Climate change and our responsibilities as chemists
For almost all of 4.5 billion years, natural forces have shaped Earth’s environment. But, during the past century, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, which has had enormous benefits for humans, the effects of human activities have become the main driver for climate change. The increase of atm...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2014-01-01
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| Series: | Arabian Journal of Chemistry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878535213003444 |
| _version_ | 1811212244162183168 |
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| author | Bassam Z. Shakhashiri Jerry A. Bell |
| author_facet | Bassam Z. Shakhashiri Jerry A. Bell |
| author_sort | Bassam Z. Shakhashiri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | For almost all of 4.5 billion years, natural forces have shaped Earth’s environment. But, during the past century, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, which has had enormous benefits for humans, the effects of human activities have become the main driver for climate change. The increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by burning fossil fuels for energy to power the revolution causes an energy imbalance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing planetary emission. The imbalance is warming the planet and causing the atmosphere and oceans to warm, ice to melt, sea level to rise, and weather extremes to increase. In addition, dissolution of part of the carbon dioxide in the oceans is causing them to acidify, with possible negative effects on marine biota. As citizens of an interconnected global society and scientists who have the background to understand climate change, we have a responsibility first to understand the science. One resource that is available to help is the American Chemical Society Climate Science Toolkit, www.acs.org/climatescience. With this understanding our further responsibility as citizen scientists is to engage others in deliberative discussions on the science, to take actions ourselves to adapt to and mitigate human-caused climate change, and urge others to follow our example. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T05:25:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-97c2ff7d52bd4d758d9e56729bbfcfa5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1878-5352 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T05:25:47Z |
| publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Arabian Journal of Chemistry |
| spelling | doaj.art-97c2ff7d52bd4d758d9e56729bbfcfa52022-12-22T03:46:18ZengElsevierArabian Journal of Chemistry1878-53522014-01-01715910.1016/j.arabjc.2013.10.004Climate change and our responsibilities as chemistsBassam Z. ShakhashiriJerry A. BellFor almost all of 4.5 billion years, natural forces have shaped Earth’s environment. But, during the past century, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, which has had enormous benefits for humans, the effects of human activities have become the main driver for climate change. The increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by burning fossil fuels for energy to power the revolution causes an energy imbalance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing planetary emission. The imbalance is warming the planet and causing the atmosphere and oceans to warm, ice to melt, sea level to rise, and weather extremes to increase. In addition, dissolution of part of the carbon dioxide in the oceans is causing them to acidify, with possible negative effects on marine biota. As citizens of an interconnected global society and scientists who have the background to understand climate change, we have a responsibility first to understand the science. One resource that is available to help is the American Chemical Society Climate Science Toolkit, www.acs.org/climatescience. With this understanding our further responsibility as citizen scientists is to engage others in deliberative discussions on the science, to take actions ourselves to adapt to and mitigate human-caused climate change, and urge others to follow our example.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878535213003444Climate changeClimate scienceCarbon dioxideFossil fuelsResponsibilityGeochemical |
| spellingShingle | Bassam Z. Shakhashiri Jerry A. Bell Climate change and our responsibilities as chemists Arabian Journal of Chemistry Climate change Climate science Carbon dioxide Fossil fuels Responsibility Geochemical |
| title | Climate change and our responsibilities as chemists |
| title_full | Climate change and our responsibilities as chemists |
| title_fullStr | Climate change and our responsibilities as chemists |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate change and our responsibilities as chemists |
| title_short | Climate change and our responsibilities as chemists |
| title_sort | climate change and our responsibilities as chemists |
| topic | Climate change Climate science Carbon dioxide Fossil fuels Responsibility Geochemical |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878535213003444 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bassamzshakhashiri climatechangeandourresponsibilitiesaschemists AT jerryabell climatechangeandourresponsibilitiesaschemists |