Unlike any creature that has lived before, we humans have become a geophysical force, swiftly changing the atmosphere and climate as well as the composition of the world’s fauna & flora. The debate on climate change should not be whether or not it exists, it should be what we can do about it. From a factual point of view, global temperatures are rising, heat waves are becoming more common, sea surface temperatures are rising, wildfires are increasing, islands are disappearing, permafrost is thawing, polar ice is melting, large tracts of the earth are at risk of becoming uninhabitable. Many of these changes are irreversible.
A survey of thousands of scientific papers that took a position on climate change found that 97.1% endorsed the position that humans are causing global warming. It is widely acknowledged that climate change is human-driven and that human activity is a key driver of biodiversity collapse and species extinction – up to one million species may go extinct by the end of this century.
Climate change is the biggest crisis humanity will ever face and no challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than this. Climate change could be enormously disruptive if unchecked. It can lead to famine, epidemics, a sun that cooks us, economic collapse, and wars over resources. It could also be a windfall for some businesses and nations. Entire humanity, though, should regard it as a collective cause or one mission, which is to protect the planet. Because the threat is real; it is affecting all of us. We are part of the problem but we can also be part of the solution. If we do nothing, what will be left? We need to act. It is now or never.

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Suhaib Shamim Bhat