Over the years we have seen hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, landslides and various other forms of climatic disasters affect people and places all over the world in disastrous ways. While there are many who sit back and allow conspiracy theories, or cynics to distract them from seeing the severity of the changes in our climate, lives have perished and the destruction and devastation is left in the wake of these disasters.
“Emissions of greenhouse gases have a global impact, unlike some other forms of pollution. Whether they are emitted in Asia, Africa, Europe, or the Americas, they rapidly disperse evenly across the globe. This is one reason why efforts to address climate change have been through international collaboration and agreement.” (World Nuclear Association)
Global warming has been at the forefront of conversations trying to explain the changing weather patterns, and temperature changes over the last 100 years. The belief that the earth is warming due to the increased volumes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions released into earth's atmosphere by fossil fuels, land clearing, agriculture and other human activities, causing the severe climate changes we have been experiencing over the years, seems to be even more a reality than many would want to acknowledge.
While governments deny the effects of global warming, we see rising ocean levels, more forest fires and erratic temperature and weather patterns. To what do they attribute these changes? The World Nuclear Association states that, "Emissions of greenhouse gases have a global impact, unlike some other forms of pollution. Whether they are emitted in Asia, Africa, Europe, or the Americas, they rapidly disperse evenly across the globe. This is one reason why efforts to address climate change have been through international collaboration and agreement." To date there are 196 countries that have come together to sign The Paris Agreement created in 2015, for which the United States recently withdrew their support. Under the Paris Agreement, "Parties agreed to a long-term goal for adaptation – to increase the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, in a manner that does not threaten food production. Additionally, they agreed to work towards making finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development." The need to work together for a global, long term change in the way we treat our environment is absolutely necessary in order to prevent any further damage to the earth.
We have seen the devastation caused by earthquakes and Tsunamis in Asia, hurricanes and wildfires in the Caribbean and the U.S., landslides and mudslides in Africa. There should be no question or debate about climate change and what needs to be done to prevent global warming from having any more disastrous effects than it already has.
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