Earth Day Reflections: Realizing This Planet Is Threatened To Be Uninhabitable

Illustration (Source: Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Every April 22, people of the world commemorate Earth Day or Earth Day. As quoted by the Earth Day website, Earth Day marks the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. This is important because many people say that the planet we live on is almost uninhabitable. Is that right?

The history of Earth Day dates back to the 1960s to 1970s in the United States. At that time, Uncle Sam's country was experiencing economic and political turmoil.

The person who first proclaimed Earth Day was US environmental teacher Gaylord Nelson in the 1970s. However, the idea of Earth Day actually appeared in the early 1960s in the US, when people became aware of the effects of environmental pollution.

Thanks to Nelson, people around the world celebrate Earth Day every year with a variety of themes. On Earth Day 2021, the theme is "Restore Our Earth". As quoted by earthday.org, this year's Earth Day theme focuses on natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can improve the world's ecosystems.

The commemoration of Earth Day is certainly important because many people say that the planet we live in is very old. One of them is David Wallace-Wells who wrote his opinion clearly in The Uninhabitable Earth.

Create food scarcity

According to Wallace-Wells, world temperatures will rise to 8 degrees by 2100 due to global warming. What is the impact?

Some people may perceive the increase rate as high. In fact, if the earth's temperature rises by just one degree, according to Wallace-Wells, it can cause the harvest of rice, corn, and sago, which are daily foodstuffs, to decrease by 10 percent.

Then if it rises by 8 degrees, food production will decrease by 80 percent. If this happens then how many million people will find it difficult to get food?

Also, the effects of global warming can expose someone who lives in the equatorial region to heat attacks such as in India. The danger, this can cause a person to die young.

Drowned

The increase in Earth's temperature can also make the polar ice melt. Many disasters are possible if it becomes a reality.

For example, generating diseases that are buried under a layer of ice. For example, anthrax, which has claimed lives, and has killed thousands of wildebeest.

Polar ice has been protecting ocean temperatures by reflecting sunlight into space. Without polar ice, the sea will warm up, and coral reef fish and other marine life will disappear or migrate so that fishermen's catch is much reduced. This has happened in many areas.

Another impact of melting polar ice is that it is possible to make New York, London, Jakarta, and others a memory. This could happen due to rising seawater. Nearly two-thirds of the major cities on the coast will probably sink

What needs to be done

We cannot contain global warming due to fossil burning or the greenhouse effect. But as quoted by Narasi, the good news is that we can slow it down.

Apart from using reciprocal sparing paper and refusing plastic bags or plastic bottles. We can also prefer reusable equipment.

Another way that we can do to stem the rising temperature of the Earth is by raising plants at home or work. That will help reduce carbon emissions. And the most impactful way is to plant as many trees as possible.