Global change
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Global change is the term used to encompass multiple environmental and ecological changes. Global change encompasses the study of climate change, species extinction, land use change, as well as many other areas. Many university courses are titled Global Change.
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[edit] Human impact
One of the tenets of global change is that Humanity is the leading cause of changing environmental conditions on Earth. Our growing hunger for resources and exploitive economic system is damaging the world ecological infrastructure.
Some of this impact could be reduced if instead of an exploitation model, where each interest group uses the environment, natural resources, andwildlife as rapidly as possible for profit would change to a replacement or even a "less than replacement" model, where people harvest less than is replaced by the environment, allowing wildlife to multiply, and in the long term for yields in fields such as fishing to go up.
[edit] Global warming
The average atmospheric temperature of the world overall is rising, which is known as global warming. The rise in temperature is due in part to an increase in greenhouse gasses, incuding water vapor, methane and carbon dioxide which trap heat in the atmosphere. The major contributor to C02 emissions are industry and cars since the use of fossil fuels releases trapped carbon dioxide.
Global warming has been connected to changing weather patterns, El Niño, and rising sea levels. The severity of hurricanes is also becoming worse.
[edit] Coral health
Corals have been affected by too much fertilizer. They are also affected by increasing temperatures due to global warming. A rise in even 1 degree Celsius can cause the coral to bleach and die. They are extremely sensitive to their environment and temperature change.
