But now we are losing our natural home and most of the animals are dying or undergoing extinction, due to different forces that are taking place in it, which it cannot completely withstand.
Today, the world is subjected to so many problems like storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and poor yield of agricultural produce, increase of global temperature, lots of forest fires, floods and droughts.
The question is what is leading to all these problems?
The answer is that the planet is changing steadily, and there is need to take urgent action before further worse consequences will begin, thereby exposing our future generation to a different life whose further effects are certain, but the extent of severity cannot be guaranteed by scientists.
Climate change, it is said by many scientists, has been taking place in the planet since the commencement of the earth, as a result of volcanic eruptions, with the variation of the intensity of the sunlight reaching and leaving the planet.
These are termed as natural forces, because we are not the factor and do not have the control and means of preventing those changes.
Unfortunately, instead of creating measures of protecting or saving our planet, we are also another supporting factor contributing to the massive change of the climate by contributing to so many emissions of the greenhouse gases.
The greenhouse gases are the gases that are warming our earth, typically the carbon dioxide gases.
The action of man in changing the climate of his planet is what is termed as global warming. The main problem of global warming is the excess release of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the planet during our burning actions of fossils (coals, oils and natural gases) and the excessive burning of our forests.
However, recent studies have also confirmed that gases like methane, nitrous oxides are also contributing to climate change, which are sourced from the excrete of biotic organisms. The gas called ozone is also another factor.
If these changes continue will we be able to live in the planet comfortably? Domestic activities need to be put under control in order to avoid more warming of the planet earth. The warming of the earth is what is creating the polar ice and the icebergs to melt, making the water level increase in the seas and oceans.
As the water in the seas and oceans gain pressure, it is forced to move toward our settlements and this is what is creating floods, hurricanes and big storms. The excess carbon dioxide release is also having effects on a layer that is protecting us from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun, called the ozone layer.
Carbon dioxide, as studied, is depleting the ozone layer at a very unsatisfactory rate, thus further creating risks of encountering serious health complications.
The health complications we are likely going to encounter are cancer of the skin, skin burn, aging of the skin and there are possibilities of getting genetic-related problems if more radiations are allowed to reach the earth.
The same carbon dioxide that is being emitted in large quantities also search for our water bodies (hydrosphere) where it reacts with the water to form the trioxocarbonate (iv) acid which makes the water to be in an acidified medium, and is capable of polluting the water killing or harming the marine organisms.
Scientists fear that as long as this process continues the acidified water is even going to be a threat not only the marine organisms, but also mammals and other animals on the food chain that needs food from the marine organisms.
With only these few effects, we are in a turmoil and need to consolidate our efforts to prevent before it will be too late. Its solution starts with the control of the fossils that we are burning excessively in the name of energy production.
Countries producing more of the carbon dioxide, like America and China, should come to agreement with the whole world and cut down the amount of carbon dioxide they are releasing into the atmosphere.
Sources of clean energy should be encouraged, the burning of forest should be prohibited by governments, already deforested areas should be reforested by tree-planting exercises, burning of domestic materials supporting the release of carbon dioxide like plastics should be prevented, fuels and gases used during cooking should be minimize.
Musa Manneh,
Gambian student in Turkey
