Why Is Global Change Not Being Taken Seriously?

Pic: Pexels Creative Commons / slon_dot_pics

Global warming is when the Earth’s average atmospheric temperature increases. When this happens, it can cause changes in the climate and other issues.

We are experiencing it today as a result of previous and current generations overusing fossil fuels, and Government officials not doing nearly enough to stop this overuse.

This is despite seeing facts on the adverse effects global warming has on our globe, and the impact it’s going to have on the future generations.

The Facts

According to NASA, the planet’s surface temperature has increased by 0.9 degrees Celsius since the late 19th Century. Human produced carbon dioxide emissions mostly drove this change into our atmosphere. As the earth’s temperature is rising, the amount of ice in our waters is also decreasing.

This is happening at an insane pace and leaves many species of animals that usually thrive in the original conditions at a massive risk of extinction. Some cities are at high risk due to rising sea levels, including Hong Kong in Japan.

Scientists from the organisation Climate Central estimate that 275 million people worldwide live in areas that will eventually be flooded if global warming gets just 3 degrees higher. This would be truly catastrophic.

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What are government officials doing?

Sure, The Paris Agreement from the UN is a very ambitious effort to combat climate change and to adapt to the seemingly inevitable effects.

The Paris Agreement state that their central aim is “to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”

However, only a small number of countries around the world have imposed a carbon tax on their citizens for burning fossil fuels. That is a tiny percentage in comparison to the rest of the world who have not implemented a carbon tax. Yet according to The New York Times, just less than 50% of Republicans in the US do not believe that Climate Change is happening.

Pic: Pexels Creative Commons / Ajay bhargav GUDURU

Forthcoming Generations

This ignorance about the realities of global warming on a world scale, despite the facts, is truly saddening. Choices made by both civilians and our governments today will have a permanent effect on future generations. They will feel the negative impacts that climate change will have on our globe even more.

No matter whether or not people choose to accept and make a change in their lifestyles for the better or not, climate change is a real issue. It is affecting our globe, our environment, our people and our creatures.

It is happening as you are reading this.