The world is heating up and we all know it. Climate change is being driven by natural causes but more predominantly by human impact. It is said that the world will have an irreversible state of damage to the climate in 11 years. The question is how are we affecting it and what can we do to fix it? Climate change has been happening for decades but it has been ramping up due to population growths with more demand for goods and high consumerism rates. Climate change is a spike of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere and getting trapped causing heating of the planet. The planet's surface temperature has changed 1.18 degrees celsius since the late 19th century according to NASA, which is a crazy amount of heating in so little time. We are seeing these impacts by huge weather swings and rising water levels. Global Warming is especially dangerous to the ocean and its creatures. One of the biggest problems is coral bleaching, which is when the algae leave the coral reefs causing them to die because it is one of their main sources of food. Why is this bad? Coral is home to more than 25% of the ocean's species and if coral is dying there will be no home for those species. Another issue is the ice melting and splitting in the Arctic, causing polar bears to fall into the water and potentially die because they can’t make it back to solid ice. How are we affecting this? The main way we human beings have been contributing to this massive problem is our huge carbon footprint due to our reliance on machines since the industrial revolution. We have used fuel as a main source of energy for a long time and burning it causes a mass release of carbon dioxide into the air. Factories, cars, airplanes, and boats are just a few of the things that we use fossil fuels for. Some cities even use fuels such as natural gas to generate power for their entire population and their homes. What can we do to prevent this? The obvious ways to end this problem are by getting solar panels on your house or buying an electric car, which yes is amazing but isn’t always a viable option for everyone. One of the best ways to reduce our carbon footprint and lowering global warming is by buying locally and products with less packaging. Buying locally means that your goods don’t have to travel halfway across the world to get to you and don’t require to be transported by boat or plane. When we buy products with less packaging less plastic gets produced, which means a factory isn’t polluting the environment by making unnecessary plastics. With all of this considered it is quite obvious that our planet is in a state of crisis and there is not enough attention being brought to it. Our world is at risk and we don’t have a ton of time before it is too late to reverse. I urge you to start making small changes in your life and think before you just say yes to that plastic bag or order a single item off Amazon because your one decision can help protect this beautiful planet.
Cole H
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