For this assignment, I was given the task to depict The West Coast. In my picture, I have included the 4 different spheres which are, Atmosphere, Geosphere, Hydrosphere and Biosphere. The West Coast region included the province we live in which is British Columbia. British Columbia is known for its beautiful scenery like mountains and lakes. I wanted to show that. The main challenge of this assignment was utilizing the Carbon Cycle and representing the biotic and abiotic factors in my region.

Biotic Factors: Bear, Deer, Beaver, Fish, Trees, Fossil Fuel

Abiotic Factors: Cloud, Sun, Soil, Rocks, Water, Air

My picture has represented all the things I have listed above and included the Carbon Cycle with gigatones.

Fossil Fuels such as Coal and gas are huge contributors to climate change worldwide, they take over 75% of the global greenhouse emissions, 90% of which is all Carbon Dioxide emissions.

Causes of Warming Climate in West Coast:

The thing that is causing the Warming climate is actually the nature. These are natural changes in the wind that don’t involve the humans. They are responsible for the warming on land and sea that is along the West Coast of North America.

Other factors like manufacturing goods, generating power and transportation are big contributors to the climate change in the west coast. TO make items like cement and steel, the manufacturing industry creates a lot of harmful emissions. Mining and other instrudies also release these harmful gases. All the machines used in the process require coal, oil or gas. Excessive use of this can be dangerous. Plastic is another cause to these greenhouse emissions. The reduction and control over the manufacturing industry can significantly bring down these emissions.

The more transportation you use, the larger the carbon dioxide emission is. The majority of carbon dioxide emissions related to energy come from transportation. In addition, statistics suggest that over the next few years, energy use for transportation will rise significantly.

Effects of Warming Climate in West Coast:

Rising Sea levels, Rise in temperature and reduced snow are just a few effects due to the warming climate change. The high temperatures are quite noticeable in B.C. This is because as greenhouse concentration rises, the global surface temperatures rise too. Reduced snow is another problem as it is the natural provider of water. Less snow affects water availability resulting in less water for agriculture and ecosystems. It also increases sea levels due to the melting ice sheets. This could lead to the endangering inhabitants on islands and in coastal areas.

There are several factors causing these unfortunate events. If we work together as a community and take simple measures to reduce our carbon emission, we can gradually d=fix these issues.

Sources:

West Coast warming linked to naturally occurring changes – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

Causes and Effects of Climate Change | United Nations