Throughout history, we, humans as a species have often faced looming threats to our very existence on our planet such as Famine, World Wars, and Natural Calamities but none of these have posed a greater threat to us than Climate Change. This slow, invisible threat that was dubbed as a mere hoax and treated as an urban myth for so long is finally rearing its horns, a sight so plain for all to see.
For those of us living under a rock, Climate Change refers to the long-term changes in global temperature and weather patterns. In the past, these shifts have been due to natural phenomena, like changes in our sunโs activity or large volcanic eruptions. But since the 1800s, with the industrial revolution changing our entire lifestyle as we knew it, human activities have been the major cause of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. Simply put, burning fossil fuels generates Greenhouse Gas Emissions, mainly carbon dioxide and methane, that act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sunโs heat and raising the temperature.
Climate scientists have proven that we, humans are responsible for virtually all global heating over the last 200 years. In just the last two centuries, we have managed to do what the Earth’s natural system goes through in a period that lasts thousands of years. Human activities are causing greenhouse gases that lead to warming our world faster than at any time in at least the last two thousand years.
Earth’s average temperature on the surface is about 1.1ยฐC warmer now than it was in the late 1800s, before the industrial revolution and warmer than at any time in the last thousand centuries. The last decade 2010-2020 was the warmest decade on record, and each of the last four decades has been significantly warmer than any previous decade since the 1850’s.
The most common misconception the general masses have is that climate change only means warmer temperatures. But temperature rise is only the tip of the quickly melting iceberg. As our planet Earth is a complex and intricate system, where each and every single being, living and non-living is inter-connected, and any change in one can influence changes in all others through the ecological web of life. The consequences of climate change include, but not limited to, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flash flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity, so on and so worse.
Here are a few excerpts that seem unrelated to the greater effect of the change in climate, but in fact are indicators of the increasing collapse of ecological systems that will ultimately backfire on humans ourselves unless we do something drastically different and dramatically quick!
If you have not noticed already, half of our respiratory system lies outside of our bodies, that is, life-sustaining oxygen producing beings commonly known as plants and trees, and any being able to photosynthesize. With deforestation, we are threatening our very existence by wiping out the major producers of oxygen, and also the absorbers of carbon dioxide, the frontrunner cause of Climate Change in the first place. We as a species need to understand that life on this planet Earth is not a linear concept, but in fact, a cyclical one, with each component having an important and irreplaceable role to play.
To unreservedly fathom the Earth and its natural processes, we need to understand the Gaia Theory, that the Earth is one living entity and what is done in one part of it affects other parts. Biodiversity is the collection of all living species on earth including all ecosystems within which life forms like plants, animals and microorganisms exists and thrives, the large extent of which is determined by the climate of the place. The total number of species on Earth is estimated to be between 3 million to a whopping 100 million, indicating how very little we know of the biodiversity of Gaia. Loss in Biodiversity is taking place at a much more rapid pace than ever before. And these rapid changes bring with it the threat of extinction. The current pace of change and loss of Biodiversity is 100 times more than previously recorded, especially in the Amazon, South and South-East Asia and Africa, primary cause being deforestation for conversion of land for agriculture.
Biodiversity is the indicator of the health of an ecosystem. It cannot be limited to the economic value or seen just as raw material, when in actuality it is so much more than that. The enormous range of species and habitats maintain the delicate balance of Earth as an entire ecosystem and extinction or removal of even one has long-lasting effects on human well-being, food security, energy and socio-cultural relations. To put this into monetary perspective, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) conducted a study that estimates the economic value of biodiversity is multi-trillion dollars!
Climate Change has already started to show its effects around the globe, in multiple instances in the natural world. In 2008, there was a shocking revelation that over a hundred gharials had been found dead in the Chambal River. In India, as a whole, there are an estimated number of only thousand adult gharials left, out of which around three hundred call the Chambal home, so a loss of this magnitude sent shockwaves through conservation circles. The tentative conclusion by scientists were that these deaths were caused by some toxins released into the river, but true cause has yet to be ascertained.
Thousands of Magellanic penguins from southern Argentine coasts now appear in Northern Brazil, a drastic increase from a one-off brave explorer. The International Fund for Animal Welfare stated that finding penguins on Brazilian beaches means there is something seriously wrong with the natural order. Their studies and findings proved that the Malvinas sea currents were 1 degree Celsius warmer in the preceding winter that caused the sardines to swim deeper, making these penguins go further north to find more food. The situation is critical with overfishing, ocean contamination and climate change all contributing factors in the penguinโs peril.
Researchers warn that Climate Change models predict that carbon dioxide levels and ocean acidity will more than double before the end of the century. It is hypothesised that carbon dioxide interferes with the functioning of neuroreceptors in the fish brains, where high levels of carbon dioxide change the concentration of ions in the fishesโ blood, altering the way neuroreceptors work. This impairs their basic senses like sight and smell which are vital for recognition in fish, which could lead the fish to lose their ability to recognise each other, making them “friendless” wanderers, instead of surviving and thriving in schools. This causes hinderance against higher growth and survival rates, greater defence against predators and faster social learning.
The depletion of native species of plants, being replaced with cash crops has a major downside as well. It may all be green, but itโs the wrong kind of green. Flash floods and landslides have increased in number and frequency over the past couple of decades. This is due to deforestation on the mountains and hillsides, being replaced with cash crops such as coffee and tea plantations that are heavily dependent on water, but whose roots do not penetrate deep enough to hold the soil in place, causing more and more surface run-off, which leads to disastrous landslides and flash floods that have caused loss of lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable folks.
Precious ecosystems such as the alpine meadows of Tibet have also taken a hit, with a decline of seventy per cent surface area with climate change as the main culprit helped with overgrazing by yaks. These alpine meadows, that lay above the tree line and below the snow caps function as sponges by absorbing the melting snow, acting as natural water towers. The loss of these endemic plants is irreversible and will pose a much larger ripple effect through the entire web of life on earth.
The list of effects is seemingly endless but the cause is just one – endless and reckless human centric notions and consumption. When humans are far removed from nature and natural processes, especially aided by money, we are blind to the disastrous effects we have on our environment and in large, our home planet. If each of us are to grow our own food, sew our own clothes and clean our own water to drink, we sure as heck would not be so casual about the waste and destruction we leave in our path. A few mindful practices in each of u would go a long way. We have long passed the hour of debate and dillydallying. It is time to act. It is time to own up our mistakes and make amends before it is too late for us. Let us reach out and give our Mother Earth a helping hand, not a stamping foot.