Global teenage climate activists and over 4 million people around the globe went on a strike last month to address the issue of global warming. They are deeply concerned about the environment and state that climate damage from greenhouse emissions will only grow if we don't act now. With the topic of global warming, most of us will readily agree that we should quickly take stronger climate action. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on why aren't global leaders doing anything about it? Whereas some are saying that pacts among nations are addressing climate change by joining the Paris Agreement to fight climate change. Human activities from pollution to overpopulation are greatly increasing the Earth's temperature, basically changing the world we all live in today. The main causes of this issue are the greenhouse effect. “Gases in the atmosphere like water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons let the suns light in, but keeps heat from escaping; like the glass walls of the greenhouse”,says Blake S.W.
The more greenhouse gases are in the atmosphere, the more heat gets trapped; creating the greenhouse effect and increasing the Earth's temperature. “Human activities like burning foil fuels have increased the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere by more than 1/3, since the industrial revolution”, explains Camargo Ting (3). While the Earth's climate has Shakhnazarova 2 fluctuated in the past, atmospheric carbon dioxide hasn't reached today's levels in hundreds and thousands of years. Climate change has consequences for our oceans, weather, food sources, and health due to the misusage of resources by humans on the planet. The oceans cover 70% of the Earth's surface; therefore, oceans play an important role in the Earth's climate. One important function of the oceans is to transfer heat from the tropics to higher latitudes. They respond steadily to changes in the atmosphere. Beside heat, they take up large amounts of the carbon dioxide that is released by humans.
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Concerning oceans, ice sheets such as Greenland and Antarctica are melting. The extra water that was once held, causes sea levels to rise and spills the oceans, which would flood coastal regions. According to Emanuel, Kim,“If Greenland and Antarctica were to melt, sea levels would rise about 230 feet”. The oceans would cover all cities and the land would shrink. This could cause extinction of humans because most resources for living would be wiped out. Regarding weather, warm temperatures also make climate change more extreme. Not only major storms, but longer droughts and heavy snow fall. The National Climate Assessment finds that the number of heat waves, heavy downpours, and major hurricanes has increased in the United States, and the strength of these events have grown as well. Climate change is expected to worsen the frequency, intensity, and impacts of some types of extreme weather events. For intense, sea level rise increases the impacts of coastal storms and warming can place more stress on water supplies during droughts. Without supplies people wouldn’t be able to survive for long. Shakhnazarova 3 Food presents other challenges. Growing crops becomes more difficult. The areas where plants and animals can live shift and water supplies are decreased. Higher temperatures lead to increased rates of evaporation, including more loss of moisture through plant leaves. Even in areas where precipitation does not decrease, these increases in surface evaporation and loss of water from plants lead to more rapid drying of soils if the effects of higher temperatures are not offset by other changes (such as reduced wind speed or increased humidity). As soil dries out, a larger proportion of the incoming heat from the sun goes into heating the soil and adjacent air rather than evaporating its moisture, resulting in hotter summers under drier climatic conditions.
Climate change directly affects health. In urban areas the warm atmosphere creates an environment that traps and increases the amount of smog. “This is because smog has ozone particles which increases rapidly at a higher temperature”, discovered NC State University (3). Exposers to higher levels of smog can cause health problems such as asthma, heart disease, and lung cancer. 16-year-old Swedish activist, Greta Thunberg has recently declared a speech at the United Nations climate summit, saying that world leaders are not taking the initiative of protecting the environment against global warming. The latest science shows that our planet is getting hotter and we are producing more trash that leaks into our water supply which has an irreversible effect on the ecosystem. The dangers of global warming are, “increasingly clear, with more intense hurricanes, longer droughts and heat records being broken” (1).
This shows how crucial and important it is to take care of our planet and reduce the burning of fossil fuel as well as human waste. I say that, not only global leaders should be more involved in this global crisis and take action, but the whole world should take initiative and care for our planet because we only have one. As said by Aman Sharma, a 16-year-old protester in India's capital New Delhi, “We need to reclaim our constitutional right to clean air and water”(2). Global leaders should join the Paris Agreement to fight this crisis and by working together, nations can reduce global warming emissions. I personally agree with global activists such as, Greta Thunberg, and strongly feel disappointed at the global leaders inaction on protecting the environment. This issue affects me, the whole world, and future generations because global warming effects not only our environment, but our health and climate. Global warming is accelerating the rate of sea level rise, as well as having priming conditions for wildfires to spread, and increasing the risk of health related issues. This OP/ED piece can be useful for research papers because it can talk about the use of fossil fuels and how it contributes to global warming.
To add, it is a controversial subject that talks about an issue that faces humanity today. While the rapid rate of climate change is accused by humans, humans are also the ones who can make a difference and change the world in a better direction. If we work together to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy, like solar and wind, we can prevent the worst effects of climate change.
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