Latest climate Disasters and Development in Environmental impacts

By: Khadija Nadeem, Gr, 11
The world has had this a long time coming, it has been known for quite a while that climate change is no longer something abstract from the future, but something tangible that is affecting all of our lives. Heatwave warnings and wildfires confirm the authenticity of climate change and the clear danger it presents.
Locally, wildfires majorly affect BC’s overall carbon balance as massive pulses of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere. Emissions have been calculated and recorded to over hundreds of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide in the last couple of years for Canada and our greenhouse gas tally shows that those emissions are double and triple the size of emissions from powering our homes, vehicles, and industries. In many statistics, wildfire numbers are recorded as natural disturbances instead of impacts of human economic activity but the fact of the matter is that we need to have the awareness to recognize that wildfires represent climate change in action, the consequences of human use of fossil fuels for energy.
Climate change is a costly force of nature that affects our economies, wildlife, and
environment, and its impacts on our societies and communities are also significant. Take a look at a country like Pakistan, that’s still developing. Despite being one of the lowest carbon emitters in the world, Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change including heightened natural disasters or what the UN Secretary-General described as “monsoons on steroids”. It’s flooding now, but Pakistan and many countries like it are in the middle of general mismanagement regarding climate change, it’s a large umbrella under which are a range of extreme weather events. The statistics are tragic with over 3 million people affected, over one thousand killed and injured, and crops and livestock and property and housing destroyed and the statistics go on and on and on.
But who bears the responsibility for a tragedy like this? Certainly not a low carbon-emitting country like Pakistan right? Many have argued that the Global North should pay for the unbelievable losses and damages but the follow-through on that is unlikely.
With so many displaced, the impact of climate change puts things into perspective. Who bears the weight of devastation like this? Not only are economies and societies and people’s livelihoods suffering from the direct impacts but everyone around the world is miserable knowing this has happened to innocent people who were not deserving of this outcome.
Experts anticipate food insecurity, public health nightmares, massive internal displacement, and the potential for greater migration.
The effects of climate change are so evident that our governments and our communities can no longer deny their impacts, how much longer will we go before we drive our earth to its end? We must reflect on these catastrophes and push for change that will build our systems up to be resilient against the climate crises we are facing. Change starts with us, with our awareness and our engagement, and our education.