Climate change is a global and inevitable problem, which is causing a great deal of damage to every bit of aspect of society's life. It is being caused by each person's action, and it will affect every person as well. The contribution of every country on this planet will play a huge role in solving this problem. Therefore, looking at possibilities that Kazakhstan can offer to the global community in overcoming climate change will give humanity one more clue on how to get rid of this annoying problem. Usually, people have difficulties in distinguishing the terms "weather" and "climate," which is why they often don't understand the full scale and importance of the climate change problem. "Weather refers to atmospheric conditions that occur locally over short periods of time—from minutes to hours or days. Climate, on the other hand, refers to the long-term regional or even the global average of temperature, humidity and rainfall patterns over seasons, years or decades"(Shaftel et. al, 2021, para. 1). Climate change has been shifting in the average temperature and weather patterns for a long period time, which used to be due to natural reasons, however since the 19th century, its main cause has been anthropogenic factors, primarily burning fossil fuels, and it results in flood, droughts, catastrophic storms, and rising sea levels. (United Nations, n. d.). The main aspect of climate change is that climate around the world is getting warmer, and that is a fact. "Earth's temperature has gone up about one degree Fahrenheit in the last 100 years, which may not seem like much, but small changes in Earth's temperature can have big effects" (May 2017, para. 9). Also, "Global Sea level rose about 8 inches in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century and accelerating slightly every year"(Shaftel et. al, 2021, para. 1), which is evidence of increasing temperature leading to melting glaciers and as a result rising sea level. One of the reasons why I chose this topic is the personal reason that I have an allergy, which is connected to the air pollution in our city. This problem is also connected to climate change, and I thought that as this topic is close to the problem that I face in my life, I could find a solution to it by doing this research. Also, as we can see from the facts above, consequences of climate change such as rising sea levels are accelerating, and if we don't prevent climate change now, in my view, it will be nearly impossible to do in the future.
Climate Change in Kazakhstan
