The climate of Earth is always changing. In the past, it has been altered as a result of natural causes. Nowadays, however, the terms “climate change”, “deforestation” and “erosion” are generally used when referring to changes in our environment, which have been identified since the early part of the twentieth century.
The changes we’ve seen over recent years are thought by many to be largely a result of human behavior, rather than due to natural changes in the atmosphere. Never before has man played such a significant role in determining long-term weather patterns, we are entering the unknown and there is no precedent for what might happen next.
According to climate.gov, an official site of the United States’ government temperature has increased significantly in the last forty years, 2020 being the second warmest year recorded by NOAA’s temperature data. In addition, since the late ’90s, hundreds of millions of hectares of forests have been replaced into other land uses, industries, or contaminated places without the proper conditions for the preservation of these; resulting in alarming deforestation rates, erosion, sedimentation, deposition of soil particles, among others.
There are various measures that governments and individuals have failed to prevent and mitigate climate change. Governments aren't effectively introducing laws to limit the carbon dioxide emissions released by diverse industries that lead to global warming. “Green taxes'' on drivers, airline companies, polluters, plus the inventions on renewable energy production, from solar, wind, or water power are some of the various resolutions different nongovernmental organizations have offered, but are still waiting to be implemented.
As Barack Obama once said: “Climate change is no longer a far-off problem; it is happening here, it is happening now.” The environmental issues we predicted would happen are happening, it’s no longer a future, it is a reality.
A reality that we must fix, that we must improve, for us, and future generations. If we continue denying deforestation, climate change, and erosion as important and urgent situations, planet Earth will end, and then, it will be too late.
We need, in order to survive, to take part, try to stop climate change, erosion, and deforestation, and start being conscious of our acts and how they will affect in the long term the only place we have for living, the Earth.
By María Mónica Cerpa, Step 10 Yellow.
