Responses to Climate Change

Introduction

The term climate means the average state of the atmosphere and ocean on scales from a few years to millions of years. 'Climate change' occur due to external factors such as the amount of incoming solar radiation or internal factors, such as human activity (anthropogenic change) or natural influences (Woodward, 2008). In recent years, the term "general climate change" is used in the context of global warming and the rise in temperature on the surface of the Earth , but are considered scenarios causing cooling the Earth's surface (e.g., due to the reflection of solar energy by increasing the cover of clouds and atmospheric aerosols)

Causes of climate change are the subject of intensive research. The next report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) clarifies the current state of knowledge about the causes of climate change. The IPCC report, the report of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the report published by the G8 states that most of the observed temperature changes over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities. In the years 1906-2005 the observed changes in temperature near the Earth's surface were 0.74 ± 0.18 ° C. Between 1990 and 2010 there was as much as 12 hottest years (Kajfez , 2009).

Discussion

Despite the large number of studies reviewed by the IPCC, there is a debate (mainly media and only partly scientific) about the possibility that man is influencing more less or almost nothing in the climate of the Earth , caused by the increasing politicization of the debate. An example is the Republican minority report of the U.S. Senate in January 2009 to the Environment Committee, which produced a list of 650 scientists who dissented from anthropogenic temperature changes on Earth.

First we explain the oldest of the ways that humans have had to change their environment: convert forests into fields. Then comes, the arise of the Industrial Revolution and, finally, the most frightening of the mechanisms which is the nuclear war (Bush, 2007).

One of the main challenges posed by climate change is to prepare and adapt to uncertainty. The impacts associated with the increasing size and frequency of weather events are not only difficult to predict, but require both immediate responses to mitigate and relieve, and the adjustment of practices and behaviors that minimize or prevent the future.

Reconciling then the response needs in the short and long term future uncertainty with the urgency of adapting to change, especially in vulnerable contexts characterized by poverty and inequality?

Responses to Climatic Change

Adaptation strategies to climate change, increasingly urgent in regions like Latin America, should consider the multi-dimensionality of these challenges. And before them, both the ability to innovate and respond creatively, as the ability to learn from experience and knowledge of both traditional and new, are key factors.

What tools do we have for it?

Amid the current boom in the Information Society, we must consider the potential of Information Technology and Communication (ICT) in response to the challenges posed ...