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THE EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIALIZATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Conference Paper · September 2011

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 Fulbright Alumni Association of Nigeria 10th Anniversary Conference
Development, Environment and Climate Change: Challenges for Nigeria
University of Ibadan, 12 – 15 September 2011

THE EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIALIZATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Chigbo A. Mgbemene
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
chigbo.mgbemene@gmail,com , +234 8034263781

Abstract
Industrialization has always seemed to be the key to wealth and better living but in
reality, it has been shown that, although it leads to better conditions of living, it affects
our environment and ultimately contributes to climate change. Industrialization not only
involves technological innovations, it also involves economic and social transformation
of the human society. With industrialization come opportunities as well as challenges.
The challenges include coping with higher temperatures, more extreme weather
conditions, changing human life styles and changing philosophies. Due to these
challenges, industrialization must take into account climate change and its consequences
for example, changing human life styles and philosophies have major impact on our
environment and this has to be considered. This article examined the links between
industrialization and climate change and attempted to address some arguments which
always come up when the effects of human beings on climate change is discussed.

Keywords: industrialization, technological innovations, climate change, higher

temperatures, changing human life styles.

Introduction

The clamour towards industrialization has been because of the opportunities it holds. The
opportunities revolve around improved food production, improved infrastructure to
increase ecotourism opportunities, more efficient conservation and use of resources, more
efficient means of transportation, reducing dependence on fossil fuels and natural wood
fuels and so on. These are some of the indices for measuring the success of a nation. In
effect, industrialization always seemed to be the key to wealth and better living but in
reality, it has been shown that, although it leads to better conditions of living, it affects
our environment and ultimately contributes to climate change.

Industrialization has been described as the process of transformational change of the

human society socially and economically from an agrarian society into an industrial one.
It generally involves technological innovations and is a part of a wider modernization
process, where social change and economic development are closely related with these
technological innovations [1]. According to Sullivan and Sheffrin in [2], industrialization
is the extensive organization of an economy for the purpose of manufacturing.
Manufacturing has always involved large scale usage of energy and alteration of natural
systems from their pristine states. It has further been stated that industrialization

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Development, Environment and Climate Change: Challenges for Nigeria
University of Ibadan, 12 – 15 September 2011

introduces a form of philosophical change where people obtain a different attitude

towards their perception of nature, and a sociological process of
ubiquitous rationalisation [1]. From the above statements, it could be said that
industrialization involves mainly technological innovations, economic and social
transformation.

Climate change can be described as the persistent change in the weather pattern
engendered by anthropogenic activities. One of the major drivers of climate change is the
global warming. According to Shah [3], put simply, global warming and climate change
refer to an increase in average global temperatures.

The causes of climate change have been a serious subject of international debates. There
is a consensus that the climate is changing but there has not been an agreement as to the
causes. Both natural events and human activities are believed to be contributing to an
increase in average global temperatures. There has not been an agreement as to whether
humans are the chief culprits or not but one thing has been shown to be certain- humans
have some effect on the global climate and heightened human action has contributed to
the alteration of the face of the earth.
External
factors
Internal
factors

Figure 1: Factors that influence the Earth's climate [4]

Emphasizing on the natural causes of climate change, Pidwirny [4] stated that external
and internal factors could lead to changes in the state of the earth’s climate system (Fig.
1). External factors involve effects from extraterrestrial systems. For example, an external
change may involve a variation in the sun's output which would externally vary the
amount of solar radiation received by the earth's atmosphere and surface. Internal factors
involve ocean, atmosphere and land systems, for example, internal variations could be
due to changes in the concentrations of atmospheric gases, mountain building, volcanic

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Development, Environment and Climate Change: Challenges for Nigeria
University of Ibadan, 12 – 15 September 2011

activity, and changes in surface or atmospheric albedo. A study of past episodes of

climate change has found evidence to suggest that only a limited number of factors are
primarily responsible for the climate change on the earth. These factors include:
• Variations in the Earth's orbital characteristics.
• Atmospheric carbon dioxide variations.
• Volcanic eruptions
• Variations in solar output [4].
These support the view that climate change is mainly due to natural effects.

Global warming has been generally agreed to be caused primarily by the emission of
greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide
(N2O)), chlorofluorocarbons and other chemicals into the atmosphere [5]. The
accumulation of these gases in the atmosphere results in heightened “greenhouse effect”
which leads to global warming with local temperature, humidity, wind speed,
precipitation, soil moisture and sea level anomalies, it has also been recorded to have led
to global cooling in some previous era [6]. On the other hand, an increase in aerosols in
the atmosphere, also due to industrial emissions, cools the earth through a reflection of
solar radiation back into space [7].

The greenhouse effect is a natural effect which helps prevent excessive loss of heat from
the earth’s surface. Without that effect, the earth would have been a lot colder and might
have been less habitable for humans, animals and plants. It has been postulated that the
earth’s surface would have been about 33oC colder than it currently is [8, 9]. However, if
the greenhouse effect becomes stronger, then more heat gets trapped than needed, and the
earth might again become less habitable. This is where the effects of industrialization
keys into the climate change equation.

Increase in the greenhouse effect and the devastation of the earth surface have been
shown to be as a result of human activities. The human activities mentioned here are
linked to human efforts towards industrialization. The objective of this write up therefore
is to show that humans in the bid to become industrialized have as well adversely
affected the environment exacerbating the climate change effects.

Carbon dioxide, other greenhouse gases and human activities

There are six main types of gases which create the greenhouse effect. They are carbon
dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) (which is twenty times stronger than
carbon dioxide in greenhouse effect) hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons
(PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). Water vapor also has the ability to create a
greenhouse effect, so it is also considered a greenhouse gas.

Although carbon dioxide is not the most potent of greenhouse gases, it is the most
significant one. Studies carried out over a long period on climate change have shown that
there is a link between the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and mean
global temperature. Carbon dioxide, like water vapor and methane, is able to absorb the
longwave radiation emitted from the earth’s surface and re-emitting it back to the earth’s

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Development, Environment and Climate Change: Challenges for Nigeria
University of Ibadan, 12 – 15 September 2011

surface. The net result of this process of absorption and re-emission of longwave back to
the earth's surface is the increase in the quantity of heat energy in the Earth's climatic
system [4]. Again studies have shown that the oceans are the storehouse of carbon
dioxide and that they controlled the movement of this gas to and from the atmosphere.
The oceans cover more than 70% of the earth surface; this implies a large storage of
carbon dioxide. But the amount of carbon dioxide that can be held in oceans is a function
of temperature. Carbon dioxide is released from the oceans when global temperatures
become warmer and diffuses into the ocean when temperatures are cooler. Global
temperatures have been shown to be affected by the variation in the sun's output. So
putting these together, it implies that naturally, this type of greenhouse gas would be
pumped into the earth’s atmosphere even without the presence of humans.

Although carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere by natural action, increasing
evidence of human contributions to this is becoming clearer. Human activity has caused
an imbalance in the natural cycle of the greenhouse effect and related processes. In
addition to the natural fluxes of carbon through the earth system, anthropogenic activities
like fossil fuel burning and deforestation, are also releasing carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere.

Apart from burning fossil fuels, other ways by which humans effectively move carbon
dioxide rapidly into the atmosphere include the release of carbon dioxide during blast
furnace refining of iron ore and other base metals, and during smelting processes. During
mining of coal, oil refining and when burning these fossil fuels for transportation, heating,
cooking, electricity, and manufacturing, more carbon dioxide is released than is being
removed naturally through the sedimentation of carbon, ultimately causing atmospheric
carbon dioxide concentrations to increase. As we have to eat, we must embark on
agriculture. But by clearing forests to support agriculture, we are transferring carbon from
living biomass into the atmosphere [10]. Trees sequester carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere during the process of photosynthesis to form carbohydrates which are used in
plant structure/function and pump oxygen back into the atmosphere as a byproduct. Trees
therefore act as a carbon sink by removing the carbon and storing it as cellulose in their
trunk, branches, leaves and roots while releasing oxygen back into the air [11].

It could then be seen that by these actions, humans are adding ever-increasing amounts of
extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. As a result, atmospheric carbon dioxide
concentrations are higher today than they have been and the rate of increment has
accelerated in the last century as shown in Fig 2.

Human activities have also led to increases in the concentrations of other greenhouse
gases and other pollutants in the atmosphere. During coal mining, methane gases are
released. Also during production and transport of natural gas and oil, methane gas is
emitted and methane gas has been shown to be twenty times more potent than carbon
dioxide. Methane is also emitted during the decomposition of organic waste in municipal
solid waste landfills, and from livestock droppings. Nitrous oxide emission occurs during
agricultural and industrial activities as well as during combustion of solid waste and
fossil fuels. Halocarbons (hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and

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Development, Environment and Climate Change: Challenges for Nigeria
University of Ibadan, 12 – 15 September 2011

sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)) are also very powerful greenhouse gases and are not naturally
occurring. They are emitted during the melting and processing of polymers and polymer-
base materials and also in a variety of industrial processes. Certain industrial processes
such as cement production, waste management systems, and refrigeration, foam blowing
and solvent use cause the release of the other greenhouse gases.

Figure 2: Global carbon dioxide concentration (1744-2005) [4]

Rise in global temperature

Since keeping of records began, it has been observed that global temperatures actually
fluctuate from year to year but then, a trend has been observed in it. The trend is clearly
upwards. A global rise in temperature has been recorded since then. An estimated
increase in temperature during the past century was between 0.4oC to 0.8oC with the ten
warmest years occurring within the last fifteen years [12]. In historic terms, this is a large
increase in global mean temperature. Although it is uncertain how much of this warming
can be attributed to greenhouse gases, there is evidence that human activities are causing
an enhanced greenhouse effect or global warming. And according to Press and Siever
[13], “An international panel of scientists appointed by the United Nations reported in
1995 that part of the global warming of 0.5oC that occurred in the twentieth century was
due to human activity.”

Figure 3 shows the trend of global warming expressed in terms of temperature anomaly.
“In the 1880 - 1935 period, the temperature anomaly was consistently negative. In
contrast, since 1980 the anomaly has been consistently positive. The 1917 temperature
anomaly (-0.47oC) was the lowest year on record. Since 1917, global temperature has
warmed, with the most recent years showing the highest anomalies of +0.6 oC in the past
120 years [3].” Incidentally, this corresponds to the period of heightened human
activities. In fact, studies have also shown that the resulting increase in global

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 Fulbright Alumni Association of Nigeria 10th Anniversary Conference
Development, Environment and Climate Change: Challenges for Nigeria
University of Ibadan, 12 – 15 September 2011

temperatures is attributable to human activities which have changed the chemical

composition of the atmosphere through the built up of greenhouse gases and have caused
most of the warming over the last 50 years. Fossil fuel burning is the dominant driving
force of the enhanced greenhouse effect which causes the rise in temperature. This has
been on the increase as more energy is being required by the growing population of the
earth.

Figure 3: The Trend of Global Warming (Adapted from [3])

Industrialization and emissions

In light of the presentations above, heightened human activities have been shown to have
led to increase in global temperatures causing climate change. The human activities in
question have been the human’s bid to improve its lot by making use of the available and
abundant natural resources and processing them into products which will improve the
quality of life and standard of living. Incidentally, in doing this humans have altered the
balance of nature and triggered off a near calamitous situation on earth.

In the past two centuries, human activities took a different turn towards the use of
machines and the mechanization of processes which were erstwhile performed by hand.
The result was technological innovations, rapid transformation of economies, territorial
expansions, unprecedented population growth, emergence of urban areas, and
transformation of the global social system and so on. That was the beginning of the
industrial revolution.

The industrial revolution began about 1850 in the United Kingdom. This revolution
spread throughout western and northern Europe due to the limited amount of arable land
and the overwhelming efficiency of mechanized systems. Increased productivity along

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 Fulbright Alumni Association of Nigeria 10th Anniversary Conference
Development, Environment and Climate Change: Challenges for Nigeria
University of Ibadan, 12 – 15 September 2011

with boost in incomes characterized the industrialized nations. This accumulation

of capital allowed investments to be made in the conception and application of new
technologies, enabling the industrialization process to continue to evolve [1]. Systems
which burned carbon based fuels – coal, oil and natural gas proliferated leading to further
need to prospect for such fuels to power those systems.

Ever since the industrial revolution, humans have tremendously increased the rate of
alteration of the climate and the environment through changing agricultural and industrial
practices. The population growth which accompanied the industrial revolution worsened
the matter because more agricultural lands and development of new cities (urbanization)
were needed leading to massive deforestation and changing of the environment. This
population explosion also meant more people burning fossil fuels to satisfy their energy
requirements. About 98% of carbon dioxide emissions, 24% of methane gas emissions
and 18% of nitrous oxide emissions are due to fossil fuels burned to run cars and trucks,
heat homes and businesses and power factories. But quite a significant share of emissions
is due to increased agriculture, deforestation, landfills, industrial productions and mining
[9].

Figure 4 shows the trend of the atmospheric carbon dioxide, based on the comparison of
atmospheric samples contained in ice cores and more recent direct measurements. This
provides evidence that atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased since the Industrial
Revolution [3].

Figure 4: Projection of the atmospheric CO2 trend based on ice core samples [3].

Figure 5 compares the trends in atmospheric concentrations and anthropogenic emissions

of carbon dioxide. It clearly shows the sharp rise in atmospheric concentration of carbon
dioxide beginning from the industrial revolution period [14]. This could only be due to
the increased emission as a result of the industrialization.

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 Fulbright Alumni Association of Nigeria 10th Anniversary Conference
Development, Environment and Climate Change: Challenges for Nigeria
University of Ibadan, 12 – 15 September 2011

It has been shown that the industrialized nations emitted more carbon dioxide than the
other nations. In fact records have it that in 1997, the United States emitted about 20% of
the total global greenhouse gases. Up until 2007, the US was the world’s largest emitter
of greenhouse gases in terms of total output but when measured per capita, the US still
remains the largest emitter and accounts for some 40% of industrialized country
emissions (Fig. 6). Due to its much longer period of industrialization, the US has emitted
far more into the atmosphere than China. This is a serious situation because greenhouse
gases such as carbon dioxide linger on in the atmosphere for decades [3, 9].

Figure 5: Trends in atmospheric concentrations and anthropogenic

emissions of carbon dioxide [14]

USA

EU

CHINA

RUSSIA

JAPAN

INDIA

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

CO2 Emissions (million metric tons per year)

Figure 6: Carbon dioxide emissions of industrialized nations [9].

The grim reality of the relationship between industrialization and climate change is
captured here in the statement by World Resources Institute quoted in [3] that,

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 Fulbright Alumni Association of Nigeria 10th Anniversary Conference
Development, Environment and Climate Change: Challenges for Nigeria
University of Ibadan, 12 – 15 September 2011

“…there is a huge contrast between developed/industrialized nations and poorer

developing countries in greenhouse emissions, as well as the reasons for those
emissions. For example:
• To date, industrialized countries account for roughly 80% of the carbon
dioxide buildup in the atmosphere.
• Annually, more than 60% of global industrial carbon dioxide emissions
originate in industrialized countries, where only about 20 percent of the world’s
population resides.
• Much of the growth in emissions in developing countries results from the
provision of basic human needs for growing populations, while emissions in
industrialized countries contribute to growth in a standard of living that is
already far above that of the average person worldwide.”

Challenges of industrialization in terms of global climate change

The effects of the emissions are not restricted to only those nations which emit them, but
are extended to even the unindustrialized nations. So the effects of industrialization of the
western world are felt as far as in the developing worlds of Africa and Asia. These effects
could be described in terms of opportunities and challenges. The opportunities that arise
from industrialization are well known for example economic transformation which results
to better amenities, improved standard of living; accumulation of capital and so on. The
challenges include coping with higher temperatures, more extreme weather conditions,
ecosystem impacts, rising sea levels, increasing ocean acidification, changing human life
styles and changing philosophies. More details on this could be found in [3], [13], United
Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports and other accounts
on climate change. Sadly, the developing countries are affected most by these challenges.

Economic transformation involves the exploitation of natural resources. This exploitation

affects the environment for example; mining has been linked to instability of the earth
surface as well as emission of the obnoxious gases, leading to climate change and
environmental changes. With industrialization always and obviously comes urbanization.
This is the rising of settlements which evolve into large towns to serve and house factory
workers. With such developments, businesses grow and thrive in such places leading to
population growth. This results in large movement of human beings and resources.
People leaving in the surrounding areas have to leave their family in order to come to
work in the towns and cities where the industries are found. The nature of that economic
environment eventually introduces changes in the behaviours of the residents of that
urban area.

Changing human lifestyles and philosophies have major impact on our environment.
Industrialization widens the gaps in different classes of people in the society and leads to
changes in life styles for example in the United Kingdom, with mechanization,
productivity was boosted and incomes increased. This formed a class of industrial
workers who had more money to spend than their ‘agricultural cousins’. They spent this
on items such as tobacco and sugar and in effect, they changed their life styles.

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 Fulbright Alumni Association of Nigeria 10th Anniversary Conference
Development, Environment and Climate Change: Challenges for Nigeria
University of Ibadan, 12 – 15 September 2011

Human behaviour and social transformation lead to environmental change. According to

the UN on population growth; the world population was put at 5.7 billion in 1995 and, is
expected to double by 2050. It is projected that 95% of this population growth will be in
the developing world. The earth has finite resources and from these, the doubling
population is expected to be fed and sheltered. Industries will draw on these to provide
the basis for transportation, recreation and all other aspects of high standard of living.
The use of these resources is largely responsible for the pollution level today. In some
places, garbage produced from cities has blocked natural water ways causing flooding in
some other places. The use of resources with little or no control is a serious and growing
encroachment by humankind on the interacting systems of the earth’s atmosphere,
hydrosphere and land surface [13]. Oil spillages have devastated human habitations.
Shimmering oil has the ability to reflect heat and this effect contributes to the higher
atmospheric temperatures in such places.

In the developing world where regulations are lax and level of ignorance high,
industrialization spells higher level of pollution, uncontrolled exploitation and inability to
link up between non-performances of social responsibilities to non-functionality of
systems. For example, in Nigeria, with the introduction of the plastic packaging,
indiscriminate dumping of such wastes has led to blockage of drainage channels, flooding
in some of the areas, rapid growth of malaria cases and other water borne diseases. This
is purely due to poor social behaviour. Oil exploration and exploitation have spelt doom
to those living in the Niger Delta region in Nigeria.

Change in people’s philosophies has accounted for a lot of irresponsibility where

accumulation of wealth becomes the only goal of a people particularly in the developing
nations. No care is given to the consequences on the environment. This is largely due to
ignorance and the inability to establish a link between our lifestyles and the impact they
have on our human environment. For instance, since the democratization of Nigeria, the
general idea has been that of freedom of the people to do as they liked. The attitude to
established laws guiding disposal of wastes have been any thing but right. Established
agencies for the protection of the environments in most parts of the country have not been
as up and doing as they should be. Industrial wastes are no longer taken care to be
disposed of properly. This is leading to a near health and environmental disaster in the
nation. For example in Lagos State which is the most industrialized part of Nigeria,
although the established agencies are working very hard, the attitude of the populace to
waste disposal both, industrial and domestic, is not yet right. Pollution level of the
environment is still very high and the canals serve as refuse disposal channels. The result
is the constant annual flooding of the state with a very disastrous one occurring in July
2011. Again, with very low power supply from the national electricity grids, industries
and the massive population had to rely on electric power generators which burn fossil
fuels. This has resulted in very high level of air and water pollution with the effect that
the average temperature of the area, longer periods of rainfall and flooding are on the
increase. These are certainly the effects of longer period of spewing the greenhouse gases
into the atmosphere.

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 Fulbright Alumni Association of Nigeria 10th Anniversary Conference
Development, Environment and Climate Change: Challenges for Nigeria
University of Ibadan, 12 – 15 September 2011

Unless the people’s philosophies and industrial attitude to the environment, waste
disposal and to lifestyles changed the detrimental effects on the climate will continue to
be experienced.

How do we encourage industrialization and still manage the climate change?

Increased industrialization cannot be encouraged without considering the account of

climate change and its consequences. What measures should be taken?

The United Nations has established a body -an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) comprising hundreds of climate scientists around the world and they have
released major, definitive reports detailing the progress in understanding climate change.
Their report summarized that they were even more certain than before of human-induced
climate change because of better scientific understanding. They have made some
recommendations based on their findings and deductions. From the outset they
recommended that there be emission reductions. Their recommendations have been
mainly in terms of mitigation of the effects and adaptation to the climate change.

Currently, there are mitigation measures being taken to cut the net emissions of
greenhouse gases and so reduce climate change effect but there is need for adaptation to
the climate change since some of the causes are natural. Adaptation needs to be begun
immediately so we can keep up with the predicted shifts in conditions. According to
Morofsky [6], effective mitigation of and adaptation to the impacts of climate change
require a common set of response priorities. Water and energy efficiency are of primary
importance, followed by pragmatic and future oriented reviews of standards, codes,
regulations and other practices. Measures to assess risk and manage durability need to be
developed and integrated into practice. Emergency preparedness and response programs
need to be further improved. Finally, there is need to develop regulations and standards of
professional practice designed to protect the environment at the same time as protecting
the public and its infrastructure from increased weather hazards.

Some aspects of mitigation and adaptations which need to be imbibed to reduce the
consequences of the climate change effects are [6, 15]:
1. Develop approach and practices for protecting and improving existing
construction against effects of climate change.
2. Develop designs, operations and maintenance of buildings and machines.
3. Revise existing codes such as climate data to take into consideration the present
realities.
4. Develop and adapt energy saving technologies.
5. Adopt clean and renewable energy usage.
6. Reduce the use of natural resources; rather emphasize the use of industrial by-
products.
7. Reduce waste at the design stage.

In effect, while industrialization is encouraged, it must seriously consider aspects of

mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

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 Fulbright Alumni Association of Nigeria 10th Anniversary Conference
Development, Environment and Climate Change: Challenges for Nigeria
University of Ibadan, 12 – 15 September 2011

Conclusions

According to [14] who put it succinctly,

“Greenhouse gases are accumulating in Earth’s atmosphere as a result of human

activities, causing surface air temperatures and sub-surface ocean temperatures
to rise. Temperatures are, in fact, rising. The changes observed over the last
several decades are likely mostly due to human activities, but we cannot rule out
that some significant part of these changes is also a reflection of natural
variability.”

Climate change resulting from the enhanced greenhouse effect due to heightened
industrialization has been presented to have widespread consequences, causing: sea-level
rise and possible flooding of low-living areas; melting of glaciers and sea ice; changes in
rainfall patterns with implications for floods and droughts; and changes in the incidence
of climatic extremes, especially high-temperature extremes. These effects of climate
change have been shown to have impacts on ecosystems, health and key economic
sectors such as agriculture, and water resources.

It has been shown by the IPCC reports that industrialized nations have emitted far more
greenhouse gas emissions although some developing nations are also now increasing
theirs in the bid to industrialize. It has been proven by the IPCC reports that it was the
emissions from rich countries that accumulated in the atmosphere for so long to trigger
climate change.

Despite the 16 nearly annual international conferences on climate change i.e. United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (or, COP
for short) so far, there has still been little progress on reducing emissions. Worse still, the
industrialized nations, who are actually the main polluters (at the COP16—Cancún
Climate Conference held in Cancún, Mexico in December 2010), managed to reduce their
commitment to reduction of emissions while increasing those of the developing countries.

The natural carbon cycle and human-induced climate change differ in that the latter is
rapid. This means that ecosystems have less chance of adapting to the changes that will
result and so the effects felt will be worse and more dramatic if things continue the way
they are now. Therefore, more commitment is required from the industrialized nations
towards reduction of emissions. Plans towards industrialization should be more articulate
and broadly think of its consequences both in the present and in the future.
Environmental impact assessment should be a key part in every plan towards
industrialization. Companies and industries should not push back on environmental
programs in order to increase profits or to survive in a tough business world.
Environmental maintenance agencies should be more focused on the main goal of
restoring and keeping the environment in a state fit for human habitation.

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 Fulbright Alumni Association of Nigeria 10th Anniversary Conference
Development, Environment and Climate Change: Challenges for Nigeria
University of Ibadan, 12 – 15 September 2011

Social transformation must also be planned for. Education of the populace on the impact
of their activities with respect to climate change should be embarked on. And people
must be taught how they key into the climate change equation.

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