It might be a little too late if we only jump into action now to rescue our planet, especially with many still adopting an indifferent attitude!

The recent Typhoon Doksuri has taken its toll on northern China traditionally not very well prepared for a typhoon strike.

Heavy snowstorms and typhoons that show up where they are least expected to show up has released a very clear message to mankind that global climate change is not just an unrealistic alarm but is very real!

Indeed, we do not have too much time to wait for the climate change to turn up, as it will come so swift and so suddenly that we will all be caught unprepared.

Last month, the world experienced its hottest ever July in record, but for sure it will not be the worst as bad weather will happen again next year.

The University of Maine’s weather analysis shows that the average temperature of the world on July 6 was 17.23 °C, the highest in history. And this could be a new milestone in the global climate change.

In the same month, temperatures unusually high as 30-40 °C were also recorded at the poles, which climatologists say are a bad omen.

Statistics show that polar ice is fast dwindling and the rate of warming at the poles is twice of elsewhere on this planet. Climate change expedites the melting of ice, sending sea levels higher and flooding islands and coastal cities.

Has the humanity done anything to stop the climate change as a result of excessive carbon emission? Of course. Even though the United States and China are locked in a trade war, the two powers are willing to cooperate on the control of carbon emission.

From November 1 to 12, 2021, some 25,000 delegates from more than 200 countries and territories attended the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. Glasgow Climate Pact was adopted to maintain the goal set by the Paris Agreement to control the global temperature rise to within 1.5C.

The Glasgow Climate Pact urges governments to intensely reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in order to contain the global warming to within 1.5C. Based on the average emission for 2010, global carbon emission should be reduced by 45% by 2030 while achieving zero emission target by 2050.

Carbon emission is the primary cause of global climate change, and this includes the burning of coal, petroleum, natural gas and use of petrochemical fuels, all contributing to increased carbon emission.

On the contrary, nuclear (albeit controversial), wind, hydroelectric and solar powers are green energy sources.

Global energy-related carbon emission rose 0.9% to a record 36.8 billion tons last year, with construction steel manufacturing, petrochemical industry, thermal power generation, motor fuel consumption and domestic energy use being the major “contributors.”

As such, humanity has to assume responsibility for the disasters from drastic climate change as a consequence of unchecked carbon emission.

Of the total 36.8 billion tons of carbon emission, 29.5% has come from China, followed by the US (14.3%), EU (9.6%), India (6.8%) and Russia. (4.9%).

Despite Malaysia’s relative small population, our carbon emission tops 270 million tons, at a per capita emission of 8 tons, way above the global average of 4.8 tons!

To control global climate change, most countries of the world have pledged to cut emission, including methane emission. More than 40 countries have pledged to progressively discontinue the use of coal, while over a hundred countries, including Brazil, have agreed to stop forest logging by 2030.

Meanwhile, India promises to generate 50% of its energy requirement from renewable sources by 2030 while governments and major automakers in 24 developed countries have agreed to stop manufacturing fuel engine cars and trucks by 2040.

But all these are far from being enough!

Climate change has not started only recently. Nevertheless, people have only come to realize the severity of the issue only in the last decade, having witnessed the dramatic polar ice melting, tropical rainforest clearing at an alarming rate of over 100,000 square kilometers per year, over 36 billion tons of annual CO₂ emission, constantly record-breaking high temperatures and typhoons that could travel as far north as China’s northernmost provinces.

It might be a little too late if we only jump into action now to rescue our planet, especially with many still adopting an indifferent attitude!