'Climate change in simpler terms' -Health/Sciences/Humanity

Up until some few years ago, I never totally understood what Climate Change was all about. I seemed to have lost touch of Scientific words so reading up about it is tantamount to not just getting confused, but having to decode ambiguous words like  hemisphere, earth's eccentricity, Milankovitch cycles, interglacial periods etc.

With an average African having a very bad reading culture, so also for the benefits of others who were like what I used to be, which was; evading having to read seeming difficult to understand articles, this is for you.

Definition;

In very simple words, Climate Change is the alterations in the expected weather pattern of a region (or the whole earth) over a particular period of time. Or the periodic modification of earth’s Climate brought about as a result of changes in the atmosphere.

It is actually abnormal, when there is drought when expectedly, there should be heavy rainfall. That exactly is Climate Change.

The atmospheric condition of the earth had been in constant change from the past years to centuries, decades and even millenniums. This is worrisome most especially when human factor is the largest, if not the entire contributor to changes in the climatic conditions of our space. Not when our lifestyles and how we go about the usage of our supposedly natural habitat over the years, has not helped matters at all.

So sometimes taken to mean Global Warming, Climate Change is many times used interchangeably with the former. But it is worthy of note to say that Climate Change is the cause of Global Warming.

Causes of climate change;

 Climate change is caused by the ‘greenhouse effect’, a scenario brought about by the greenhouse gases which emits into the air when human beings embark on some of their basic/daily activities.

From massive fossil fuels usage, when coals are burned for instance, it emits a particular gas into the air. This same gas is emitted from the combustion of oil and gas, cement manufacture etc. The gases produces includes; carbon-dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, nitrous oxide, water vapor and methane, all of these are the greenhouse gases. And too much of these in the air results into the air holding more heat and subsequently, the supposedly normal atmospheric condition of the weather become altered.

Some other activities of human that increases the greenhouse effects include;

·         Intensive system of farming;  

Animal husbandry especially rearing of cattle, sheep and goats is one of the numerous causes of Climate Change in that; these animals tend to produce a large amount of methane (a greenhouse gas) when digesting their foods. Under intensive farming too, the frequent usage of fertilizers and other chemical based products used for protecting plants emits Nitrous Oxide.

·        Deforestation;

 Trees actually help to regulate the climate by absorbing carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere, giving back oxygen that we breathe in return. But when they are cut (the act of which is known as deforestation), the carbon-dioxide released into the air are kept hanging to disrupt the normal ecological system.

(The Amazon rainforest in Brazil for instance, otherwise referred to as the ‘lungs of the earth’ just because it is believed to produce over ten percent of the world’s oxygen has consistently over the years been on fire, a source of concern for climate change activists all over the world. This should sound a note of warning to everyone now that we need more trees than the sprouting of manufacturing industries.)

Industrialization;

 Industries that makes use of heavy equipment or those that burns harmful substances like metal and minerals used in the construction, transportation and manufacturing of goods, from its extraction to delivery stage accounts for about 5% of all greenhouse gas emissions. No gainsaying how toxic the end product is. Example is mining in metallurgical industry.

·        Urbanization;

The fact that every tiny village wants to ‘step-up’ and become civilized might not actually be a plus to the Earth’s climate. Waste Management methods like Landfills and incineration in urban areas too emits toxic and greenhouse gases into the air, soil and the waterways. Another major agent of toxic gas emissions is the heavy vehicles that we see around. This is to say that, as populations, economies and standards of living grows, so does the cumulative level of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions. This is another reason why population has to be checked.

Effects of climate change;

Greenhouse gases in the air affect the frequency of weather events such as drought, extreme temperatures, flooding, high winds and severe storms. This also has projected effects on the oceans. Others are; a rise in sea level due to thermal expansion and melting of glaciers and ice sheets, warming of the ocean surface leading to increased temperature stratification etc.”

 Whatever that means to those who might consider the above boring, read below;

Ø  Over 150,000 deaths are caused by climate change annually, poor and low-income communities around the world being more vulnerable.

Ø  Climate change is the reason why earth’s temperature remains unstable and each has its negative consequences on every one of us. For instance, when the temperature becomes too high, it can increase mortality rate among fetuses and children. In fact, human health becomes generally threatened as the global spread of infectious diseases like malaria, dengue fever and childhood pneumonia increases. Heat stress, which is currently being experienced in many countries of the world, reduces labor capacity considerably under current emissions, and causes a rise in pollen levels in the air. Extreme cold temperatures on the other hand can actually result in large scale disruption to human life, just because it brings about related illnesses like hantavirus, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis (river blindness) and tuberculosis. It could also cause the rise in hay fever.

Ø  Climate change is the reason for the incidence of ozone depletion and the alterations in drinkable water sources.

Ø  It may dramatically influence habitat loss for animals and humans alike. Arid conditions is responsible for the deforestation of rainforests and weather-related disasters, brought about by climate change. This is attributed to loss of homes and habitats of its victims.

Ø  A rise in sea levels (aftermath of climate change too) gradually erode livelihood and force communities to abandon traditional homelands for more accommodating environments. With these, areas that are conducive for human life are congested while less habitable one gets to be deserted.

Ø  As the climate warms, it changes the nature of global rainfall, evaporation, snow, stream flow and other factors that affect water supply and quality.

Ø  Environmental changes adversely affects the water bodies hence the upsurge of many water contaminated diseases like Cholera, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis E and Diarrheal etc.

Ø  Climate change brings about extreme flooding and famine too (the rise in sea level caused by climate change being the reason why the land becomes susceptible to flooding, as the water supplies becomes contaminated). And while the former induce diseases like dermatitis and nose wounds, throat or ear infection, famine makes the availability of food a heinous task.

Preventions of climate change;

·        Since the earth is warming up at a steady pace, there’s the need to transition to a low carbon society, by moving away from fossil fuels. This means that, it pays us to be as natural as possible on all spheres. There are alternate options like renewable energies such as solar, wind, biomass and geothermal energies. Intentionally reduce energy and water consumption by using more efficient devices like LED light bulbs, and innovative shower system which is even less costly.

·        Cars that use fuel being a major nuisance, public transportation and carpooling should be embraced instead of burning more carbons via individual driving. The lesser the number of vehicles we have on the road, the lesser volume of gases released into space. We hope electric cars would hold sway too.

·         Home appliances caused by heating like air conditioning, hot water or lighting should be replaced with natural options, that uses lower energy.

·        Use of natural resources should be encouraged.

·         Massive deforestation should be discouraged, as we make Agriculture greener and more efficient.

·        Responsible consumption habits on stuffs like food (particularly meat), clothing, cosmetics or cleaning products should be adopted as we heighten recycling too.

·        Meanwhile, plastic objects should be avoided as much as possible. And in this part of the world where most of our items are bagged in plastics and polythene, so bad that they are disposed albeit incessantly into drainages hence finding their ways into the oceans, let it ring into us that these items do not decompose. Instead, they are toxic to the lives in the sea and in no time many sea animals might clearly be extinct.

And on a lighter note, most aged Africans whom we often berate for being too archaic undoubtedly prefer naturals to artificial. They’ll rather have trees planted in their usually vast expanse of residential plots, to seat underneath in cool evenings, than place artificial coolants like air conditions and fans in their rooms.

Finally, if the changes to the climate keep going at the pace that it presently is, and the people appears unbothered still, human risk going into extinction. And Just like the second coming of Jesus Christ seems like a farce, so also is Global Warming. Unknown to many, it is an epidemic, a waiting danger bound to ruin the world so we all have a role to play. Starting with the way we live at the moment.

SOURCES;  Solarimpulse.com, Wikipedia, https://www.britannica.com/science/climate-change.

Picture source; Google