Human Activity Changes Climate 170 Times Faster than Nature

Human activity has 170 times more impact on climate change than nature.

Climate Change is recognized by almost the entire world as a real and dangerous threat, but not many specific details were known regarding how much does human activity does increase the effects of climate change, although it is considered its main cause.

For the first time, scientists were able to develop a mathematical equation which they believe can accurately describe the impact that human activity has on the planet’s climate. Using this equation, the researchers were able to determine that our activity speeds up climate change by a factor of 170 times than the natural process.

The equation used to determine the impact of human activity was published in The Anthropocene Review, and developed by a team of researchers led by Will Steffen, an expert in climate change and a professor at the Australian National University.

Steffen, together with his colleagues and co-researcher, Owen Gaffney, from the Stockholm Resilience Center, developed what they are calling the “Anthropocene Equation” in order to determine the price impact of human activity on climate change. Their work serves as a strong argument against any climate change deniers claiming that the climate changes independent of our activity as a way to downplay any responsibility we have to address the issue.

In their study, the researchers note that while for the overwhelming part of our planet’s history, approximately 4.5 billion years, astronomical and various geophysical factors had the most influence on Earth. However, just in the past six decades, human activity led increasingly rapid change in climate leading to the period known as the Anthropocene. Human activity now rivals and even supersedes some of the forces of nature in shaping in the planet.

According to the scientists, the equation was developed by obtaining a clear picture of the rate of changes in the life-support system of the planet which includes aspects like the overall atmosphere, oceans, wetlands, forests, ice sheets, as well as the diversity of life. In their equation, scientists believe that current geophysical and astronomical forces tend to be zero due to their slow nature or incredible rarity, which have less impact than the overall human activity.

What do you think about the study’s findings?

Image source: Wikipedia

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Nancy Young

When I was younger I used to spend almost all of my free time playing computer games. My mom and dad would go mental over this. “You’re never going to do anything with your life if you are going to play games all day” they used to say. What was even more unusual was the fact that I played more games than most of the guys in my friend group. Looking back, I have to admit that I probably played a bit too much, but I also learned a lot of great things. When I turned 20 I decided that it was high-time to make some money of my own, but the only jobs I could get were that of waitress or cashier. How exciting. After several excruciating months of serving tables I had a great idea: since I love gaming so much, why don’t I write about it? That’s when I started doing small writing projects on Elance. Eventually, I got an offer for a part-time job. During that time I learned all about content marketing strategies and how search engines work. I started writing about various topics such as technology, health and lifestyle and discovered that I was actually good at it. On November 24, 2014, I became part of the ArgyllFreePress team.