Scientists believe global climate change to be the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced over the course of our existence. But what exactly is climate change? What causes climate change? Why is it a social problem and not just an environmental problem?

Climate change refers to the long-term shift in global and regional temperatures, humidity and rainfall patterns, and other atmospheric characteristics. Unlike changes in weather that occur on a local level that can be measured in hourly, daily, or weekly fluctuations, climate change refers to longer-term fluctuations (both regionally or globally) that take place over a time scale of seasons, years, or even decades.

In the past two centuries, an exponential increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have been released into the earth’s atmosphere, as the chart in figure 5.3 shows. Although there are some natural processes that affect the earth’s climate, such as volcanic eruptions, the vast majority of scientists worldwide attribute the speed at which global warming has recently occurred to human activity, most notably the burning of fossil fuels. Scientists examine ocean sediments, ice cores, tree rings, and changes in glaciers to understand variations in Earth’s climate over time.

Figure 5.3: Atmospheric carbon dioxide and Earth’s surface temperature (1880 – 2019). As you look at this graph, the blue section shows the lower than average temperatures from 1880 until approximately 1940. The section in red shows the increase in average temperatures from 1940 until 2020. Although there have been some hot years and colder years intermingled between 1940 and 1980, average temperatures have only risen since then. These changes are predominantly caused by the burning of fossil fuels – coal, oil, and gas.

One reason for the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the Industrial Revolution, a cause of more than just the revolutionary sociology that we discussed in Chapter 2. Since the Industrial Revolution the concentration of greenhouse gasses is higher than at any other time in the past 800,000 years. This increase in greenhouse gasses is commonly referred to as the greenhouse effect––an imbalance between the energy entering and leaving earth’s atmosphere resulting in a rise in global temperature. Because certain gasses absorb energy, such as carbon dioxide and methane, they trap heat and prevent it from being released into space, causing a rise in global temperature. The burning of fossil fuels is not the only human activity contributing to the greenhouse effect. Other activities such as deforestation, urbanization, and unsustainable agricultural practices are also proven to be contributing to global climate change.

So, climate change is a social problem both because humans are causing the problem and differently impacted by the problem. If you remember the definition of a social problem from Chapter 1, a social problem is a social condition or pattern of behavior that has negative consequences for individuals, our social world, or our physical world. Early sociological definitions of social problems rarely included the phrase “our physical world.” Today, climate change itself drives the importance of adding this phrase.

Climate change is a critical issue no matter how we approach it. Scientists are studying how to minimize the effects it has on people and the environment more broadly, and with any hope, successfully plan for the uncertain future.We need to first examine the various ways climate change is already a threat to societies and communities across the world.

5.2.1 Extreme Weather Events

If you watch or read the news, it seems that somewhere in the world an extreme weather event is taking place almost daily. Many scientists argue that these events are caused or at least made worse by climate change. An extreme weather event is defined by the severity of its effects or any weather event uncommon for a particular location. Some examples of these types of severe and unusual events in the US include Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which killed over 1800 people and caused $125 billion in damage; Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the third-most destructive hurricane ever to hit the nation; and the 2020 and 2021 wildfires that engulfed the West Coast states due to severe and prolonged drought and heat waves.

One of the most serious concerns that Indigenous communities and other residents had about the Jordan Cove Energy Project discussed at the beginning of this chapter was the risk of a highly explosive gas pipeline being placed in a region increasingly inundated by annual wildfires. One of the large fires that swept through southern Oregon in September 2020 was located just a few miles from the planned route of the proposed pipelines, proving that the communities’ fears were warranted.

And, as mentioned by communities of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, climate change and mismanagement of forests will continue to create ripe conditions for unprecedented wildfires. As discussed on the Good Fire podcast, a podcast that explores Indigenous fire ecology, host Amy Cardinal Christianson, Matthew Kristoff, and guest Frank Lake discuss the landscape surrounding fire management:

Wildfire management has long been the domain of colonial governments. Despite a rich history of living with, managing, and using fire as a tool since time immemorial, Indigenous people were not permitted to practice cultural fire and their knowledge was largely ignored. As a result, total fire suppression became the prominent policy. With the most active force of natural succession abruptly halted, Indigenous communities suffered as the land changed. Today, western society has recognized the ecological problem a lack of fire has created, however, the cultural impact has been largely ignored (Lake et al. 2019)

5.2.2 Cultural Loss

Figure 5.4: Salmon returning to their spawning grounds, near Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. In the next section of the chapter we will be discussing what makes up a culture. How might access to salmon shape a culture? How might lack of access impact that same culture?

Many cultures around the world are intimately connected to their environment. Certain foods, medicine, dance, and art are unique to places with particular animals, plants, or climates. With drastic temperature changes, extreme disasters, and loss of biodiversity among plants and animals, people cannot practice many of their customs. This contributes to significant cultural loss around the world.

For example, salmon are an important symbol and food source for Native peoples in the Pacific Northwest (figure 5.4). The imagery of salmon in Native art is used to demonstrate a deep connection to their natural surroundings. However, one effect of climate change is the warming of bodies of waters around the world. Like many fish, salmon require a specific temperature to spawn. As water temperatures increase, salmon are not able to spawn as effectively or at all. This severely impacts species who eat salmon as a staple in their diet as well as Native peoples who practice traditional methods of harvesting, crafting with and cooking salmon.

5.2.3 Climate Change and Poverty: “Those who contribute the least suffer the most”

A common saying in the environmental movement is “those who contribute the least suffer the most”. This means that the poorest people use the least planetary resources, so they contribute to climate change the least. However, they suffer the most from climate change. For example, with Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, people with cars could evacuate. People without cars often couldn’t.

You may have cheered with us as you learned that the Jordon Cove Energy Project pipeline project was shut down. However, the question remains: how else do we generate and transport our energy resources? Part of the answer is that the projects go where the resources exist, and the people are even more powerless to resist.

Climate change impacts people from different social identities and social locations in unequal ways. One unique element of inequality related to climate change is the idea that those who contribute the least to global warming and environmental degradation are impacted the most. To explore this further, we will expand the discussion of socioeconomic class (SES) that we began in Chapter 4.

One example of this occurs in Nigeria, a country on the western coast of Africa. More than 40% of the people in Nigeria live in extreme poverty, defined as living on less than $1.40 per day (Cuaresma 2018). Less than 20% of the people have access to clean fuel for cooking, and less than 60% of the people have access to sufficient electricity. (Our World in Data 2020). At the same time, Nigeria is one of the world’s top exporters of oil. The oil extracting and exporting companies use a practice called gas flaring, burning the waste gas from oil exploration rather than disposing of it in other ways. Poor Nigerians experience rashes and sores because of the toxic fumes. The land does not produce as much food and the drinking water is contaminated. Many people are migrating to bigger cities, but it doesn’t solve the local pollution and emissions problem. One article notes that the women in the Niger Delta are poor because the environmental toxins are poisoning their plants. Women plant cassava to make their flour. However, the cassava roots are dying and the women can’t replace them. (Lawal 2021)

The article “In Nigeria, Gas Giants Get Rich as Women Sink Into Poverty” documents the story with more details, including pictures of the impacts of the gas flares. This example also shows how far the Not in My Backyard (NIMBY) principles that we talked about in Chapter 4, can extend. In this case, the environmental impact occurs on a different continent than most of the people using the oil.