Illustration of Climate Change (source: shutterstock.com)

ITS Campus, Opinion– The last few years, our planet seems to have never been absent from various calamities. Not a few of them are fatalities, including in Indonesia. As the report from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) states that 90 percent of disasters that occurred in 2018 were hydro-meteorological disasters or disasters that were influenced by weather factors. This is not other caused by the impact of climate change.

The World Economic Forum in The 2019 Global Risk Report also stated that climate change is at the top position as the cause of global disasters, such as natural disasters, extreme weather, food and clean water crises, loss of biodiversity, and the collapse of ecosystems. This is in accordance with The New York Times report that 50 percent of all species on earth will be extinct in this century.

Illustration of Climate Change (source: shutterstock.com)

Other than that, this change also has a serious impact on various sectors, including the health sector, agriculture, the economy. In addition, involuntary migration due to climate change leads to deep social and political instability. Based on this explanation, it can be concluded that the danger of climate change is not a figment.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a forum for international communication on climate change states, the biggest cause of climate change is an increase in the surface temperature of the earth (global warming). Global warming itself occurs because of the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere.

The IPCC in 2007 issued a statement that the biggest cause of global warming is the result of human activities that emit GHG. The gas naturally obtained from the evaporation source and this eruption will fill the atmosphere layer and will reflect solar radiation back to the earth so that the earth’s temperature increases.

GHG is almost produced by all sectors of fossil fuel activities, organic waste, and cooling materials in electronic devices. Activities such as deforestation, poor waste management, and coal-fired power plants also increase GHG emissions production. Like a double-edged sword, a program that was originally intended to help people gain access to electricity actually demanded a higher price to be paid in the future.

The government and society should be aware of the threats that can cause this catastrophic disaster. The involvement of all parties, especially non-government actors, is needed because it will form a new bottom-up force for climate governance. The problem of climate change belongs to everyone on Earth, so everyone must act.

An example is a college. Higher education holds a key role in improving the quality and quantity of research in Indonesia, especially regarding climate change and sustainable development. Moreover, higher education produces the successors of the nation and is a strategic place to forge the future mentality of the nation so that they are able to understand and dare to voice their concern for climate change.

Therefore, right at the moment of Earth Day, Monday (22/4), let us together save our Earth from all kinds of disasters caused by climate change. We start by reducing everything that produces greenhouse gas emissions from ourselves, family and the environment. As the wise saying says, prevention is better than cure.

Written by:

Dzikrur Rohmani Zuhkrufur Rifqi Muwafiqul Hilmi
Undergraduate Student of Biomedical Engineering
Batch 2017

Translated by Herdiana