By using cleaner energy and reducing emissions and waste, climate change can be slowed and possibly even reversed before it damages the Earth beyond repair.
Without any emission reductions, NASA predicts that the global temperature will increase by 6 degrees celsius.
Earth’s temperature has already seen a 1 degree increase and it has been catastrophic. According to NOAA, in 2014 sea levels were 2.6 inches above average and Antarctica loses approximately 145 gigatons of ice per year.
These are the results of years of carbon dioxide and methane emissions warming the atmosphere. However, it is possible to slow this process down.
Clean energy provides a viable replacement for natural gas and coal. Solar energy is one of these options. Solar energy uses light, not heat, which is a common misconception, to create energy.
Solar power is also more affordable than coal. According to the Climate Reality Project, solar was half the cost of coal in 2017.
According to the Climate Reality Project, “[The] bottom line? Solar is a technology, not a fuel. And as technology develops, it becomes cheaper – unlike finite fossil fuels.”
There are other options for clean energy like wind energy, geothermal energy and hydroelectric energy.
By making changes like this- switching coal for solar, etc.- it is easier to preserve the planet.
Without making these changes, Earth will just continue in a downward spiral. The atmosphere will get hotter and more toxic, and examples of this can be seen with smog in Moscow and Beijing.
Another way to combat climate change is by reducing and reusing plastics. An estimated amount of 500 billion to 1 trillion disposable plastic bags are used every year worldwide and only 1 in 200 are recycled, according to Conserving Now.
This is a lot of non degradable plastic that is being put into the environment, and this is just the plastic bags.
This has led to some countries, like Italy, China and Bangladesh, instituting a plastic bag ban in order to reduce plastic waste. This has also led to the creation of biodegradable plastics and a resurgence of paper bags and paper straws.
According to CNN, 4.8 to 12.7 metric tons of waste end up in the ocean every year, which contaminates the water and kills marine life.
The bottom line is that people are destroying the Earth and they need to take a step back and make some changes. These are not life ending changes, as a matter of fact, they can improve the quality of life by creating cleaner air and water.
By making an effort to slow climate change now the Earth will become safer and stay a habitable planet for longer, because there is no planet ‘B.’