Climate Crisis

By: Mili Patel

        Modern human civilization has only been around for one percent of the Earth’s history; in that meager one percent, carbon dioxide emissions have increased by a whopping forty percent! But that’s not even all. Climate change is a very severe issue that needs to be addressed not just more seriously, but more effectively.

By now, you’ve probably seen the very iconic photo of a desperate polar bear hanging on to a lonesome piece of ice as its beautiful home melts away. However, the reality is, polar bears don’t just gravely cling onto melting pieces of ice. They go elsewhere in search of food. There have been increased sightings of polar bears in areas inhabited by humans. Hungry polar bears have trespassed on towns in the Canadian Arctic and have even killed people. The bears have been spotted in Alaska, where they survive off of the remains of hunted whales. In Greenland, sightings have become more and more common, and in Northern Russia polar bears have terrorized a whole town. The bears might seem like monsters; really, in the big picture, humans play a major role in this fiasco. The melting ice is the result of our burning of fossil fuels. The fossil fuels release greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming and climate change. In 2016, the estimated polar bear population was 26,000. That number is only expected to decrease by 8,600 over future decades. However, the bears are not the only ones facing hunger and extinction. 

        The Svalbard reindeer lives in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. While you might have never heard about this animal, 2019 marked one of the highest death tolls ever recorded of reindeer in Svalbard since 1978. Over 200 animals starved to death, and all of the reindeer that survived were underweight. Yet again, humans come into the picture. Our greenhouse gas emissions heat the planet; these warmer temperatures cause extra rainfall in the Svalbard archipelago. The reindeers can dig through soft snow for food, but as the rain freezes into a layer of ice their hooves cannot penetrate it. Furthermore, the warmer weather prolongs the breeding season of Svalbard reindeer, giving the population an extra boost. As a result, more competition arises in winter because of food scarcity due to the rain freezing to hard ice. Climate change affects not just polar bears and Svalbard reindeer, but also millions around the globe. To fix a problem, and especially a big one, you need to understand it first.

Climate change is sometimes confused with global warming. Global warming is the constant and continual warming of the Earth’s surface. On the other hand, climate change is a result of global warming. Climate change is the long-term change in temperatures and weather patterns. Both of these things occur naturally, but since the last few centuries they have increased drastically due to human activity, and more demand of resources from industries.

         When sunlight shines on the Earth, some of it reflects off of ice and clouds and travels back into space. The sunlight that stays in the atmosphere is absorbed by the Earth’s surface. The sunlight then emanates back off of the Earth’s surface as heat; on its way back to space, some of that heat is caught by natural greenhouse gasses. These gasses trap and re-emit the heat in all directions. Some of it travels back down to the Earth. This cycle keeps the Earth’s surface and low atmosphere warm. If there were no greenhouse gasses, sunlight would just pass through the atmosphere and back to space. This means that the Earth’s temperature would be tens of degrees colder than it is today. 

        Even though greenhouse gasses are important, too many of them can cause awful problems and even more awful consequences. Since the industrial revolution, greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane have increased. Carbon dioxide has increased by more than forty percent. Nitrous oxide has increased by twenty percent, and methane has increased by more than one hundred and fifty percent. More than one half of the increase of carbon dioxide has occurred after 1920. In fact, considering human emissions and natural causes, carbon dioxide is the greatest contributor to climate change. Human emissions release too many greenhouse gasses than are naturally removable by nature. Fossil fuels and cars are just two of the contributors to pollution, climate change, and warming at a global level. Another major contribution to climate change and global warming is the push for profit with industries. Factories release over 100 million pounds of air pollutants annually. In fact, industries are responsible for two-quarters of greenhouse gas emissions. The greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have not stopped. At Mauna Loa University in Hawaii, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 316 parts per million in 1959. In 2019, the amount of carbon dioxide was 411 parts per million. These increases are expected to become greater in future years. Currently, more and more factories are being built for human profit. Trees and forests are being cut down to make more room for these factories. This over foresting is a problem in itself, but the increasing amount of factories still continue to emit increasing amounts of greenhouse gases.

        The increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere leads to global warming and climate change. This has serious impacts on millions of people and animals around the world. Floods and wildfires are becoming a more and more frequent occurrence; the oceans are rising, warming, and becoming more acidic. Snow, ice, and glaciers are melting. Many species are moving to new locations. All of these changes and events are expected to continue in the future. Temperatures are rising, fast. The global average surface temperature has increased by 0.8 degrees celsius since the 1900s. If emissions continue to be unaddressed, further warming of 2.6 to 4.8 degrees celsius would be expected by the end of this century.

        Maybe we’ve been somewhat inconsiderate and late to realize this climate crisis, but it’s not too late to save our planet. Using eclectic vehicles, finding renewable energy sources, and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels is all crucial. The problem is, to save an entire planet, we need more than just these things alone. We need to stop the Earth from heating more than 1.5 degrees celsius since the start of the 20th century. Turns out, we need to be kind. To nature. According to The Nature Conservatory, “nature is the most sophisticated system for processing greenhouse gasses in the universe.” The world is already facing an extinction level threat. What we are doing is good, but not enough. Stopping the destruction of forests, grasslands, and wetlands would remove 3.9 billion metric tons of carbon out of the atmosphere. Smarter farming and forestry techniques would remove another 5.1 billion tons, and restoring our lost forests and wetlands would wipe off another 2 billion. All together, nature has removed 11 billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere! That is one third of the amount of emissions needed to be reduced. How does all of this work though? 

        Well, trees do this thing called photosynthesis, where they use the sun’s light and carbon from the atmosphere to feed themselves. Mangroves are like trees, but they grow near bays and beaches along the coast. They can store up to five times more carbon than regular trees. Restoring our wetlands would increase the number of mangroves, and these plants would absorb more carbon from the atmosphere. Lastly, as trees and all plants age, they deposit their carbon into the soil. Other plants then use this to grow. Some of these plants are eaten by animals and humans. The carbon then gets released back into the atmosphere. This is called the carbon cycle. It worked well for a long time, until humans started unbalancing the cycle by burning fossil fuels, and cutting down too many forests, as a push for more profit. All of this harshness to nature just to make more money. All of this trouble just because of people’s greed and selfishness. The horrible impact of humans, and the push for more profit has made a ginormous dent in nature—not a good one. Restoring our damage to nature, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, fighting climate change, and being able to successfully sustain human life all at a global level will probably be one of the hardest things humanity will ever do.

        “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” This is a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, and it is indeed very true. Humans have gotten quite greedy by pushing the Earth beyond its limits for resources. We have neglected climate change for long enough; if we continue to neglect it, all of humanity will suffer the consequences. It’s still not too late to stop. We can restore our damage to the Earth and find new ways to live better and greener lives. Because, let’s face the facts: at the end of the day, there really is no Planet B.