How bad do things have to get before we, the general public, sit up and take note?
Most of us (myself included) will probably read this article and feel a mild sense of something vaguely resembling concern, which will swiftly be forgotten as we merrily leave our houses and climb into our big, CO2-emitting cars. Because the sea-levels aren't going to rise by '1.2m' overnight, it's all too easy to ignore the warning signs. The same signs that are actually coming at us from all sides. According to the article, the 'inevitable' collapse of the West Antarctic glaciers 'will most likely occur in the next 200 to 500 years', which, in the grand scheme of things, is not far off.
After a quick Google search, I was reminded of the potential environmental impacts of rising sea-levels, which will inevitably have social and economic consequences. The impacts include:
- Increased storm damage and more rapid coastal erosion (something the UK has already come up against this winter)
- Changes in the shoreline and loss of low-lying land such as the Maldives
- Contamination of aquifers and surface water by saltwater, resulting in a loss of valuable freshwater sources
- Rising water tables, which will increase flood-risk.
And the great tragedy in all this? The developing world will bear the brunt of it. Meaning that the very countries that are the least responsible for global CO2 emissions (or in some cases, are only just beginning to industrialise) will be the ones who take the punishment for our indulgent way of living.
Just as the sea-levels aren't going to rise overnight, the positive effects of any changes we make are going to take their time to become apparent. This means that if we want to stand any chance of protecting our future generations, who will be around in '200 to 500 years', we need to grab hold of any head-start we can get.
Granted, we are all more than happy to do the odd bit of recycling and maybe even catch the bus into town rather than take the car. But when it comes to making any real sacrifices in our daily lives, the problem suddenly seems a little too distant to be worth dealing with right now. I suppose this is fair enough; investing in an electric car while you've still got a perfectly good set of wheels doesn't exactly seem practical. But maybe we're missing the point; we don't really have a choice. Are we going to wait until we're told that the Maldives only has 50 years left of existence, or that the entire population of Lagos must relocate or be underwater within 5 years? Then will we finally fork out for that 'green' car?
Now is the time to act. If we don't, then I doubt we ever will.
It's not all doom and gloom! For those of you who want to find out what changes you can make, I've provided the links to just a few useful articles:
Practical Ways to Stop Global Warming
10 Ways to Reduce Global Warming
What You Can Do About Global Warming
12 Simple(ish) Ways to Quickly Reduce Global Warming
86 Ways To Fight Global Warming
Harriet x
