Wednesday, 22 July 2015

Household vulnerability to climate change by Olusegun Ariyo

                                                                                          

We live in an age of rapid change in the global environment, change caused by prolific human activities and unprecedented in   human history. Among-st the most prominent of the change is the alteration of composition of the atmosphere, with the associated consequences for the earth climate. Although, there has been series of event that has resulted to climate change in the past, however, this present is peculiar in that it is anthropogenic ally induced.




 This change is as a result of the   continuing processes of evolutionary change and adaptation that have led to the development of the marvelously diverse communities of organisms over the land and of the surface waters of the earth. When human beings first appeared on the earth and the development of civilization began our collective impact on the process of natural selection and evolution was hardly perceptible.


 But as we increase in numbers and particularly after we learned stored in fossil fuel and apply this energy to the process of urbanization, industrialization and intensive agriculture and forestry, our impact become progressively stronger. Over the century, as a result of this human influence, virtually all ecosystems on earth have being affected. This in turn has altered and transformed the major biogeochemical cycles, such as the global carbon, water and nitrogen cycles.  Almost every human being do on a large scale influences the chemistry of the atmosphere. All countries, regardless of their levels’ of development or type of political system are subject to the adverse effect of climate change variability. Recent studies have shown that industrial countries are no more immune to the impact of climate change than the developing counties.



 In fact, according to sten review committee, it indicates that the poorest developing countries will be worst hit earliest and hardest by climate change even though they contributed little to coursing the problem.  Houses contribute to the global climate change, this is so because it is more than shelter but robust and an all encompassing environmental and systematic view in that the environment as used is more generic to encapsulate all systemic environment that influence  housing. Suffice to ay, it is a collection of characteristic to provide a unique home within any neighborhood and it is thus an array of economic, sociological a psychological phenomena.



 Housing as a sub set of the eco-system utilizes the package of bundle of facilities and utilities and this interrelatedness no doubt affect the environment. Hence, liability for pollution of our planet does not solely rest with the great industrial combines whose facilities spew chemical waste into the air, on to the land, into water and sees. These are all major contributors, but ultimately, it is the house holder who maintains the demand for their product, and who therefore the bears an equal responsibility for the pollution that threaten to ruin our planets. In accordance with this, house hold has created today’s ecological crises. The warning of the earth’s atmosphere as a result of the blanketing effect of carbon-dioxide and other polling gases  is now being taken seriously considering the fact that it is continually been noticed. In an attempt to take aback at history at the start of the 21st century, humanity is becoming a predominantly urban species and this historic development represents a fundamental, systemic change in the relationship between human and nature.




 Human habitats has gone through many phases in its evolution and perhaps now at a point where reversal has become critical. From the cave man era through the age of small huts made from straws and trunks to the age of brick, wood, metal and glass the human habitat has metamorphosed indeed. As population grew and human beings began to organize their societies, so did the size and dynamics of their settlement grow and become sophisticated yet complicated. The socio-economics of climate change to house hold vulnerability has a variety of counts.




The economy is more dependant on climatically sensitive natural resources-natural  eco-systems like forests as well as farming and fishing environmental stress of various kind  is already  acute in many areas as a result of the implication of climate change that is aggravating it many of the adaptation that would be required to reduce cost of this phenomenon must intensify the management of  nature reservoirs , redesign of dams and irrigation systems although may be beyond the resources of many countries poorer countries , this adjustment imposes cost on all.

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