What Christmas trends were popular in Australia? 🎄
“Merry Crisis!” This buzzword was created because of Australia's worst wildfires. This word also indirectly condemns Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who was reported to be on vacation to Hawaii.
Australia is now over half of the Korean peninsula destroyed by wildfires. More than one billion animals die and people are struggling with poisonous smoke spreading in major cities.
Luckily it was raining and the fire went out, but now the ash flows into the river, killing the fish.
It's so unfortunate? Why is it happening in Australia?
Australia used to experience fires in dry winter. But experts note that Australian wildfires happen more and more often each year. As global warming has progressed for a long time, the temperature has risen, making the weather drier and more prone to fire. There is an analysis that the responsibility lies with countries and companies around the world that contributed to the climate crisis.
What is climate crisis?
The familiar word is ‘climate change.' In many places, from NewNeek to the British press Guardian, the word 'climate crisis' is more often used than just 'climate change.' It is because the word change is not stressing enough that the environment is in a hurry, but the word crisis does. Environmental experts have defined the climate crisis as "the ultimate environmental problem that will destroy a stable society and economy and drive everything to death."
What caused the climate crisis?
Originally, global temperatures change slowly and naturally (glaciers, interglacials, etc.). It's caused by changes in the sun's distance or the Earth's rotation, and it's happening for thousands of years. According to that flow, the Earth's climate should originally be gradually entering the next ice age. Yet, the temperature started to rise in contrast. We started burning massive amounts of coal, oil, and natural gas, and the number of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, etc.) that increased global temperatures rapidly increased. The situation is getting worse because of the methane gas that the animals exhale as they digest, lack of trees due to cutting them those resources that absorb carbon dioxide, building factories in forests, and raising too many cattle and sheep to eat meat.
How serious is it?
The climate crisis is manifesting differently depending on the features of the region.
During the same period when Australian wildfires weren't extinguished for five months, heavy rains killed many people in Indonesia across the sea.
Fine dust was a big issue in our country, South Korea. As the climate changed, the changes in high pressure caused the winds not to blow as they used to, causing bad substances to move in the air, causing them to stay and accumulate in one place for longer.
As conditions continue to threaten human life, economy, society and nature, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterras also ordered a strong response last year: “If we do this, there will be a complete disaster on earth.”
Earth 😭 What should we do then?
Don't let the heat rise! The Paris Convention, with over 200 countries signed, promised: “Let's reduce greenhouse gases so that the global temperature rise will not exceed 1.5 degrees by 2100!” The changes needed to make this really possible are:
Electricity is replaced by renewable energy ⚡️: Instead of coal-fired power plants and gas power plants, renewable energy should be used for solar and wind power that can generate electricity without GHG emissions. (All cars have to be changed to electric cars, briquettes, gas boilers, etc.)
Work less, rest a lot 🏖: Some analysts say that working less than 20 hours a week or less can help prevent the climate crisis. A society that works hard, creates mass, and throws away mass is not sustainable.
Is there anything I can do right now?
So you know you need a lot of industry-wide effort to limit 1.5 degrees... but you felt a little bit blind about what you could do right now? I have good news. The global trend is changing as citizens gather to demand responsible responses to businesses and governments.
💪 Young 16-year-old girls are coming from all over the world, starting with Greta Thunbery (video).
Politicians who have seen this have a policy of thinking about the environment, such as the Green Deal in Europe and the Green New Deal in the United States.
🏢 Companies are beginning to change. More than 200 companies, including Google, Apple, and IKEA, have declared that they will only use renewable energy without greenhouse gas emissions, and have actually increased their usage significantly.
Unfortunately, Korea is lagging behind in policy and corporate policies. People started to act on their own, but voices calling for solutions to the climate crisis should be louder.
Click for more news about the Australian wildfires in Korean: https://www.greenpeace.org/korea/update/11540/blog-ce-korea-loves-australia-coal/