay start by identifying a wide range of factors for climatic change around the world. For instance, the 'Canada's Action on Climate Change' on the Government of Canada website states that the leading causes of climatic change can be classified in to human-made and natural. The source singles out solar output, earth's orbit around the sun and radical changes in volcanic activity as the leading natural causes of climatic change.

As for the human-made causes for climatic change, the website cites increasing levels of nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as the leading human causes, relating the increase to human activities such as burning of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil. The website also explains how human attempts to convert land for agriculture and forestry have played an equally significant role in climatic change.

In comparison, David King, Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the Office of Science and Technology, writes in his article that the leading factors for climatic change are human activity as well as national fluctuation. He explains how the sustained increase in global warming is directly related to increased emission levels of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and water vapour into the atmosphere.

Impacts

The website is very comprehensive in its summary of the leading health as well as environmental impacts of climatic change. It explains how a substantial increase in human activity has led to an increase in the level of heat-trapping gases into ...