Writer：Greenpeace

What is climate change?
Many people's understanding of climate change comes from the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" released in 2006. They learn that global warming refers to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and oceans. Excessive amounts of carbon dioxide (including carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and nitrous oxide) make the earth seem to be shrouded in a thick greenhouse. The heat from the sun is difficult to dissipate, causing the temperature to rise and triggering various extreme weather such as drought, heavy rain, Heat waves etc.

In September 2019, the space station recorded the clouds of Category 5 Hurricane Dorian. In recent years, the term "global warming" has been gradually replaced by "climate change" and even intensified into "Climate Crisis", emphasizing that the impact of this phenomenon is not only temperature changes, but also affects every aspect of our lives. level threats.
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics will be awarded to a meteorologist for the first time.
One of the three winners of the award, Japanese-American scholar Shuro Manabe, established a climate change model in the 1960s to predict global climate conditions. It is well known that "increasing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will increase the average temperature of the earth's surface." It is based on his research.
Another award-winning German scholar, Klaus Hasselmann, developed a research method to prove that Manabe Shuro's climate model is credible and not affected by changes in weather trends. Later generations also used this research method to confirm climate change. To what extent can it be entirely attributed to man-made emissions?
Although the two scholars accurately predicted global warming and climate change 50 years ago, it is a pity that mankind has spent too much time doubting the authenticity of climate change and missed the golden opportunity to prevent the intensification of climate change. At this time, we can only redouble our efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Only in this way can the worst-case scenarios in climate change models be avoided.

What causes climate change? What are the impacts?
The causes of climate change are complex, but human behavior patterns are to blame, changing the natural greenhouse phenomenon. Over the past century, large-scale burning of fossil fuels, such as coal and oil, has increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This, combined with the large-scale reclamation of forest land and the expansion of agricultural and industrial development, has led to increasingly higher concentrations of greenhouse gases.

Over a century of accumulation, excess greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have caused global warming. When average air and ocean temperatures rise and the volume of seawater expands, continental glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland will also melt faster, causing sea levels to rise and flood low-altitude coastal areas.
In addition, changes in precipitation patterns and desertification in subtropical areas have contributed to extreme weather including heat waves, droughts, forest fires, heavy rains, floods, and snowstorms. Various natural disaster attacks will cause serious losses of life and property around the world.

In November 2020, the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Van Gogh. Strong winds and heavy rains destroyed many houses in Manila and other places and caused severe flooding. Global warming not only affects climate patterns, but also affects ecology that is extremely sensitive to the environment, and even causes large-scale species extinction, food crises and other issues. Food and water resources are related to human survival. If harvests and supplies are no longer stable, it will cause instability in the global economy and may trigger political risks in competition for resources.

Under the influence of climate change, disaster-causing heavy rainfall for days and days causing serious flooding is becoming more and more common. Is climate change really related to humans?
In 2013, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), composed of 1,300 independent scientific experts from around the world, stated in its fifth assessment report: “There is more than a 95% probability that human behavior is responsible for the warming over the past 50 years. The main reason for the phenomenon.”
Human impacts include the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. If this continues, global surface temperatures are likely to continue to rise in the coming decades. Scientists predict that global warming may reach 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit within the next century. to 10 degrees (approximately 1.4 degrees to 5.6 degrees Celsius).
Fossil fuels such as coal and oil are one of the main causes of the surge in carbon dioxide emissions, contributing to the climate change crisis. Is it possible that increased solar energy is causing the Earth's temperature to rise? According to NASA observations, from 1750 to the present, the average energy of the sun has remained stable, or has only increased slightly.

If the warming was due to a more active sun, scientists would have detected higher temperatures at all levels of the atmosphere, but current observations have only detected higher temperatures at the surface and lower layers of the atmosphere, suggesting that greenhouse gases trap heat energy. At the bottom of the atmosphere.

Is it possible for us to prevent the climate crisis?
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached its highest level in 650,000 years, and 2010-2019 was the hottest decade on record. To control global warming, we must first reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
In 2015, the United Nations finally adopted the "Paris Agreement". For the first time, countries agreed that "before the end of this century, the earth's temperature rise must be controlled within 2 degrees Celsius" and that countries must review their "nationally determined contributions to carbon reduction" every five years. (Nationally Determined Contributions, NDCs).
Subsequently, the IPCC released a new research report in 2018, recommending that countries must use the 1990 average temperature as a reference benchmark to further control the earth's temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius. It also pointed out that carbon emissions must be reduced by 45% in 2030. Reaching net-zero carbon emissions (carbon neutrality) by 2050 is the only way to prevent catastrophic climate change.

In 2019, Greenpeace Germany activists set up burning thermometers in front of coal-fired power plants, emphasizing the responsibility to make changes in energy use to slow climate change and limit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Maybe you are wondering, is there such a big difference between 2 degrees Celsius and 1.5 degrees Celsius? Just by maintaining this 0.5 degree, the number of people facing water shortages in the world can be reduced by 50%, hundreds of millions of people can avoid climate poverty, the chance of losing half of their crops can be reduced by two times, and 10 million people can be protected from rising sea levels. Impacts, 420 million people are protected from heat waves, 1.5 to 2.5 million square kilometers of permafrost is prevented from melting, and countless animals and plants are protected from extinction.

energy transition
In order to limit global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, substantial reductions in carbon dioxide emissions must be achieved. Carbon dioxide emissions mainly come from burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, natural gas, etc. Most of them are used to generate electricity and generate kinetic energy for machinery to produce goods, develop the economy, and make life more convenient. However, our daily lives are inseparable from electricity. How can we achieve carbon reduction while maintaining the quality of life?

Replacing high-carbon-emission, high-pollution fossil fuels with renewable energy is key to slowing down climate change and limiting the average temperature increase on the planet to within 1.5 degrees Celsius. In fact, the environment and the economy are not a matter of right or wrong. If we can replace fossil fuels with renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions, it will be a win-win and more sustainable choice.

Although the vision is simple and beautiful, it can only be achieved if the government and enterprises support the diversified development of renewable energy, formulate comprehensive policies in line with environmental and international trends, and set clear carbon reduction goals and pathways. This requires joint supervision and cooperation from you and me. push for early realization.

Protect forests and oceans
Beyond energy choices, nature actually plays an important role. The ocean absorbs 90% of the excess heat in the climate system. In addition to providing or regulating most of the earth's rain, drinking water, food and weather systems, the ocean also absorbs 20% to 30% of man-made carbon dioxide emissions from the earth's atmosphere. Storage in the ocean is an important barrier against the severe impacts of climate change.

Healthy oceans help absorb and store anthropogenic carbon dioxide, produce large amounts of oxygen for the earth, and maintain climate balance. Forests absorb carbon dioxide to grow and are natural "carbon reservoirs." According to an estimate by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2011, global forests store nearly 652 billion tons of carbon; and in 2018, the German Helmholtz Association Research Center (The Helmholtz Association) Association of German Research Centers pointed out that the Amazon rainforest alone can effectively help the earth store about 76 billion tons of carbon dioxide, which is extremely helpful for overall carbon reduction.

However, global forests and oceans are facing unprecedented crises, whether it is overfishing, plastic pollution, undersea oil drilling, global warming, which gradually unbalances the marine ecology, or large-scale deforestation by animal husbandry, paper pulp, palm oil and other companies for commercial interests. , and burning forests will weaken the original functions of the "carbon reduction gods" and even release the stored carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to the climate crisis.

Once climate change becomes more severe, it will be like a vicious cycle, making the forest environment drier, making fires difficult to extinguish, and the burning process producing more carbon dioxide. The same pattern repeats again and again. Therefore, protecting precious forests and oceans is an integral part of mitigating climate change. You and I, who care about the environment, need to continue to speak out for them and formulate effective protection regulations.

Reduce meat consumption, consume smartly, and live plastic-free life
Animal agriculture is one of the living sources that contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions, with 23% of human greenhouse gas emissions coming from agriculture and land use. As global demand for meat increases, the livestock industry becomes industrialized, and large areas of forest are cut down and burned to raise animals to make room for livestock or to grow soybeans for feed. The excrement of livestock, especially cattle, releases large amounts of methane, which is a factor that contributes to climate change.

According to research by Greenpeace experts, if a Taiwanese person does not eat meat for a day, it can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2.4 kilograms. If all Taiwanese people do not eat meat for a day, they can reduce 56,510 metric tons of carbon dioxide!

In addition to food, try to choose seasonal and local products for daily consumption to reduce the energy required for transportation and storage. The items purchased, whether they are food, clothing, housing, transportation or product packaging, should be reusable multiple times. For example, replacing disposable plastic packaging with reusable containers can reduce resource consumption and the environmental costs behind it.

Purchasing daily necessities and food ingredients in reusable packaging, such as glass jars, linen bags, crisper boxes, etc., can reduce the consumption of disposable plastic products and indirectly achieve carbon reduction.
According to a report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), it is estimated that by 2050, the carbon emissions caused by the production and incineration of plastics from petroleum may be as high as 2.75 billion tons, equivalent to 615 coal-fired power plants. !

Therefore, practicing a plastic-free life and using less disposable plastic products will reduce the resources required to extract oil and manufacture plastics, which will also effectively help slow down climate change.
The harm of excessive plastic is not only to pollute the natural ecology, but also to produce a large amount of carbon emissions and air pollution during the manufacturing and incineration processes, affecting human health and contributing to climate change.
The harm of excessive plastic is not only to pollute the natural ecology, but also to produce a large amount of carbon emissions and air pollution during the manufacturing and incineration processes, affecting human health and contributing to climate change. © Ecoton / Fully Handoko
Climate change is not an urban legend, raise citizen awareness to overcome the crisis together
The climate battle has become a challenge that the world must face. It not only affects all countries, but also requires leaders and decision-makers to make real changes.

Today, many countries around the world have announced carbon neutrality goals, and climate change mitigation has also become a trend of concern to the business and investment community. On this road, you and I still need to unite the power of citizens, require local governments and enterprises to face up to the climate crisis, set ambitious carbon reduction goals, make correct decisions for you, me and the next generation, and strive for a livable and safe world. future.