Global warming has been the popular topic lately. With our amazon rainforest burning, and the outburst of climate activists, it’s hard to ignore these facts. But what is the big fuss all about? Is our earth really burning? Like anything there are two sides to this issue. The earth is getting warmer, no cap. But, is it humans’ fault, or is it beyond our control?
Some may say that global warming isn’t real. They argue that is in not possible for humans to damage our ozone layer. They say that climate change has been occurring for decades, and it is natural for the earth to heat up and cool down. It is still cold in some areas, right?
However, scientists such as Bill Nye have proven this point wrong, and that it is indeed us humans who are causing our earth to heat up. Wow, total power move, right? The release of CO2 into the air has increased by over 1/3 after the industrial revolution. This can be referred to as “greenhouse gases” meaning that it traps the heat from the sun and holds in in our atmosphere. This is because of the burning of fossil fuels, transferred by factories and machines releasing this gas into the air. And with the rising of technology and development of new engineering ideas, these rates only keep going up with them. Not only is that affecting our ozone layer and causing the temperatures of the earth to rise at alarming rates, but it is affecting the sea levels, our food sources, the ice sheets, the temperature of our oceans, and many more detrimental factors. Sure, okay cool big facts.
Who cares? Well, the rise of sea levels causes flooding, destroying homes and effecting our plantation of crops. The ice sheets such as Antarctica are melting and have melted at a rate of 6.7% in the last decade. This is leaving the animals there without a home. Natural disasters such as heat waves, tornadoes, and floods are increasing with these rates as time goes by. And it’s the beginning of October, and we are still in the 90 degree temperatures. Oof, maybe this does matter to us.
Scary huh? Have we created too much damage to undo?
How can we help the environment now?
There are still many ways we can help our environment now:
- Recycling
- Walking or using public transportation
- eat locally grown foods
- spread your concerns about climate change.
As Bill Nye states, “although we are part of the cause, we can also be part of the solution”
What will you believe?
Macy Robinson
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-real/
https://abcnews.go.com/US/prevent-climate-change-experts/story?id=65721423
Ms. Harner's EN100 Blog 