Greta Thunberg

Greta Thunberg is usually seen as a brat who seemly took up their parents views on climate change, but whether you like or hate her she is attempting to at least try to have a positive impact at fixing the problem. And whether you believe in climate change or not, there is a real problem with human pollution. Greta asks in a TED talk, “why are we not reducing our emissions? Why they are in fact still increasing?”

Her motivation didnt come from her parents, but her School; a particular class about climate change had stunned her and she felt she had to do something. She decided she wanted to strike everyday, but her parents would only agree to one day, a Friday.

“We want you to unite behind the science”

People think Greta just wants everyone to go back to the dark ages, to stop driving cars and flying planes, but none of this is her words. Other say that she’s no climate expert, and she agrees, but she argues that the scientist already knows all the facts and the solutions, people just need wake up and make a change.

“I know you’re trying, but just not hard enough”

Greta Thunberg advert

Humans are an environmental disaster

As the population continues to grow billions at a time, the Earth’s land and resources are rapidly being used up, and we seem to have this belief that there is an unlimited supply.

Millions of years ago, before animals existed the atmosphere use to be almost entirely CO2, but a process started that very gradually turned nearly all the CO2 in to oil and coal. Oil is basically biological matter, millions of years of dead plants that had absorbed the CO2 and excreted oxygen, then died.

The Earth reached a natural balance, and CO2 has remained low, below 300 parts per million (ppm) for at least the last million years.

Today, we are now extracting the oil and coal for energy, which is putting millions of tons of CO2 back into the atmosphere every month, with global CO2 levels now over 400 ppm and rising sharply. This is pushing the atmosphere out of its normal balance and is having a knock on effect with the ecosystem.

Governments have often talked about ‘clean’ coal power stations, but hardly mention the fact that the CO2 has only been reduced by about 10%; these power stations still produces millions of tons of CO2.

Historically, CO2 levels have very closely matched the Earth’s temperature, and with temperatures rising, most scientists conclude that its because of the extra CO2 going back into the atmosphere.

Scientist have since discovered that methane has a far more potent effect than CO2, so it’s also likely temperatures are also increasing because of the rising population of people and animal stock.