Climate change, the looming catastrophe
The planet has accumulated a lot of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere over the past 120 years worldwide. The result has been climate change. People across the world have burnt more coal and oil for homes, factories and transportation.
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This activity of burning these fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases causing the earth to warm up more quickly than it has in the past. The world will be a safer and a more peaceful place for us and generations to come if we act now on climate change.
Climate change is a serious threat not just to the environment but national security, global stability, poverty eradication and economic prosperity. No nation, country, town or city is immune to the impact of climate change.
I commend and salute all the world leaders, especially the President of the United States of America, Barak Obama, and the President of France for making the Paris Agreement possible.
Climate change: What does it mean?
Climate refers to the average temperatures and precipitation rates over an extended period of time whereas change in climate patterns, which causes extreme weather events such as heat waves, floods, storms, droughts and bushfires become more frequent, more widespread or more intense because of increase in the earth’s average temperature.
The earth has undergone a lot of changes as a result of the activities of humans over the years. Let us look at some of the causes of climate change in the next paragraph.
The accumulated greenhouse gases in the planet’s atmosphere over the years cause climate change. These gases soak up heat from the sun but instead of the heat leaving the atmosphere, some of it is trapped making the planet warmer.
Some scholars have given different definitions to climate change which also means global warming. Interrogating the subject matter by researchers and scholars has given rise to a lot of questions being asked.
In a conversation with my mother, she asked what greenhouse gases and fossil fuel were.
Greenhouse gases
Greenhouse gases are produced as a result of burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil. Some examples of greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide CO2 and methane CH4. Too much of these greenhouse gases into the atmosphere act like blanket around the earth making it warm quickly. It is worth knowing that human activities release over 30billion tons of CO2 alone into the atmosphere every year. (Source: YALI Network online course.)
The most asked question by everyone is: Have greenhouse gases always been in the earth’s atmosphere?
The answer to this question is yes. Greenhouse gases have always been a natural part of the atmosphere. What the atmosphere does is to absorb and reradiate the sun’s warmth and maintain the temperature on earth at a level necessary to support human life.
However, these has been a steep rise in the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere because of the activities of human kind since the Industrial Revolution.
Why is it a looming catastrophe?
Climate Change/Global Warming is a fact; it is real and it is staring at us in the face for immediate action. There is no doubt that humans are driving a gradual warming of the planet and are responsible for the changes in the hydrological cycles.Moreover,these changes will most certainly have serious implications for the well-being of humans and existence.
The effects of climate change that we see happening now are heavier rainfall causing flooding in many regions. Warmer temperatures have led to more intense rainfall events in some areas of the planet.
This can cause flooding which takes lives away and destroys properties. For example, Ghana our motherland, has suffered from flooding caused by heavier rainfall over the years. The very recent is the Wednesday, June 3, 2015 flooding which claimed hundreds of lives, brought homes to a standstill, shattered dreams and destroyed properties.
Secondly, extreme drought is increasing, causing crops to wither. Higher temperatures are causing higher rates of evaporation and increasing drought in most regions of the world. The increasing level of drought is increasing the rate at which crops are withering and decreasing crop productivity around the world. This means shortage of food which has many social implications. The more drought rate increase, the more crops wither meaning crops will not do well and will affect agriculture in totality.
It is not surprising that Ghana is projected to record its lowest agriculture growth rate ever this year (0.04per cent this year as against a target of 3.6 per cent). It is in this spirit that we need to collectively act now on how we can mitigate the effects of climate change as a nation.
Some facts to note; Rainfall is estimated to drop by ½ by the year 2020 if we do not act now, the rate at which streams dry up will hit a record high by 2020 if we do not change our behaviour as a people, not forgetting that about 70 per cent of Africans are farmers and 1/3 of income of most African countries are generated from agriculture.
There have been more deaths as a result of heat waves and more allergy attacks as the pollen seasons grow longer.
Most affected regions
Africa and most developing countries are the most affected by these diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, choking and dog heartworm which claim millions of lives every year more than the deadly HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that malaria and yellow fever distribution in Africa will increase by five to seven per cent by the end of the 21st century.
The poor air quality, as a result of our actions, can lead to breathing problems and this will worsen respiratory problems which will claim more lives.