Global warming is one of the biggest challenges the world is facing now. Also known as climate change, global warming is the gradual change in the average temperature of the planet’s atmosphere. This change in temperature is believed to be permanently changing not only the atmosphere’ temperature but also that of the world’s oceans. The increase in the carbon dioxide level and the depletion of the ozone layer is one of the primary reasons that have been accused of the increased climate change. The ozone layer is responsible for the protection of the earth from the dangerous ultraviolet rays that in case not protected from reaching the surface can have a lot of adverse effects not only on the human beings but also plants and other animals. The depletion of the ozone layer poses a bigger challenge since the dangerous ultraviolet will have no protection but will be free to reach the earth surface.
Problems associated with global warming
High Temperature
Climate change is associated with an increased average temperature of the earth. Since 1977, five years have recorded the highest temperatures. There has been a notable increase in the temperature in the past years, for instance, 2015 was reported to be the hottest year. However, already 2016 have surpassed the 2015 temperature. The 20th Century have reported a high increase in temperature than any other century. Many challenges are related to an increased temperature. Heat-related deaths and illness have been reported not only in the United States but also in other parts of the world. Some of the heat-related illnesses include skin cancer. Apart from heat-related illnesses, high temperatures have also impacted on the increased ocean level. High temperature promotes the melting of ice and thus an increase of water level raising the sea levels. Stronger storms and coral bleaches threaten the lives of those who lives around the oceans.
Floods, fire, and droughts
Climate change has promoted the frequencies of floods, fire, and droughts. Drought is the lack of the adequate rainfall to improve agricultural services and also to provide enough water to support human basic needs such as to provide drinking water. As some parts of the worlds are facing a higher amount of rainfalls than usual, there are some areas of the world where there are no rains totally. Even the parts of the world which used to receive a higher amount of rainfall no longer get a sustainable amount of rain putting life in these areas into a bigger challenge.
Deforestation is one of the reasons why there is a notable spread of droughts in most parts of the world. With the drought, fires become very frequent. The recent Canadian wildfire is evidence that an increased world temperature can promote wildfires. It is very easy for the wildfires not only to spread but also to spread when the temperature is high. However, as some parts of the world is facing a little rainfall, some parts are suffering from the floods. Flooding discourages transport and also the daily economic activities. Additionally, flooding leads to the breakage of the sewerage systems of the areas affected spreading the waterborne diseases in the affected regions.
Economic losses
The economic growth of a company or the nation depends on the various factor. Africa, for instance, is one of the continents which depends majorly on agriculture. The African countries do not have a diverged economy, but instead, the people depend on small-scale farming to meet their daily needs. With climate change, drought and flooding come. The result is that their farms will either be swept away by the floods or fail to thrive due to unreliable rainfalls. Africa is not the only place where climate change has had an impact on the economy. The United States is also a victim. Climate change causes tsunamis and hurricanes which have claimed the lives of many working citizens. Also, due to climate change, most of the homesteads are using a lot of money to regulate home temperatures.
Why do we care
Now that it is beyond any reasonable doubt that climate change has various associated challenges, the central question that most people would ask is why should we be concerned? The main reason why anyone should get concerned about global warming is the fate of the future. The next generation needs the vegetation and a habitable planet. Without getting concerned about global warming will mean that we are not concerned about the wellbeing of the next generation and that what the current generation wants is to exhaust everything and leave a dirty world to be inherited by the next generation.
Why should we even think about the next generation before thinking of the current one? Yes, the present generation is profoundly affected by climate change. Many organizations face an acute challenge when it comes to global warming. A lot of money is spent in the organizations to take care of the difficulties posed by climate change. For instance, policies have been drafted to ensure that no organization poses a big challenge in causing climate change. Every organization, therefore, have to train their employees to make sure that everything they undertake is as per the policies put into place to control global warming. Thus, all organizations have to be concerned about the effects of global warming since this affects their activities all the way from production to delivery.
An organization which does not care about the challenges posed by climate change will not only threaten its existence in the market but also threaten the world’s climate. It has been noted that industries are the highest producers of carbon dioxide, therefore, to ensure that climate change is managed, all the companies must make sure that they understand and start getting cared about climate change.
Primary causes of climate change
Carbon from Automobiles
Cars and other automobiles use fossil fuels which burn to propel them. During the process of combustion, carbon dioxide is produced that gets its way into the atmosphere. With the rising number of cars where almost everyone wants to own one, there has been a significantly increased emission of carbon dioxide. The government and the policy makers are some of the stakeholders who should get more concerned as far as car emissions are concerned. One way is to promote technology that will replace the use of fossil fuel.
CFCs
Chlorofluorocarbon products are getting into the market at a higher pace. These are the products which contain carbon, methane, ethane and propane. Beauty sprays are almost found in all households in the United States. Putting on a CFC spray is contributing to climate change. This gives an insight into how complexity it is to control the causes of climate change if not to start it from the companies. All stakeholders in the global warming must be concerned about CFCs since they have a big impact on the ozone layer and ultimately climate change. Policy makers and companies producing these products must ensure that the CFC products do not have negative impacts on the environment and even discourage the use of such products.
Paths to tackle climate change
Do business as usual
One way to deal with climate change is first to understand the position of the organization as far as climate change is concerned. In case the organization is in the right place, for instance, is following all the policy provisions and is not threatening the environment in one way or the other then there should be no change, rather, leave things the same way they are and continue with the usual business.
Alternative paths
Adaption paths
Doing the business as usual at sometimes is not effective in an environment that keeps on changing. Change is inevitable, and it is never easy to measure the impact of the change in an organization. It is always better to have plans in place that will take care of any change in an organization. Even though doing business, as usual, can be a solution, preparing for change must be considered. Therefore, adaptation as a strategy is one of the mostly used in an organization in preparation for climate change. According to this strategy, the organization has to evaluate some of its strengths and weaknesses in climate change position and draw a clear outline that will ensure that they mitigate any climate change effect in the future. This strategy is one of the best since it does not only help an organization prepare for the unexpected but it also helps the organization from emitting harmful products that can promote climate change.
Mitigation paths
Having a plan in place is a good idea. However, an organization must always be able to mitigate the risks that come with climate. It is advisable that the organization evaluate its business, understand whether it is a threat to the climate or not. In case it is not, it should go on with the business as usual. However, in case the products are a threat, therefore, the mitigation strategies must be involved. Mitigation is a strategy that aims at reducing rather than to leave the things the way they are. According to this strategy, all organizations are a threat to the climate and thus have to ensure that they reduce the amount of harmful products they produce that can promote climate change.
According to my opinion, it is not ethical for the organization to do its business as usual in case it wants to deal with climate change. The reason is because doing things the usual way cannot consider the changes that are inevitable in an organization. It is ethical to mitigate the challenges and the processes of production in an organization while dealing with climate change and would opt for mitigation. All organizations in one way or the other are dealing in activities that threaten the climate. Therefore, they must come up with ways to mitigate the challenges by reducing the impacts all the way from production stage.
