For those of you who don’t know, Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15th where bloggers across the world unite to write about a single issue on a single day. We like to think of it as one big blogfest for good, and our goal is to spark conversation on an issue of importance across the web.
This year’s topic is climate change, and Blogger thus far has more than 4,000 bloggers from 123 countries registered.
I decided to Blog about our very own home-grown Climate Changes in South Africa.
Climate Change is often referred to as Global Warming.
Africa faces more challenges than the developed or rich countries in both the impact and capacity to respond to Climate Change. Climate Change is global problem hence it requires global co-ordinated action.
Our natural resources are rapidly being destroyed, which we humans solely depend on for food, water, shelter, energy, and other commodities. This has a huge impact on us and our environment and also delays sustainable development. Our poisons:
-Carbon dioxide (omitted during the burning of fossil fuels and chemical reactions)
- Methane (produced when burning coal, natural gases and oils)
- Nitrous Oxide (omitted during agricultural and industrial activities and solid waste)
The changing weather patterns in South Africa are becoming evident because of these poisons. Veld or bush fires are on the increase Natal, while Lesotho was covered in snow? Weird? It sure is...Lakes have literally shrunk and the snow on the mountains has dimished.
We need to change people's casual attitude towards global warming and as a country we need to educate everyone on the ripple affect their behaviour is having on our environment. If everyone does a little something for the environment, it would make it much easier.
We can start at home with simple tasks: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
- Reduce the waste you and your family produce.
- Reuse your items before they become waste.
- Recycle your waste.
In a CC Summit in March 2006, President Kgalema Motlante said “Acting now on climate change presents the best possibility to overcome the challenges of the global economic crisis through investment in pro-poor, job creating and sustainable ‘green growth’” .
