Our planet has been showing the repercussions of mankind’s actions for quite some time now. According to NASA researchers, 19 of the warmest years in history have occurred since 2001. The cause for this increase in temperature? You guessed it, an increased amount of greenhouse gasses and other emissions that continue to be released into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gasses are classified as carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and other fluorinated gasses. These emissions can be natural (like when we exhale oxygen) or they can be unnatural (like burning fossil fuels). One is far worse for the environment than the other, and it’s urgent that everyone try to monitor their personal footprint as best as possible. As scientists can tell, the effects of climate change are overwhelming as the global temperature rises, the oceans get warmer, ice sheets continue to shrink and sea levels rise.
So many of these processes are already being displayed throughout the world at alarming rates, and people are responding to them with a number of climate strikes. The Global Peace Index reported that countries with the highest risk of climate hazards in 2018 were in the Asian-Pacific regions. The most at-risk country was the Philippines followed by Japan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, and Pakistan. The tenth most at-risk country was tied between the United States and several other countries. Here are four countries that have been affected by climate change recently.