The inevitable perils of climate change

Every year we face severe summer conditions, unusual rainfalls, and witness hundreds of people dying in natural calamities. Every day tons of ice sheet melts from Greenland and Antarctic region. From the Alps, the Himalayas to the Rockies, Andes and Alaska, glaciers are retreating rapidly. Many other phenomena are indicating toward climate change. If you at some point think that humans are meant to live on the earth forever, start thinking again. The inevitable perils of climate change will make you change your opinion. Humans are not such strong to last longer against a slightly significant change in the climate. We have reached the brink of getting deep into trouble or maybe we have crossed a milestone in the journey towards extinction.





It all was started in the 17-18th century. Western Europe had got dominance all over the world. From Asia to America and Africa they were everywhere and getting plenty of resources to make their lives more prosperous. The industrial revolution was inevitable. Changing economic, social and political conditions paved the way for that and then within 2 to 3 hundred years, all the world had been industrialized. Within these years we have burned tons of coals, petroleum and cut down millions of hectares of forests and no surprisingly awarded with the climate change. We left no stones unturned finding every piece of natural resources. We are born explorer and pioneer and this is not too much to say that it is our curse rather than a blessing.

Nature has so many cruel laws, we witness these everywhere and one of those states that everything will be destroyed what is into existence now. Somehow we are heading towards our end. But human is like an ignorant patient who ignores all the visible symptoms and never goes to the doctor until the condition becomes too worse to be cured. We have ignorant leaders who still believe they can get their nations out of poverty and backwardness by only burning more fuels. Then there are corrupt politicians and industrialists who don’t even care how much a single dollar earned by them, cost to humanity.

We have Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro who let the Amazon rainforest burning for weeks. The forest of Amazon which is called as the ‘lung of the planet’ is kept burning for more lands by the local residents and government sheltered industrialists. Amazon rainforest is home to around 10 per cent of the world’s species and the fires have put most of them in danger. Around 70,000 hectares of the Amazon rainforest is burned only in 2019 fires and Mr Bolsenaro has arrogantly refused European aids to curb the fire. Another interesting thing is when you search Amazon fire on Google, you will get almost all the results for Amazon firestick and only a few for Amazon rainforest. However, Google algorithm is another part of the discussion but it shows how much we care about the lungs of the planet.

Not only the Brazilian government but there are other so-called responsible nations as well, playing their important parts in destroying the planet. According to the world bank’s data released in 2019, The United States of America is the second on the list of countries emit most carbon dioxide from fuel combustion with nearly 4800 metric megatons per year or almost 16 metric tons per capita. Just like the partner in crime, China has evolved rapidly in the scale and topped the list with around 9000 metric megatons or nearly 7 metric ton per year. In 2000 China was emitting around 2.5 metric ton carbon dioxide per capita and in less than 20 years it has almost tripled the carbon emissions and God knows how much fuel it will burn in upcoming years. There are other countries as well, emitting carbons but China and USA are the biggest culprits damaging our planet. Especially the USA which always tries to give lessons to other countries has been emitting a huge amount or of carbons for decades. In 1960 the per capita carbon emissions were around 16 MT and it never intended to cut down even a single percentage. For 40 or more years it has only emitted more rather than cutting down.

The most appreciated carbon-cutting data is from the United Kingdom. In 1960 it was the higher on the list of carbon-emitting countries with around 11.15 MT per capita. Since then it has only reduced its carbon-dioxide emission and now the world bank data shows that per capita carbon emission has come down to 6.5 MT. However, it was among some of the pioneer nations where the industrial revolution has evolved.

The evidence of climate change

For those who don’t believe in climate change, Nasa has produced some evidence for climate change. However, we always watch horrifying and disastrous news on television, smartphones about the natural calamities, extinction pf species, unusual weather, melting glaciers etc. but ignorance and poor knowledge always help us to dodge the warning. So go through these compelling evidence for climate change:

Global Temperature Rise: According to the NASA our planet is getting warmer and the temperature has risen about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit or 0.9 degrees Celcius since the 19th century and only in past 35 years most of the warming occurred.

Warming Oceans: We should be thankful for our oceans that absorb much of the increased heat but they are also now getting warmer and shows 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit increment in the temperature since 1969.

Shrinking Ice Sheets: According to the NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment data, Greenland has lost its ice on an average of 286 billion tons per year from 1993 to 2016 and in the same period Antarctica lost around 127 billion tons of ice per year. 

Glacial Retreat: From almost everywhere in the world- Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska and Africa- retreating glaciers has been recorded. 

Sea Level Rise: You wonder what will be the impact of retreating glaciers and melting ice sheets? It has been observed that global sea level has risen about 8 inches in the last century and the rate of rising sea level is getting higher every decade.


Some other notable evidence can be observed in order to get the climate change seriously such as declining extent and thickness of Arctic sea ice, increasing acidity of surface ocean waters, decreasing snow cover and increasing extreme events etc. All these phenomena are taking place due to the emission of carbon dioxide from factories, CFC from our air-conditioners and fridges, harmful gases from our cars and motor-bikes and the rapid deforestation. There is no such element from outside harming our planet. Only we ourselves are digging our graves.

There is no reason we can’t stop emitting more carbon. What the industrial revolution started, should be ended. The tendency of reacting only on an alarming situation may cost us a lot and maybe our home what we called earth. Solutions, though are simple; Adapt green technologies, regular plantation, reduce the usage of coal and petroleum and wake up our politicians from their dreams because the doomsday clock keeps ticking...