Opinion: Floods in Pakistan point to climate change
Photo via Flickr (Caroline Gluck, Oxfam International) under Creative Commons license
Since June 14, 2022, floods in Pakistan have killed over 1,500 people. Many villages and towns have been submerged underwater, leaving millions in a state of hunger and needing to seek medical attention.
Climate change has been a problem facing the globe for a while. Recent events in Pakistan provide further evidence.
Pakistan is a country in South Asia with a population of around 242 million. Pakistan has a hot and dry type of climate near the coast and lowland plains. Closer to the northern uplands and Himalayas, it is gradually cooler. However, torrential monsoon rains have caused severe floods in Pakistan.
What happened in Pakistan is not an isolated situation. Other countries around the globe have experienced similar situations. Costa Rica, Nepel, Italy and the Caribbean have all been impacted by destructive flooding.
This is all in direct relation to climate change.
Unless you have not been outside in the last 50 or so years, you would know that the global temperature has been rising. In Greenland and Patagonia ice glaciers have been melting due to global temperature rising, causing sea levels to rise.
With warmer temperature comes the increase in evaporation, which puts more moisture in the air. This leads to more rainfall and snowfall. Floods happen in lands that are normally dry then rainfall or expeditious snow or ice melting occurs.
This has to be an effort made by everyone for the greater good.
— Staff Writer Jae Ardoin
Even though it is Pakistan’s monsoon season, the rainfall is much heavier than previous, which is causing devastating floods.
We need to open our eyes. We are destroying our home. In an estimated seven more years what we have done will be irreversible.
With global temperature rising 1.9° Fahrenheit in the last century and sea levels rising, our planet is slowly entering a danger zone.
This has to be an effort made by everyone for the greater good.
This does not mean it has to be some big idea or huge plan. Students even at Starr’s Mill can help by using golf carts as a form of transportation more often or carpooling with friends to school and other places.
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