Too busy to think about climate change? That’s the worst thing you can do for humanity.

Climate change is a common topic but everyone seems ignorant about it. Some negative impacts of changing climate on our planet is discussed here.

Picture by Createdebate

“The only difference between a problem and a solution is that people understand the solution." - Dorothea Brande.

It is important to understand a problem in order to solve it. Climate change is a growing problem in the 21^st century which is yet to gain the attention it deserves. It is unfortunate to say that our planet-Earth in which we live happily can be totally lifeless if this ongoing climate change is not controlled.

The majority of people in the world know that the Earth is facing global warming, this is a well-known fact. But it is not often the case that someone wants to know about what global warming impacts and wants to work towards the solution. There have been many articles about health, economics, and ecosystem hazards of climate change. Similarly, Sabrina Tavernise describes the relation of health and global warming in her article effectively with use of logistics, linguistics, and proper evidence. She links the changing ecosystem patterns, increasing temperature and infectious disease in a well-organized way to demonstrate happenings of climate change. In relation to the idea another author Bianca Nogrady in “Hot and Bothered: Our Health Under Climate Change” mentions, “There is growing concern that climate change will cause major shifts in the distribution and frequency of infectious diseases – particularly those spread by insects such as mosquitoes”. Tavernise appeals emotionally to the audience by mentioning heat related deaths in different countries and also about the starvation that this warming climate is causing in this world.

There are some ideas that float in the media talking about the positive benefits of current global warming. One such article is Matt Ridley’s "Why Climate Change is Good for The World." Ridley produces an effective argument with enough examples and evidence to talk about the positives of climate change. With simple use of linguistics, non-rational appeals, statistical evidence, and ethics; he succeeds more or less to persuade his audience. He argues that the world is facing crisis because of current policies in response to climate changes rather than changing climate itself. On one hand, he presents proof of economic growth because of climate change; and on the other hand he appeals emotionally to readers by mentioning about high amount of cold related deaths compared to those because of heat. According to him, the world economy can benefit by 1.4% global output per year. This is a significant data that gives us some idea on how the rise in temperature is doing some good to humans.

Looking at the articles above it is easy to get confused on what to believe and what to follow. It is important to make right choice and move forward in the correct path. So, to understand more about it we can study more researches and look at the patterns of impacts.

Picture by National Center For Environmental Health

Global warming is an enemy to have amongst us. It does not merely affect physical health; rather it causes wide range of destruction. There occurs mental diseases like PTSD, anxiety, stress related disorders with increasing climate changes, its inconsistency and the effect on people. Food security, migration, economic loss in most cases, and destruction in ecosystems are other miseries to add. A research by Jonathan Patz and his Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) team gives a quite detailed view of climate change’s impact on global health. 

Global warming has maximum effects on health and as I mentioned earlier it can be a case of fighting in order to sustain life on Earth. This shows that climate change is really a problem. Bianca Nogrady who mentioned global warming’s effects on human health in Australia also provides important facts about the diseases caused by warming temperature and death tolls because of increasing heat. She also mentions the risks of vulnerable people to the changing climate and gives data on how food shortage can be seen with global warming. These give better knowledge on how it is affecting human life.

The negatives of climate changes mentioned here are only some of the examples and I can promise that much more articles, facts, and examples can be obtained if we go on searching more. Yes, there might be some positives of climate change now. But the future of humanity and this Earth cannot be tested by looking the welfare of present. Furthermore, it is even unsure that global warming will benefit us in all aspects. So it is better to forget about those countless advantages. It is rather smart to dedicate our time towards solutions of the problem.

There are some policies formulated nationally and in international levels but none of these programs seems to be working. They have not been able to meet the expected goals. While these are failing, it is necessary to find new ways and alternate solutions like environmentalist Dr. Cliff Mass mentions in his blog.

It is now time to protect ourselves, friends, family, other creatures and our home- our Earth from harmful effects of global warming. It is our responsibility to keep this Earth in natural condition so future generations do not need to worry about problems caused by us. In order to fulfill these expectations, it is necessary to understand about the negatives of climate change and work for the solutions instead of being ignorant to them. Now is the time to prove that we humans are intelligent creatures in this planet by working together for the welfare of the whole ecosystem. This is the time to inspire others to do something for the Earth- do something for our beautiful home. This is the time to contribute to our world. Otherwise it will just be a selfish life and a time wasted waiting for our own destruction in future.

Sulabh Neupane is a student at Northern Virginia Community College majoring on human and environmental biology.