Trivia Time 3!! *Earth Day special*

 

WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO OUR EARTH? 🌎

We are all the descendants of Mother Earth. Earth is our homeland that nourishes and supports our roots and survival. But, what have we given back to our Earth in return? Nuclear explosions and wars against our fellow beings? Destruction? Deforestation? Pollution? Global warming and Climate Change?! It was our moral responsibility to preserve the authenticity of our homeland! And, it is very sad to know that we've realised this fact only 51 years ago that - WE WERE THE ONES SUPPOSED TO PROTECT THE EARTH!

Hence, Earth Day is celebrated every year on the 22nd of April (which is tomorrow), to spread the message of 'SAVE THE EARTH'. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 which led to an increased awareness among people about all the threats our earth is facing like - overpopulation, climate change, global warming, air pollution, water pollution, disturbance in ecological balance, deforestation, depletion of resources like fossil fuels and what not! If our reckless activities would have still continued, we would have created hell on earth!

Also, as a fun fact, always remember, that the food we do not eat, the food we waste, also contributes a small percentage towards climate change and all the problems that our earth is facing! You might think how a mere dish of rice or vegetables can lead to climate change and all, but it's true! You're not the only one on this planet, right? So, imagine if all the 7.9 billion people wasted food like that? What would be the consequences? Won't it be much better to offer our leftover food to the needy? 1.89 billion out of the 7.9 billion are poor! So fine, I'll give my leftover food to the needy, but what's in it for me? Right now, in this situation, there is NO ME AND NO YOU! We all need to implement the 4R's - Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle in our daily lives as one single entity - as humans to ensure our continual existence on earth.

Hope you understood how grave this matter has actually become and will do your part in this global cause to help stop pollution and global warming! So, without further ado, here are today's Earth Day special trivia questions. Do comment the answers... I'll post the answers on 23rd April (Friday). And, also think about methods how we could combat global problems like Climate Change and Deforestation.

All the best on your quest to solve not only these trivia problems but the global problems!👍 

1. Due to ______________, Indian cities of Mumbai and Chennai are predicted to be underwater by 2050.

2. Compared to the times with no human civilisation, the number of trees in the world has decreased by ____________.

3. _____________ (number of people/percentage of population of earth) do not have access to safe drinking water.

Answers:

1. Due to global warming, Indian cities of Mumbai and Chennai are predicted to be underwater by 2050.

-When excessive fossil fuels are burnt or excessive air pollution takes place in the form of exhaust from chimneys and smoke from vehicles, the amount of Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouse gases like Methane and Nitrous Oxide in the atmosphere increase.

-As a result, this increases the greenhouse effect causing global warming.

-The greenhouse effect is a phenomenon that warms the earth's surface. It is actually very important to maintain the just right temperature required on earth to sustain life.

-But, when the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increase (as stated above), it leads to global warming. As part of the natural greenhouse effect, only some amount of heat is trapped into the earth's atmosphere while the other heat is re-emitted into space. But, in the human-enhanced  greenhouse effect, most of the heat gets trapped into the earth's atmosphere - resulting in the increase in the earth's surface temperatures. This increase in global temperatures is called Global Warming.

-Now, due to global warming, the polar ice caps and glaciers are melting (as ice melts when temperature increases!), resulting in the increase in the sea level (as ice melts to form water, which gets added up to the sea, increasing its volume and level!). Because of this increase in sea level, places located near the sea coasts are predicted to submerge.

-Already half of the city of Jakarta (capital of Indonesia) has sunk underwater. Jakarta is the world's fastest sinking city - as fast as 10 centimetres per year. And, in line to Jakarta, the Indian cities of Mumbai, Surat, Kolkata and Chennai are predicted to sink underwater by 2050!

2. Compared to the times with no human civilisation, the number of trees in the world had decreased by 46%.

-Approximately 15 billion trees are chopped down every year for paper, timber, farmland and city expansions and other human needs.

-However, only 5 billion trees are re-planted every year. That means there's a net loss of 10 billion trees every year.

-If this rate would continue, it would mean that earth would lose all of its trees within the next 300 years. Hence, its our moral duty to support afforestation for the betterment of mankind and the earth.

3. 29% of the world's population (2.1 billion people) do not have access to safe drinking water. 

-The governments and activists all over the world have worked to provide access to safe drinking water to all, but yet this hasn't been achieved. 

-Our earth is called the blue planet and about 71% of our earth is water. But, not all of this water can be used by human beings. 97.5% of this water is found in seas which is too saline to be used for human activities. And only 2.5% is freshwater present in ice caps, glaciers, under the ground, rivers, lakes etc.

-This is because inspite of sanitation instructions, many factories still throw out untreated chemical wastes into rivers and lakes making the sources of freshwater acidic (or basic). Also, many poor people (example : living in slums) have to share common ponds or rivers for all their activities leading to transmission of diseases like cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid and Hepatitis through water.

-Also, about 3-4 million people die every year due to water diseases.