Climate Change and Typhoon
Yesterday I was going through Twitter and saw a tweet saying "We only have 100 days left until Christmas and the temperature will be dropping by at least 30-40°C during this period." I never felt the severity of Climate so bad until I saw the tweet.
It was only a few times that I experienced a huge storm while living in South Africa. I remember not going to school due to a storm in 2017 or 2018, but there wasn't such a thing after that. Other countries in African Continent, for example, Mozambique, are experiencing terrible floods and losing a lot of lives every year, but it was difficult to realise how terrible climate change is. On one note, the reason why these countries are experiencing damage every year is because of the lack of infrastructure to prevent the damage.
After five years of living in South Africa, I could finally come back to South Korea. I could experience Korean winter a few years ago when I came back for a month, but the summer that I faced for the last time was a long time ago and I was worried because I know it is boiling hot. It was worse than I expected. One thing that helped me to get through this summer was the A.C.s in literally every building. Of course, these A.C.s won't be helpful for the environment and in fact, these are one of the contributing factors to increasing temperature. I think the highest temperature I faced this summer was about 39°C which was never reached in South Africa. I didn't know that I sweat this much. The summer in Korea gave me new realisations.
After coming back, I experienced both the rainy season and storms and it was a shock. Once, the subway station I used was flooded and therefore I couldn't continue my daily routine. Lots of people's houses, cars and business places were flooded and brought huge damage financially. Some people even lost their lives and this is such a tragedy which shouldn't happen again with better infrastructure to compete for the challenges. On the other hand, I was surprised by how quickly all the messes were gone within two days so I send great thanks to the workers who tried so hard to bring back people's normal daily life.
After this huge flood, there were about two huge typhoons which hit the Korean land, mostly in the South. Although it didn't affect me I heard lots of news that places like Busan suffered from the damage.
These consecutive climate incidents that stroke Korea quite influentially got me thinking about the reasons behind it, which I assumed is from climate change, but I wanted to know more.
Apart from the natural forces that bring these disasters, one thing that worsens the situation is the lack of preparation for these disasters. In the case of Korea, one of the huge reasons that many places failed to manage the huge flood was unclosed water gates and blocked sewers around the city. The blocked sewers first made the water level rise faster than it should be and the unclosed water gates allowed water to flow into the places in low ground level areas. Not only in Korea but in many countries, the lack of preparation or infrastructure is a huge problem which makes the damage even bigger.
However, the ultimate problem is climate change. The seriousness of climate change is being highlighted as time goes on. It is getting worse with diverse factors and two big reasons come from both nature and humans. One big factor that humans provide is CO2 which is produced by human activities such as the burning of fuels. This gas contributes to warming the Earth's temperature by trapping and absorbing the heat that should be released. With the increasing temperature, the sea level is increasing due to melting glaciers. Within the last 50 years, the frequency of natural disasters has increased by five times which shows how serious the change is. As the seawater got acidic over a few hundred of years, it is affecting the lives of sea creatures as well.
Looking at past events, it was normal for the climate of the Earth to fluctuate. There was an ice age and Eocene which shows that the Earth already has experienced a huge change in the climate. However, according to the UN report, it is clear that the current rise in the Earth's temperature and the consequences are mostly because of humans.
On the other note, some people say that the phrase 'Green Growth' and 'Sustainable Development have contradictions. For something to develop and grow, the use of resources is inevitable and in the course of it, pollution happens. Although there are contradictions to these ideas, I think that trying at least will be required for Enterprises and Governments. The impact of climate change is out of control and now it is time for organisations with the power to be active.
To be honest, I wasn't so aware of the climate problems until I faced the disasters in Korea due to the storms. However, after experiencing those, I felt that this isn't something that I can ignore and since it will get worse as time goes on - although I hope it doesn't - I thought that the participation and interest from individuals, including myself would be so important.
Reference
https://m.khan.co.kr/national/national-general/article/202209240900021#c2b
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