"Our" Planet

Climate change is one if the biggest issues the 21st century has and is will be facing unless a huge change is made. Global temperatures are rising, sea levels are rising and more animals have become extinct in the past 10 years than ever before. We, as a generation have the opportunity to prevent our planet from extinction. Our day to day choices, no matter how small, have an impact on the Earth's longjevity.

graphic: The IPCC's four key findings via climate.nasa.gov

There are many things that have caused global warming on a larger scale that unfortunately, if you're a regular citizen, don't have much influence on such as mass production. However, there are a few ways you can reduce your carbon footprint. What's something everyone does almost daily, but in mass quantities has terrible effects on the Earth's O-Zone layer? Transport!

In the midst of a global pandemic, where people are staying inside all day (hopefully), one can only assume the pollution rates from transport have decreased immensely since the beginning of this year. A report from CNBC chows the drastic effects that the worldwide lockdown had on major cities and their global pollution contribution, some reports even said it was the planet's cry for help regarding it's wellbeing. Although these are positive effects, they will probably not be long-term and as of 2018, sources said that 28.2% of greenhouse gas emissions came from transportation alone.

Personally, I have made and continue to try to make more conscious efforts regarding my daily transport. For example, after saving for the year, I recently bought myself a car that has a 'BlueMotion engine', which is more efficient and economical on fuel. Everyone has seen the major car brands such as Nissan and Tesla creating eco-friendly cars, and as much as I would like to be able to buy one, I am a student on a part-time wage! It drives me and my fellow carpoolers to and from college and then I walk everywhere on campus during the week. It's the little things like this that are doable and may have a larger effect on the planet than you would think, so ditch the vehicles and get your steps in!

Another conscious effort I make daily is my plastic pollution. It is one of the main damages to marine life and has many knock on effects such as climate change. Simple choices such as recycling your plastic waste, eliminating the use of single-use plastic and not littering can prevent long-term effects of plastic pollution. Go and buy yourself a reusable water bottle and straw and for only a few euro you could be potentially saving the Earth!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zrn4-FfbXw

These are only minor contributors to climate change nut in the long run, will make a huge difference. It's time we stopped sitting back waiting for someone else to fix the problem, before it's too late. We say its "our" planet but it's not just ours. Earth inhabits many other forms of life other than human, and hopefully will for millennia to come, however, if something is not done about issues that affect climate change now, our future generations will suffer.