There are many reasons why we should tackle climate change. When we consider the devastation caused by tsunamis’, wide-scale flooding, and other major catastrophes which have increased frequency in many regions of the world. It makes us wonder where the world is heading. These disruptions are killing more people, destroying more property, and changing peoples’ lives for the worse.
Unfortunately, many people are unaware of the destruction occurring or they tend to turn a blind eye to it. They find it difficult to apprehend the overall effect global warming is having on society and compare their own circumstances to it. In other words, if they are not directly affected then they believe it is an absolute farce and that it is normal for these events to occur around the world.
Goods examples worth noting, the unique, irreplaceable, and often described as ‘the world’s lungs’, rainforests are some of the most precious habitats on the planet. They really are amazing; the Amazon, for example, is home to an astonishing 1 in 10 of all the known species on Earth. Yet over a third of the Amazon rainforest is already threatened by climate change. It’s a double-edged sword too: worldwide, forest destruction – mainly for agriculture – is a major cause of climate change, generating an incredible amount of greenhouse gases.
Out of the 6 million square miles (15 million square kilometers) of tropical rainforest that once existed worldwide, only 2.4 million square miles (6 million square km) remain, and only 50 percent, or 75 million square acres (30 million hectares), of temperate rainforests still exists. Tropical rainforests are found in Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, Central America, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.
With climate change pushed by human-caused emissions to the atmosphere, it stands to reason that we face compromised air quality. This affects human health, especially children. Air pollution can lead to asthma, and or heart and lung disease. A good example of this is Beijing’s insidious smog which is a visible reminder of this. Bad air quality makes headlines all across the globe, and has been labelled a ‘public health emergency’ by those in the know.
Written by Carl Boniface