Climate Change

S. Kirrissheela S. & Nurizrin A.
MARA Junior Science College
Johor, Malaysia

In the nerve-chilling winter, we could see little a mischievous child playing around with balls of snows, making a snowman and having fun. In April, comes the summer, where everyone will sneak out for a refreshing sunbath at a hot spot along the crystal-clear beaches. Furthermore, during the spring, nature lovers find their passion. Flower blossoms all over, strike the heart of those who see them.

Life is marvellous, when we walk through it with these wonderful, close-to-heart weathers. Although this life is wonderful, the truth, the fact of life is, that we are facing a lot of problems regarding to changes in climate. How did this happen? Who is responsible? Is it us, the human beings, the government, or nature itself? Who should be blamed? What’s happening to our beloved Earth?

Climate change is a challenge that requires global solutions. Collective responses will be required from government, businesses and the individuals to spur on the adoption of energy efficiency and lean generation technologies to stabilise the carbon dioxide, (CO2) emission. For years, global warming was recognised as an apocalyptic vision dreamt out by cranks and hippies. However, recently, the consequences as been growing and it is clear that the climate is indeed getting in earnest and humans are the one to be blamed. Now, the United Nation has inferred that human are almost certainly responsible for global warming and issued its strongest ever warning about the consequences.

The Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its report on climate change saying that human activities are leading to global warming, and warns of more droughts, stronger storms and rising sea levels by the year 2100. According to the report, the human-made emission of greenhouse gases can be blamed for fewer cold days, hotter nights, killer heats, wave, floods, heavy rains, devastating droughts and an increase in hurricanes and tropical storm strength. This harmful situation is likely to be said getting the deteriorated during the 20th century.

Every day, millions of tonnes of the greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, are emitted into the atmosphere as we burn fossil fuels for energy, heat and transport. Climate scientists warn that global warming is accelerating and that our reliance on fossil fuels is at least to be blamed. The open burning of rubbish, farms and forests releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which aggravates the greenhouse effect. This activities, anyway, lead to air pollution, as well as increases the carbon dioxide contents in air. As a result, global warming occurs.

Furthermore, the greenhouse effect is referred to as the main cause of climate change. The energy from the sun reaches the Earth through radiation. As the earth is warmed, heat, in the form of infrared radiation, is radiated back into space. The radiation is radiated back to the Earth, surface warming it further and temperatures rise.

Besides the global warming, I think even that the office workers, who are in a bed of roses and work in chilled air-conditioned rooms, should partly should e blamed. How could that be? Well, air-conditioners increase the level of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in atmosphere. The use of CFCs, as coolants and propellants, release a large amount of CFCs into the atmosphere. CFC is uncreative and can remain unchanged for over 100 years. For the sake of our Earth, I think we should actually diminish the uses of CFCs. Instead of using a huge amount of cooler, workers could use a fan.

Malaysia is a very well-known country when it comes to skyscrapers. The KLCC and KL Tower have their own enormous fans. These buildings have their own investment for our government. However, I think they are just fish in troubled waters because even glass buildings contribute to climatic change. Thermal pollution occurs when there is an increase in the temperature and excessive heat in the environment. Many industries use water for cooling of the machines. Hot water is discharged into rivers, causing the temperature of the water to increase by 10 degrees. Reflection of heat from glass buildings also increases the temperature of the surroundings.

An increase in temperature will cause a rising in sea levels. According to a report, the level may jump up from seven to 23 metres by the end of this century. More increases are possible if polar ice sheets are already feeling the effect of climate changing. Winter is becoming wetter as the rainfall increases dramatically, meaning there is less snow and frost. As spring and summer grow warmer, the greening season is shortened. Across the sea, widespread flooding has claimed lives and caused more than four billion dollars worth of damage. How did this happen? Who should be blamed? Us, the new generation? I think our generation has not caused this problem but it is up to all of us to take actions to solve it.

Deforestation! The changes of climate are influenced by these activities. In many countries, massive deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography problems. We already know that trees supply us with oxygen in order for us to breathe and live. However, when deforestation occurs to our global forests, resulting in the removal of trees without sufficient reforestation, is there any increase of oxygen due to increase of humanity? This will only reduce carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. An example of countries that suffered from deforestation is Ethiopia, a country in East Africa, which grows more agriculture due to increase of population. The deforestation that caused increase in the Earth’s temperature also bring on other sicknesses or diseases such as skin cancer, caused by the climate change.

What we can deduce is that we are responsible for climate change. Our opinion differs about how, when and why we do it at a time. Every action that we take has an impact. We can make a difference. What happens in the next few years is crucial. If we keep polluting and acting like nothing is wrong, then dangerous climate change is inevitable. If we take action to tackle global warming, lower our carbon footprint and tell people about climate change and what they can do to fight it, finally, we can reduce our impact on Earth.

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