Fight climate change

Kim Whittam looks at how climate change will affect the poorest people hardest.

We have the power and the education to help prevent global warming, unlike the vulnerable people who already face devastation. Turning off lights when leaving a room, leaving appliances off when they are no longer being used, not leaving your hot tap dripping and replacing your light bulbs with energy saving ones are just a few ways you can help.

Climate change has become one of the most talked about issues on the planet. We read about it, watch about it and get told about it constantly. But is that where it stops? Many people know what to do to help prevent climate change, for instance switching off lights when leaving rooms, but the majority of the people I asked confessed they do very little.

What will happen if this continues and we cannot tackle the situation? Sea levels will rise, which means more flooding, more lives destroyed. Water shortages will leave billons of people in the Middle East and Indian subcontinent desperate for water. Rainfall patterns could be disrupted leading to more floods and droughts, causing food shortages. Extreme weather conditions will lead to more lives lost. Resistance to disease will be weakened because of water shortages, lack of sanitation, rising temperatures and malnutrition. This will all happen by 2080 if it isn’t dealt with now.

We have the power and the education to help prevent global warming, unlike the vulnerable people who already face devastation. Many people in the developing world do not have the option to move away from unsuitable land and face an even greater struggle to work their way out of poverty.

Just because we have the means to rebuild or move in the event of a disaster doesn’t mean we can’t help these people live a better life and it certainly doesn’t mean we as a nation can’t help save the planet. Climate change is affecting the poorest people in the world hardest and we must help them to adapt.

Europe has started its commitments to prevent global warming. The EU should put its commitments into practice to help fight climate change. If it doesn’t, it will not fulfil its global responsibility as the ‘largest industrialised trading bloc in the world’.

It’s not just world leaders that can help prevent climate change, the planet needs everyone to help. Turning off lights when leaving a room, leaving appliances off when they are no longer being used, not leaving your hot tap dripping and replacing your light bulbs with energy saving ones are just a few ways you can help. The planet needs help. The planet needs you.