{"id":147122,"date":"2020-12-29T14:24:13","date_gmt":"2020-12-29T14:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=147122"},"modified":"2020-12-29T14:24:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T14:24:17","slug":"calling-attention-to-climate-change-and-its-adverse-effects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=147122","title":{"rendered":"Calling attention to climate change and its adverse effects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Iylia Marsya Iskandar and Ariani Mohd Nor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oxford Dictionary defined \u0153loss\u009d\nas the process of losing something or someone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To put it in a simpler manner, it is\nas if you are losing your grip on something and letting it slip right between\nyour fingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, daily conversations on\nlosses are limited to only conversations about deaths. It is the death of a\nloved one, the death of a family member or even the death of a pet cat that\nhave been with you for so many years, they became family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, what people often let slip\nbetween their fingers are the death and the loss of the beauty of the\nenvironment, nature and our livelihood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People do not talk about the loss of\nthe greens and the homes of our beloved animals. They dont talk about how\nGreenland is really turning green.<\/em>\nAnd they mostly dont talk about the 3 billion animals that were displaced or\nkilled during Australias devastating bushfire this year as recorded by the\nWorld Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our discussions about the losses\nof animals, surely the animals that pop into our minds are Mammoths, the Dodo\nand Tasmanian Tigers. All of which we hold dearly in our hearts, photographs\nand animating them in cartoons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, with the rise of bushfires,\nlogging and natural disasters, scientists reported that Koalas are also\nexpected to be extinct in New South Wales by the year 2050. Not only that,\nPygmy Possums that were rumored to be extinct earlier this year in the\nAustralian bushfires have recently been found post-blaze. This is indeed a\nmiracle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, how much longer are we\ngoing to depend on miracles? We especially do not want our children to only\nknow koalas, elephants and kangaroos by photographs. We do not want them to be\nour loss and letting it slip between our fingers when we have the chance to\nmake a change, therefore, we have to together grip our torches, our animals and\nour environment and battle this climate crisis \u201c together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nface of climate emergency<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the climate report by the World Meteorological Organisation, 2019 was the second warmest year since 1850. The temperature is generally warmer by 1.1\u00c2\u00b0Celsius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amidst the troubling heat, an\ninternational group of around 11,000 scientists have endorsed a research that\nproves that the world is facing a climate emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research is based on 40 years of data, emphasising that governments all around the world failed and are still failing to address climate change despite several Climate Conferences such as the 1992 Rio Summit, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and the 2015 Paris Agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study criticised other researches that only measure global surface temperatures and stressed that it is actually an inadequate way of capturing the real dangers of an overheating world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their study, the authors include a\nrange of data which they believe represents vital signs indicators of climate\nchange over the past 40 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These indicators include the growth\nof human and animal populations, per capita meat production, global tree loss,\nas well as fossil fuel consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taken together, the researchers say\nmost of their vital signs indicators are going in the wrong direction and add\nup to a climate emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153An emergency means that if we do not act or respond to the impact of climate change by reducing our carbon emissions, reducing our livestock production, reducing our land clearing and fossil fuel consumption, the impacts will likely be more severe than we’ve experienced to date,\u009d said lead author Dr. Thomas Newsome, from the University of Sydney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0153That could mean there are areas on\nEarth that are not inhabitable by people,\u009d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nCauses of Climate Change<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To truly understand the gravity of\nthis situation, it is important to dig deep into the root cause itself \u201c what\nare amongst the important causes of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n