Alert, change is not always for good

by Bérénice Chapon

Climate Change, a real struggle becoming a challenge for the XXIst Century

Nowadays, climate change is a very accurate topic. Everyone knows about recycling and consuming less. However, is knowing sufficient enough to change our behaviors? This article is trying to understand this by showing that changes do not always occur for good.

Climate change is a global transition that affects us all. It is also a very present theme implying many consequences. Climate change is closely linked to human activity on Earth. These are long-term changes primarily created by human overconsumption of energy.

Some of these consequences are:

@Saraangioletti

Take the example of sea and ocean pollution. The oceans cover 70% of the Earth’s surface and alone contain phenomenal pollution. Much of the plastic waste ends up decomposing in the ocean. This kind of pollution is just the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, the tons of plastics dumped in the world’s oceans led to the involuntary creation of a 6th continent made entirely of plastic.

These different plastics take thousands of years to disintegrate and will, therefore affect the entire maritime ecosystem. Most of the fish we eat have first ingested the plastics that we reject. So, ironically, all this overconsumption has pushed us to swallow our waste and those against our sandstone. Men and their way of consuming are the only ones responsible for our current food poisoning.

Another consequence of global warming is the rising waters due to the melting of glaciers in the Arctic Ocean. This phenomenon, combined with the consequent release of CO2 into the atmosphere, is responsible for acidifying the oceans and its global warming. This result will have severe consequences for the future of flora and fauna of each ocean. The first will be the change of species in some environments, others will be forced to adapt, and a final category of species will disappear. This category broadly includes polar bears, which are already in great danger of extinction.

@pxmolina

https://www.facebook.com/greenpeace.international/

In recent years, the acidification of the oceans has had the effect of destroying one of the world’s greatest submarine treasures: the Great Barrier Reef, located off the Australian coast. This treasure loses its splendor every day. Corals have been around for several hundred years and cannot stand adaptation or sudden changes in their habitat. If this barrier is destroyed, the entire

“Global warming is too serious for the world any longer to ignore its danger or split into opposing factions on it”

— Tony Blair

underwater balance will collapse. Fish and other animals that lived there will be forced to move further south or north, leaving this part of the ocean abandoned. The food chain system will be broken, and the consequences will follow one another. Climate change is all about the snowball effect. Every minimalist action leads to irreplaceable and unpredictable repercussions that challenges the global balance.

However, some people are aware of the urgency of the situation. For example, the French skipper Fabrice Amedeo proposes to put his Vendée Globe at the world’s service by collecting data on microplastics through specialized filters. This unprecedented action will allow French and European scientists to map pollution by microplastics in ocean waters and assess their synthetic saturation. Unfortunately, these initiatives are still relatively rare, and cleaning and environmental protection campaigns are rarely of interest to those with the financial means.

© https://www.facebook.com/FabriceAmedeoNavigateur/ photos/3772423149458198

Some changes in mentality are already visible but remain insufficient. Every year, since 2018, in the context of Fridays for Future Movement, garbage and beach clean-ups are organized to make a difference. Fridays for Future Movement is an international initiative put forward by some ecological activists like Greta Thunberg to promote a greener future for the world. The aim is to show people that it is time to act and change the way we consume and recycle. This is the case for the United Societies of Balkans, which, through the Balkan Hotspot project, took the initiative to clean up last June the city of Thessaloniki and Perea’s beach. If you are interested in this initiative, the article can be found on the website balkanhotspot.org and is entitled “World Environment Day 2020 in Thessaloniki: Cleaning the City Center and Perea Beach”.

@Balkanhotspot

The phenomenon of climate change has been in the media for a few years now. Thankfully, more attention has been paid to our daily actions. However, a section of the population, qualified as climate skeptics, do not consider global warming to be a real phenomenon. Moreover, all of this advertising had the opposite effect on some people. They felt less and less concerned about this cause and trivialized its consequences. It is a negative awareness, which creates a societal phenomenon of trivialization of the urgency of action.

Solutions are being considered, but they do not seem convincing enough given the extent of the problem. An international convention was organized under the name of the Paris Agreement. This convention has different aims, keeping the increase in temperature below 2 degrees for the next few years, reducing the emission of gases that contribute to global warming… However, these are long-term decisions that take time to be applied and years to notice positive outcomes.

Some have chosen a more radical solution: space. Indeed, the planet Mars opens up new fields of exploration. The conquest of space is seen as a powerful solution to this problem.

“It’s not a choice between our environment and our economy; it’s a choice between prosperity and decline.”

— Barack Obama

However, is this a possible solution? This “solution” remains only temporary. Indeed, if human behavior is not modified and adapted to its environment, changing the planet will only delay the problem. Men will perform the same actions and reproduce their current behavior with extraordinary recklessness since unconsciously, they will tell themselves that another planet will always be colonized to ensure the human species’ survival. In this case, human ambition brings no positive change.

Therefore, the best solution to all this excessive pollution would be a local action method for global changes. Everyone at their level must do small daily steps to reduce our rate of waste and pollution. This can involve adapting their diet to consume less meat, the farms consuming a lot, and recycling. At a broader level, we need each government and global actors’ help to implement drastic decisions that will enable everyone to consider the future more serenely.

@greenpeaceinternational

Ultimately, changes are essential, but we must all make sure that we move forward in a united and positive manner.

@greenpeaceinternational

Indexes:-The consequences of global warming:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-effects/

https://www.britannica.com/science/global-warming/Environmental-consequences-of-global-warming

-Journal de 20h France 2

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-jt/france-2/20-heures/-Fabrice Amedeo internet page

https://fabriceamedeo.com/fr/-Fridays for Future Movement

https://fridaysforfuture.org/#:~:text=%23FridaysForFuture%20is%20a%20movement%20that%20began%20in%20 August,the%20lack%20of%20action%20on%20the%20climate%20crisis.

-Paris Convention

https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/what-is-the-paris-agreement#:~:text=%20Some%20 of%20the%20key%20aspects%20of%20the,–%20The%20 Paris%20Agreement%20establishes%20binding...%20 More%20

-Quotes:

https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Global-Warming-Is-Too-Serious-For-The-F3BW3C9QKPTDX

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2009/04/22/ldquoa-choice-between-prosperity-and-declinerdquo