what do you think about climate change?

Climate change is a consideration for nations around the globe and to tackle it is certainly not an easy task. Climate change is the ultimate result of human activities, increasing the level of GHG in the atmosphere thus trap more heat and cause the globe’s average temperature to rise. Though climate change damaged the environment severely, there is still room to uplift the current situation. Climate change creates numerous problems for either urban or rural areas. Initially, the general consensus is that GHG is a key agent for extreme weather events to occur. Our current generation, especially those dwelling in disaster-prone regions, is witnessing and simultaneously being the victim of these extreme features. Watts (2020) reported that on the 4th of January 2020, the temperature of Sydney’s basin peaked at 48. 9 degrees (the hottest to ever recorded). The devastating bushfires in 2019-20 caused the death of 33 people, at least 1 billion animals and 19 million hectares of land were wrecked havoc on (World Wildlife Fund 2020). The globe is experiencing a remarkable increase in the figure of anomalous storms, floods and cyclones. To illustrate, in March 2020, Kenya suffered devastating floods with record-breaking rainfall. Almost 200 people lost their lives to the torrents, and 40, 000 were displaced (Jones 2020). Another direct consequence of global warming is ice melting, especially in Antarctica. This leads to the gradual rising of sea level, resulting in the loss of land, saltwater intrusion and land subsidence. Climate change not only plays an important role in the degradation of the environment, but also brings detriments to socio-economic growth. It is obvious that the infrastructure in both rural and urban areas is damaged significantly owing to intense natural disasters, hence, the reconstruction and adaptation would cost governments a colossal amount of money. This may lead to the raise of taxes and consequently the unpleasure of citizens. In regards to agriculture, abnormal climate conditions have shrinked productivity of harvests and caused the shortage of resources. Oxfam (cited in Vidal 2013) anticipated that global hunger would be exacerbated when climate change depletes crop production and restrain incomes. They estimated the rate of people who are hunger-prone could double from 10% to 20% by the year of 2050. As a result, poverty lingers and the standard of living remains inferior. To combat climate change, numerous strategies have been proposed and are generally categorized into mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation’s aim is to curtail as much as possible the GHG emissions into the atmosphere. In order to achieve this goal, encouraging the utilization of renewable energy is vital as they emit much less to no emission during operation. These resources are doubtlessly abundant, such as tidal power, solar, wind energy and notably nuclear power. Nuclear power might be the most realistic source of energy to ease the thirst for energy and diminish carbon emissions, in time, on budget and sufficiently (Brook 2010). Given the tremendous quantity of industrial, commercial, domestic and agricultural waste being processed improperly daily, an effective waste disposal system is entirely essential. According to UNDP (2012), greenhouse emissions are not only contingent on the amount of waste, but also on the system of waste management. Especially in developing countries with great consumption of the expanding middle class, being able to establish responsive and efficient waste management procedures alongside with the investment for disposal infrastructure definitely would lessen GHG emissions. While mentioned mitigate measures may not be immediately relevant in result, adaptation is the sole framework available in response to address negative impacts that will take place within the next few decades (Walsh et al 2010). To begin with, both rural and urban areas are imperiled by natural disasters and it is essential for governments to fund and reinforce climate-proof infrastructure such as dykes and dams in order to guarantee the safety for residents, especially in vulnerable areas like coastal low-lying zones. Pertaining to agriculture, farmers in countryside or peri-urban areas should plant more rational and drought-resistant crops to enhance productivity as well as adapting to abnormal climate conditions. Afforestation schemes should be strongly considered as they will help greening empty or degraded lands and cure catastrophic loss in biodiversity. Equally important, deforestation needs to be urgently and strictly abandoned or reduced due to remarkable damages to environmental defense systems. In conclusion, tackling climate change must be prioritized at personal, national and international levels to achieve the goal of gaining strong and sustainable development in humankind’s future. It is clear that mitigations and adaptations are being undertaken all around the world and showing signs of a brighter outlook for the earth.