Author: Lydia Otuyoma

World's Biggest Threat; Climate Change

There is a crisis in our world today due to massive increases in temperature, increased natural disasters, the melting of icebergs, and so on. These occurrences are linked to the changes in our climate.

A lot of folks keep wondering what climate change is and why it's causing so much havoc in our world. This fear of the unknown, over time, has taken a toll on the minds of many individuals. 

Are we still safe? 

What is climate change?

Climate changes refer to long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns. It was discovered in the 18th century that natural changes were occurring such as ice ages, the greenhouse effect, volcanism, and solar variation. Further discovery has shown that climate change is also triggered by some activities of humans. This man-made climate change was discovered in the 19th century.

Causes of climate change

Today, man's activities have contributed drastically to the change in climate around the world. Do you want to know how? 

Here are some of the ways our activities have contributed to changes in our climate.

1. Generation of power: Most of the power consumed by humans is generated from fossil fuels. Burning fossil fuels into the atmosphere is harmful as it contains greenhouse gases that trap the sun's heat and cause global warming. Only about 30 percent of electricity is produced from renewable sources like solar and wind energy. This is beneficial as no harmful gas is emitted.

2. Cutting down forests: Naturally, forests are natural carbon dioxide absorbers. Cutting them down will mean removing the natural way of getting rid of deadly emissions from the atmosphere. Awareness should be made of how important forest life is. Government can contribute to this by enacting a law that punishes the illegal destruction of forest lives.

3. Transportation: Cars, planes, ships, and trains consume fossil fuels. This contributes majorly to the presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Effects of climate change

Climate changes have severe negative effects on the earth. Humans are no longer sure of their safety on this planet. Climate changes affect temperature, sea levels, cause natural disasters, distort human health, biodiversity, and so on. Here are some harmful effects:

• A rapid increase in temperature: Due to the effect of gases in the atmosphere, there is an increase in temperature around the world. There are speculations that a meltdown is about to occur. Icebergs are melting. This has given rise to the indication of "global warming". 

• Rise in water levels: Climate change can lead to an increase in rainfall. This can cause floods and the destruction of crops and livestock. The rise in water levels can also lead to landslides.

• Drought: Adverse increase in temperature affects livestock and crops as soil moisture may dry up. Desert lands are increasing daily due to drought thereby reducing labs mass available for crop production. This will cause the death and destruction of crops and livestock. Famine may also occur.

• Natural disasters: All these climate changes cause floods, landslides, melting of icebergs, fire disasters, and loss of lives and properties.

Climate change and global warming

Global warming refers to a consistent rise in temperature due to the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

It is one of the pitfalls of climate change. Global warming has effects on sea levels as there is a meltdown. It also affects the pH of water. Water from large water bodies has become more acidic due to the concentration of these gases in the atmosphere. It is a known fact that there will be a great loss of lives and livestock because of drought if the earth's temperature increases more than it should. 

Global warming can be curbed by reducing the burning of fossil fuels in the atmosphere.

What happens next?

A lot of havoc is caused by climate change, especially in countries that are developing and have large populations. It is a major concern as wildfires are spreading largely in forests, and doomsday ice is on the verge of melting. This could cause floods in the coming years and the loss of lots of lives and properties in those parts of the world. Drought is on the increase. 

Scientists believe that we are no longer safe and because of this, new ways are being developed to manage the situation.

New ways of generating electricity like solar and wind are being implemented. Less exposure of carbon dioxide from transport vehicles into the atmosphere and so on. 

Even with all this, the earth is still at risk but it is believed that the reduction of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere can be made a reality. The better our chances of reducing its effects on the life and health of humans.