Protecting an Environment - Essay Example

Let’s protect our environment Everyone in the world today wants to live a good life. We want to live in big houses and drive big fancy cars. We want to be economically stable. What we tend to forget is that all this come with a price. We pay the price of economical growth by destroying our environments. So, what is the point of living large while we destroy our environment? It makes no sense at all. Every country has been working towards achieving economic growth. However, increased Economic growth will be accompanied by the use of more energy. The utilized energy are fossil fuels therefore, release Carbon dioxide. Increasing human activities in the name of achieving economic growth and happiness is a major contributor of global warming. In his article, McKibben acknowledges the fact that Carbon dioxide constitutes 72 percent of the green house gases in the atmosphere. We have created the crisis of global warming ourselves. This is through increased human activities that release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere McKibben also records that there is a direct relationship between Carbon dioxide increase in the atmosphere and economic growth. The more we are living large, the more Carbon dioxide we are releasing into the atmosphere. Our world population is also increasing. To support such a growing population, there has to be enough resources most of which are derived from the environment. To support such, a population there has to be enough food as well as fuel. We are therefore, compromising our environmental health in the name of achieving economic growth. China has a very big population. It also has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. However, the impacts of these population and economic growths on the environment cannot be overlooked. In the Qinghai- Tibetan Plateau for example, glaciers are melting, temperatures rising and the rainy seasons have become very unpredictable. Qinghai province in Mado County used to have about 1000 lakes; now there are less than 300 (Wen 8). I think this is a good teaching to us. Climate change is real and the more we focus on economic growth, we are contributing to increase in global warming. Most villagers believe that the disappearance of lakes is just the normal seasonal shifting. It takes us sometime to realize that we are having fewer lakes as compared to some years back. The high population in China has put a lot of pressure on the natural resources. Water deficiency is expected to worsen with increased global warming. We are therefore, suffering because of our own activities. China is facing one of the world’s worst water deficiencies (Wen 10) .I am very concerned with the climate change crisis because it is heavily affecting my home country. This is a country whose government policies are mainly aimed at achieving economic growth. We are growing economically at the expense of the environment. Our activities are increasing Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. Climate change is also expected to threaten China’s food security. There has been continued drought in North China Plain while people in Southern China are suffering from frequent floods. This is caused by climate change. Although, critics take the global warming issue as a myth, global warming is real. The effects of global warming are evident in several instances. As ocean waters, warm, sea level is expected to rise. Addition of water from melting glaciers and ice also contributes to sea level rise. In 2008, winter storms affected several portions of southern and central China. The negative impacts of global warming are not restricted to China alone. The effects are experienced worldwide. So far, the greatest impact of global warming is yet to be seen in Greenland and the Arctic. Melting of the ice sheet has been recorded because of global warming. This will be accompanied by a massive rise in sea level (Dahl-Jensen 10). As Al Gore shows in his video “An Inconvenient Truth”, melting of ice in the arctic will cause loss of the polar bear population. The bears cannot hunt without the ice and therefore, they die. Global warming is destroying our environment but what are we doing? We are just sited and doing nothing about it. We are putting in little effort in terms of reducing global warming. The motto should be “Healthy Living for the Benefit of the Environment”. As we work towards achieving economic growth, we should do it sustainably. It should be in manner that still protects the environment from degradation. Impacts of global warming on humans and the environment are very clear, yet we are doing nothing about it. It a high time people take the initiative towards mitigating climate change. One way is through reducing the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It is the duty, and the responsibility of every individual to protect the environment for future generations. The best approach for protecting the environment from global warming is through adaptation and mitigation. Mitigation reduces the amounts of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere while adaptation mainly involves the ability of a system to cope with the impacts of climate change (Roger Jones and Preston 19). We should switch from the use of vehicles to bikes for transport. We should encourage green technologies that aim at reducing Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere Mitigating the effects of global warming may be through improved efficiency and use of fossil fuels as well as the use of alternative energy sources e.g. solar. Tree planting is also encouraged to increase carbon sequestration (Roger Jones and Preston 59). Adaptation will mainly focus on managing the effects of climate change that are already being seen and the changes expected in the future. The success of mitigation and adaptation strategies will depend on people’s attitude. People must be ready to fight the problem of climate change. We must stand up and protect our environment. We must consider the future generations. Our grand children need a good environment. Therefore, let us all put our hands together and protect the Earth. Works cited Dahl-Jensen, Bamber, Boggild and Christense. The Greenland Ice Sheet in a Changing Climate:Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost. Oslo: Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme(AMAP), 2009.Print Roger Jones and Preston, B. Climate Change Impacts, Risks and the Benefits of Mitigation. A report for the Energy futures forum. Aspendale, Victoria: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, 2006.Print Wen, Dale Jianun. Climate Change & China: Technology, Market and Beyond. A report on the Global South. Bangkok: Creative Commons Attridution, 2009.Print Al Gore. video “An Inconvenient Truth” Locationhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KkrlhoFbBM&playnext=1&list=PL1A6E D304D264F58&feature=results_main Bill McKibben. Tilling a new world location http://articles.latimes.com/2007/mar/21/opinion/oe mckibben21.Print Read More