Understanding Climate Change: Why It’s Important
The earth’s climate is now changing at a pace faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization. This may be a touchy topic and claim but this has been brought about mostly by human activities. Climate change has resulted in a wide range of impacts across all continents, affecting many sectors of the economy that are expected to grow in the coming decades.
Several studies have been conducted by researchers around the world. Most if not all of these have reported that the Earth’s surface temperature has indeed increased, including in the atmosphere and oceans.
EFFECTS
Incidents of high-temperature extremes, heavy precipitation, and reduction in the glaciers and snow cover are steadily increasing in number. Climate change affects human health and well-being through extreme weather events such as wildfires, stronger typhoons, and monsoons, decreased air quality, and increased risk of exposure to diseases (transmitted through insects, food, and water). Climate changes also heavily affect agriculture and are becoming more severe; this will definitely cause a huge disruption in our food security as a species in the near future.
In some regions, prolonged periods of high temperatures are causing droughts and leaving communities with little to no fresh water supply. For coastal communities, the rise in sea level combined with storms increases the chances of erosion, storm surge damage, and flooding. This, in turn, affects infrastructure like roads, railroads, airports, and other facilities.
If you want a vivid picture of how these things all come together, maybe watching the 2004 movie: “The Day After Tomorrow” will give you a clearer picture of the things to expect.
TAKE ACTION!
While things may seem too dire, the fortunate thing is that it’s still not too late –if we act collectively and with the utmost urgency in mind. What would happen if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them into the mainstream? The 2019 documentary “2040” addresses practical solutions to environmental concerns in an interesting format.
Save for several world leaders who are still thinking that climate change and global warming is a work of fiction, government agencies and NGOs alike are already working towards a lasting “cure” to climate change.
This is a huge undertaking and no one country can do this on its own. This will require a collective effort from all of us for it to work.
Actionable items like reducing our carbon footprint (which in turn will help ease out the greenhouse effect and helping our planet “breathe”), planting more mangroves (research reports that mangroves trap more carbon content per square meter than a normal tree) and things as simple as making a conscious effort to reduce our reliance on single-use plastics will definitely be a big help in the long run.
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A big thank you to OG and Jenny M who help me finalize this article.