How your actions contribute to climate change

With rapid industrialisation, human activities have significantly contributed to climate change or global warming. NCHETACHI CHUKWUAJAH writes on some of these activities and lifestyles to adopt in reducing individual and organisational carbon footprints.

Human activities have been identified as the primary cause of climate change. Such activities as burning of fossil fuel, deforestation, lead to the release of carbondioxide and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere, which slowly warm the earth’s surface and cause change in climatic condition.

Since the industrial revolution, the concentration of key GHGs like carbondioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased and are now more abundant in the atmosphere of the earth than it was 800,000 years ago.

For instance, the atmospheric concentration of carbondioxide has increased by more than 40 percent  since pre-industrial times from approximately 280 parts per million (ppm) in the 18th century to 414 ppm in 2020. It has also been found that yearly, 30 billion tons of carbondioxide are released into the atmosphere courtesy of human activities.

Here is a list of human activities that have contributed to increased concentration of carbondioxide in the atmosphere and measures to adopt in replacing them.

 

Burning of fossil fuels

The burning of fossil fuels like coal, crude oil, petroleum products, natural gas, and so on, to generate energy releases a large amount of carbondioxide and nitrous oxide, which are trapped in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming.

It is responsible for over 75 percent of global GHG emissions and nearly 90 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions.

Instead of burning fossil fuels to generate energy or heat, you can consider using cleaner energy sources. Cleaner or renewable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric energy are not only energy-saving, they are also a cost-effective ways to reduce GHG emissions and help stop climate change.

 

Deforestation

Deforestation or cutting down of trees is another contributor to climate change. Naturally, trees and other vegetation take in carbondioxide and release oxygen in a process called photosynthesis. When trees are cut down, most of the carbon stored in them is released into the atmosphere as carbondioxide and warming the earth in the process.

In order to halt deforestation, you should begin to plant more trees. Tree-planting helps prevent run-off of water from hills and landslides, among other benefits. It is estimated that planting eight billion trees yearly would replace about half of 15 billion trees cut down every year.

Other actions to take include using less paper or recycling used papers and cardboard boxes, buying sustainable wood products, reduce the burning of firewood, report illegal wood logging, help restore degraded forests and practice eco-forestry which is a restorative forest management method where certain trees are selectively harvested and causing minimal harm to the forest.

 

Waste disposal

We oftentimes think that contributors to climate change are only limited to industrialisation and burning of fossil fuel on a large scale. However, the seemingly little things like waste disposal is a contributor too. When wastes, especially solid wastes, are dumped in landfills, they emit methane, a powerful GHG, in the process of decomposition. This is because of the absence of air. And when anything rots, carbon dioxide is naturally produced.

Also, improper disposal of waste block drainages, creating a breeding ground for pests and contaminating the environment. As at 2019, Nigeria accounted for the highest amount of solid waste generated in Africa with 32 million metric tons of waste annually, majority of which end up in rivers, beaches, landfills and sewers.

Instead of adding to the waste in landfills, think of ways of not creating waste in the first place. This means being conscious of your garbage footprint. You can reduce your garbage footprints by practicing the three Rs of reduce, reuse and recycle.

Reduce the waste you generate by considering buying products that are durable, sustainable and environment-friendly. Also, think of ways to reuse or repurpose items. You can consider recycling (converting waste into reusable material) or upcycling (taking something no longer in use and giving it a second life and new function) these items.

 

Transportation

The way you commute daily is a factor to consider in your effort to reducing your carbon footprint as the transportation sector is another huge producer of GHGs. This is asides polluting the air. Carbondioxide is released into the atmosphere in process of combustion while driving vehicles.

According to the International Energy Agency, transport accounts for 24 percent of direct carbondioxide emissions, most of which are produced by road vehicles such as trucks, buses, cars and motorbikes.

To halt these emissions, you can begin to adopt other lifestyles that reduce the amount of carbondioxide released into the atmosphere by vehicles. These include using greener transportation options like walking, cycling/biking, carpooling and opting for public transportation rather than private transportation. Others are going for energy-efficient vehicles, making fewer trips, adopting remote work option, going easy on brakes to improve your fuel economy and switching to electric vehicles if possible.

The recent effort of the Lagos State government in partnership with Oando Plc in introducing electric vehicles, as well as its Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system for mass transit scheme aimed at reducing private vehicles on Lagos roads, are commendable.

 

Agricultural activities

As the world’s population and demand for food kept growing, the need for farmers to make large-scale agriculture possible started hurting the environment and contributing to climate change.

Such efforts include deforestation to create more land for growing crops; the use of large and often times, fossil fuel-powered machinery like tractors; over use of land leading to soil degradation; use of pesticides and fertilisers that pollute the environment and that can be harmful to humans and other lives.

The rearing of livestock is another agricultural activity that contributes to climate change as it releases methane and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, pollutes water sources and destroys forests, among others.

To reduce the impact of agriculture on climate change, farmers should consider sustainable agricultural practices or climate-smart agriculture and modern methods of rearing animals. These methods ensure that farmers maximise available resources while reducing emission.

According to the World Bank, climate-smart agriculture “is an integrated approach to manage landscapes (cropland, livestock, forests and fisheries) that addresses the interlinked challenges of food security and accelerating climate change.” This approach aims to increased productivity, enhance resilience and reduce emissions.

This approach includes crop rotation, cover cropping, multi-cropping, vertical farming, rotational grazing and ranching.

Other ways of helping to halt climate change are educating others about climate change, promoting environmental stewardship by encouraging individuals and organisations to reduce their GHGs emission through proper waste management and energy generation and taking action or supporting efforts aimed at reducing GHGs emission.

 

This report is produced in fulfilment of UNESCO and CIJ London Climate Change in News Media project facilitated by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development.