Climate change threatens the future of humanity

23 October 2019 - 13:29
By READERS LETTER
About 150 people, mostly youth, picketed at the Union Buildings in an attempt to put pressure on government to act on climate change in June.
Image: Ashanti Maluleke About 150 people, mostly youth, picketed at the Union Buildings in an attempt to put pressure on government to act on climate change in June.

Climate change is a deadly and potent threat that will eventually lead to the total destruction of our fragile planet.

It was Sir John Houghton, chief executive of UK's Meteorological Office, who remarked on climate change: "Like terrorism, this weapon knows no boundaries. It can strike anywhere, in any form, a heatwave in one place, a drought, a flood or storm surge in another."

When trees breathe in carbon dioxide from the air, trees absorb and sequester carbon, and they slowly exhale oxygen that all animals breathe. When trees are chopped down for wood or burned for land, the carbon in the trees is released back into the atmosphere. Too much carbon in the atmosphere has been proven to cause global warming.

Farouk Araie, Benoni