If you are feeling worried about the environment right now, join the club.
The state of Planet Earth in 2021 isn’t looking great and it is only predicted to get worse.
We don’t discuss these things to be doom and gloom and to give you more anxiety than you probably already have. We discuss them so that we can learn, keep learning, and be fully aware of what is going on right now.
If we aren’t aware, then we can’t make any positive changes or engage in any positive growth.
So, without giving you any more stress than you need, let’s talk about 3 of the craziest things happening in the world’s environment right now.
Record-High Levels of CO2
We’ve heard about CO2 for years now. Carbon dioxide is an inevitable part of living on earth but something that is becoming more harmful in its levels of excess.
Where the levels of CO2 are right now is pretty much as high as they could be.
In fact, they haven’t been at the level they are now for the last 4 million years. In May of 2020, there were 417 parts of CO2 per million recorded, despite Covid-19 and so many of us staying at home.
And they continue to rise. They continue to rise 100 times faster than any previous inclines.
If there’s one thing we need to target right now, it’s CO2 levels.
The Hottest Days on Record
You might have noticed the days being unbearably hot at times over the last year, and that wasn’t just in your head.
The last decade has been the hottest ever on record in the world.
2020 and 2016 are tied for the hottest of all years, and Europe seemed to be hit the hardest.
These intensely hot temperatures contributed to the largest wildfires recorded in the US, in the states of California and Colorado, and further fires in Australia.
If we look at a graph of the temperatures on earth, all we can see are the numbers rising up and up and up.
It’s getting hotter on Planet Earth, and that isn’t good news for anyone living here.
Thawing Permafrost
Have you heard of Permafrost before?
If you haven’t, let’s have a quick definition of it. Permafrost is defined as:
“Permafrost is any type of ground—from soil to sediment to rock—that has been frozen continuously for a minimum of two years and as many as hundreds of thousands of years. It can extend down beneath the earth’s surface from a few feet to more than a mile—covering entire regions, such as the Arctic tundra, or a single, isolated spot, such as a mountaintop of alpine permafrost.”
This permafrost keeps greenhouse gases including C02 at bay, keeping them below the surface.
And the bad news is, it is thawing.
The ground is warming rapidly and, as a result, the permafrost is thawing and losing its power at holding greenhouse gases at bay.
What do you think we can do about this frightening reality?
Join the global conversation and get involved in the comments.
(All facts and statistics from this BBC article).