Climate changes

The most important factor of climate change or global warming is the greenhouse effect. We know that the sun heats our planet but because of the numerous gas emissions we reject into the atmosphere a part of the sun’s rays are trapped by carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and consequently heat is retained and temperatures increase. If these rays were reflected into space the Earth’s temperature would decrease.

The greenhouse effect is due to gases released into the atmosphere by the industry, the agriculture but also by our cars, computers, chimneys, sprays...We all have a part to play to reduce theses emissions if we want to return to more normal temperatures.
This is of course partly due to the Industrial Revolution that started in the middle of the 18th century and which turned fog into smog in cities like London. But this period has also generated major improvements which must not be underestimated.

China (11,000 megatons), the USA (5,000) and Europe (3,500) are the world’s worst countries as far as carbon dioxide is concerned since they reject about 20,000 megatons into the atmosphere every year and it is high time they changed their policy on the environment, all the more as it takes decades to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
Several hundred international environmental agreements exist and are essential in the international environmental regime.
There is also an annual event that has taken place since 1995, the Conference of Parties (COP), which is much concerned about climate change. It brings together 197 nations. But it was only in 2015 that the COP (COP 21 in Paris) had a historic outcome in the sense that the different parties concluded to the first international climate agreement.

The consequences are of course terrible and the most affected regions in the world are those situated near the Polar cap as the ice is melting. And this phenomenon has a terrible impact on the sea level which is rising and threatening low-lying islands which could be submerged by the end of the century. It is the domino effect.
Climate change also affects the flora and fauna. Flowers, plants and fruit come earlier and some animals like polar bears, seals or penguins have to find a new habitat as theirs is threatened by the melting of the ice.

Scientists are quite pessimistic when dealing with climate change and they think that temperatures could rise by 3 to 5 degrees by 2100, whereas 2 degrees is the limit! Heatwaves would last longer, the level of the sea would rise, crop productions would decrease, heavy rainfalls would increase, freshwater would be less available…
At the Conference of the Parties, scientists and governments have agreed that the limit should be 1.5 degrees.
As we have seen recently, hurricanes, floods, heat waves or droughts could become more and more frequent in the years to come if we do not react rapidly.

By damaging our planet and ignoring the problem of climate change linked to global warming we are damaging our lives, too. We cannot wait any longer to change things that could make a difference in the future. We have to think and act differently because there is much at stake. Our planet matters, we must not forget this obvious slogan and ensure that simple words become real acts.