At no other point in time was human civilisation more threatened with total destruction than now.

The
recent Covid-19 pandemic has collapsed the house of cards that society is built upon and things that
most have taken for granted such as toilet paper, healthcare and timely deliveries were quickly lost
during this chaotic time. Despite all this, we remain as divided as ever, furiously debating and
deliberating on banal topics like abortion and religions, thereby losing sight of the insidious killers that
are already bringing about tragedies and deaths. One of these threats, climate change, is looming large
as the herald of humankind’s doom and its severe damages are abundantly visible in the immediate
present.

In the current zeitgeist, climate change is closely associated with increasing global temperature and
rising sea level. That human-induced greenhouse gas emission is the primary culprit for this crisis has
long been the consensus of the scientific community. Gases such as methane, dioxide and sulphur
oxides, which is produced in excess in almost all industrial processes, reflect heat when congregated in
the atmosphere, thus trap the Sun’s energy and make Earth warmer than normal (This is the same effect
observed in greenhouses, which explains their moniker). The causes, effects and threats posed by this
constant heating is well-understood, but most of which remain to be experienced in the near future.
This vagueness caused by the shrouds of the future renders any attempt at communicating the
urgency and necessity of explaining the climate crisis regrettably ineffective. However, it must be known
that temperature is only part of the overall climate issue, which also encompasses problems like
acidification, desertification, misaligned seasons and more. Among them, two of which, the ozone hole
and air pollution, have already killed thousands of people and demanded urgent actions.

The ozone hole is an atmospheric phenomenon that has been observed in Antarctica since the 1970s. At
certain times of the year, vast areas of Earth’s most desolate continent will not have a shielding layer of
ozone above them, thereby being subjected to an endless barrage of solar radiation, commonly call
ultraviolet light or UV light. If a person were to be unprotected during this period, they will suffer from
severe sunburn and nearly instantaneous skin cancer, tormenting them till the release of death. Even a
slight thinning in this barrier will raise cancer risks to unacceptable levels. The cause for this
phenomenon is CFCs (or chlorofluorocarbons) – a manmade refrigerant and propellent that also trigger
an ozone-depleting chain reaction. When this deleterious effect was discovered to be ravaging Earth’s
life-granting protective layer, a countless number of people in the Southern hemisphere had already
died from skin cancer. As this hole continue to grow and threaten more people, a total ban on the
production of CFCs was enforced by all countries of the United Nations, the first protocol to achieve
such widespread acceptance. Though the ozone hole has massively decreased in size since then, its
thinning effects remain measurable and dangerous in much of Australia and South Africa. On the
bright side, however, this is also proof that climate issues are solvable if nations put aside differences
and collaborate with one another.

The next problem, air pollution exacerbated by climate change, on the other hand, seems to engender
no such solidarity, despite being arguably more deadly and damaging. The abovementioned
greenhouse gases are not only environmentally destructive but also toxic to humans. Carbon monoxide,
which is highly similar to its two-oxygen counterpart in their origin from combustions and warming
effect, is also a fatal toxin, as it destroys the body’s circulation system and deprive all organs of oxygen.
Sulphur oxides and nitric oxides, byproducts of many industries, and to a lesser extent, carbon dioxide,
can interact with water in raindrops, acidifying them and create acid rains, destroying crops and
buildings in the process. Ozone, though a saint when it is high in the atmosphere absorbing UV lights,
is a deadly pollutant at ground level, causing chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, congestion and
worsen lots of respiratory problems. These problems are worsened by increasing temperature and
humidity worldwide, which enable these pollutants to remain in the air that we breathe much longer
than normal. No country on Earth is spared from the effects of air pollution, with tropical, industrially
developing nations bearing the brunt of the damages. A combination of increasing industrialisation,
lack of environmental regulations, naturally high temperature and climate change has made their cities
the world’s most dangerous and polluted. In the 2000s, this threat manifested itself as the dim, grey
smog over Beijing. Now, it can be seen in the “deadly” markers beside New Delhi and Islamabad on all air
quality apps. 6 million deaths per year can be attributed to air pollution. Despite all this, no government
have made binding legislations to limit their extent of pollution, believing that they constrict economic
growth.

In conclusion, climate change is a dangerous issue that demand our immediate and undivided
attention. Though many may think that the dangers are still far to come, this is a fallacious view as it is
already responsible for the early demise of countless number of people. If everyone does not bury the
hatchet and work on our shared future, humanity’s demise will be inevitable.