WARMING PLANET, COOL IDEAS

Global Coolers is a movement of young persons with the vision of educating Africans and the world at large on global warming and its deadly effects.

Global warming has been one of the major causes of chronic diseases, poverty, natural disasters like flooding among Africa countries.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Africa is among the most vulnerable continents to climate change. The risks of climate change on agricultural production, food security, water resources and ecosystem services would likely have severe consequence on lives and sustainable development prospects in Africa.

The UN International Strategy for Dis- aster Reduction (UNDRR) estimates that from 1998 to 2017, global climate change disasters were worth $2.2 trillion in direct economic loss; other disasters accounted for $0.7 million. UNDRR also reports that in Africa, the economic impact of natural disasters in 2014 alone was $53.19 billion.

- Agriculture and food security:

Agriculture is inherently sensitive to climate conditions and is one of the most vulnerable sectors to the risks and impacts of global climate change.Agriculture in most African countries is mainly small-scale and rain-fed, making it particularly vulnerable to climate variability and change. Yields from rain-fed agriculture in some African countries could be reduced by up to 50% by 2020 due to weather events like drought and flood.

-Health

African countries have the least efficient public health systems in the world. Infectious disease burdens such as malaria, schistosomiasis, dengue fever, meningitis, which are sensitive to climate impacts, are highest in the sub-Saharan African region. For instance, over 90 percent of annual global malaria cases are in Africa. Changes in climate will affect the spread of infectious agents as well as alter people’s disposition to these infections.

We got a vital information from Leading Global Heath Authority that coming year 2030 - 2035, people living in the sub Saharan region of west African countries which Nigeria happens to be the most populated will either die or suffer from one chronic disease.

-Energy

With increasing population and corresponding energy demand, energy security must be addressed because energy is crucial for sustainable development. Climate change has affected energy sectors in Africa as many countries depend on hydro-power generation. Decreasing rainfall levels and droughts have resulted in lower water levels in dams with adverse impacts for hydro-power generation. This has resulted in low electrical energy production, high cost of electricity and power outages or load-shedding in some African countries that depend on hydroelectric power generation. Disruptions in hydro-power generation have negatively affected various sectors in countries such as Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania

Africans innocently and ignorantly partake and contribute to global warming without knowing the effects of this deadly practice amongst them.

Research shows that 80 - 90% of Africans are unaware of Global Warming, and the reason for this is educational barrier. So my team and i discovered that over 90% of Africa adults are uneducated, so communicating global warming to them would actually be a great challenge. So here is our solution for that:

1. We'd like engage every radio and TV stations to dedicate an hour per day to educate people on climate change and its deadly effects. This is to be done in different languages amongst states and countries in Africa.

2. We'll also make use of the social media as a tool to educate other young and old persons who are online.

3. We also propose that tech firms like Google, Microsoft also join this movement by making use of their platform (Homepage/landing page) to create awareness on the need to cool the earth.

4. We will educate and encourage people on the push and creation of green businesses and clean energy. The Government will also be of great help to achieve this.

One of the ways of fighting global warming is to VOICE OUT.

My Team and i engaged ourselves in diverse research on global warming most especially in Africa.

Resources used include NASA's historical data, carbonbrief.org.

One of the challenges we faced was poor internet connection, Gathering the data we got to come up with something meaningful