CLIMATE CHANGE: CAN WE CHANGE WORDS INTO ACTIONS? Climate change is a paradoxical subject. While the best scientific information points to a clear threat to the future of humanity, the political and public responses to this challenge have been relatively weak. In industrialized countries, many people would rather believe that climate change was not real than accept that their lives must change to meet the threat. In non-industrialized countries many people think that the climate is under divine control and that humans cannot alter it. The basic science is straight-forward. Climate researchers have shown that gases such as carbon-dioxide, methane and others can trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere –a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. The impacts of climate change are many and varied, as all life on earth and many of the planet’s physical processes are heavily influenced by temperature. A warming planet means that sea levels will rise as water takes up more space as it heats up. Higher temperatures also melt ice locked away in glaciers and polar-regions. This contributes to rising seas but also increasing the risks of flooding in the short-term, and decreased river-flow in the longer-term. Climate change may also affect water supplies in other ways, such as altering the South Asian monsoon. Amazon rainforest, the world's largest rain-forest is at the risk of getting burned out completely. The rain-forest, which contributes almost 20 percent of the earth’s oxygen, has been burning for over 16days resulting in a major loss of trees and biodiversity. It will get completely burned out if it is not put out soon. According to scientists, the Amazon rainforest fire could deliver a huge blow to the global fight against climate change. The fire will not only result in a major loss of trees and biodiversity, but also release excess CO2 into the atmosphere. The forest fires also release pollutants including particulate matter and toxic gases such as carbon-monoxide, nitrogen oxides and non-methane organic compounds into the atmosphere.
What’s the single biggest way you can make an impact on global climate change? “Talk to your friends and family, and make sure your representatives are making good decisions." By voicing your concerns—via social media or, better yet, directly to your elected officials—you send a message that you care about the warming world. If we don't act now, tomorrow's never going to come. If the earth’s temperatures continue to rise in the future, living things on earth would become extinct due to the high temperatures. If humans contribute to control global warming, this world would be cooler and the high temperatures we currently have would decrease. If everybody as one take stand and try to end most climate changes that are occurring, this world would be as safer place to live on.
BY: SHREYAS SAWANT IX-B MEMBER OF THOUGHTSEAL
