If I ask you about COVID-19, I am 100% confident you’re going to say it is AWFUL. There is no way you could possibly deny that you have never experienced something like this before in your life. Because let’s face the truth: nobody has. The way we have been messing up with nature and the environment this pandemic was completely inevitable as Bill Gates talked about it in his famous Ted Talk. We were not ready for this pandemic and now we are paying the price. It is very unfortunate to say that the cost has come in forms of millions of death, economic hardships and constant apprehension to leave our homes.
Nobody talks about climate change (excluding Bill Gates and many others I do not know much about, yet the percentage is very low) because it is not interesting and profitable. Had it been profitable every country and leader would have jumped and grasped the opportunity. I do not mean to sound pessimistic because a lot of work is going on to tackle the situation. Nevertheless, the pace is very slow. We need to accelerate the process.
No matter what people say let me get one thing straight. Climate change is real. It not a hoax. According to a survey conducted by Pew Research Center, there has been a rise in the percentage of Americans believing that climate change is definitely a threat to the well-being of Americans and should come as a top priority. In 2009, the percentage of people believing that climate change is a big concern was 44% and the number jumped to 60% in 2020. However, this rise has been majorly among the Democrats. This simple statistics is clearly showing that people are now thinking of climate change and they want it to be on a priority list.
We all must care about the ecological collapse that is happening. It is not going to get resolved on its own. Sadly it is getting worse and it is only going to get a lot worse. And the cost will be a huge burden on countries. It becomes difficult for people to understand just how serious the situation is and so they don’t give it a thought. Probably if people knew how climate change is going to affect them directly they might stand a chance to grasp the insidious nature of ecological disruption. Let me put some very good reasons.
1. Comfortable home. More cost.
Everybody loves a comfortable home but we don’t realise that an increase in global temperature is making summers warmer and winters colder. Air conditioners have become very common. It is very difficult to survive each hour in hot summers without air conditioners. Heaters have also become common in cold winters. Eventually they all add up in increasing our electricity bills. The more their usage the longer the bills to pay. In the US (people living in North-eastern areas) it has already been seen that customers’ utility bills increased by 20% in 2014 as compared to 2013. If you still don’t believe me, just pay attention to your electricity bills and do the comparison.
2. Food security
Climate change is also increasing the problem of food security as it is affecting the production of food. Morning coffee fix which majority of us need everyday just might not be available soon because climate change is reducing its production. Altered growing conditions are also affecting the production of wine in wine producing areas. When production is low it becomes natural that the cost is going to sky rocket.
3. We need clean air to breathe
Pollution has now become a very big problem. This has a direct impact on people’s health and causes asthma, heart and lung diseases. So many vehicles running on roads are increasing the levels of carbon emissions into the environment thereby causing an increase in global temperature. According to the data by NASA, since 1884 there has been an average increase of 0.99 degrees Celsius in the global temperature. Smog is another reminder that we no more have clean air to breathe which is very unfortunate. Can you imagine that we no longer have clean air to breathe let alone food and water?
4. No other choice
In the simplest possible words I will say the most important reason to start caring about our earth is that we no longer have a choice. We are delaying its urgency and it is only going to cause bigger troubles in the coming years. If we take the first step today we can still make it. We can still save our habitat. The real question is, “Are we willing to do it?”