In Tuvalu—a country not so far away from Korea—houses are sinking, people are swimming across the water when they should be walking across the street, and the country is losing is more and more of its territory to the vast ocean every single second. But we barely care, don't we? It's not 'our' problem that towns are drowning, but 'theirs': at least this is what many people of this country think about global warming.

In the very northern parts of the planet, polar bears are starving to death due to the loss of habitat. Though they normally symbolize fierceness and strength, starvation and continuous travel for settlement have forced them to wane and eventually die out. But again, we barely care, don't we? Global warming is a big issue—I think all Koreans would agree on that—and we do care about it, but we never care enough: because it doesn't feel like an immediate threat.

Our negligence has repeated itself to force environmental threats to become a real 'problem' years after it actually became a problem. The particulate matter issue is a hot potato nowadays in Korea, but to those who were at the least bit interested, this issue is not new; it has been around for years. This tiny, silent killer—particulate matter—after years of hiding its chaotic attack, has finally hit Korea hard and the public is terrified for its consequences. Global warming, however, the very topic that we are always interested to some degree but not overwhelmed enough to stir attention and participation, was revealed to degrade the air quality even more. Now we?ve all got a good reason to start caring about climate change.

Global warming, as known, can be the culprit to various atmospheric changes. As global temperatures rise, there is a reduction of the icy area near the Arctic that has a high albedo—the rate of solar energy reflectance—thus more sunlight is absorbed. This engenders an increase in temperatures in the Arctic Sea, altering the air pressure between the Arctic and Northeast Asia; this causes the weakening of nearby monsoons. If these monsoons, or winds, weaken, there is less air circulation, resulting in air stagnation where air literally stagnates and circulates much slowly. If fine particles in the air are not given the proper means to circulate and dilute by spearing and moving away to other regions, pollutant concentration will increase, greatly damaging the air quality of that region. So if we want this dust to stop polluting our air, there is more to be done that simply purchasing high-tech facial masks: We have to look far, and stop global warming. Stopping global warming is stopping air pollution.

Unlike the grandiose connotation, the word 'global warming' has, the efforts that can truly contribute to its decrease in progression is rather very simple, cheap, and easy. It is everyday habits that really matter the most; Earth Hour, for example, with global participation, can reduce tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Using low water use showerheads and toilets to reduce carbon footprints will also contribute to slowing down global warming. On the other hand, if these small habits are ignored, our decades of laziness will come at the cost of unbreathable air. Not only will we end up with toxic air, but we will also be forced to pay the price for all the consequences it will induce such as rising rates of cancer.

             Though environmentalists have always claimed that now is the last chance to help Earth for decades now, we cannot be more certain that we don't have much time. The clock is ticking, and for every tik and every tok, the world is becoming less and less inhabitable: the waters are undrinkable, the lands are unusable, and most importantly, the air is unbreathable. Now is the time to stop simply 'caring', but 'caring enough.'