Ng Yong En, Kathlyn 303

“It’s worth remembering that it is often the small steps, not the giant leaps, that bring about the most lasting change.” – Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. What small steps can you take to help tackle the climate crisis?

What is a climate crisis? Climate crisis refers to serious problems caused by extreme changes in Earth’s climate. This extreme change is primarily due to human activities such as deforestation and burning of fossil fuels. Examples of climate crises include ocean acidification, and extreme weather events. Today, I will be talking about the small steps we can take to tackle these climate crises.

To begin, ocean acidification is the reduction in the pH of the ocean, mainly caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and rubbish, the atmosphere has been polluted greatly with excessive amounts of carbon dioxide, causing the rate of ocean acidification to increase annually. This climate crisis affects marine life by making it more difficult for marine organisms like coral, mollusks and plankton to form their shells and skeletons, while existing ones may begin to dissolve, making these marine organisms more susceptible to damage and slowing their rate of recovery from such harm.

One thing we can do to reduce the rate of ocean acidification is to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions. This can be done through simple things like taking public transportation instead of private cars, reducing our electricity usage to reduce the amount of fossil fuels burnt, and walking or biking to regular short-trip destinations. All these can be done daily to reduce our carbon footprint, lowering the concerningly large amounts of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. Not only does this help lower the rate of ocean acidification, but having lower carbon emissions will also help combat other climate crises such as the rising temperature of the planet, the depletion of non replenishable, natural resources, and extreme weather climates.

The second climate crisis I will talk about is extreme weather events. Extreme weather events are occurrences of unusually severe weather or climate conditions that can cause devastating impacts on the planet, some of which include heat waves, heavy rain, droughts, and floods. Occurrences of extreme weather events are increasing in recent years due to the accumulation of harmful gasses on the planet like carbon dioxide and methane. these gasses are like a blanket, warming up the planet, both air and ocean temperatures, by trapping heat. The gradual increase in the temperature of the Earth melts land ice, heavily affects the water cycle, and shifts weather patterns, all impacts that can make weather effects worse and more life-threatening. As such, something must be done to reduce the accumulation of harmful hazez on the planet. 

Simple small steps we can take to combat Extreme weather events require us to reduce our carbon footprint, similar to what we can do to improve the situation of ocean acidification. More examples of small tasks to reduce carbon footprint include recycling more often, which allows you to reuse old resources and have them be remade into something new rather than harvesting new resources through methods that require fuel and energy to be consumed. Another small thing we can do is to avoid using disposable plastic products in our daily lives. Such include disposable gloves, plastic bottles, plastic cutlery and unnecessary food packaging. Reducing the disposable plastic products we consume reduces the overall amount of plastic waste that will end up in landfills, burnt by flames that emit carbon dioxide. 

‘Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much’. These small things we do daily may not help much and may seem insignificant and useless. However, if all of us do our part and try our best to combat these climate crises, all our ‘small, insignificant’ contributions could make a big difference in the world. Let us work together and effectively tackle these climate crises, and make the world a more sustainable, safer and more environmentally friendly place. This way, the risks and threat of climate crises will be greatly reduced.