Let's balance out

It isn't as bad as you think. Or maybe it is.

Another week has passed and we're back with the climate updates! This is "Let's balance out" and you'll read one good news and one bad news about the climate crisis. Shall we begin?

So what do you want first? The good news or the bad news?

In this article by the BBC we read that Singapore is one of the cleanest cities in the world: they have a plan until 2030 (the Green Plan) that covers a lot of sustainable goals, but the efforts of the government are also matched with the traditional recycling of Karang guni traders. Their work is crucial, they basically go around with a trolley and collect things people throw away: newspaper, drink cans, second-hand clothes etc. Then these objects get sold to other traders or recycling firms.
These people are a good assist to the city's recycling network because they have knowledge of what can and can't be recycled, and they also have connections.

This is a wonderful example of how modern solutions and traditional ones can coexist in the climate fight.

Scientists from NASA have reported that the Earth is trapping twice as much heat as it did in 2005. So, as we read in this article by The Guardian, there is a thing called "energy imbalance" which is the difference between the energy we absorb from the Sun and the radiations that we give back to space. If there is a positive imbalance it means that the Earth is gaining energy and therefore it is heating up.

The fact that we release less radiation of course is caused by greenhouse gas emissions, that keep heat into the atmosphere, and has other consequences such as ices melting.


Illustrations by Gabriela