The #10yearschallenge, a challenge in which users compare how they changed in the last ten years by posting photos from 10 years ago and today, has been taking over social media in the last few days. Tens of thousands of people couldn’t resist sharing their old pictures and seeing their progress, including many celebrities. However, focusing on individuals, their wrinkles and hair color, we forgot to look at the changes that happened to our surroundings.
We can all agree that our planet has experienced some big changes in the past 10 years. The view of the huge icebergs in the Arctic are now just memories, the names of all the hurricanes that have hit us in the past few years cannot be remembered, no matter how friendly they may sound, and the weeping of the Pacific Ocean cannot be heard due to the absurdly high amount of plastic in it. These are just some of the phenomenas associated with global warming, which has been more evident in recent years.
But, have you ever thought of everything that is waiting for us if we do not take immediate action?
Research has shown that in the future, if global warming were to continue at this rate, we will face even higher risks. They predict that we will encounter droughts, stronger and more frequent hurricanes, water shortages, increasing sea levels, climate health risks and many other consequences. Also, they point out that some species may become extinct and that a large number of insects, plants and vertebrates could lose more than half of their predisposed habitats.
At the same time, The World Bank research shows that climate change could be the cause of extreme poverty for more than 100 million people by 2030. The reason for this is the fact that residents of low coastal areas and poorer countries are not able to adapt to changes in extreme temperatures and water sources.
One of the key steps in reducing global warming is by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, says Jasmina Katica, Head of the Department for Energy Efficiency Federal Ministry of Physical Planning.
“About 22 billion tons of CO2 are released in the atmosphere daily. That is why changes in energy production and use, the largest producer of greenhouse gases, are important. In addition to the fact that we, as individuals, need to use energy more rationally, we also need systematic solutions. A growing number of countries in the world have exactly this systematic approach. BiH also recognized the importance of this topic, and started implementing the Energy Efficiency Project for BiH (BEEP), in 2016.” added Katica.
Proof of the importance of such initiatives is the fact that BiH spends five times more energy than European Union countries. If we start immediately, we will surely feel the results well before the next #10yearchallenge.