The Earth came into existence around 4.5 billion years ago. The big bang theory shows how the Earth was formed. Over the years Earth has changed itself and evolved in such a way that today life exists on Earth. What we humans have today took billions of years to form. In the course of life's evolution, humans emerged.

Humans are the most intelligent species present on this planet but we have been depleting our Mother Earth because of the greed for money. In today’s world, everyone is so consumed in their personal lives that they are not looking at the bigger picture.

Coal was discovered long back but came into actual use when we discovered that it can be used to generate electricity. In 1698 Thomas Savery gave an initial working of a steam engine. In about 1712 Thomas Newcomen, developed a more efficient steam engine which was the beginning of the industrial revolution. One can say that the industrial revolution officially marks the downfall of the human race.

As you can see in the past 56 years the consumption rate has doubled. If we continue at this rate then coal would not last more than 100-120 years. It is a non-renewable resource which take millions of years to form.

As coal, many other non-renewable resources like petroleum, natural gas, and uranium are getting depleted. The human population is growing in exponentially number so is the consumption of all the resources. Many non-renewable resources are already being exploited that if we continue to use them in the same pace then they will get depleted in the next 50-100 years. Sooner or later earth won’t be able to handle the pressure which will result in an outburst.

We can see in the chart that since 1960 to 2023 we have doubled our population. The rise in population has many adverse effects on Earth. As the population rises, the demand for shelter, food, technology, electricity, etc., also rises which leads to the exploitation of natural resources and animals. Due to this exploitation of resources, more CO2 is being produced. The rise in CO2 levels leads to global warming due to which we are facing climatic changes.

In the chart above one can see the difference in the CO2 levels. In the past 100 years, the count of CO2 emissions has gone from 5 billion tons per year to 35 billion tons per year. Let’s understand what’s global warming and how it will affect us in the long term. As we all know it took billions of years for the earth to form and to sustain life. Greenhouse gases play an important role in the sustainability of life on Earth.

Gases like CO2, methane, ozone, and water vapor help out Earth by keeping it warm enough to sustain life. These gases get trapped in the atmosphere and maintain a suitable temperature due to which life is possible on earth. If greenhouse gases were not there then the temperature on earth would have been around -18 degree Celsius. In a way, the greenhouse effect is good for us in order to survive but excess of anything can lead to drastic changes. For the past few years, we have seen a drastic rise in the emission of CO2 gas which is causing the temperature to rise more.

Since the industrial revolution, the global annual temperature has increased in total by a little more than 1 degree Celsius. For the past 40 years, we have seen the global annual temperature rise by 0.18 degree Celsius. Nine of the 10 warmest years since 1880 have occurred since 2005—and the 5 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2015. The cause of this rise in temperature is due to CO2 emission. This CO2 emission is directly attributable to human activity—specifically to our burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, gasoline, and natural gas, which results in the greenhouse effect.

As mentioned before that due to the exponential rise in the population, the consumption of natural non-renewable resources is increasing exponentially resulting in depletion of resources as well as more carbon dioxide emission. This rise in temperature is causing climate change in various parts of the world which ultimately leads to changes in weather and extinction of various species.

Above graph shows a more detailed version of how the emission is being split and which category emits the CO2 the most. The human drive for power, money, and fame is damaging Earth. As the CO2 levels have raised the global climate has also changed in various locations.

The live example is Marshal Islands. Marshal Islands is one of the world’s most vulnerable areas to the climate change. It has a total of 29 atolls and five individual islands situated in about 180,000 square miles. The people here are heavily dependent on the natural resources particularly agriculture and fisheries, which are vulnerable to climate change impacts such as erosion, storm surges, and shifting rainfall. If the water level rises by 1-2 meters there will be no marshal islands in the future. People are migrating to different places in search for better livelihoods.

Another example of climate change is the Australian bushfire which happened in 2019. Australia lost around 8.4 million hectares, more than 1,300 homes, and 27 human lives and lost around 1 billion animal lives in only four months.

All these events lead up to destruction of our plant and the biodiversity that we are surrounded with. If we take a look around us we will notice that due to human activities animal species are also become extinct on a very fast pace. Initially, the extinction rate was 2 species per 100 years for every 10,000 species. The current rate of extinction has raised to 200 species per 100 years for every 10,000 species.

All of this sums up to one thing that we being the superior species on this planet should take control of the current situation while we can and try to improve it for our future generations. If we don’t take necessary measures then things can even get worse. Some companies have started taking the initiative to be more sustainable and eco-friendly. Companies like Ikea, and Nike are taking the initiative to become more eco-friendly. All these small efforts of companies can lead to a better future. We still have time to make our wrongdoings right. As an individual you can also take some necessary actions which can help out nature in some way like switching of the lights when not needed, using clothes which are eco-friendly, and buying electronic items from companies which have zero-CO2 emission. If we don’t change the way we are living right now then it will cost us in the future.

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