Natural Disasters, Climate Change

Are everyday weather anomalies signs of global climate change? Are we really able to affect the climate of the Earth, or is sustainable development only a fading myth?

Climate disasters - in the past, present and future?
The atmosphere of the Earth is a very slow-response system which is hard to throw out of its dynamic equilibrium. Natural disasters affecting not just a limited area but the whole planet occur only every few hundred million years. These events, such as asteroid impacts or extremely violent volcano eruptions, trigger global climate changes. Nonetheless, the biosphere is also influenced by the activities of living beings, as sometimes they have played a key role in the regeneration process after the devastation of a global disaster. It seems, however, that the development of human civilisation in its present form directly leads to the climate losing its equilibrium. The carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is continually growing, which results in global warming, the rise in ocean temperatures, etc. The conflict between man and nature threatens a global climate disaster.

The media reports on devastating storms, weather anomalies and floods every day. Are we already witnessing the signs of a radical and global climate change? Or is it only the beginning of a long process and we can still do something, we can stop harmful processes through a reasonable management of natural resources ("sustainable development")? Some think that the effect of human activity on global systems is negligible. They claim we cannot influence the changes in the Earth's climate to a significant extent. Our climate underwent changes in the past as well, with alternating warmer and colder periods (including ice ages).

What do you think? Are we at the beginning of a climate disaster caused by mankind? Or do you think that, from a statistical perspective, the extremities we are witnessing are not direct signs of a global change? Or do you agree that man can have only a negligible influence on climate? Vote or write your opinion in the related forums! By filling in the test above you can participate in an online game. At the Researchers' Night in the House of the Future on 22 September gifts in connection with Encompass will be distributed among those giving correct answers and the forum's most active participants.

Have your say and join in discussions in the FORUM! (in Hungarian language)
Large-scale natural disasters which trigger global climate change, such as asteroid impacts or extremely violent volcano eruptions, occur every few hundred million years. At the same time, the biosphere is also influenced by our natural environment. It seems that the wasteful behaviour of man is enough to throw the Earth's climate out of its global equilibrium. The media reports on devastating storms, weather anomalies and floods every day. Have we been witnessing the signs of a radical and global climate change in the last few decades? Or is the development of human civilisation sustainable through a reasonable management of natural resources? Some think that the effect of human activity on the Earth's climate is negligible, as already before the emergence of our civilisation there were colder and warmer periods in the history of the Earth.

Related lectures of Encompass:

Judit Bartholy: The Changes in Climate - Certainties and uncertainties
Attila Meskó: Questions of the Sustainability of Life on Earth
Ernő Mészáros: The Habitable Planet
István Láng: Environmental Protection - Sustainable Development
László Somlyódi: From a Brook to the Ocean - Water: the Challenge of the Future