What, Why and How? Know your way around Climate Change!
“Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty, advancing economic growth… these are one and the same fight. We must connect the dots between climate change, water scarcity, energy shortages, global health, food security, and women’s empowerment. Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all.” – Ban-Ki-Moon, Former United Nations Secretary-General
We are at a point of time where everyone’s talking about a phenomenon known as climate change. So what exactly is it? How does it affect you and what you can do about it? These are two broad questions I will be discussing here.
What is Climate Change and how does it affect you?
In the simplest of the terms, climate change can be defined as any significant long-term change in the expected patterns of average weather of a region (or the whole Earth) over a significant period of time. One thing that you need to know is that climate change is definitely real. The planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century or the Industrial Revolution. In between 1993 and 2016, Antarctica and Greenland lost an average of 127 and 286 billion tons of ice due to the rising temperatures. This has led to a rapid decline in sea ice in addition to a drastic increase in the sea level along with geographical changes.
The extreme weather changes in different regions around the globe, hurricanes, droughts, floods, depletion of glaciers, water pollution, and other such calamities are a few consequences of global warming and climate change. Human activities such as deforestation, mining, pollution, land use changes, use of chemical fertilizers and burning of fossil fuels major contributing to global warming.
If you know a farmer, he/ she is currently facing the worst times of his life right now due to climate change. Agrarian communities are currently facing the worst droughts and floods in the history of this planet, which often results in destruction of their farm produce. If you know a friend who has been falling frequently ill recently, it is probably because of the progressively rising air pollution right now that causes severe respiratory issues. If your city is undergoing longer and hotter summers right now, with record-breaking high temperatures, this is also a result of global warming. Moreover, drastic climate change has also resulted in record low temperatures during winters. There are merely a few ways in which climate change is affecting your personal lives!
Every day, we hear about events that provide us with evidence of accelerated climate change. We can no longer pretend to live in a utopian place anymore, wherein climate change is either non-existent or is inconsequential to our everyday lives. It is time that we break out of this illusion and take action.
What can you do about it?
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to keep global warming below 2 °C, emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) must be halved by 2050 (compared to the 1990 levels). The Governments need to take immediate, extreme and effective measures right now and we, as citizens of various sovereign nations, must urge them to do the same. Carbon emissions must be taxed, government subsidies on oil eliminated and use renewable energy needs to be promoted by major corporations. Examples of initiatives undertaken by countries like India- ‘Solar Mission’ that sets a target to install 20 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity by 2020- and Australia- that has invested $12.9 billion to secure Australia’s water supply in ‘Water for the Future’- are a step towards sustainable living. However, what can one do on an individual level?
As Leonardo DiCaprio, UN Messenger of Peace, stated at the opening of Climate Summit 2014: “For the economy itself will die if our ecosystems collapse. The good news is that renewable energy is not only achievable but good economic policy. New research shows that by 2050 clean, renewable energy could supply 100% of the world’s energy needs using existing technologies, and it would create millions of jobs.”Thus on a personal level, you can take the following steps to make your efforts count:
1. Use water wisely
● Do not waste water, allocate your water use efficiency and if possible, take steps to conserve rainwater.
2. Stop using plastic
● When you are out shopping, carry a cloth bag with you instead of purchasing a polythene bag from the store which cannot be recycled in the future.
● Buying less not only cuts down on plastic packaging that is clogging our oceans, but it also reduces your carbon footprint and puts fewer greenhouse gas emissions into our atmosphere.
3. Move your air-conditioning thermostat up by two degrees
● You could save about 900kg of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.
● Set the thermostat of the room at 25 Degrees for the maximum comfort and the least social cost.
4. Plant more trees
● You can plant trees and plants to make up for the pollution that you currently cause.
● It doesn’t necessarily have to be a huge banyan tree in backyard but small plants and trees, regardless of the size help the environment a little.’
● It’s only fair to give back to the environment after all the years that we’ve damaged it.
5. Use renewable energy
● Use a solar water heater instead of an electric geyser. A 100 litre solar water heater can save around 1500 units of electricity every year.
● For electricity, get solar panels to generate electricity. These might seem expensive, but would absolutely be better for you, by saving the cost of electricity bills in the long run and the environment.
6. Reduce your use of electronic devices
● By doing so, you would be saving the electricity and hence the natural resources used in producing it.
● Limiting your electronic use can be a small, yet efficient step in saving the planet.
7. Reuse and recycle everything
8. Reduce your consumption of meat.
● Livestock such as cows release methane, a greenhouse gas, and require large amounts of land and feed.
● Limiting your intake of meat to a few days of the week and eating vegetables for a couple of days in the week can greatly reduce the impact on the environment.
9. Talk to your friends and urge them to do the same!
● Talk to your friends about climate change and share information about the same on how you can help reduce it. Talking about it is the first step to helping the planet.