By EMAH ONYEJE ENE
Science and technology have in no little way contributed to the growth and development of humanity but like the devil’s gift, we are paying a heavy price for sacrificing Earth’s health on the alter of industrialization and progress. Today, the world is experiencing a food crisis among other things and hence, it is the job of science and technology reporters to highlight the consequences technological advancement has wrecked on the world and to flash the light on the remedial steps to salvaging what is left of the world. Yes, we (science reporters ) must tell the glorious tale of technology and the breakthroughs science has helped us achieve as mankind but it is also up to us to pull the reigns if this achievement will rid us of our only home in the long run. Climate change is an issue in science and technology reporting because it is an issue that affects the world in which we live and report, hence, explaining how climate change affects the world is also explaining how it affects science and technology reporting as a field of specialization in journalism because as Walter Cronkite said, “our[journalists ]job is just to hold the mirror up – to tell and show the public what has happened.”
It is common knowledge that in the planetary system, the Earth is the only planet that is home to man. For thousands of years the Earth has played this role effectively, given its composite nature that supports life, however, in the last one and a half centuries, particularly from the advent of the industrial revolution man’s activities directly or indirectly have added up to negatively alter the Earth’s nature and features. The industrial revolution is fingered as a culprit because the heavy machinery deployed from that era were and are still a great source of pollution given the quantum of carbon monoxide they released into the atmosphere. This and other sources of pollution that shall be alluded to in this essay have culminated and badly damaged the ozone layer, in a manner that it is fast losing its capacity as a shield or deflector of the ultraviolet rays that now pass on directly to the earth thereby bringing about the issue climate change. Indeed, climate change, a synonym of global warming remains the greatest threat to human existence and should be a source of serious worry to all because it requires urgent steps to be taken to mitigate its impact.
Although I have earlier in the introduction mentioned human activities as one of the causes of climate change or global warming, there are also other causes that are natural and way beyond man. Such natural causes include ocean current , volcano eruption, the Earth’s orbital changes and solar variation concerning the ocean current for instance, it is a known fact the deep ocean is responsible for the movement of cold water from the poles towards the equator and warm water from the equator to the poles. Therefore, any variation that affects the circulation of the cold water from the poles and the warm water from the equator will bring about extreme cold and warmth to either end respectively.
Similarly, any alternation of the earth’s orbital trip or variation in the solar system can cause a change in the climate. This is just as the large sulphur dioxide ,dust and ash thrown into the atmosphere when a volcanic eruption can influence climate change for years.
Man on his part has been undoubtedly cruel to the earth through his activities, some of which are enumerated below.
One of Man’s activities that have brought about global warming is the fact that a lot of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere annually, there is the issue of burning fossil fuel for industries, cars, trains, aircraft, and energy to power our homes.
Also, Nigeria unlike other oil-producing countries has continued to flare her gas at the oil fields, and in most African countries, there is the problem of poor waste management such that plastic waste such as polytene materials that should be recycled are carelessly discarded, and consequently, find their way into rivers and oceans.
These plastic waste take as long as hundreds years to wear off and while in the water bodies or under the ground they emit carbon into the atmosphere.
Deforestation is yet another activity of man responsible for the earth’s degradation and climate change .Today, most of our forest reserve have been seriously depleted due to logging ,clearing for purposes of farming or for new human settlement .
The history of Man’s existence has been replete with a lot of catastrophes and calamities either as a result of outbreaks of diseases such as chicken pox, smallpox, HIV & AIDS, Ebola, and most recently coronavirus or natural disasters like earthquakes and volcanic eruption, as terrible as they all seem ,non of these can be as threatening or likened to the ravaging impact of climate change. Today,there is hardly any continent of the world that has not been impacted harshly by climate change.
Flood is one of the most glaring impact of climate change .Across all continent of the world ,flood water arising from excessive rain falls have wrecked so much havoc in different places destroying lives and livelihood ,homes and property. In Nigeria, the flood which occurred in 33 states of the federation in 2022 taking with it over six hundred lives indeed makes the one of 2012 a child’s play.
There is also the issue of desertification where the front-line states of Northern Nigeria every year continues to lose their arable land owing to desert encroachment. Consequently, farmlands and grazing land are lost by both farmers and herders.
Closely related to this issue of desertification are the increasing cases of clashes between farmers and herders as the latter are forced to migrate towards the south where they can have pasture for their cattle.
Also in the horn of Africa, people have been experiencing prolonged drought following a lack of rainfall over a long period.
In the last few years in Europe and America, many people have died from heat waves, which no doubt is the resultant effect of climate change.
As has been observed earlier, climate change remains the greatest threat to our collective existence, and as such, humanity needs to take very urgent steps to reverse this dangerous narrative rather than the current rhetorics and noncommittal attitude of the developing, or industrialized world. Unfortunately the developing world which are responsible for less than 3% of the world green house gas emission are the worst hit by the impact of the climate change.
One of the ways to impact of climate change can be mitigated is for the industrialized nations to drastically cut down on their green house emission by resorting to alternative clean energy sources.
One of the ways to impact of climate change can be mitigated is for the industrialized nations to drastically cut down on their green house emission by resorting to alternative clean energy source.
Two,nations of the world should embark on aggressive tree planting project so bring about reforestation
Also, plastic waste should not be allowed to find its way into our rivers, seas, and oceans but should rather be recycled.
One would wonder what our role as science and technology reporters is in all of these. Well, we can incite change by raising awareness on these issues and prioritizing stories that encourage the use of eco-friendly energy and technology.
As we know from our elementary geography, only the earth out of the nine planets can fully support life. We must therefore support the earth to survive by doing all that is humanly possible to effectively combat climate change. Remember, if the earth dies, we die!
Photo Credit: Bitrus Jesse
