“Then there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed…….every Island fled away and the mountains could not be found.” Rev 16:18-20.
As the world converges in Glasgow to focus on commitments to tackle the climate emergency, we should get a basic understanding of issues and how as individuals and communities we can make changes that may make life better. Referring to Climate Change as an emergency is an understatement; “the train already moved out of the station and we need to find a way of slowing it down and hopefully stopping it and that is no child’s play.”- Dr. Kojo Essel
In Ghana for instance we have seen Climate Change manifest in many areas including;
- Rising temperatures
- Declining rainfall total and increased variability resulting in frequent rainfall in October
- Rising sea levels
- High incidence of weather extremes and disasters
The average annual temperature has increased one degree Celsius in the last 30 years. Now superimpose this on other ills such as galamsey and you can understand how water, which is critical to our very livelihood is sometimes impossible to find and in some instances where available should not be consumed by humans. This exposes us to countless diseases, famine and nutritional challenges among several others. Are cash crops such as our very own Cocoa at risk?
Climate Change resulting from Global Warming poses huge threats to our health and very existence and we are prone to a myriad of problems including:
- Respiratory and heart diseases will be on the increase from the extreme heat. Frequent headaches from several causes, poor concentration from dehydration etc. and effects of heat stroke stare us in the face daily. Vectors of diseases such as malaria will thrive so we will have more ill people. Asthma for instance will have a field day as pollution increases.
- As some regions become drier, droughts will set in leading to a shortage of food and water. Migration will increase leading to overcrowding with all its attendant health problems such as tuberculosis.
Today I repost segments of a 2014 interview with Dr. Ama Essel a Climate Change expert.
KCE: What does climate change involve and is there an immediate danger?
AE: Any significant change in measures of climate (such as temperature, precipitation, or wind) lasting for an extended period. (Decades or longer).
It may also be described as change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods. Many years of human activities are to be blamed and these include:
- Burning of fossil fuels (charcoal, coal, and oil), deforestation, desertification, agricultural activities, transportation, urbanisation, waste management, bush burning and industrialisation.
Climate change threatens the basic elements of life such as access to food, water, shelter and clean air – which in turn severely impacts human health. Decisions on responding to climate change need to put health at the centre.
By Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel