Ghana is hot; We still don't care about global warming

Global warming! Who cares? Why should Ghana bother? We have been living under the sun for millennia and we have adapted pretty well. Besides, who will not like to see the northern lights up close when the glaciers have all melted at the north pole? Why can't we even live at the north pole?
Global warming has been leading global discussions but it is yet to tick in the psych of Ghanaians. In cases where the direct impact of global warming is felt, we blame gods, our sins and politicians. The tragic June 3 disaster was the wraths of gods; the worse power crises (dumsor) was the fault of President John Dramani Mahama. Then there are the dooms-day fanatics who suggest that these are the signs of the end of days: droughts, disasters, famine and chaos. Let the UN and developed countries take care of it. That has been, to some dramatic extent, the attitude towards global warming.
As if I needed some motivation to write this piece, the animation movie “Lorax” was shown on the television the other day. You may think the movie is make-believe and the story line is just too far fetched (people can't buy 'air' from “O'hare”) until you hear later in the news that China is importing air from Canada to deal with the high level of air pollution.
In fact, the average number of hot days per year in Ghana has risen by 48 day (13.2% of days) and hot nights shore up by 73 (20% of nights); do not blame the fan and air conditioning or the lack of it. Contrarily, the number of cold days has decrease by 12 days (3.3%) and cold nights per year has dropped 5.1% by 18.5 nights.
As if that was not enough, rain fall declined on the average of 2.3mm per month per decade. “Annual rainfall is highly variable on inter-annual and inter-decadal timescales. This means that long-term trends are difficult to identify,” stated in 'Ghana's Third National Communication report to the UNFCCC.'
In natural fact, the effect of Global Warming (Climate change) can be felt in Ghana's agricultural sector already.  According to Mary Naah (the Call Center Manager for Esoko) the seasonal forecast for last year was short and that for this year it is shorter still. “There is the probability that it will be shorter next year. Once we know the forecast for the year, we are advising farmers to go in for early maturing crops” she said. Esoko is a innovative technology firm that provides a call center, agricultural extension service to farmers aimed at bringing market information to farmers through the use of mobile phone and SMS.
Where the southern parts of Ghana used to have two planting season, it could barely get one planting season; while the northern part that has one planting season is now faced with a constant threat of drought. There is a looming threat to food security, some suggest. Mr Kassim Gawusu-Toure The Project Officer for Conservation Education of the Ghana Wildlife Society, noted thus, “studies show that by 2080 if the temperatures continue, cocoa will not survive the temperature and we might lose our export earning commodity.” He could not provide the source to that information though. Maybe this is just a scare campaign and besides 2080 is far off.
Global warming is most often confused with Climate change. Climate change is rather the dramatic change in the weather pattern of the earth caused by global warming. Global warming is the gradual increase in the temperature of the earth's surface. It is attributed to the depletion of the ozone layer and the development of canopy of Green House Gases (Carbon dioxide CO2, Nitrous oxide N2O and Methane CH4) around the earth, trapping the sun's heat from escaping into space. Guess who caused this?
Mr. Gawusu-Toure explained that these green house gases are capable of absorbing heat and emitting them into the earth's surface. “As the temperature increases, it has its own effect,” he added. We all know the effect of heat (or the absence of it) on the formation of rain thanks to your elementary science. 
Our share of global emission as of 2012 was a meager 0.04% as reported by the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat.
Ghana's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported an increase of 1.0oC in  Ghana's atmospheric temperature with an average rate increase of 0.21oC per decade. The rate, it reported, is more rapid in the Northern Regions of Ghana. That is a small increment you might think but wait till you hear of its dramatic effect.
Global warming effect on Ghana has already caused changes in precipitation and temperature, reducing agricultural yields; an increase in the risk of malnutrition, poor sanitation, diseases like the meningitis outbreak in the Northern Regions; droughts that endanger hydroelectricity supply (60% – 70%) and also floods and heat that has distractive impact on roads and building as reported in Ghana's Third National Communication report to the UNFCCC.
Global warming (and subsequent Climate change) is largely due to human activities. For instance, the green house emission almost tripled from 31.69 million tonnes per Carbon dioxide equivalent (Mt CO2 eq) in 2005 to 81.35 mt CO2  eq in 2010. Carbon (CO2) emission from fuel combustion accounts for 49.4 million tonnes and Methane (CH4) mostly from our dumping sites and landfill sites generated 20.7 million tonnes of green house gases into the atmosphere.
Government was applauded for importing power barges from Turkey to address energy crises in Ghana.

Prez Mahama Source: http://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/54239-president-mahama-adresses-un-climate-change-summit.html

President Mahama was credited for leading growth in the thermal energy to make Ghana the leading exporter of energy in West Africa. Well, that has come with some cost to the environment. The energy sector contributed 9,233.61 kt CO2 eq (50.7%) of Green-House Gas to the environment as of 2006. Who know how exponential the increases have been since then?
Hopefully, we wish to arrest the deteriorating state of the global warming or possible migrate to Mars when we have succeeded in over heating our earth.
Mr. Gawusu- Toure thinks the rate of global warming could be checked. “It's not going to be easy. It's going to be a journey with a destination. We will surely get to the destination if every country commit to what it has pledged, especially from the outcome of the (Conference of Parties) COP 21 in Paris” he said optimistically.