Global Warming: The Pandora's Box

by Chelsea Liu

Deaths spiked during UK heatwave, typhoon lashes the Philippines, flood waters rise after hurricane in Florence. Sound familiar? Global warming, also known as climate change, is a factor of where all these severe weather originate from. It is a worrying natural crisis disturbing the earth every second.

The definition of global warming is basically due to the greenhouse effect. By which is the absorption of outgoing heat from earth by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, thus providing warmth. This blanket of greenhouse gases includes carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide as well as water vapour.

This problem mainly arises from humans. A stable amount of these greenhouse gases contributes to a humid environment just right for life, just right for us. However, as our population  grows and we become more industrialised, larger amounts of resources are acquired to meet our needs. We need food to eat, so we grow more crops and cultivate more animals; we need places to live, so we cut down forests and construct more buildings; we need to get rid of our waste, so we dump them in landfills, we need transportation, so we manufacture more cars; we need warmth, so we burn more fossil fuels… Have a guess, how many of those activities above require greenhouse gases to be made? When we grow rice, we are producing methane, when we farm animals, we are producing methane, when we accumulate landfill sites, we are producing methane. We burn fossil fuels that release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, we engage in deforestation chopping down trees that used to absorb the carbon dioxide. So overall, there is a net increase of carbon dioxide. All this methane, all this carbon dioxide is thickening that greenhouse layer in the atmosphere. If we don’t act now, we will be smothered in a gigantic oven . If we don’t act now, we will be living on a Mercury or on a Venus. Do we realise that every action we take may lead to another species becoming extinct, or another natural hazard, causing more casualties?

Nowadays, we can obviously see the impact climate change has on us. Since the industrial revolution, the ocean has become 26 percent more acidic. The survival, calcification, growth, development and abundance of marine organisms, due to the rapidly increasing percentage of acidification, has fallen by significant figures. In 2017, the population of freshwater species, river dolphins in particular, has dropped by 81%. Greenland, in the past 20 years, has lost approximately 281 billion tons of ice every year. The rate of ice mass loss of Antarctica has tripled in the last decade.The US not only has experienced ascending numbers of intense rainfall, but has also witnessed a trending increment in record high temperature events and a decrement in record low temperature events. All this is evidence that global warming is close to us and that this nearly uncontrollable, detrimental, human-powered frankenstein has the potential to severely endanger all living organisms on earth, including me and you.

So, what can we do? What can you do to help? Global warming is a natural change, we cannot prevent it. The amount of carbon dioxide currently in the air is at an ample level to cause another temperature rise, but it is never too late to cut back on carbon dioxide and start altering. Here are four directions for you to consider. First up is transportation, try to green your commute. Make use of the public transport, or try an electric or hybrid vehicle for a change. Switch to riding a bike to school or work, this way, not only can you be environmentally-friendly, but also physically healthy. Secondly, maybe think about making your diet more eco-friendly. Go for the organic and local products in shops whenever and wherever possible. Don’t forget to recycle any food packaging. Make the most of seasonal goods and simply don’t waste food. Another area is energy. Use it wisely! Many countries have started to make use of the renewable energy resources such as solar power and wind power. Well for us, we can start by saving our wallets from electricity bills. Change to energy-efficient light bulbs, and unplug electronic devices like televisions and computers when not using them. Last but not least, take action. As individuals, we can only green our homes, schools, offices and our neighborhoods. But we also need policy-movers and shakers. If you want to step up your game and contribute more, why not be one of those with incentives for fuel-efficient technologies, strategies to protect endangered species, and regulations for banning toxic chemicals. So take some tips home today and implement them into your daily lifestyle. May it be walking to school or buying organic food, or even if it is just wearing your pyjamas in the morning and throwing an empty cereal box into the recycle bin outside your house, every little helps.

Climate change needs the help of everyone, let us concurrently place our hands on Pandora’s box, and shut the evils and the sins away.