GLOBAL WARMING: What it is and what can we do about it?

I  was hungry after doing my part-time job roughly few minutes after midnight. I cooked instant noodles and turned on the TV while savoring my pancit canton.

I caught a short glimpse on the last two segments of GMA 7’s documentary SIGNOS. It tacked the issue of global warming with reports of scientist from NASA, the academic sector and some non-profit organizations. It made me realize how urgent this environmental situation is! and that we have little time and so many things to do to slow down this process. First, it’s a global phenomenon that’s why we need to take a stand and make a cooperative universal effort. Now that’s talking big, but actually if we only do our part to save this earth and not further destroy it, each person can make a difference. I made a commitment today to help rather than regret it later (that’s what this entry is for).

Global warming is the result of uncontrolled emission of carbon dioxide and other green house gases in our atmosphere. Greenhouse gases per se are not bad. They are necessary to make the earth livable by trapping heat from the sun (we couldn’t live if the earth was too cold, right?). In the recent decades however, we consume and burn fossil fuels that emit large concentration of greenhouse gases more than the earth’s oceans and protective polar caps can cool and are therefore trapped in our atmosphere creating a warmer air temperature thoughout the world.

Global warming in layman’s term is the increase of surface temperature of the earth. And although scientists are debating on the effects and causes of global warming, I am inclined to believe it is true. Reports from some scientists around the world confirmed that sea level has indeed risen by a foot and snow caps and glaciers have melted. Another popular keyword related to this is climate change. They say global warming causes climate change. In southern Philippines where I live, we tend to experience erratic weather/climate changes. My mother would complain about really humid weather during the day and heavy downpour during late afternoons and evening. She observed that it was strange because in the previous years there were very few rains during April and rather usually comes on May. But that’s not to say, I am so sure about it’s correlation with global warming.

With industrialization, progress, economic development and globalization, the world had also increased in it’s  use of non-renewable fossil fuels like coal, peat, gasoline for cars, factories, even homes and hospitals. It is also worth mentioning that population has ballooned and quite exceeded the capacity of the earth to be inhabited safely (haha, think so!). Each of us uses a lot of energy (I mean electrical, fuel, etc and we throw away  massive amount of garbage too!) that’s why humans are pointed out to be the main culprit for global warming.

So, what can we do about it?  The show outlined some actions we need to do as individuals. These steps maybe simple but they are life-saving. More can be read from here.

•  cut down on appliance and electricity use (OKAY, this is quite difficult because it means we need to save a little bit on our computer use too!)
•  drive less as much as possible
•  recycle (and I should mention segregate waste properly too! and don’t burn non-biodegradable wastes)
•  I think we should also cut back on disposable items. It’s too much waste. As much as possible, don’t buy disposable plates/forks/glasses when having picnis, save on diaper use, use a basket when going to the market as to not accumulate plastics
• eat more vegetarian meals
• plant more trees (this idea is mine, hehe) As know plants breathe on carbon dioxide, maybe that will help a little

Note/disclaimer:

I am not a right authority  to be cited or quoted. The statements I’ve made are based on my little research and mostly my opinions. You can find more reliable sources like greenpeace, cnn, bbc news or your local newspapers and tv/radio stations.