The creator of this world has
visibly set natural courses for every living thing. The earth has a delicate
ecological system that can only work when all the different elements in the
system are working in harmony. Mankind’s effect on the globe due to
overpopulation and over utilization of resources has greatly upset this balance.
The global annual temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.08°C
(0.14°F) per decade since 1880 and over twice that rate (+0.18°C / +0.32°F)
since 1981.
The increase in the rate of the increase is no doubt due to the effect of the industrial revolution and the
pervading growth of industry and technology into every facet of an increasingly
overpopulated society over the last 100 years.
Carbon emissions play a huge role
in the overheating of the planet and there is a lot of information out there on
the subject.
One point of note here, however, is
that the meat and dairy industry emits 50 percent of the total global
greenhouse gas emissions; livestock and its by-products. This is obviously a huge problem and one that is furthered by vested interests from the meat
industry.
Water pollution is also a big issue and it is not just plastics, which only form a small percentage of the problem. Bigger issues are being caused by overfishing and destruction of coral reefs which increases global warming and increases sea temperatures. Furthermore, overfishing under the mask of sustainability is also destroying wildlife numbers to the point that they will not be able to repopulate. All this causes a great shift in the equilibrium of the planet’s system. We have gone some way in helping to repair the ozone layer, and this same zeal and effort should be used to combat climate change. Raised sea levels due to melting ice caps disrupting ecological cycles will not only affect the global climate but will also mean many coastal areas will become submerged over the next 100 years.
The
overheating of the planet will lead to further extreme weather and will have a
knock-on effect on everything from plants to animals to human life. Apart from
helping to raise awareness and combating the sources of pollution we can also
help the recovery process and mitigate some of the damage by raising awareness
of the cutting down of the rainforest (which are like the lungs of our planet).
We talk of human rights, but we do
not talk of the rights of trees and plants. Perhaps we should have a law of
“Rights of trees” as a charter of the UN to help put a stop to the flattening
of the rainforest in the Amazon to make room for farmland. Furthermore, no city
and municipal authority should give permission for construction unless a
certificate is produced by the environment division. Perhaps the city planners
themselves can take into account the most eco-friendly ways of managing the
city’s working, such as using electric cars etc. We need a combined effort of
planting trees and reducing emissions. It all comes down to finding a way to
live in balance and harmony with the earth that God gave us and we are a part
of it. A multitude of the issues we face today stems from a wrong way of
living, a greedy way of living. We need to save this planet, not just for us
and our children, but all future generations, as the heavy burden has fallen on
us. Global warming is speeding up and the 20 warmest years on record have all
come since 1995. Furthermore, the last 2010s decade has had the five warmest
years. Due to global warming many species, birds, habitats, trees, and aquatic
life are badly hurt. Also, the hot conditions increased the demand for water.
Moreover, environmental agencies responded to a 330 percent increase in
incidents relating to drought. Besides, this type of thing won’t happen every
year. However, they will occur more often and will be worse. According to
scientists, it’s estimated that by 2040 there won’t be anything except the
summer season. Over the last 20 years, the sea level has risen at roughly twice
the speed of the preceding 80 years. In addition, the international community
has sworn to avoid a rise of more than 2 Celsius in the average global
temperature by 2100 in comparison to pre-industrial levels. But many scientists
believe that the figures will be higher.
The consequences of climate change are devastating as what will happen if the earth’s temperature rises by a few degrees? For a short period, it does not affect badly but in the long run, the consequences will be devastating. To understand the long-term effects let me give you some points; tropics around the world will be drier and hotter and higher latitudes will be wetter and hotter.
The winters will be wetter and
rainfall will become extreme. Also, the sea level will rise significantly,
maybe up to a meter in places by 2100, as waters warm-up and take up more space
and our glaciers and land-based ice sheets melt. Moreover, this rise is
particularly scary, because while other climate change-driven effects like
flooding or drought can do terrible harm, recovery from them is possible.
However, recovery from sea levels is not possible.
To conclude, it is a scandal that
there is nothing like climate change. Also, a lot has been done to tackle it.
But we are still not doing all we could. Tackling climate change should be our
primary agenda. It is not the main agenda because most people are busy with
their lives and have other worries. We are partly neglecting it because the
effect of changing climate tends to be invisible and incremental until they are
suddenly disastrous. In addition, if words like “global warming” and “climate
change” have become a turn-off for ordinary people then we should change these
words. We should use words like a world underwater, mortgaged future, etc. We
happen to have been born in an unenviable time where the debts of our fathers
and forefathers are squarely upon our shoulders. We live in an age where the
planet is suffering from an industrial revolution hangover. Of course, it is very
hard to ask someone to change the way they live because the planet is
suffering. Of course, it’s not all our fault. It’s the backlog of over a
hundred years of industrial pollution and careless living, part out of
ignorance and part out of carelessness. However as mentioned before, the damage
done has only become significantly obvious in our lifetimes. So it not only
becomes about our survival and the survival—I use the word carefully—of our
children and their children’s children.
The article was published in The Nation on June 9, 2021, link to the https://nation.com.pk/05-Jun-2021/let-the-world-not-burnoriginal article:
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