I remember when I was seven years old; we lived in a small apartment complex for the staff of the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital. Our house was a nice apartment on the first floor. The only problem with it was that there was no running water. Due to this situation, whenever it was about to rain we (I and my siblings) all rushed home to wash the buckets and basins and to prepare for the rain. Once the rain had begun we would wait for a few minutes so the rain could wash off the dust from the rooftops then we would strategically place these containers under the ‘spouts’ of the roofs: usually at the corners of the building. We used this method to fill various basins upstairs which we used for our everyday activities while waiting for the next rain. My medical practitioner parents saw no problem in this solution because they knew that rain water was the purest form of water on earth.
Almost ten years after this experience I came to hear of the term called ‘Acid rain’. From my research I found out that this is caused by the emission of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides to the atmosphere by human activities; primarily fossil fuel burning and the release of chlorofluorocarbons in propellants. What struck me the most was that as I walked out the building that day I looked up at the sky and for the first time it seemed covered up in a veil of dark clouds. These clouds seemed like they were trying to prevent the breaking forth of the sun. They were not forerunners of the rain but rather effluents of money spinning industries a few kilometers away.Before the world global environmental summit in Copenhagen of January 2010, there was a global teenager’s environmental summit in the same city. The conference’s closing ceremony was televised worldwide. At the closing ceremony a young boy who was about 15 years old spoke up about the dangers of environmental degradation especially how the effects of global warming affected the citizens in his island country. He mentioned that if the trend was not curbed, all the residents on the island country where facing the lethal threat of drowning. His words painted two pictures in my mind both dreadful. The first was of a tsunami just this time of a greater magnitude threatening on the shores of his countries. I could literally imagine the looks on the faces of children clinging to their parents who would stare straight into the eye of the wave and shudder.
The second picture which was even more devastating was that of a gradual ascent of the water level. While the fishermen and other people who earned their livelihood from the waters watched silently as the waters which provided their nourishment edged on to flood their land. The flood eventually drowns out the people. These pictures I paint are dreadful and they are right now not backed up by facts but it would take neither a prophet nor a supercomputer to predict the doom awaiting the world if something urgent is not done quickly.
The environment is for us all and we all have the responsibility of keeping it. Please this is not a call for donations to any organization rather it is a call for awareness and positive response to everyone’s problem. Let’s try and protect the earth and the ozone layer because they both protect us.
Let’s clean up the rain.
Global warming and environmental pollution are the two biggest problems of the 21st century and our generation has to solve the problem to ensure the future of life on earth and to save the world from this present danger that we have caused.
Global warming is taking place at a fast rate and we can reduce it by cutting down emissions of Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) and Hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFC’s) which are common propellants in aerosols and air conditioners amongst other things.
Environmental pollution mainly occurs when industries release their harmful waste products into the environment thereby destroying the atmosphere including the habitats of various creatures which are becoming extinct. When industries release sulfuric and nitric oxides into the atmosphere these react with the normal precipitation and forms rain with a pH of about 5.6 which then pours as acid rain and causes the destruction of plant life, animal life the environment and property.
Car exhaust fumes are also popular forms of pollutants which we can do without, this is by using other alternatives like bio-fuelled cars and electric cars. There are many ways to save the earth but the only way that would work is if we do it together.
For further info on how to reduce the effects of global warming visit – http://environment.about.com/od/globalwarming/tp/globalwarmtips.htm
for more help on environmental pollutants click here –en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution
to help plant a tree visit - http://www.wildernessproject.org/members_join_nativetrees.php?gclid=CMDetvr216ICFQQE3godUiMT0w
words and more ...
