Climate Change

Something that we’ve all heard about at least once. “The icecaps are melting”, “Sea levels are rising” or even “The sea is engulfing our countries”. I would like to remind you that all of these statements are 100% true (even the one with the countries being engulfed by the oceans). Climate Change started plaguing the world after the Industrial Revolution and has brought us to near extinction. Well although, there were carbon emissions before the Industrial Revolution, after the end of the Industrial Revolution, the carbon emission on a global scale went up, especially in the USA and Europe, as these were the main places where the Revolution took place. After 1840, which is when the Industrial Revolution ended, it kicked many people out of jobs and increased production.

Come 180 years later, and we have approximately 10 years left for “effective measures” against Climate Change. Climate Change, speaking mathematically, is caused mainly by Industries (84% of emissions) and the rest by domestic activities (16% of emissions). Many of you will be surprised to know that water vapor (which is water in its gaseous form), is a major contributor to Climate Change.

There are MANY, in fact, SO MANY causes of Climate Change. Just so I don’t bore all of you, I’m just going to name of them such as:

1. Water Vapour

2. Fossil Fuels

3. Deforestation

4. Unchecked emissions by factories and many industries

5. Methane

6. Depletion of Ozone in the atmosphere

7. Poultry farming

So well, now that we’ve established a brief timeline and the causes of Climate Change, let’s see the effects of Climate Change. I mean, the only and most harmful direct effect of Climate Change is increasing the global temperature. But what does that increase in temperature do, let’s have a look:

1. Melting of glaciers

2. The length of the frost-free season (and the growing season) will keep increasing.

3. An average increase of 1.5°C can put 20-30% of species at the risk of extinction.

4. In the Arctic, air temperatures over the last century have shown an increase of 5°C. Recent studies & predictions say that in a few decades, there won’t be any summer sea ice left in the Arctic.

5. Oceans are also known as ‘carbon sinks’, which means they dissolve huge amounts of CO2, which decreases overall atmosphere temperatures. With increasing temperatures and the oceans getting warmer, the dissolved CO2 will now start getting leaked into the atmosphere, wreaking havoc, both above and below the land.

6. When the temperature is increased by 1 degree Celsius on the global thermostat, there is a 5-15% reduction in the food supply, says the National Academy of Sciences report.

7. Hurricanes and other such natural calamities increase in number due to an increase in global temperatures. These natural calamities can cause severe damage to domestic economies around the world. In 2017, the state of Texas, USA, lost about $125 billion, whereas Hurricane Sandy caused damages worth $71 billion in 2012.

8. Due to the increase in temperatures around the world, droughts will increase in number, especially in tropical countries, which will ultimately lead to the reduction of water levels. This will increase the number of people who do not get hydrated enough and will, in turn, increase death rates and lead to damage to domestic economies.

Now that we’ve talked about Causes and Effects, the only thing left is Solutions. And I wanted to put Solutions in the last because this is the only thing that matters right now. Causes & Effects are important because without understanding them, we can’t come up with solutions. I’m sure that all of you have heard of all the basic solutions, such as Afforestation or cutting down on emissions, but I wanted to discuss some innovative or not so familiar solutions today. So recently, I had gone to this MUN (Model United Nations) at the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bangalore. I had gone with a buddy of mine and all the Delegates there were College students. Naturally, my buddy and I felt very nervous. It was a 2-day committee, so we just thought of going with the flow. In these 2 days, we discussed Climate Change thoroughly. After the 2 days of discussion, we came up with many innovative solutions, which were:

1. So, our first problem on hand was the emissions by factories and industries (which contribute 84% of global emissions). Now, the other 16% was caused by domestic emissions, such as automobiles. We all knew that getting to decrease industrial emissions would be a huge problem as that would require a lot of paperwork, discussions, amendments to the Constitution, etc. Due to this, we decided first to decrease the emissions made by Domestic causes, such as automobile and house-originating emissions. We thought of achieving this by campaigns taken up by the government, NGOs, celebrities and the use of social media. In the coming years, with said paperwork and discussions and amendments taking place, industrial emissions could also be reduced.

2. Meat, or Red meat, is essentially very harmful to the earth and very helpful for Global Warming. Producing half a pound of beef produces 7.40 pounds of CO2. Therefore, another thing we thought was to teach the public about the dangers of meat, to reduce its production, thereby helping the fight against Climate Change.

3. Another solution we had for fighting emissions by industries was for using satellites to monitor the emissions made by factories and industries, and then implementing a tax on the greenhouse gases produced, after which the money collected from the tax can be used to fight Climate Change.

So, these were some of the solutions that we came up with for a global scale. At an individual level, I think the basics such as afforestation and trying to cut down on our daily emission rates should help the fight against Climate Change. I hope that the world now realizes that there is absolutely no time left for any of us for thinking about it or just straight up not even thinking about it. Climate change not only affects us as a community, but it also harms the oceans, the wildlife and basically, every aspect of the entire Earth. It’s time that we either take a stand against it or die with it, as I like to say, “Either we finish Climate Change or Climate Change finishes us.”