Climate Change and Pollution.
How can we end the cycle of Climate Change and Pollution?
What is Climate Change and what is Pollution? Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth's local, regional and global climates. Climate change is an effect of Global Warming, the heating of the earth’s atmosphere has caused a rise in heat and a change in weather, for example: the summers are getting hotter and snowfall had decreased. These changes cause by global warming is what’s known as Climate change. Climate change began in the late 1830’s when coal mining was introduced via the industrial revolution, the burning of the coal created smoke and smog that clouded the atmosphere and began global warming.
Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants. Pollutants can be natural, such as volcanic ash. They can also be created by human activity, such as landfills or overflow produced by factories. Even though natural pollutants can exist, it’s the production of plastic and burning of fossil fuels that has pushed the environment to the edge. The most harmful pollution is caused by human creation. The beginning of unnatural pollution began about the same time as the industrial revolution, just like climate change, this is because the burning of fossil fuels polluted the air and created harmful gasses. However, the effects of pollution were worsened when plastic was invented, the fact that this new material couldn’t be recycled lead to the pollution of the ocean and even land as the plastic was dumped and left to build up.
What effects is climate change and pollution having on the environment? Over the years climate change and pollution have had a really negative effect on the environment and due to the lack of people trying make a difference, climate change and pollution have created some irreversible effect on the environment. Due to climate change and the rising temperature of the earth’s atmosphere, the ice caps in the arctic and Antarctic have been wasting away and barley exist to this day. The melting of the ice caps has caused a sever rise in sea levels and a large loss of habitat for native animals, polar bears, who use the snow to hunt and camouflage, are endangered of becoming extinct in the next 10-15 years if not helped. The lack of snow takes away their ability to camouflage causing many bears to starve to death as they can’t hunt. The lose of ice has also affected many penguin species as the warmer waters are scaring away their only food source, krill live in colder waters making it the only food source to some species of penguin, the warming water caused the krill to flee leaving the penguin without food. Due to the warming waters many marine species are becoming extinct and will possibly go extinct in the next 5-10 years or so, these are animals such as: golden toads, polar bears, adelie penguins, north Atlantic cod, cape penguin, krill, whales and coral. If these species die out a large catalyst will be cause and more and more species will cease to exist. For example, krill. Krill is a type of bioluminescent fish that prefer to live in cooler waters, due to the rise in temperature many krill have been dying due to heat and lose of habitat. Krill are also a main food source to a large amount of marine life, for example: whales and penguins. If we were to lose krill, we would begin to lose many species of whale and penguins due to lose of food. Again, this catalyst would spread even further if the population of penguins decreased as penguins are used as a main food source for marine life such as sea lions, a lose of penguins would mean even more species would face extinction. Coral would also be a main cause for many species of marine life to go extinct. This is because coral reefs are used as a habitat for many species of fish that couldn’t survive in the open ocean. However, due to the rising heat and weak ozone layer, the sun has been seen to be bleaching coral reefs, causing the coral to die and stop producing the food and security that many marine lives depend on. It is estimated that 50% of the worlds coral reef has been destroyed and another 40% could be destroyed over the next 30 years if we continue the way we do. That statistic creates the idea that coral will most likely become extinct, along with the species it protects, over the next 30-40 years.
Since the invention of plastic in 1907-1910, the overflowing land fills and polluted oceans have caused a sever rift in sea life. The build up of plastic in the ocean has caused areas of the ocean to become uninhabitable for sea life therefore stripping many species of their homes and protection from larger predators. For example, many species of shark and manatees have been forced out of their natural habitats due to the invasion of plastic in their waters. Because of the fact that these species are having to retreat to unfamiliar habitats, its cause a great lose in these species numbers and bringing them close to extinction. Due to the rising amount of plastic in the ocean waters many marine species are becoming extinct and will possibly go extinct in the next 5-10 years or so, these are animals such as: krill, turtles, penguins, whales, dolphins, manatees and sharks. Many marine species die because of the fact that they mistake plastic items for food, for example: turtles. A turtle’s main food source is jelly fish, turtles will sometimes mistake clear plastic bags for jelly fish and consume them all the same, because of the fact that the plastic bag isn’t digest able, it prevents the turtle from feeling hunger therefore encouraging the turtle to stop eating and eventually the turtle dies of starvation because of the fake fulminant that the plastic bags has given it. Many species of birds have also been seen to be providing their young with plastic instead of fish, this is because the large amount of plastic has forced many species of fish out of their habitat leaving the birds without a food source. Therefore, the bird resolves to eating the oceans plastic as it is mistaken for small fish. However, it is not just the consumption of plastic that is driving marine species to extinction, the entanglement of animals in plastic can cause some mammals such as dolphins and turtles to whales to drown and other species to die of starvation because of the fact that they can’t move to get food. Statistics show that the plastic population continues to grow within the ocean we could lost up to 20 marine species in the next 35 years.
Is a silver lining? Even though the future seems terrible and clouded, there is a sliver lining in all of the gloom. Many organisations and activists are working round the clock to try and find ways to prevent the loss of more species and to avoid the dumping of more plastic into the ocean. These are organisations such as:
-RSPB
-WWF
-U.S. Global Change Research Program
-C2ES (Centre for Climate Change and Energy Solutions)
-NOAA (National Centres for Environmental Information)
-United Nations Climate Action
-National Science Foundation
And powerful activists such as David Attenborough, Chris Packham and Greta Thumberg who are trying to spread awareness about the harm and destruction we are causing to the environment.
As a country I feel as though there is more, we could do as a collective to prevent the effects of climate change and pollution. There are many alternative ways to create power and to package food/items that would be more sufficient and less harmful to the environment. For example:
1. More laptop, less desktop
If you have both a desktop and a laptop, try to use the laptop whenever possible. The generation of electricity, especially if powered by coal, is bad for the environment, and laptops are almost always more efficient than desktops. (Electricity from natural gas is also dirty, but estimated to be around 50% cleaner than coal.) The exact fraction varies depending on the processor, display and other factors, but laptops often use about a third as much electricity as desktops.
2. Drive less
Cars are a major emitter of carbon dioxide. In the UK, cars and trucks account for almost one-fifth of emissions, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. Living a green life on hard mode would mean selling your car and using public transport (or walking or biking) to commute everywhere. But this isn't realistic for many people, especially those who don't live in big cities. The realistic solution here isn't to not drive at all, it's to drive less. Can we commit to only using your car during the week? Or only on the weekend? Because this would be an amazing help and would lower the carbon emissions by 60% (if the whole country drove less). This is also easier than ever thanks to new last-mile transport rental services, from companies like scooter maker Lime, which are available in many cities.
3. Take cold showers
Cold showers are a great help to the environment and your body. Cold showers can increase your blood flow, boost your immune system and even spike your metabolism. A spike in metabolism happens because your body has to use energy to warm itself up, burning calories in the process. Cold showers are great for the body, and showering with cold water is good for the environment, too. It takes electricity to warm up water -- depending on the efficiency of your heating system, it can use a lot of electricity -- which, as noted above, often means more carbon dioxide in the air.
4. Eat less beef
On one hand, forests are often cut down for agricultural purposes. On the other hand, we need to eat. And there are more of us every day. So, what is the best solution? Eat less beef. If you can commit to not eating any meat, that would be even better. But it's unrealistic to demand that of people. So, a quick and easy way you can help is to eat less red meat. Farmers need around 28 times the land to produce beef over pork or chicken, and 11 times the water, according to a 2014 study. As a result, beef is five times more damaging to the climate than white meat, and 11 times more than wheat, rice and potatoes. It would be better for the world if 80% of people reduced their meat consumption by 50% than if 5% of the world reduced their meat consumption by 100%.
6. Buy local, seasonal food
Eating fruits and vegetables is good for you, but consumption of out-of-season fruits and veggies can also be bad for the environment, even if not as damaging as red meat. Big supermarkets stock the same produce all year round but, as you know, fruit and vegetables are seasonal. There are two main ways sellers get around this: Import food from overseas, or pay local farmers who use huge amounts of water and electricity to grow them out of season. You can mitigate both of these contributors by finding out, with a quick Google search, what food is seasonal in your country or region.
7. Eat your leftovers
Throwing away your food means wasting the carbon dioxide used to produce it. Not only that, but discarded food ends up in landfills where, due to it decomposing without the presence of oxygen, it causes emissions of methane into the atmosphere. Waste less food and you'll buy less food, which is helpful for both the environment and your wallet.
8. Fly less
Airplanes use up huge amounts of gasoline, with international flights often easily burning well over 10,000 gallons of fuel, and being responsible for around 5% climate change, according to a recent report from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics. But this is a harder sacrifice to make, since there are often no real alternatives to flight. For that reason, it's estimated that aviation emissions will account for over 20% of all carbon emissions by 2050 as other sources are taking their time and don’t want to lose money on their company’s.
9. Look into renewable energy
Wind and solar energy are cheap and getting cheaper, but setting up the infrastructure required to funnel energy from the sun to your PlayStation can be expensive. The size, shape and age of your roof can also be restrictive factors. Depending on where you live, you'll probably end up shelling out between £10,000 and £15,000 to set up solar panels. But you'll be a winner over time, since you'll save more and more money each year. This would lower the use of fossil fuels therefore lowering the number of harmful gasses being fed into the atmosphere.
In conclusion, the main caused for pollution and climate change are the burning of fossil fuels, the creation of plastic and the ignorance shared by many people across the globe. Over the years, climate change and pollution have caused many species of marine life to steer towards the edge of extinction due to lack of food, habitat and cooler waters. However, there are many organisations and activists who are working to make a difference and save many species and the planet itself from complete extinction.
Sources used:
www.WWF.org.uk
