Climate Change, an ongoing environmental issue that seems to have finally been addressed in recent decades. It would be a complete understatement to say that climate change will inevitably affect our planet, in fact, some of the damage has already been done and the consequences should really be a concern for us. In this short essay, I would like to talk about different aspects of climate change, and things we as normal people can do in order to help.
What is climate change and what are the causes?
Climate change is a change in the usual weather found in a place. This could be a change in anything related to the climate, such as rainfall, temperature, or even snowfall. Climate change is an intrinsic part of our planet and it was mainly natural before the 1900s. The earth's climate can be changed through alterations in the earth’s balance, the prime example of that are the numerous “ice ages” and “warm periods” the earth went through.
However that happened in the past before major industrialization, nowadays we serve as a direct cause to climate change. The reason we know that is because of the link between carbon dioxide emissions from human activity and the 1.28 degrees celsius temperature increase since preindustrial times. According to geologist Howard Lee, “Carbon dioxide molecules absorb infrared radiation, so with more of them in the atmosphere, they trap more of the heat radiating off the planet’s surface below.” Statistics have shown that the current warming is actually 10 times faster than that in the past, which really shows the magnitude of the problem we’re currently dealing with.
Consequences of Climate change
There are numerous events that can be results of climate change, and I’ll be focusing on two main ones: Risks for wildlife and health related issues for humans.
The way wildlife can be affected by climate change is the destruction of their natural habitat. A prime example of that would be the recent wildfire in Australia. Rising temperatures evaporate more moisture from the ground, which in turn dries out the soil and makes vegetation more flammable. This has allowed wildfires to be more and more prominent, and it has caused millions of animals to lose their lives. On the other end of the spectrum, the melting of ice blocks (that was caused by the rise in temperature) has resulted in a major loss of natural habitat for wildlife in Antarctica.
Consequences of Climate change (humans)
The idea that our health can be directly affected by climate change seems far-fetched at first, however when you look into it there are reasons why this may be true.
Higher temperatures can cause the pollen season to be longer and worsen air quality, both of which can result in more allergies and asthma attacks. Ground-level ozone, which increases when temperatures warm, can also cause coughing, chest tightness or pain, decrease lung function and worsen asthma and other chronic lung diseases.
Solutions
As Jane Goodhall once said, “Cumulatively small decisions, choices, actions, make a very big difference.” It might sound improbable for someone like you or me to have a true impact on climate change, but together we can make a difference.
Here are some actions you can take to help save our planet:
Use more renewable Appliances
Reduce Water Waste
Use efficient products (in terms of energy)
Shrink your carbon output
And most importantly, spread awareness
Politics and Climate Change + the misconceptions
In hindsight, the fact that more people started bringing light to the highly neglected issue of climate change might seem like a major leap for humankind. However, a large amount of attention can also result in the same amount of misinformation, especially in this era of social media and news propaganda.
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