Name: Jeffrey Ong Wei Kiat I.C. No.

: 900331-13-7815 School: SMK Tung Hua, Sibu Category: Category A Address: 48, Lane 2, Rejang Park, 96000 Sibu, Sarawak. E-mail: ong_wei_kiat@hotmail.com Topic: Addressing Climate Change How we, as individuals, can make a difference

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Climate change or global warming is a threat that is going to wipe out civilisation as we know it. The liberal elite and political classes are signed up to the message that, unless we take urgent action within ten years, we are all literally doomed to burn up. What is actually the main cause of climate change which causes so much trouble to us and our future generations? From an article posted by the European Commissions, human activities that contribute to climate change include in particular the burning of fossil fuels, agriculture and land-use changes like deforestation. These cause emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main gas responsible for climate change, as well as of other 'greenhouse' gases. To bring climate change to a halt, global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced significantly. The European Union is at the forefront of international efforts to combat climate change and has played a key role in the development of the two major treaties

addressing the issue, the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, agreed in 1997. However, Kyoto is only a first step. Ambitious action to reduce global emissions is needed after 2012, when Kyoto's targets expire, in order to limit global warming to 2C. In January 2007 the European Commission set out proposals and options for achieving this in its Communication "Limiting Global Climate Change to 2 degrees Celsius: The way ahead for 2020 and beyond" The key targets in the Communication, as well as the broad thrust of the integrated energy and climate change strategy of which it forms part, were endorsed by EU leaders at their summit in Brussels on 8-9 March 2007. Community initiatives are unlikely to treat climate change as a priority without intervention, even if efforts are made to make climate change locally relevant. They will need to be led and supported to action, if they and the individuals within them are to be mobilised successfully to change behaviour. So, as individuals, what can we do to combat with climate change? First of all, we have to change our behaviour and attitude which may lead to the occurrence of climate change. At the moment we are mired in a bog of confusing messages. In a portentous speech to the Green Alliance recently, the Chancellor Gordon Brown talked about the need for "new global partnerships and multilateral networks" to tackle the environmental challenge. The recent climate change review by the economist Sir Nicholas Stern predicted hundreds of millions of "climate refugees" streaming across the world in an effort to escape from drought, flood and famine.

Yet opinion polls for the BBC and others indicate that the reaction of people hearing these pronouncements is that they are simply relieved to hear the problem is nothing to do with them. An ICM poll last month found about half the people questioned in some parts of the country were quite clear about their unwillingness to change their lifestyle at all. Elsewhere, there is growing scepticism that any of it is true, and the dissenting voices are getting louder. A recent editorial in the Daily Mail told millions of readers that it is pointless to alter drastically the way we live simply on the "vague possibility of an ecological disaster". Moreover, most individuals nowadays share a common thought they thought that the government should be the one who supposed to deal with climate change. Well, scientific consensus has identified carbon dioxide as the dominant greenhouse gas; methane and nitrous oxide are also major contributors to the greenhouse effect, which later will cause climate change and majority of these gases are produced by power stations or agricultural farms. Hence, there are many little things that individuals can do to reduce the climate change. For example, one can try to cut down electrical usage per day. As we know, more and more air-conditioners are installed in houses day after day. These electrical gadgets consume a lot of electrical energy and releases greenhouse gases at the same time. Therefore, we should only operate these appliances when the temperature is too high, i.e. 31C. Besides, we can also use ceiling fans as alternative to improve ventilation in our house. We can save about 1350 watts of electrical energy per hour a day if we do not use air-cons, which is equivalent with watching television for 6.75 hours per day! So, there are a lot of

things we can do to make a difference to fight with climate change. Next, people nowadays love shopping. Supermarkets, hypermarkets, and malls are built everywhere to fulfil the desires of people all around the world. With the existence of shopping complexes, there is the existence of shopping bags. Most of the shopping bags are made from synthetic polymers like polyethylene or plastics, which are formed when ethylene gas is heated to 200C at a pressure of 1500 atm. These bags are non-biodegradable and when they are disintegrated by using heat, greenhouse gases and some poisonous gases will release into the atmosphere and later will cause climate change. And again, as individuals, we can help to make a difference to reduce climate change. We can still shopping but instead of using plastic bags provided, we can use our own fabric shopping bags. These bags are durable and environmental-friendly. They can be used repeatedly and can be bring anywhere with their attractive appearance. But the attitude and perseverance of an individual to use the fabric bags continuously becomes a problem. Hence, one must be able to think that what they are doing now is for Mother Earth, not for the sake of being against the system of the usage of plastic bags. If one is able to practice using biodegradable shopping bags, then the day of normal climate will come closer to us. Besides, one can also help to reduce the effect of climate change by being creative. As we know, the government had already launched the 3R program i.e. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle program in order to save our environment. Nowadays, recycling is the most common activity being carried out to reduce climate change. At the same time, we can be creative when reusing waste. For example, Margi Sharf who

once lived comfortably in Los Angeles had dedicated herself into promoting reusing through art. She had created art from the refuse she collected everywhere. She uses toffee wrappers, cigarette packets, adhesives and matchboxes to form a picture to raise the awareness of preserving the environment. We can see creativity through Margis effort. Hence, we can help to reuse refuses rather than burning them in air, causing more pollution to the environment. We can also gain benefit from the selling of our new products like killing two birds with one stone. Furthermore, we should know that the burning of fossil fuels is also the cause of climate change. Vehicles like cars and motorcycles we used everyday for transportation is also the main contributor to greenhouse gases. The irony is, even though we knew that vehicles can produce greenhouse gases, the number of vehicles on the road keep raising every year. Hence, as road users, we can also help to reduce climate change. Firstly, we can choose to install catalytic converter in our vehicles when we first bought it. We should will to spend money to install this gadget in order to prevent out vehicle to release harmful gases which can harm our only planet. Besides, we should also practise car pooling to reduce the total emission of harmful fumes into the atmosphere. At the same time, we will be able to interact with each other and strengthened our relationship by practising car pooling. All that matters is our willingness to do something to save our world. From the statement above, we can say that as individuals, we can really make a difference to save our world by practising simple lifestyle. Last but not least, as individuals, we can also help to reduce climate change by

the means of mass media. One can establish a new website or blog on the Internet and put on articles about how to preserve environment. Besides, one can also upload pictures of the effect of climate change and warns internet surfers about the massive environmental problem we have to face and the price we have to pay if we continue to harm our nature. For example, pictures of smoke rising from tropical rainforests; violent storms pounding Caribbean communities; polar bears searching for stable ice shelves; glaciers retreating farther into the worlds mountain ranges; drought-stricken grazing lands littered with the sun-bleached bones of cattle and starving brownskinned children sitting in the dust can be uploaded onto the Internet. Besides, individuals can also think of ways to improve our environment by suggesting new and creative ways to reduce the effect of climate change on their personal blog. Nevertheless, one can also spread the message of saving our earth via medium like Youtube. For example, the Save Our Earth program which was launched worldwide recently will able to spread the message to people all around the world about the importance of preserving our world. As a conclusion, climate change is one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats facing the planet. The warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average atmospheric and oceanic temperatures, widespread melting of glaciers and ice at the polar cap, and the rising of the global mean sea level. The most important thing that government and the environmental movement must be able to offer people is agency, the ability to make a real difference personally. The message has got to be and

truthfully it is that if we do nothing, if we dont change, there may be very uncertain or even difficult times ahead, but that scientists agree we can still take effective action to avoid the worst. But we must start now. (1654 words)