Environment

January 2020 was the warmest month in history

The new decade began with a record that reveals the serious situation that the planet is going through.

Woman sitting on a bench, reading a book in the sun

Woman sitting on a bench, reading a book in the sun. / Photo: Pixabay

LatinAmerican Post | Marcela Peñaloza

Escucha este artículo

Leer en español: Enero de 2020 fue el mes más cálido de la historia

The European Copernicus service announced, on February 2, that the first month of 2020 was the hottest ever recorded. So far, January 2016 had been the hottest month, but now, this same month in 2020, it broke the record by exceeding the temperature of 0.03 °C four years ago.

According to the Copernicus statement, January 2020 exceeded the average temperature from 1981 to 2010 with 0.77 ° C. The information in fact explains the high temperatures that were recorded around the world. For example, in Europe, temperatures of 3.1 ° C were recorded above the average from 1981 to 2010. Copernicus points out that the 2010-2019 decade was, in fact, the hottest recorded and 2019 was the Second hottest year worldwide. The first position is occupied by 2016.

What happened in 2019?

The information service of Copernicus, Climate change, published a video explaining that for Europe 2019 was the hottest year of the record. For the rest of the world, 2019 was the second year with the highest temperatures.

These data were collected thanks to Europe's monitoring of the climate. However, experts warn that the situation could be even more serious due to a lack of data from other regions. Manola Brunet, a climatologist at Rovira I Virgili University, explains that places like South America and Africa do not share their data in real-time, which prevents strategies that mitigate the impact of climate change from being created and implemented.

How can you help mitigate climate change?

The welfare of the planet is everyone's responsibility, so as an individual you can contribute to lessening the impact of the human being on the planet. Here are five actions that will relieve the Earth:

1. Vote responsibly: the big decisions about exploitation and conservation of natural resources fall on our political leaders and leaders. As a citizen, find out and vote for those candidates and parties that promote sustainable development and promote environmental state policies.

2. Support NGOs and environmental institutions: not only the State and the Government carry out work in environmental matters. There are private organizations that carry out conservation and awareness work. Research in your country in which institutions work in this area and support them through donations. You can contribute money, time, resources, etc.

3. Find out: around climate change and global warming there are myths, misinformation, and false news. Do not keep what you read on social networks or what your family and friends tell you. Go to verified sources and read about what is really happening. Share that true information and disseminate real data.

Read also: Climate breakdown is increasing violence towards women

4. Use alternative means of transport: greenhouse gas emissions are one of the major contributors to the planet experiencing extreme temperatures. Therefore, if you can use the bicycle or skates instead of the car, you will be decreasing those emissions a bit.

5. Adjust your diet: Although the relationship between what we eat and the current state of the planet does not seem so clear, the food we eat has a high impact on the well-being of the Earth. For example, the consumption of beef is highly harmful to the environment. This is because the livestock industry uses large amounts of water, modifies ecosystems to turn them into grasslands and cows are large emitters of greenhouse gases.

This does not mean that you should become a vegetarian, if not you are responsible when it comes to eating meat. You can reduce the number of times you consume this product weekly and buy in places that seek to take care of the environment.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button