Topic: Biodiversity and ecosystem loss.

Are humans the one contributing towards climate change? If yes, then what
deadly consequences does it carry?

My topic “ Biodiversity and ecosystem loss” is about our planet, Earth. Biodiversity refers to
the diversity of biological organisms such as animals, humans, marine life, and more.
Ecosystem loss is the loss of these biological organisms or their extinction.

The issue which I have chosen is about the contribution of humans towards
climate change and how they don’t even realise what deadly consequences their actions may
carry. Let's begin with climate change. “ Climate change is a long term change in temperature
or weather pattern of a place”. (definition from: Google). Climate change is a global issue,
however there are some natural causes of climate change such as volcanic activity and
changes in the sun. There are also some human activities which we will be discussing.

Objectives:
The objective of my report is to make the reader and people aware about the consequences of
climate change. I think awareness is the first step towards change. People act as they really
care about the climate but they are still not countering their actions. If you care about
something, you would probably try to protect it but that’s not the case here. Instead we are
destroying our planet.

In this image below we can see the high carbon concentrations. If we look carefully most
carbon concentration is near the developed or advances countries.
Taken from NRDC.

Issue 1:
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has made a report in which they
very clearly state that there has been a drastic change in the surface temperature of Earth from
1951 to 2010 and more than half of the warning was caused by human activities. Right now
humans are releasing an estimated 9.5 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere each
year by fossil fuels, and another 1.5 billion by deforestation along with making other changes
to the land. These change to the terrains are making the land weak and vulnerable to natural
disasters
 According to the information I have gathered, energy is a basic need for everyone. Whether
you live in a rural area or a city energy is used in day to day activities. Most of the energy is
produced by burning fossil fuels which contributes to the amount of greenhouse gases already
present in the atmosphere. These gases trap heat and warms the surface of Earth which
increases temperature. The good thing however is that fossil fuels are being replaced by
renewable resources.

The great giants of the world such as the USA also suffer immensely from climate change.
“There have been some serious wildfires in California, floods in Florida and droughts in the
Great Plains.” (Scientific American). China, which is also a big country on the map, also
suffers greatly from climate change. Although urbanisation is taking place in China at a huge
rate, this doesn’t stop the effects of climate change. The glaciers are melting, glaciers lakes
are overflowing, sea level is rising, and also the sinking Shanghai, this gives a huge threat to
the population of Shanghai. (Wilson Center)

It is easy for developed countries to switch to renewable resources such as wind turbines and
nuclear plants. But Pakistan as a developing country can’t afford these extravagances. That’s
why Pakistan is also suffering from the deadly consequences caused by climate change.
Partially this is because of the country’s location. But humans are also responsible for it.
From my perspective the climate change around the world has affected Pakistan to an
extreme extent. The floods which came in the lower Indus plains and the droughts which
came in Balochistan. “ Lahore suffers from high levels of air pollution, with the city regularly
ranking at the top of IQAir AirVisual’s live pollution rankings of major global cities.” (Taken
from:
IQ Air). Lahore is the most polluted county of Pakistan.

Issue 2:
Transportation plays a huge role in our everyday life. But have we ever wondered what the
car released into the atmosphere? The cars are not just making noise pollution but that also
tends to pollute the air. It’s a known fact that cars produce carbon dioxide but along with that
they also release methane and nitrous oxide. Not only cars but the air conditioners we have in
our houses also emit a harmful gas known as Chlorofluorocarbon. CFC (chlorofluorocarbon)
damages the ozone layer which protects us from the harmful ultraviolet rays produced by the
sun. Hatfuls gases are also produced by factories and industrial projects. Energy is produced
by burning of fuels and mining and many more such activities.

Deforestation also is a factor leading to climate change. Large number of trees are cut to
provide land for infrastructure projects or farming and grazing. When we cut down trees the
stored carbon dioxide is released from them. The trees are a gift of God. They take in carbon
dioxide and release oxygen and by cutting them we limit nature's abilities to keep the
atmosphere free of emissions . Cutting trees also makes the land vulnerable to natural
disasters. A huge amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere might cause health risks,
like eye infection, breathing problems, lung cancer and serious allergies; and with no source
to balance this out, it can get out of control leading to more serious infections and diseases.

This graph is taken from the World Economic Forum. As seen above, even though China is
the most advanced country, that doesn’t stop it from releasing the most amount of carbon
dioxide in the air.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a harmful gas which can cause dangerous health risks. “Carbon
monoxide (CO) is an odourless, colourless gas formed by the incomplete combustion of
fuels.” (Google). When humans come in contact with this murderous gas it displaces the
oxygen in there body and leads to poisoning.

Consequences:
So far we have discussed the causes and the actions which lead to climate change but there
are also some consequences which could be discussed separately. Climate change affects the
day to day weather conditions of a place. For instance very cold winters, extremely hot
summers and heavy monsoons and rains. The extreme hot summer results in melting of
glaciers at a faster rate and then the sea level is sure to rise. The rise in sea level affects the
low-lying land areas such as Shanghai which are at the risk of sinking.

Deforestation makes land vulnerable to natural disasters and then heavy rainfall can cause
floods. These heavy floods destroy the human settlements. The livestock in these areas suffer
and most die, while the corps and mud houses get destroyed. Farmed, local people and
transport industries suffer heavily. Water borne diseases can spread. Excessive rainfall in
mountainous regions causes land sliding.

Course of actions:
There are some certain actions which we can take to avoid such devastating scenarios. First
of all the government needs to switch the non-renewable resources with renewable ones.
Wind turbines, hydroelectricity plants, and nuclear power plants should be made to produce
energy.There should be tree plantation projects which require planting of trees at a larger
scale. Evaluation plans should be made to evacuate people in case of flood or land sliding.
Trees should be planted in polluted areas to absorb carbon dioxide and clean the atmosphere.
Cutting trees should be prohibited and people who do so should be fined. Spreading
awareness is also vital and can’t be ignored.

Conclusion:
To sum up everything that has been stated so far, I would say that, yes ,human are the main
cause of climate change. No living being, other than us use cars to travel, no animal needs air
conditioners, no animals needs energy, no animal is cutting trees except . We need to accept
that our actions are deadly and only we can save the planet because we are responsible for all
the damage.

Evaluation of sources:
I have used Google for definitions which is a weak point in my report. Other than that I have
used authentic websites such as IQAir, Wilson centre, United Nations climate action,
Scientific American and IPCC. These make my research strong as they all are really good
websites and have authentic information. I found some really good and useful information on
these sites and they were a great aid in making this report.

Reflection:
It’s a common mistake we all make and that is that we use social media just for
entertainment. Social media is a vast platform and we can use it to our advantage. For the
exact purpose of this report I have discovered a variety of different sites that are authentic
and that can be used for research work. During this research I learnt that not only Pakistan but
other countries around the world are also facing the devastating impacts of climate change.
The good thing is that actions are being taken to lower and eventually stop these impacts.

Bibliography:

IQAir: https://www.iqair.com/pakistan/punjab/lahore
Wilson centre:
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/climate-change-impacts-chinas-environment-bioph
ysical-impacts
Scientific American:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/heres-how-climate-change-is-hurting-the-u-s/
United Nations climate action:
https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/climate-solutions/cities-pollution
Google
Graphs taken form:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/09/human-impact-extreme-weather-charts/

Subject: Global Perspective (individual report)