SEA CHANGE

On the devastating effects of global warming, and what we can do to be kind.

- Isabelle Yeunh

The severe toll that climate change is taking on our planet can no longer be denied: its effects most evident in rising sea levels and the extreme weather conditions that have devastated entire communities all over the world. Our oceans account for more than 70 percent of the surface of our planet and are our most diverse and important ecosystem, providing a source of income for some three billion people worldwide. It also accounts for almost 16% of animal protein consumed globally and absorbs heat and carbon dioxide, as well as producing more than 50 percent of the world's oxygen.

The impact of greenhouse gas emissions, pollution and global warming is putting a tremendous strain on earth's most precious resource, causing sea levels to rise eight inches since 1900 with a swift rise of about three inches occurring since 1993. The most visible consequences of a warmer, wetter world can be seen in the heatwaves, severe storms, hurricanes, wildfires and record-breaking snowfalls that have affected millions of lives and caused devastating economic losses across the globe. In 2021, megafloods in Germany, Belgium, China, America and Turkey killed hundreds of people and left scores more homeless. In our very own backyard there has been a 35% increase in extreme rainfall in the last three decades, resulting in peninsular Malaysia's most devastating flood since 1996, in December last year. The floods spread across eight states killing 54 people, displacing 71,000 and destroying infrastructure and property affecting more than 125,000 people.