Climate Change is an extremely important subject, one that needs to be highlighted more often as it can have a serious impact on the world we live in. If I am being honest prior to this module I didn’t have much of an interest in learning about topics like climate change. I would often hear stories in the news about what it is and what is happening around the world due to it but I never really looked much deeper into it.
In the world the climate is constantly changing and with that means we are bound to experience the effects of climate change. These can vary from agriculture, sea levels rising which can inhibit floods, loss of sea ice and more intense heat waves. These effects not only have an impact on the environment but on people’s lives. This year alone there has been two main hurricanes: Harvey and Imra, that have been the effect of climate change. Scientists suggest that “rising sea levels and warmer oceans, made those storms far more destructive than they would have been in previous decades” (Cable News Network). Hurricanes like these have a tremendous affect on the residents of the area who are left homeless, injured and in the worst case dead. Many scientists believe that primarily climate change is man-made therefore we as the humans it is having an effect on, need to pull together to try and save our environment.
The Government are doing a lot to help lower the effects of climate change. I was surprised to realise that there is actually legislation in place: The Climate Change (Scotland) Act (2009). They have got set targets in place to hopefully reach by 2020 and 2050. These vary from the decrease of greenhouse gases and ensuring there are supplies in place to help the reduction and recycling of waste. There has already been a start on recycling. We now have coloured bins that state which type of material goes in which bin. In my household we have a black, blue and green bin. Our green bin is for any food waste, the blue is for any paper, plastic and cans and our black bin is for any other recycling. I never really cared much for recycling but the use of the coloured bins makes it so much easier and you almost don’t even realise that you are recycling the right way. Furthermore, the governments policy on charging for plastic bags has also had a positive impact on myself as I now rarely ever buy a plastic bag I just use one of the ones I already have in my house. I do think that me re using bags I already have is more so that I don’t have to pay for one but at least it’s helping the environment at the same time in a positive way.
Already, with the hard work from the government to tackle climate change. The first minister placed Scotland at the front of the world fight against climate change on the 5th September 2017. This just highlighted the our country is taking the effects of climate change very seriously and therefore we need to realise this and do our part to help stop climate change.
I took part in a quiz that analysed my carbon footprint. I was really shocked at my result and realised that there is a lot more that I could be doing to lowering it to have a positive effect on the environment rather than a negative one. It made me reflect on the ways I travel to work and university, the food that I am buying and the amount of energy that is used in my household that is unnecessary.
In conclusion, it is crucial that everyone at least tries to tackle and prevent climate change, whether this is walking instead of driving, switching the sockets off in the house when you go to bed, buying more locally produced foods if they are available. It is important to notice that the smallest positive difference in your daily routing can have a huge effective impact on climate change in the world. It is our job as educators to ensure that the newest generation are made aware of the impact we have on climate change and our environment, and how we can have an influence taking care and looking after our environment so that it can then have a positive impact on the world.
References:
Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, asp 12. Edinburgh: The Stationary Office.
WWF. (2017) HOW BIG IS YOUT ENVRIONMENTAL FOOTPRINT? [Online] Availabile: http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/ [Accessed: 06 September 2017]
NASA. (2017) Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet Effects. [Online] Available: https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/ [Accessed: 06 September 2017]
Cable News Network. (2017) Yes, Climate Change made Harvey and Imra worse. [Online] Accessed: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/15/us/climate-change-hurricanes-harvey-and-irma/index.html [Accessed: 06 September 2017]
