Well, itâs finally time to address the elephant in the room. Not dummies, but climate change. I have been asked by a few of my pals why isnât there a simple explanation for all thatâs happening around us. The truth of it was itâs always been there, maybe the rest of us donât care that much to put some effort and find relevant content.
If you are someone who is trying to get your head around the current affairs with regards to climate change, then you are at the right place. Today, Iâll try to the best of my ability to break down the most complex of climate terms to make you dummies understand what climate change is.
Letâs jump right in.
Weather vs. Climate
As kids we all have learned what the atmosphere is; since I promised I would dumb it down, here goes. Imagine you have a tennis ball completely covered with mud. The Earth is the ball in your hand, the mud around that acts as a blanket is what the atmosphere is. It covers the Earth from all corners. If I had to define what weather is using this analogy, itâs pretty simple. If you rub off the mud from one side of the ball, itâs clean, right? Weather is just that, it is the state of the atmosphere at a particular place and time as regards heat, cloudiness, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain, etc. So if your place is hot or cold on a particular day, that is the weather.
So then whatâs climate? Now imagine this muddy tennis ball is left on the ground, all dirty, for days. If you took it from that place after a long period, it would be really hard for you to clean off that mud â would require more water, and more scrubbing to clean it off. Climate behaves the same way, it describes the weather conditions that are expected in a region at a particular time of year. A regionâs climate is determined by monitoring its weather patterns over many years; usually 30 years or more.
Now since thatâs clear, letâs all turn our attention towards the elephant again â yes, you ser.
What is Climate Change?
Now imagine you left the tennis ball on the ground and forgot all about it. As months pass by, the thickness of the mud around it will increase, making it harder for you to clean it off by yourself. But if it rains suddenly, the ball will get cleaner without any effort from your end. Climate change acts in the same fashion, it is the shift in the average conditions in a region over a long period of time. But whatâs that got to do with us? Everything. Global climate change refers to the average long-term changes over our entire planet. This has some serious consequences, such as warming temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns. Moreover, this will over time lead to permanent damage across Earth such as:
Rising sea levels đ
Shrinking mountain glaciers đť
Ice melting at a faster rate than usual in the poles âď¸
Changes in harvest patterns. đž
Yes, the climate was always changing, even before humans came into existence, but our activities have had a cascading effect on our beautiful planet. Scientists now claim that Earthâs average temperature has been increasing much more quickly than they would expect over the past 150 years.
If you feel like I havenât done justice to you by explaining it enough, NASA has done the hard work a long time ago to break it down even further, go have a read here.
How much is it changing right now?
Does it matter? As individuals, we all crib even when the room temperature becomes unsuitable and feel the urge to go sit under a fan or in front of a heater. When we are this way, why is it so hard to try and gather your understanding of how much the climate has changed since you were born? Every year is hotter than the previous one, doesnât matter where you are at. The past five years have been the warmest five years in centuries.
The concerns around this are very real, many scientists and climate activists protest and spread awareness as I write on these very issues every single minute of our existence. But why you may wonder. As Earthâs climate continues to warm, the intensity of rainfall during storms is expected to increase, causing more damage to property and personal lives. Droughts and heat waves are also expected to become more intense, as we can see right now across Africa, Europe, and soon enough the USA.
When the Earthâs temperature increases by 1â2 degrees, it can have major impacts on the health of our plants and animals too. Imagine the life of your pets who cannot communicate through any form to you regarding the heat, do you want them to suffer?
What is causing this?
This question can be answered in many ways as multiple factors cause our planet to warm up. However, scientists collectively came to the consensus that Earth has been getting warmer in the past 100 years mainly due to human activities. Surprised? Well, donât be. We are just starting.
All of us are quite aware and have studied since our primary school days what the greenhouse effect is. If you canât recall here is a graphic illustration to explain better.
But what did I do to increase the temperature globally?
Unaware of the consequences, we as consumers contribute a lot to the greenhouse effect just by leading our lives in an unsustainable way. We throw away the good things we are taught at schools because you feel like you donât belong with the cool kids if you donât own products from the major clothing brands or you donât own the latest gadget/car. This consumer mentality has overridden our minds and we forget whatâs at stake here.
Remember the domino effect? If you balance a domino one behind the other and nudge the first one in line, every single one behind it falls. Similarly, every single time you drive a car that runs on fossil fuels, eat meat or even travel on a flight, you are adding more greenhouse emissions. The sad part is that you are not even aware of this because no one stresses this enough or mainstream media purposely opts out from creating awareness around this global issue (yes, itâs a conspiracy).
How will my actions affect the world?
The best way to explain the consequences that led to this is with the help of a microwave. If you do have one at home, try heating your favourite dish in it for a minute extra than you always do. What happens? Either the end product comes out charred or itâs a boiling temperature that you cant sink your teeth into. Either way, it shows exactly what would happen to our Earth as well.
Rising surface and water temperatures will lead to major climate catastrophes. No matter where in the world you reside at the moment, you must have undergone some kind of crisis related to climate change.
Experts say that if the temperature rise cannot be kept within 1.5C:
Europe will be vulnerable to flooding caused by extreme rainfall
Countries in Asia and the Middle East will experience extreme heatwaves and farms could turn into deserts
Island nations could disappear under water due to the rising sea levels (caused due to melting at the poles)
Africa as a continent will suffer extreme droughts and food shortages (like they arenât suffering enough already)
The USA will face droughts caused by heat waves, while its coasts will see more intense storms.
How can you help fight this?
Simple, start by reading my previous blog on how you can offset your emissions at home. Each one of us has a role to play to make this a success story. There is no prince charming riding on a horseback to save us from our slumber, the only way forward is together.
Be a part of the climate revolution you see around you, young kids wake up every day worried and anxious if they will even live up to their forties. The conditions on Earth are not like how pleasant it was 50 years ago. Reason? We, Humans.
We have a responsibility to save life on Earth, everything we experienced as kids should be there as a choice for future generations to experience as well. Who are we to take away what they can have? Learn to lead your life responsibly, and sustainably, so that mine and your kids can breathe fresh air, drink clean water and walk around on a livable planet. Stop dreaming about Mars, trust me itâs not Earth.
Open your eyes, the paradise we all seek is right here, you just need to save it from burning up.