How can children fight climate change for their future? Problem, solutions and stats.
Do want to know about climate change? About all those other buzzwords and what do they mean? This is the blog with it all, that can empower you with tools to help fight for your future with climate change.
Dear Reader,
Climate change is not a word that is used by us in our daily lives nowadays, but what is the meaning behind it and why should we care about it. Is it really important, why need to know and learn about it?
Contents
- What is Climate Change?
- what are its impacts? How is it important?
- Stats
- what is green house gas emission?
- what causes it?
- How will it influence your life?
- what does the global warning mean? How will it influence the people of earth?
- Stats
- So you want to help? Charity begins at home.
What is climate change?
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. The term “climate change” is the most common usage for this phenomenon, but it can also be referred to as global warming, global climate disruption, or anthropogenic climate change.
Climate is the long time pattern of temperature and weather of a place. Climate changes or drifts naturally but at slow rates and sometimes due to natural calamities like earthquakes, droughts and volcanic eruptions.
The problem with this phenomenon is that too much carbon dioxide has been released into the atmosphere which has led to an accumulation of heat on Earth’s surface. This has caused the ice caps to melt and oceans to rise. Because of these changes in temperature and weather patterns, people are having difficulty adapting.
What are its impacts? How is it important?
Everyone loves their home, and for the better ones among us, the world is their home. The “Vasudeva Kutumbakam” means the world is our home. And what do we do in our home? We clean it, protect it and maintain it, we shower our homes with love and every brick hears the words we say and every brick recite melodies. So we care about our homes. So do we for our world.
Climate change will impact everything you care for. It is the wrath of nature, the burning fury, the mother’s rage, that we are to suffer, but we can stop it. The impacts are really huge and the stakes are high:-
- Hotter temperatures due to global warming.
- More severe storms — In due course of 2020 to 2021, more than 5 storms have ravaged the coasts of Bengal, Orissa, Chennai and Mumbai in India, 3 of them in Bengal and Orissa itself, namely Faani, Amphan and Yash. These storms cost us the damage of over 8 cr. in total. People lost lives and homes, even their means of bread and living. Surrounded by water, not a drop to drink.
- Increased droughts — Though steps are being taken to fight droughts, like predicting droughts and saving crops for the rainy days and more, we are unable to prevent the inevitable nature. No place on earth will ever forget the droughts they faced followed by famines and landslides.
- Many animals are going extinct, which means we will be not able to enjoy the company of many animals like penguins and pandas, even polar bears.
- Not Enough Food — Changes in climate and increases in extreme weather events are among the reasons behind a global rise in hunger and poor nutrition. Fisheries, crops, and livestock may be destroyed or become less productive. Heat stress can diminish water and grasslands for grazing.
- Increased health hazards — changing weather patterns are spreading diseases such as malaria. Extreme weather events increase diseases and deaths and make it difficult for health care systems to keep up. Other risks to health include increased hunger and poor nutrition in places where people cannot grow or find sufficient food.
- Climate change increases the factors that put and keep people in poverty. Floods may sweep away urban slums, destroying homes and livelihoods. Heat can make it difficult to work in outdoor jobs. Weather-related disasters displace 2.3 crore people a year, leaving many more vulnerable to poverty.
- The ocean soaks up most of the heat from global warming. This melts ice sheets and raises sea levels, threatening coastal and island communities. The ocean also absorbs carbon dioxide, keeping it from the atmosphere. More carbon dioxide makes the ocean more acidic, which endangers marine life.
Stats
what is green house gas emission?
Green house gas, refers to the gases that have capability to absorb and retain heat, gases like carbon dioxide. It is called green house gas as a green house traps sunlight for growing plants in cold weathers and place with lower temperatures than necessary. Green house gas emission refers to the excessive emissions of these gases, they trap a lot of heat that is unnecessary for us. Causing us and the life on earth a lot of damage and trouble.
what causes it?
Whenever any fuels is burnt, these gases are emitted as a by product.
How will it influence your life?
It is really scary to have high levels of green house gases in the atmosphere, that lead to climate change and respiratory problems, like asthma and respiratory allergy. Imagine a world where everybody fights for oxygen masks and everyone needs to wear them to survive. Extreme weather, food supply disruptions, and increased wildfires are other effects of climate change caused by greenhouse gases.
Stats
what does the global warning mean? How will it influence the people of earth?
The increase in the average temperature of the earth leads to global warming, or the warming of the earth. This means that the temperature of the places if the earth has increase in due time.
This will have really terrible effects on both abiotic and biotic factors of this blue planet.
This shall lead to increase in sea level, fast melting of the glaciers and snow capped mountains and extinction of many species, of habitats like marine and polar and snowy. Disrupt in food chain shall furthermore lead to excessive damage. Extremely uncomfortable weather will be harsh for people as well as plants.
Global warming is mainly caused due to reckless human activities like mining, deformation, and burning fossil fuel. Emission of greenhouse gases. Global warming leads to climate change.
Stats
It is too scary, isn’t it? Yes well it is, and this is the truth of the future and we can stop it. We children can join hands to challenge global warming and climate change. Don’t worry because we believe in unity of people who have saved the world always. We can do it and we shall do. Take the green pledge to save your planet and your sweet world.
So you want to help? Charity begins at home.
There are many things you can do to change the way things are —
- Don’t bunk school sand keep learning, staya curious and question more. The more you want to learn, the more you learn, the better you do in life and for the world.
- Utilise daylight as much as possible during the day as a primary light source, don’t turn lights on during daytime if not necessary.
- Stop the tap of water whenever it is not in use, we should not waste water. Try to save water.
- When drying clothes, ask elders of the house to use the sun as a natural dryer and not any electronic appliance, until really necessary.
- Turn lights off when there is no one in the room. Try to be near your family to save as much energy as you can.
- Walk, Cycle or use Public transportation, so that we can cut aa large amount of carbon emission from our lives.
- Eat much more vegetables — I know vegetables are boring and don’t taste that good. Even I did not like vegetables that much, but then suddenly I ate a vegetable curry one day, and fell in love with them, they are really tasty. Eating more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and less meat and dairy, can significantly lower your environmental impact. Producing plant-based foods generally results in fewer greenhouse gas emissions and requires less energy, land, and water.
- Talk to your parents and tell them to plant solar panels to get green and clean electricity. Solar panels, hydro power, tidal energy, and wind energy are some the most convenient ways to get electricity.
- When you throw food away, you’re also wasting the resources and energy that were used to grow, produce, package, and transport it. And when food rots in a landfill, it produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. So use what you buy and compost any leftovers.
- Ask your parents to put all biodegradable waste to decompose and rot, which would generate methane or biogas as result of decomposition by yeast and bacteria, methane acts was a better fuel than LPG. Link
- Electronics, clothes, and other items we buy cause carbon emissions at each point in production, from the extraction of raw materials to manufacturing and transporting goods to market. To protect our climate, buy fewer things, shop second-hand, repair what you can, and recycle. Reuse, reduce, repair, and recycle are 4 golden rules for saving our world. This is called the basic pillar of sustainability, sustainability is just use of materials, so that the future as well as the present generation can sustain.
- Go digital — It’s never been easier to collaborate with others online. Whether through sharing documents using cloud storage or video conferencing instead of travelling, you can reduce your waste and emissions. Try moving away from printed documents where possible, and encourage others to work on their digital skills for the workplace. Use Google docs or notion or keep or Evernote or Jam board, to draft simple ideas or doodle or if you like to write something in spare time, better than using paper made from tree.
- Eliminate single-use plastic
- Think green — No matter how far you travel, you can take an environmentally friendly approach when you reach your destination. As well as choosing green accommodation and ethical destinations, you can also think about the tours and attractions you take. Try and walk, cycle, or use public transport, eat local food, and leave as light a carbon footprint as possible.
- Raise awareness — Your school community might not know much about things like greenhouse gases, carbon footprints, or climate change. You can change that by raising awareness of these issues. Things like school projects and fundraising events can help to teach your friends and their families about the importance of protecting the environment. This can help those around you to reduce their footprints. Ask for teachers permission and raise awareness about this issue, present documents and read out speeches, don’t worry and don’t be afraid. Tell your friends from your neighborhood about this and discuss it with them.
If you can achieve atleast some of the goals, you will really be a conservative aand caring child who cares for their world. Start taking some steps, it is a good summer vacation mission, instead of getting bored at home.
Thank you so much for reading, take care and stay safe. Take care of the planet, for you to live here.
Regards,
Divyosmi Goswami
