Natural disasters have been a commonplace in the history of this world. From mass extinctions to the casual flood, they come in all forms.
However, in recent years the number of climate catastrophes have become more, and more alarmingly commonplace. Why is that so?
Climate change of course, no matter we believe it or not, it’s effects are clear. Humanity in their quest for more resources, mold and crush Mother Earth according to their needs.
Unfortunately, this does not come without its consequences.
As Humanity goes deeper, and deeper into natural habitats, we begin to open Pandora’s boxes.
We make ourselves more vulnerable to unanticipated diseases and having disturbed the ecosystem with unforeseen consequences.
Let us take the example the Australian Bush-fires of 2019-2020. Though Bush-fires are not an alien to Australia, yet these Bush-fires in the fall of 2019 were on massive scale of ferocity and rarity ever seen before.
More concerning is another fact, that they were off-season Bushfires although the causes are quite clear. The increase in CO’2 emissions and the climate warming of with a multitude of other factors were a catalyst for these fires.
These fires have estimated to have killed about 1.25 billion animals at the conservative estimate. Although such extreme figures are not often reported in the media but these are extinction level figures which cannot be understated at any cost.
Not to forget, Australia is one of the largest coal exporters to the rest of the world and this brings them great wealth. Nevertheless, its consequences are also apparent.
In addition, the recent Locust swarms or more appropriately referred as the Locust Plague have ravaged Africa, the Middle-East and parts of South-Asia.
These little insects travel in swarms ranging in the few thousands to potentially millions and in some cases billions! These insects indulge themselves on crops and in return cause famine in the afflicted regions.
Though just like the Australian fires they are not a new phenomenon. In recent years, Locust swarms have become more and more commonplace, and have become more troublesome. The cause for their increase may seem complicated at first, but it is quite simple at the hindsight.
The increase in global temperatures have caused a rise in cyclones, which in turn produces the perfect breeding ground for these insects to exponentially increase their numbers and soon these swarms get to the size of cities, and descend upon farming communities like a sweeping plague.
Now there is a new virus that has become global pandemic called “COVID-19”, is of the family of Corona Viruses. Initially, some experts said it is the recent mutation in the SARS virus.
The origin of this virus as reported by media was an exotic meat market in Wuhan, China. The virus spread with uncanny efficiency. Hundreds of thousands of people have been infected with this virus. It is causing its victims mild flu to respiratory failure.
Patient Zero seems to have gotten the virus from that meat market and now transmitting into millions of people across globe.
As humanity ventures deeper into natures Eco-Systems for their personal gains, we uncover and expose ourselves to diseases which have never been seen before.
As we gradually increase global temperature, we perfectly breed ground for such viruses to mutate and proliferate. If not tread carefully, such calamities can have far reaching consequences to people not related to the initial disaster.
The 21’st century will be a very crucial era in the histories of humanity- a make or break century. If we are able at the very least to contain our environmental damage, we may give our descendants a much more prosperous world.
However, if these issues are not resolved, our descendants will have to face the dire consequences. Though human kind is a very resilient specie, our greed for wealth will compromise the quality of life for upcoming generations.
Also Read: A Ghost Of The Past
