The triple planetary crisis entails the three main interlinks of climate change , pollution and biodiversity loss; that humanity currently faces in their environment.
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns that in the long run will completely alter the ecosystems that support life on the planet.
Changes observed in Earth’s climate since the mid-20th century are driven by human activities, particularly fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere, raising Earth’s average surface temperature. Natural processes, which have been overwhelmed by human activities, can also contribute to climate change, including internal variability (e.g., cyclical ocean patterns like El Nino, La Nina, the current Hurricane Ian and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation) and external forcings (e.g., volcanic activity, changes in the sun's energy output, variations in Earth's orbit.)
Environment pollution is the introduction of pollutants into the natural environment, and causes adverse effects. Climate change can impact air quality and, conversely, air quality can impact climate change. It has been proven that climate change is related to some major forms of environment pollution (e.g., air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination, noise pollution, radioactive contamination, light pollution, thermal pollution, etc.). The issue of environment pollution and climate change has become an international concern because: 1) persistent and emerging pollutants to a certain extent cause climate change; and 2) the variations in normal weather patterns have unfavorable effects on the physical and biological entities of the environment.
Biodiversity loss refers to the decline or disappearance of biological diversity, which includes animals, plants and ecosystems. The reasons for biodiversity loss include everything from overfishing to habitat loss (e.g. deforestation to make way for development) to desertification due to climate change. Biodiversity is the baseline for everything on the planet – as in the end we are all interlinked. Biodiversity loss impacts food supplies and access to clean water – without it we have no future on our planet.
There are many things we have been doing as scouts which entails solid waste management by means of purification, consumption and reuse of disposed non-biodegradable solid plastic bottle wastes, seedlings production and management practices aimed at combating the triple planetary crisis and on an individual basis we can, consume less; walk or cycle instead of driving; recycle; use less water.
