What is climate change and isn’t it a natural process?
The ‘climate crisis’ refers to global climate change that is happening too rapidly for the world to adapt. Climate Change means rising average temperatures which cause extreme weather events, shifting wildlife populations and habitats, rising sea levels, and a range of other impacts. All these changes are emerging as humans continue to add heat-trapping greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
It is true that the Earth’s climate goes through natural temperature cycles over long periods of time due to naturally occurring greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as water vapour, methane and carbon dioxide. These are organically added into the atmosphere through the processes of decomposition, respiration, natural forest fires and ocean release. There have been around 7 glacial advances and retreat cycles in the last 650,000 years i.e. rise and fall in global average temperatures.
But it is important to note that such cycles happen over thousands of years whereas the post-industrial revolution carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have increased exponentially, and presently is much higher than it has been at any point in history. So, when people talk about climate change today, they mean anthropogenic (man-made) climate change. This is the warming of Earth’s average temperature as a result of human activity, such as burning coal, oil, and gas to produce energy to fuel our homes and transport, deforestation, and even agriculture.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which includes more than 1,300 scientists from various countries, forecasts a temperature rise of 1.5o to 3o Celsius over the next century, which will have extreme impacts on the Earth and its beings. However, there are many impacts that are already observable today that prove to us that climate change is a serious issue and that more time spent ignoring it will lead to severe environmental, social, and economic consequences.
The impacts of Climate Change
Since the 19th century, global average temperatures have increased about 1 degree Celsius. (Bloomberg, 2019) Rising temperatures create numerous other complications apart from hotter weather. Droughts, hurricanes, higher precipitation (rain) and thunderstorms are bound to occur more frequently. These have spillover effects such as land degradation and flooding, and social issues such as death, injury, and high costs of mitigation and repair.
Melting ice caps, permafrost and glaciers will contribute to rising sea levels, consequently flooding low-lying coastal nations such as Maldives and Bangladesh; as the snow and ice melt, this freshwater is added into the oceans, causing the salt water to be diluted in the immediate vicinities, adversely affecting ocean-life that are not acclimatized to fresh water, and also derailing the ocean’s conveyor belt (thermohaline circulation). This refers to large underwater currents driven by water salinity and temperature that are largely attributed to seasonal ocean life migration and most importantly to the regulation of weather around the world. Countries who enjoy milder winters will experience harsher cold weather, while warm weather days are likely to be more scorching. Warmer oceans will also cause coral bleaching, heavily impacting ocean life: this is one reason why the Great Barrier Reef is now considered dead.
Melting permafrost has also other consequences – alongside Pleistocene fossils in the frozen ice are massive carbon and methane emissions, toxic mercury, and ancient diseases. The carbon locked up in the organic matter of the thawing permafrost has begun to slowly be broken down by microbes which use it as fuel or energy, and they release it as CO2 or methane. The arctic ice caps and permafrost is also estimated to have 1,656,000 tonnes of mercury trapped: roughly twice the global amount in all other soils, oceans, and atmosphere.
Overall, the biggest issues that we WILL face in the future if things continue business as usual are food, water, land, and health insecurities as well as a deterioration of the world’s biodiversity. This will impact the economy of nations, and create more conflicts such as war, famine, more refugee crises and so on. The economic costs that will arise are far more than the cost it takes to invest in clean energy and other practices that contribute less or not at all to climate change.
What actions can we take?
There are actions that we can and need to take on global, national, local and individual scales. One such action is by reducing consumption of fossil fuels and coal and instead investing in renewable energy. It is a commonly held belief that renewable energy is expensive, but this simply is not true! Solar power and onshore wind are the cheapest ways of generating electricity; meaning the energy they produce is cheaper than using nuclear, gas and fossil fuels. The cost of renewables has fallen faster than anyone could have predicted. It is also encouraging that these renewable energy industries keep developing new techniques for storing electricity and managing demand at peak times meaning that even if the sun is not shining or it is not blowing a gale, it is still possible to rely on renewable energy sources.
Another way to reduce emissions is to consider changing daily transport patterns. Switching to walking and cycling is a fantastic option for both health and the environment, but for longer commutes.
A third way to make an impact is to change your eating habits. Support local farms and food industries – you will not only be supporting your local economy but also encouraging a reduction in fuel wastage when it comes to transporting food over long distances. Reducing meat intake also helps as animal rearing for meats contributes to a huge amount of methane in the atmosphere. And where you can, grow your own vegetables, fruits, and herbs at home!
Less consumption and waste – engage in activities that do not have to do with heavy buying and consuming such as spending time in nature and loved ones, making a difference. Moving from a consumption mindset to a more purpose-driven mindset is likely to do wonders not only for your personal happiness but also because when we consume less, we produce fewer emissions and are gentler on the earth. Sharing, making, fixing, upcycling, repurposing, and composting are more ideal places to start.
Finally, we as responsible individuals can be vocal about the need to protect the environment. Join local efforts if you can and strongly urge governments and corporations to make “green” changes. Let them know that we all share one world and thus it is our collective responsibility to protect our home.
Nethmie Dehigama
(This article was written for a client)
The Curious Mag 
Reblogged this on Some View on the World and commented:
Each individual can already start at home by not using more water and energy than necesarry, plus taking care of a ‘healthy’ flowerfull garden with a variety of trees.
It is also important for everyone at home and at work to ensure that they do not use polluting products and systems (so get rid of all those polluting coffee capsules) and to use as little plastic packaging as possible. When buying fruit and vegetables, cotton bags are a good alternative to paper and plastic bags.
We all should engage and stimulate others to consume less and to have less waste, which should be sorted and ecologically processed.
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