I just read a report in the Guardian stating that 2010 saw the biggest rise in global carbon emissions ever. This is scary stuff.
Humans are having a horrific impact on the planet, and now that the recession is considered to be over, we’re polluting more than we ever have before. Now is the time to wake up and start making changes! We have no time to lose.
If we don’t begin to lower our carbon emissions, we will see a rise in temperature of more than 2 degrees Celsius, and that is bad news. A global temperature rise will upset the balance of nature and dangerous climate change will become very probable. To give you an idea, here are a few things that will happen:
The polar ice caps will melt, causing sea levels to rise drastically. Places like the Maldives, a collection of islands in Asia, will drown. Many of the world’s species will begin to go extinct. Areas of the planet currently inhabited by humans will become uninhabitable, and strife will take place due to mass migration to more temperate places. The number of Climate refugees will grow and millions will die. Natural disasters such as hurricanes will happen more frequently, and in more places.
Most of this could happen in my lifetime.
We are already seeing the effects of global warming, and they are becoming hard to ignore. Temperatures are rising everywhere, floods are happening, and already this year Alberta has had a devastating forest fire due to dryness. The monsoon season in South East Asia is getting more intense, and there has been an increase in regional heatwaves.
First-world countries such as Canada are the worst climate change offenders. Our politicians are ignoring all of the scientific warnings in favour of extracting the world’s last remaining reserves of fossil fuels. Big businesses like oil companies depend on burning fossil fuels to survive, and they literally fuel the economy.
Aside from using our vehicles and electricity less, we can send a message to our politicians urging them to pay attention to climate change matters. The more voices the better!
Below is a link to contact Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper and tell him that you are concerned about the rise in global emissions. If we all send him a message, we’ll be hard to ignore! Our leaders want people to be apathetic towards global warming so they can continue to collect a paycheque from the dirty companies that pollute. They need to realize that people are not going to stay silent, and they need to put the pressure on large companies to stop our global temperature from raising to a dangerous level.