Everyone has returned to the social media world, and unending week-end parties, just few months after the multiplex environmental disasters of 2018. Promptly, we forgot the Pakistan’s heat wave that claimed about 200 lives; the monsoon flood that made away with almost 400 Indians; Japan’s flood; and Nigeria’s rainstorm in which about 200 heads were swept out, 13,000 homes destroyed, 500,000 turned homeless, and over a million shot on the head or the foot.
What can we make of Karachi’s temperatures which stayed over 104 degrees Fahrenheit for days? Or, why did 15 inches of rain fall in just two hours in Uwajima? What was the ball game between Nigerians and the gods in 2012 that a wild flood displaced 2.5 million residents amidst 300 deaths? And as it stands, what makes you so sure you can’t fall victim to one of these extreme weather events in the next hour, and lose everything you’ve ever held dear?
The world’s climate has always changed, but for our stunts and moves, the change was more rapid in the last century, and the earth warms with a spine-chilling rush in the last few decades. The 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit rise in the average temperature of the earth; the scary 8 inches rise in sea level; Glaciers’ retreat in the Himalayas, Alps, Rockies, Africa, etc.; decreasing snow cover; and so many extreme weather events that we can all see without the help of satellites, are proofs.
Each time a car’s throttle pedal is pressed, carbons are emitted, just as it happens during industrial operations, and whenever a power generating machine is put to work. In short, every petroleum powered machine: things that make us feel good, release a quantity of carbons into the surrounding air every now and then, and these react with oxygen to form a green house gas capable of trapping needless heat and warming the earth. Not only do we increase the mass of earth’s dangerous gases, we aren’t also helping in some other ways.
We appear to be against all of the naturals that swore to shield us from the negatives of carbon emissions. Trees are brought down and forests razed, just as we empty out lakes and burn bushes. We also make ourselves possible to get for the consequences by building on flood plains without drainages. While we question our leaders on infrastructures, we do not care how much money and time they commit to the Paris Agreement or how much attention they give to matters of the environment.
The government do not seem to care what the environment can do in revenge, and the governed do not see death and wailing hovering their houses. We don’t care; yet, the options aren’t more than two: either we do something now, or get set for the repercussions. What killed hundreds and rendered millions homeless in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, America, and Nigeria few months ago stares all of us in the eye. Climate Change is sure coming for you!
Ayeni Faith Damilola writes for Green Global Environmental Network (GGEN)
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