By Titilayo Ogundele
As the world becomes more developed, more resources are being demanded. Although humans are very resourceful, there’s one thing that we haven’t figured out how to do: renew natural resources. With the colossal amount of economic development going on, coal, petroleum, and natural gas will soon be gone, a change which will cripple the world and its economy. So what can we do in to prevent or, at lease lessen this catastrophe? We can go green-the sooner the better.Renewable energy effectively utilizes natural resources such as sunlight, wind, tide, and geothermal heat, which are quickly replenished unlike oil. There are two advantages to going green. One advantage is that the planet will be less polluted than it would be if we continue to use fossil fuels. The other reason is that by using renewable energy, we will spare the non-renewable resources from being completely used up.When it comes to change, some people tend to oppose it. However, we must consider what fossil fuels do to the environment. Using fossil fuels—coal, oil, and natural gas—to make electricity dirties the air, consumes and pollutes water, hurts plant and animal life, creates toxic wastes, and contributes to climate change. Renewable energy resources can provide many immediate environmental benefits by avoiding the impacts and risks that occur from fossil fuel use. Although there are some disadvantages to using renewable energy, such as wind farms changing the landscape and harming birds and the large amount of land required to harvest energy, which could otherwise be used to feed the rising population, these impacts are generally less than the impacts of fossil fuel use on the environment.Still not convinced? Wondering how pollution from fossil fuel use affects you? Well, let’s take a look at how this issue affects our health. With the world’s population growing at a rapid pace, we tend to see more people living in the cities due to jobs being located there. Think of what you’re breathing when go do your shopping or go out to eat. I can assure you that what you’re breathing isn’t the healthiest thing in the world. Teresa Shiang, who is the delegate of Belgium in the General Assembly committee two, expressed her feelings towards the environment in Beijing stating that in Beijing “you can’t drink out of the tap because its not clean water.” Beijing, which is a heavily populated area, is growing quickly. Due to extensive building there, the water, and the air, are becoming polluted with toxic substances. Fossil fuels tend to do much more to the environment than just polluting the air and water. These non-renewable resources have been blamed for causing global warming as well. While some areas of the world are experiencing floods from extreme weather, other parts are experiencing droughts. Ngcebo Gwebu, better known as just Gwebu, represents Canada in committee two of the General Assembly. Coming from Swaziland, Gwebu states that his country “is currently experiencing longer than usual droughts.” Although this situation only occurs in some parts of the country, it is still believed that this condition of long droughts is caused by the use of fossil fuels, which bring on global warming, even though Africa is the country that produces the leastgreen house gases. This shows that no matter how far a country is from another, what one does, will surely affect another. The cost of switching to using renewable energy can be great. However, the alternative of a having a very sick planet is greater. If we want to have a planet that is healthy not only for us, but for future generations, we must act now and do something about the environment before the damages become irreversible. Let’s act now and go green.
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