PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (April 22, 2020) – Although the vast majority of people are currently sheltering at home and indirectly reducing their carbon footprints this Earth Day, one Prairie View A&M University faculty member is aiming to inform the public of the importance of recognizing the effects of climate change.
Ram Ray, Ph.D., P.E., an associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Human Sciences, who has experience in teaching natural resources conservation management, climate and hydrology, and environmental engineering, has been researching climate change since 2012.
“Climate change was a critical issue for many decades, and will remain a crucial issue for many decades in the future until we work together on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at an acceptable level,” he said.
According to Ray, weather refers to atmospheric conditions that occur at the local scale for a short period of time, for example, minutes-to-hours-to-day. Climate, meanwhile, refers to a long-term (decades or longer) mean temperature, humidity, rainfall patterns and other climatic parameters at the regional or global scale.
“To be consistent with the definition, as per IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change], climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns, which may be due to natural internal processes, or persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or land use,” he said.
Climate change effects are observed through extreme weather events such as hurricanes. Because of climate change, these events have become more intense and more frequent, including prolonged periods of heat, floods, wildfires and droughts. Warmer weather also causes sea levels to rise and ice to melt.
Ray says climate change also affects the living world, including human health; for example, frequent and intense heat events exacerbate heat-related diseases and fatalities. Ocean water is also becoming warmer and more acidic, which affects the ecosystem and marine life.
“Focusing on climate change this Earth Day is a good idea because people should care about climate change, as it is extremely important to have food security, clean air, water and environment, and, most importantly, life and health security along with protection for future generations,” he said. “Everything on the earth is increasing, except natural resources. All living things depend on natural resources, which are essential for food, water and shelter. Therefore, the impact of climate change on human beings is a two-fold issue, one of which directly impacts human health and lives and another, which has an indirect effect through natural resources.”
Ray says one policy that can help to curb climate change is carbon pricing, which puts a price on carbon emissions. This is because it would give financial incentives for GHG emitters to emit less.
Ram Ray, Ph.D., P.E.,
“The biggest thing that needs to be done is increasing awareness of climate change,” Ray said. “When more people and communities understand climate change, the more they will practice climate change measures, which ultimately will help in mitigation and adaptation to climate change.”
People can try to implement and practice all possible measures which help in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, by living green (i.e., “reduce, reuse and recycle”), planting trees, driving less and driving smart, Ray says.
“I think we should take climate change seriously,” he said. “This does not mean we completely stop all activities that are responsible for increasing greenhouse gas emission, but we must have to work on in a direction so that there should be a balance between GHG emission and uptake. Human-induced climate change is projected to continue, and it will significantly increase if global emissions of GHG continue to increase.”
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By Emilia Benton