Introduction
Climate change has become the call of the hour, and its severity has been imposing threats on nature, economy, industrialization, environment, and most significantly on human lives. Climate change is one of the main reasons for global warming. Global warming is a phenomenon in which toxic gases are trapped in the environment, causing the depletion of the ozone layer. This natural change is threatening humans with drastic climate changes. The overall temperature is being raised. Due to which glaciers are melting, causing extreme floods. Some of the areas are facing deadly droughts. Wildfires in California, Australia, and many other regions have become a routine, but this routine is getting deadlier each passing day. Marine life is also a sector that is being adversely affected due to climate change. Deaths of marine animals have increased. It has also become a reason for the end of coral reefs from our seas and oceans. It is also a reason for the ruin of the infrastructure of the countries. Due to floods, heavy rains, and land sliding, the bridges, roads, and man-planned civic structures are undergoing some serious losses. To be summarized, climate change is the one reason which has set alarms on fire.
Summary
A report entitled ‘‘Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ℃” was submitted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was reassessed in November 2018 and named as Fourth National Climate Assessment report. The report signifies the deal of concern this issue needs. One dominant cause of global warming is human activity. The pollutants leaving the industries into the atmosphere are the basic reason for the continuous heating up of the whole climate system. Consequences of the rise in temperature are severe droughts, floods, glacier melt-ups, famine, and erosion of landscapes, infrastructural breakdowns, and wildfires.
This climate change has compelled millions of people to migrate from their hometowns, leaving their entire heritage behind. As the United States being the world power and a pro in all technical facilities, it has also been a reason for the world’s largest emissions, which were recorded as the highest in 2014. The U.S has taken bold steps in this regard as it has envisioned to lesser its emission to 40-60% of 2010 levels by 2030 and net-zero emission by 2050. However, the U.S. has been facing some serious issues of declining life expectancy, impure air, and impure water issues due to these climate changes. Civilians have been deprived of the basic needs of life due to these unstoppable changes.
Reflection
Due to excess technology usage in the U.S., people are facing some serious setbacks. A greater deal of pollutants is being added up by the burning of fossil fuels. Feeble transportation management programs are disrupting the normalcy of daily human life. The whole agricultural system is being affected, consequently decreasing food quality. Life expectancy has been decreased due to various respiratory illnesses. People have been deprived of the basic needs of clean water, clear air, quality food, comfortable homes, unsustainable wages, and poor infrastructure. Since climate changes are posing some serious threats to the economic, environmental, and social stability of the U.S. The systemic injustices have affected the vulnerable communities mostly, which includes women, children, the elderly, unhoused, and disabled. It has merely increased the conflicts among people living with different standards and white and black civilians.
The role play by the Federal government holds its significance. It should immediately start working to reduce emissions. The emissions added up in the environment by the transportation system are literally one heck of a deal. The toxicants flowed into the river by farm and rancher is destroying the marine life as it contains a huge amount of chlorine and bromine. Industrial waste is multiplying the climate threat to four-folds, as it is responsible for adding metallic and non-bio-degradable waste into the natural waters as well as in the air. Consequently, polluted water is destroying the quality of agriculture. Ultimately threatening the quality of food. This climate change is a huge threat in regard to the destruction of the coral reef ecosystem, which is responsible for the protection of coastlines from storm and erosion. This system is the main source of new researches in the medicinal department, too; it is also a source of food and wages for millions of families. Rapid industrialization is also responsible for threatening natural beauty as billions of trees is cut down to build new infrastructure. These trees are also being used up in providing woods for the kiln in restaurants and hearths at homes. The Green New Deal was signed up to ensure that a quality life will be given to people of the U.S. by reduction of pollutants being added up in the atmosphere daily, stopping of cutting down trees, enhancing natural beauty as well as restricting the eruption of land, restricting the farms from flowing hazardous chemicals into the natural water, keeping the industrialization stagnant to resist adding toxic metals into the environment which is responsible for the deterioration of the human environment.
This deal was not signed to just address the problems being faced by humans; it also addressed the threats faced by marine life. Different species of animals require a different environment to live in but, the common thing which they all need is contamination-free water. Other than the toxicants being added by the farms and industries, another main reason for contaminating water is oil spills. Every year hundreds of tankers are responsible for spilling crude oil in water, which is being transferred from one region to another, fulfilling other needs. These oil spills have been completely devastating for marine life. We daily come to know about the death of hundreds of marine species due to these oil spills. Hundreds of carcasses are washed up on the coastline, realizing the death. On the other hand, hundreds of dead bodies do not even find their way to the seashore and remain at the bottom of the sea, completely destroying the purity of seawater.
Personal Opinion
Urbanization of the world has definitely turned into a blessing in disguise for humans, as it has brought relief to the hard work. Machines have become a reason to lessen human interactions with daily life chores. We have cars and buses to travel from one place to another. We have robots to perform millions of tasks, ultimately reducing human efforts. We have luxuriously furnished homes to live in; we have computers to do our math problems. We have hearths at our homes to keep us warm. Consequently, we have a machine in the form of a solution to our every problem. Science is a two-edged weapon. As on the one side, it has provided us with some serious comforts, on the other side it is responsible for contaminating the environment too. It is working as a threat multiplier. Due to which our environment has been facing some serious permanent damages. It is high time that we dig into this matter and find out the skeleton in the closet, which is being held responsible for this whole troublesome situation. As it has already been discussed that what kind of problems are being faced due to this continuous heating of the climate system now, we need to take some bold measures in order to save our environment from further damages.
Undoubtedly transportation has made humans cover the longest distances in hours, but its pollutants are also causing destruction to the environment. Now we should realize that walking is healthy for us, so instead of taking a car or a bus, we should walk by or take a cycle for a short or medium distance, which will be pollutant-free. The industrialization has already been spiked up, and now it’s time for some stagnation. We should pay heed to our natural beauty. Deforestation is one thing that should be completely banned. In fact, we should plant more and more trees. Our seas and oceans have been already quite polluted. The federal government should impose some legal sanctions on the sectors which are continuously responsible for disposing of their wastes into the sea in order to protect further damages. Water recycling plants should also be initiated and installed. The government should play a role in providing these plants for free in some underprivileged areas or should provide it in installments. At least, people should inherit the responsibility of not contaminating their vital source of survival.
We are definitely in need of standing up for the cause of humanity. Programs should be launched in order to keep a complete watch on areas that are worse affected. There are people who are deprived of the basic needs of life. People who are short of clean water, clear air, no house to live in, lacking food supplies, or people facing droughts, rains, flooding, cumulatively extreme climate changes should be provided with the life essentials. There are areas in the U.S. facing extreme climate changes resulting in huge wildfires. These fires being a reason for the migration of hundreds of inhabitants leaving their homes and living in underprivileged areas. It is time now that civilians start working with the federal government for the relief of people who have been facing natural calamities. Leaving the differences between white and black, poor and rich behind, we all should unite and work in the cause of humanity. We should work for the prosperity of our homeland and the protection of our dear earth instead of causing permanent harm to nature.
Things Learned
This world is serving as a permanent home to us, and being its inhabitants, it is our responsibility to save this planet from any harm and damage. The U.S. has taken some bold steps to protect it from any further destruction by finding real statistics about the harm we have already done to our homeland. These points were mentioned in “Special Report on Global warming of 1.5℃” October 2018, and it was further enhanced in the “Fourth National Climate Assessment report” November 2018, presented by the intergovernmental panel on climate change. In this report, it was clearly mentioned that two points are most significant in this regard; human activity and a continuously changing climate are proved to be a reason for sea-level rise, droughts, wildfires, storms, and other extreme weather events to deteriorate the socio-economic atmosphere. Now the U.S. has vowed to the nation that the following tasks will be performed by them to ensure the safety of its civilians. The government will produce a higher number of jobs with good salary packages just to maintain the peace of mind of its civilians. It will initiate a number of policies that will ensure the financial security of people. Under this clause, the elderly, disable, children, and women were the first priority. It will help in lessening the civil crime rates too. As if the people will feel them economically secure, they will less likely indulge in any kind of crime like robbing, murder, kidnap, or assault.
The government vowed that it would invest in developing the infrastructure, as it will provide houses to the unsheltered, and it will also invest in building dams for ensuring water security for the coming years. The government pledged that the basic needs of fresh air, pure water, and quality food would be given to each and every civilian. Deforestation will be stopped, and planting of new trees will be encouraged so everyone should have better access to nature. It will upgrade its energy resources and will try to move towards a “smart grid” facility, which is more efficient, and it will work on renewable energy resources too. A special clause is included just to ensure safety to farmers. It relieved the farmers and ranchers by giving them the incentive of removal of greenhouse gases from their environment as best as possible. Enriching of soil will be prioritized, and the quality of the food system will be ensured to produce healthy vegetables, fruits, and cattle.
Conclusion
The report can be summed up as we have started living afar from nature, and that is the main cause of our downfall. We have enclosed ourselves in luxurious houses and offices, very far from nature. As we have distanced ourselves from our roots, we have stopped worrying about the sensitive matter that we are the main reason which is causing harm to it. We cannot definitely live without clear air and pure water for a single day, but, still we are posing a threat to the basic needs of our life. The issue of Global warming has become the call of the hour, and we should realize our responsibilities. It is high time we should stand up and work for nature because this is the place we live in, and it is our responsibility to keep it clean and green. Otherwise, we will be facing some serious issues in the coming days. We should better start doing our part to not only save the future of our generations but also the tomorrow of all living entities surviving in this world, as famously said by Darwin’s “survival of the fittest.”