Sustainability Issues and Climate Change Technology Essay

Sustainability Issues and Climate Change
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Sustainability Issues and Climate Change
Introduction
Climate change poses a huge threat to earth’s sustainability, hence the need for collective efforts toward mitigating it. In most cases, human beings want to believe that climate change is a future, long-term issue, but the truth is that climate change is affecting humanity today. It needs serious attention now. Various studies have shown that climate change has affected human health, food, and water security, and has negatively impacted the ecosystem. As revealed by Barnes, et al. (2019), exposure to high UV radiation has been linked to some form of diseases such as skin cancer and cataract. In fact, skin cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer and its prevalence has increased over the years. Also, due to climate change, many agricultural plants have become more susceptible to extreme weather conditions and high temperatures, which have, in turn, endangered global food security. Climate change has also affected biodiversity, thus threatening the survival of the earth and its inhabitants (Barnes, et al., 2019). This information facilitates the need to mitigate climate change fast so as to ensure the sustainability of the earth. Some of the solutions that have been suggested to mitigate climate change and enhance sustainability include the reduction of carbon footprints and the elimination of the use of fossil fuels. As a result, a lot of effort has been focused on generating alternative sources of energy, especially renewable energy, which will serve the increasing demand for energy (Owusu & Asumadu-Sarkodie, 2016). This paper seeks to explore how the use of fossil fuel relates to carbon footprints and climate change, and how these elements relate to the sustainability of the earth and in extension, humanity.
Research Question
Is it possible for society to survive without fossil fuels in an attempt to mitigate climate change?
Importance of Sustainability of the Earth for the Future
Planet earth’s sustainability is highly linked to the mitigation of climate change, especially by reducing carbon footprint and fossil fuel use. But why is it important to facilitate the sustainability of the planet? There are many reasons why this is important. First, climate change is affecting food production, which in turn is affecting the sustainability of the ecosystem and the survival of the earth’s inhabitants. According to Pareek, Dhankher, and Foyer (2020), climate change has affected food production such that an increase of land use of approximately 100Mha would be required to meet the global future demand of food by 2050. This is necessary to ensure that the existing land used for crops will not be over-utilized, which could worsen the situation. Also, extreme weather conditions, due to climate change, are affecting crop production and ultimately, global food security. Second, human preservation depends on the sustainability of the ecosystem and by extension the earth. As posited earlier, climate change threatens food security (Pareek, Dhankher, & Foyer, 2020). Lack of food security threatens the survival of human beings because, without food, many people would die of hunger globally. It is especially important to enhance food security using all available measures because one of the sustainable development goals is eliminating hunger (Lamb & Steinberger, 2017). That is the worst-case scenario. The best-case scenario is that people will not die of hunger, but they will lack access to a balanced diet. As revealed by Hasegawa, et al. (2016), climate change has also been linked to malnourishment. Malnourished people end up catching diseases, which affect their quality of life. Also, malnourished individuals may eventually die. This hinders the preservation of human life. Third, by promoting sustainability through climate change mitigation, the quality of water will be maintained. According to Barnes, et al. (2019), climate change is changing the structure of the aquatic ecosystem and its ability to maintain the water quality. Thus, the sustainability of the earth is essential in promoting a balanced eco-system.
Potential Problems for Humanity
To effectively mitigate climate change, there is a need to eliminate or reduce the use of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels account for a large percentage of carbon emission and carbon footprint, which then causes global warming and climate change. Krane (2017) indicates that burning and extraction of fossil fuels account for two-thirds of the world’s carbon emission. However, fossil fuels are also the largest source of energy. According to York and Bell (2019), approximately 25% of the global energy consumption comes from gas and approximately 30% of the global energy consumption comes from oil. Coal accounts for approximately 28% of the total global energy consumption. Thus, fossil fuels account for more than 80% of the total global energy consumption. This explains why they account for the largest percentage of carbon emission. It also explains why it has been difficult to eliminate the use of fossil fuels. In fact, eliminating the use of fossil fuels would put the world in crisis, especially if there lacks a sustainable, clean source of energy that can meet the current demand for energy. Currently, there is a high demand for energy to facilitate social and economic development in areas such as communication, transport, and lighting (Owusu & Asumadu-Sarkodie, 2016). Such development would be hindered in the absence of a dependable and efficient source of energy. Thus, while a transition from fossil fuel to clean and renewable sources of energy is necessary to mitigate climate change, such a transition presents a challenge to humanity. Owusu and Asumadu-Sarkodie (2016) indicate that such a transition would be costly to human beings as a collective. This is because developing renewable sources would require research and technological advancements, which are costly. Also, the efforts to eliminate fossil fuels and develop more sustainable sources of energy have only made the situation more complex. York and Bell (2019) posit that these efforts have not provided the much-needed relief of reducing carbon footprints. Rather, they have only added more sources that can provide more energy, thus encouraging more energy consumption instead of just maintaining the same level but with sustainable sources. 
           Further, fossil fuels also enhance global economic growth and international trade. As indicated by Krane (2017), the sale of fossil fuels accounts for more than 20% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of many countries that produce fossil fuels. Thus, shutting down such a huge industry would have some serious economic repercussions that would affect humanity. In some cases, businesses and countries that depend on fossil fuels will have a hard time and most will not survive (Krane, 2017). Consequently, individuals who rely on such companies to feed their families and provide other basic needs will also have a hard time, especially after the complete transition. As such, there exists some form of competing interests when it comes to climate change mitigation and fossil fuels’ industries because the success of one will result in the failure of the other. Humanity will have to weigh the options and decide which problem they can live with. 
Solutions to the Problems
           The challenges listed above concerning the elimination of the use of fossil fuels and climate change mitigation can be addressed using certain approaches. First, countries need to work together as a collective to address the issue. High-income countries should actively support developing countries with technological advancement and research resources on how to develop renewable sources. This will ensure that cost is not a problem by distributing the cost across a large number of people. Krane (2017) reveals that due to the cost and economic constraints, many low-income countries whose livelihood comes from the sale of fossil fuels are not willing to participate in initiatives aimed at developing renewable sources...