BY Estephania Baez
Global warming is a phenomenon that has developed over time due to man’s activities, such as burning fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline, natural gas and oil. Another significant factor that has impacted the environment has been deforestation.
Hundreds of studies by expert geologists from around the world have discovered that the Earth’s temperature has increased significantly, by approximately 0.8 degrees Celsius.
In addition to this, the greenhouse effect – a naturally-occurring phenomenon where heat radiated from the Earth’s surface is absorbed by gases in the atmosphere and redistributed in different directions – causes an increase in ground-level temperature. Climate change has thus become the greatest environmental threat mankind has ever faced. Although changes in climate have occurred since the Earth’s formation, there had never been a climate change phenomenon quite like the one we are seeing today, where the constant and disproportionate amounts of gases emitted mostly by industrialized nations have become nature’s nemesis and the strongest impacts are felt as floods, droughts, hurricanes, and other natural disasters that have become more extreme in recent years. The impact leads to the melting of the polar ice caps, which in turn causes an increase in sea level, the disappearance of animal and plant species, and makes poorer countries that lack the resources to combat said impacts more vulnerable.
The experts recommend starting at home; for example by replacing water heaters that burn fossil fuels with solar water heaters, which would reduce gas use by approximately 130 pounds per heater per year. Something else people can do is build hay box cookers, which could also significantly impact residential gas use and reduces GHG emissions. These examples can also help the household economy; it is estimated that they can reduce expenses by up to 20 percent. The same analysts, however, stress that as long as people remain uninformed and do no demand environmental action, those in power will not feel incentivized to perform actions that will reduce the gas emissions that are destroying the world.
California is one of the most affected places in the world, as it has been experiencing a severe drought for over 4 years, leading public officials to declare states of emergency in several occasions. Locally, counties have implemented water-saving ordinances with steep fines for those who fail to comply with them. The measures aim to reduce water use by as much as 25% in this State, which is home to over forty million people. State Governor Jerry Brown has said that global warming is no joke, and that unless extreme measures are taken, the results could be fatal.
Climate change was one of the most controversial topics of 2015; even Pope Francis asked the more than 1.2 billion Catholics around the world to join forces to fight this phenomenon. In his first Papal Encyclical, Pope Francis states that the science is clear as to the planet’s change in temperature, so it has become a moral matter for the church to protect the most vulnerable populations and the Earth.
It was issued in the document entitled ¡Laudato Si! “Praise be To You” in Latin months prior to world leaders meeting before the U.N. Organization in Paris, France to sign a universal agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions and keeping the median global temperature from increasing beyond degrees Celsius. The heads of state who attended the COP21 Summit assure that the future of our world is protected in the agreements reached at the conference, so they foresee a positive, sustainable development that steers clear of pollution and environmental degradation.