Scientists estimate that the world population has a 12-year window to reverse the course of global destruction due to climate change.Eminent climatologists, scientists, researchers and activists are telling world leaders gathered in Katowice, Poland right now that the world is facing its ‘greatest threat in thousands of years’.   The effects of accelerated human activities and consumption are heating up the world through higher emissions of Carbon Dioxide – causing what is commonly known as “global warming”.

An increase of just a few degrees Celsius in average temperature will have catastrophic effects on entire ecosystems across the globe.  Most prominently will be the melting of polar ice sheets and glacial ice, causing sea levels to rise, and inundating vulnerable low-lying regions where millions of people live.

Activists and young people worldwide are calling on their governments and leaders to take positive actions to prevent global catastrophe.

The majority of people around the world are still unclear about the dangers of “global warming”; and some political leaders even doubt it or ignore it totally.  But as the current dominant species and leading contributor to this threat, we humans owe it to the million other species of living beings to heed the warning of those experts and take counter-acting measures to slow down the world’s destruction.

We should not wait for governments to legislate laws that protect Earth from further environmental harm.  On a personal level, we can all limit our cravings and excessive consumption, reduce wastage of power and natural resources, reuse and recycle household items, travel judiciously, use efficient tools and vehicles, and rely more on renewable energy rather than fossil fuel.  We should also keep our environment clean, and plant more local trees to reforest degraded areas.

The polar bear, together with tens of thousands of other animal and plant species, are vulnerable to mass extinction due to the effects of global warming.

Scientists estimate that the world population has a 12-year window to reverse the course of global destruction due to climate change.  Nothing we do later than that will change the trajectory towards the quicker end of human civilization.  Whether it is a 12-year or 50-year window is not the main point here; it is still our individual and shared responsibility to protect the environment we live in – not just for ourselves but for all other beings, too.

Let us do the necessary; and let us start right now!