Climate Change, Dust Storms, and the Disappearing Coral Reef

The Saharan dust overtook Southern Europe again during the last week. By the end of March, the dust blown from Africa made a part of Eastern Europe look like Mars while the Greek island of Crete turned orange like the set of Blade Runner 2049.
Specialists said in previous cases that massive dust storms are caused by climate change and they also said that they will become more frequent.
Even though dust storms are natural phenomena, the recent occurrences didn’t feel normal at all.
Frequent dust storms have an impact on agriculture. They also pose a threat to human and animal health. Dust storms are associated with drought, which is also caused by climate change and the human impact such as deforestation and pasture overgrazing. We need to think about it and do all that we can to stop such concerning problems and other issues related to climate change.
The latter is responsible for increased surface temperatures across the planet, land, and oceans.

The increase in the ocean temperature is one of the reasons why reefs are dying.
“Since 2016, half of all coral in the Great Barrier Reef has died,” The Atlantic reported on Thursday.
Heat, acidity, and human impact that includes overfishing, pollution, burning of fossil fuels are transforming the ocean ecosystems.
This issue is highly important because the ocean produces up to 80 percent of the oxygen we breathe. If the ocean ecosystem will collapse, the consequences will be too severe for us.

There are a few things we all can do in order to help the ocean. You can add more rules to the list.

• Rule No.1: Every time you go to the beach, pick up three pieces of plastic
• Rule No.2: Reduce plastic. Choose reusable shopping bags, food containers, and bottles
• Rule No.3: Buy green, eco-friendly cleaning products
• Rule No.4: Choose sustainable seafood because there’s not plenty of fish in the sea like it used to be
• Rule No.5: Learn how to dispose of hazardous waste
• Rule No.6: Raise awareness anytime you can

Remember that trash in the sea travels like a message in a bottle and one day it will come back to us again.
If you have any idea that tackles issues related to climate change, don’t hesitate to submit it at the 2018 edition of the Youth Citizen Entrepreneurship Competition. If you have a solution to a problem in your community, but you need entrepreneurial knowledge, take our free training courses.
Take action for a sustainable world!

Photo credit: pixabay.com