Climate Change: The Wrath of Nature

“Climate change is basically a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional and global climates.”

Yes, the same climate change that we have studied in primary school, it’s strange and funny that how we were taught about such an intense and massive issue at such a tender age and we forgot about it as we started to grow up and so the issue of climate change. Climate change is the root of many problems we face today and these roots have started to decay because of our selfish activities and if this continues then the tree will collapse i.e. the wildlife and humans will perish.

To me Climate Change is like crime rate, it’s increasing and we know it but we don’t take any action until it starts affecting us and it starts to harm us. Today climate change is not only a threat to the future generation of wildlife and humans but also to the present generation, to us.

Climate change has both direct and indirect impacts on wildlife. Some of the direct ones are extreme weather conditions, increase in rate of natural calamities, extreme droughts etc. and an example of an indirect one is lack of natural resources (such as water scarcity) for the animals thus forcing them to enter human settlements leading to a human-wildlife conflict, usually ending up with the demise of the animals.

Estimates show that 47 percent of mammals and 23 percent of birds on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species have been negatively affected by climate change.

How does climate change affect wildlife of an area?

Species that cannot adapt at the rate of climate change have a chance of perishing from the planet. This wouldn’t have been a problem if it would have taken place naturally but human activities have paced up climate change, thus making it difficult for animals to cope up.

Climate change also changes the reproduction and migration patterns of the animals. The hibernation patterns of many animals have been noted to be disrupted. Animal are coming out of hibernation earlier than usual. Excess or no rain in an area can also severely affect its wildlife. An apt example of this situation is in the case of Alpine climates (Alpine climate is basically the average climate for the regions above the tree line). As rainfall increases in Alpine climates, bird populations such as Savannah Sparrows have higher nest mortalities. One study in 2017 found that these bird populations had higher daily nest mortalities if their environment rained consecutively for more than two days, compared with no rain at all.

Unfortunately no animal is spared from the wings of climate change. Climate change not only affects the reproduction patterns but also the nesting sites of many animals, just like Sea Turtles. Sea Turtles lay their eggs in sand and the changing climatic conditions alters the sand temperatures, which then affects the sex of hatchlings as the sex of the turtles depends upon the temperature of the surroundings.

The most obvious but still ignored effect of climate change is habitat destruction which is a result of intense droughts, heat waves, storms, rising sea levels, warmer water temperatures, etc. Just to give a perspective as to how big of a problem climate change is, let me present you with some astonishing facts. Since 1880, the global temperature has increased by 2.1 degree Fahrenheit and increasing. Artic ice is reducing at a rate of 13.1 percent per decade. Carbon dioxide from human activity is increasing more than 250 times faster than it did from natural sources after the last Ice Age. Surprisingly all these problems are only because of one thing, humans, a single species causing such a big menace.

The global sea levels have also shown an increase because of two major reasons. The first reason is the melting of glaciers and the second one is warming up of ocean water which leads to the expansion of the ocean water, resulting in increased levels. The global sea level has increased by around eight inches over the past century and continues to increase at an abnormally high rate. This not only affects the marine wildlife or the nesting sites of turtles on the coast but also poses an acute danger for people living in coastal areas.

Even though we are continuously harming the environment but it is still helping us. The carbon dioxide released into the environment by factories, burning of fossil fuel and vehicular emission not only causes air pollution but terribly affects the water bodies as well. Oceans are vital ‘carbon sinks’ which means that they absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide from preventing it to enter the upper atmosphere. This along with increased water temperature makes the water acidic, thus negatively affecting the oceans.

Their have been many international and national summits organized against the emerging problem of climate change and you can find all that on the internet but what matters is our action against climate change. If we are capable of causing such a menace then we are capable of solving it as well.

Some steps which any of us can take against climate change are as follows –

1. Educate yourself and others about climate change and its effects.

2. Prefer car pooling or use public transportation.

3. Be part of online and offline programes against climate change.

4. Use renewable sources of energy.

5. Use the weapon of social media to create awareness and educate others.

Their can be hundreds of other ways to go about it, but you will only discover those if you are willing to. These points might sound very cliché but that’s what we can do and continue to find new ways to fight against climate change. But just ask yourself that are these not even worth trying for, against such a massive problem. It won’t just happen over a night, but we can’t lose hope. Remember, we are the smartest species on this planet, many animals and the future generations are looking up to us. Lets give them this planet in its best shape, the way we received it.

Anyone can write pages about the threat of climate change, but I tried my best to articulate it in the best way possible. My aim wasn’t to force you to read pages and pages about climate change but it was to make you realize the potential this threat carries to harm us and the wildlife around us. Take an action before it’s too late.