Climate change and its impact to our lives
Climate change is a reality affecting millions of people across the world. It is one of the most complex concerns we are facing today. It is a global problem felt on both local and international scale that has been around for years. The greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases among other gases are the primary driver of global warming. These gases occur naturally, however, human activities led to increasing their concentrations in the atmosphere causing global warming. The amount of continuous emission and how exactly climate responds to those emissions determines the rate of climate change. These heat trapping gases linger in the atmosphere for thousands of years, but Earth took a while to respond to this. Therefore, even if we stopped emitting all greenhouse gases now, global warming and climate change will continue to impact our lives and our future generations. Because humanity has contributed greatly to the emissions of these greenhouse gases, we are also committed at some level to counter climate change through mitigation and adaptation.
Mitigation
Actions taken to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and stabilizing its levels in the atmosphere is called mitigation. It aims at tackling the causes and minimizing the future impact of climate change. It involves reducing the flow of heat trapping gases either by reducing the sources, enhancing those that accumulate, and storing these gases in the oceans, forests and soil. The goal of mitigation is to avoid significant human interference with the Earth’s climate and stabilize greenhouse gas levels in a timeframe sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt, naturally ensuring that food production is not threatened, thus enabling economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.
Adaptation
As our climate changes, we will need to adapt. The faster the climate changes, the more problematic it will be. While climate change is a global issue, it is also felt on a local level. Local governments are therefore at the frontline of adaptation in addressing this issue. Cities and local communities around the world have been focusing in solving their own climate problems. They are working to build flood defenses, plan for heat waves and higher temperatures, install better-draining pavements to deal with floods and storm water, and improve water storage and use. Moreover, according to the 2014 report on Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability of UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, governments at various levels are also getting better at adaptation. In fact, climate change is being included into development plans: how to manage the gradually extreme calamities, how to shelter coastlines and deal with sea-level rise, how to best manage land and forests, how to deal with and plan for drought, how to develop new crop varieties, and how to protect energy and public infrastructure. In addition, adaptation looks at how to reduce the negative effects of climate change and how to take advantage of any opportunities that arise. When mitigation strategies fail to reach emission control targets, climate resilience will be key to lessen the effects of climate change and pave the way for our survival, along with the rest of the Earth’s inhabitants.
Reamur David
Contributor