Earth Hour draws attention to threats to our planet

Tomorrow more than 180 countries will mark Earth Hour by switching off non-essential lights for one hour

WE live on a rather well- endowed planet evolved over eons in a particular place in the universe that enabled life as we know it to evolve, to which homo sapiens owes its existence.

Although our detailed knowledge of the universe is miniscule, this is the only known planet that supports life.

Our everyday lives generally consume all our energies and current events continuously relayed by 24/7 modern news media occupy much of our interest.

But, as a few random statistics clearly indicate, there is an urgent need to take positive action on reconciling our ever- growing demands with the finite resources of our planet.

During this year the world’s population will increase by over 80 millions, over 90 million new cars will be sold, some 3½ million hectares of natural forests with all its associated eco- systems will be lost, and some 24 billion tons of fertile soil will be lost, according to a UN-backed study calling for a shift away from ‘destructively intensive agriculture’.

The world’s population is now some 7.4 billion estimated to raise to 9 billion by 2024 and to 18 billion by 2042. To give some relativity to these numbers, the population of Malaysia is about 32 millions and the population of Sarawak is about 2¾ millions.

Scientists suggest that the resulting pressure on the planet’s finite resources is being manifested in rising global temperatures, already creating very uncertain world-wide weather patterns and changes in the climate with world-wide effect on sea levels and current agriculture.

This is,of course , an over simplification but serves to show climate change made by human activity is a problem that we cannot ignore.

There are no simple short-term fixes and the time scale of positive action showing positive results is measured in decades, not years.

The United Nations recognise this, having held its first annual United Nations conference on Climate Change in Berlin in 1995.

However, as seen in so many human tragedies being unfolded throughout the world such as the more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, the UN has no powers of enforcement.

As BBC reporter Richard Black who attended the 12th Conference in 2006 concluded, there was [and still is] a disconnect between the political process and the scientific imperative.

At the 2016 Conference the president of the UN General Assembly called for the global economy in all sectors to be transformed to achieve a low emissions global economy. In short, to date little positive action has been taken.

Earth Hour, together with Earth Day, draws our attention to this urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet from humanity- created climate change.

Our collective attention, ingenuity, and resources on a global scale is needed now to stabilise and reverse present trends of rising global temperatures changes.

Web site <http://www.un.org/ sust ainabledevelopment/ climate- change-2/> on this subject is well worth visiting.

The World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia is to be congratulated for organising the Earth Hour 2018 Night Walk in Penang to show the need for working towards tackling climate change.

Let all of us without exception turn off all our lights during the earth hour to show leaders everywhere that the people call for action on what is undeniably the most serious universal longterm problem we have to face.