Dixya Poudel

The recent turn of events on the earth's climate is a cause for alarm. As a record heat wave engulfed North America in late June, glacial melt was found to be accelerating. The heat wave in Western Canada was particularly unsettling. Likewise, the state of California in the United States is now facing a worst drought in the past 44 years. This sort of extreme weather has been linked to climate change as the reality has turned into a nightmare. No longer can the earth's inhabitants ignore blaring climate change and its adverse consequences.
According to latest studies, the Amazon rainforest is currently emitting more carbon dioxide than it can absorb. This is the first in the world history as previously, the giant forest used to act as an effective carbon sink. A carbon sink absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Amazon was thus known as the "lungs of the earth." However, now scientists are concerned over the fact that parts of the Amazon rainforest have instead become a source of carbon dioxide.
It has been caused by unchecked deforestation and raging wildfires that have added alarmingly to the climate crisis. Meanwhile, hotter weather and consequent droughts have further aggravated the situation in the Amazon. It is unfortunate that the world is seeing one crisis after another. As it is struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has had to face climate crisis as well. Several parts of the world are experiencing extreme weather such as droughts, heat waves and floods that have escalated recently.
The climate seems to be unravelling. Is the nature retaliating or is it the ire of the gods? Are humans ever going to confront climate change instead of sweeping it under the rug? Ancient people would have feared it as a god's ire but as 21st century inhabitants, people know that they are accountable. Human activities are largely the reason for global warming. The earth's atmosphere is heating and it has led to devastating natural disasters throughout the world.
Humans are the only species on the planet who recklessly exploit the natural resources. They use automobiles that run with fuels such as petrol and diesel and lead to large scale carbon dioxide emissions. Airplanes on skies, cars on the roads and ships on the vast oceans all expedite transportation but exploit natural reserves. With deforestation, humans create more lands for urbanisation and crop cultivation.
Likewise, they also use plastic, a material that has proven to be a bane to the earth's environment. Thankfully, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were banned early on before it could do more damage. Still, the earth's ozone had to face the adverse consequences of chlorine in the atmosphere. It isn’t that people are completely indifferent when it comes to climate change. It is just that most people tend to respond to immediate problems and disregard long term problems that could possibly happen in the future.
And climate change tends to be erroneously categorised as the problem into the future. However, scientists, activists and leaders worldwide are rallying for a better response to climate change. They are advocating for measures to mitigate the melting glaciers, the rising temperature, the droughts and the inundated rivers and oceans. It is high time to formulate an effective strategy against climate change and its effects.