Climate change is phrase used to describe immense changes in temperature, rainfall, snow or wind patterns that last for decades or longer. The reasons for climate change are human related and natural. As Jack London tried to prove in his short story “To Build a Fire,” man is fragile against nature. However, man also has power to destroy Earth, and bears the responsibility to protect it for the current generation and generations to come. Climate change has been an ongoing issue for decades, yet very few people can detect the significance of it.
At the rate that climate change is happening at the moment, natural disasters will become a daily occurrence in the future. The contributions to climate change that humans are making include but are not limited to: burning fossil fuels, cutting down forests, and developing land for farms, cities and roads. Doing these kinds of things increase the amount of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases trap heat and keep the planet warm, but too much of it can be really harmful because the earth is overheating, causing polar ice caps to melt and sea levels to rise. The results of climate change are heat waves, decreased snowfall, and changing wildlife habitats, intense storms, wildfires, and floods. These disasters cause massive damage, and high repair costs.
The rise of sea levels is what’s causing floods and worse tsunamis. Animals like polar bears that are used to living on ice, must now learn how to swim and live underwater in order to adjust to climate change. Elsewhere, water is being dried up due to the heat and there are droughts. Droughts affect farmers because they depend on growing their crops to make a living. If there is no water to feed to their crops, they won’t survive. Droughts also affect fishermen, ponds and oceans are drying up and the fish that need water to breathe are dying rapidly.
The effects of climate change are attacking the poor and weak people instead of the ones who cause it, the big guy Corporations, who for some reason don’t know where else to dump their waste, and for some reason can not use other sources of energy. Floods and monsoon rains have become a daily event in Nepal. Cyclones and floods are happening on a regular basis in Bangladesh. These disasters contribute to the spread of dangerous diseases, food shortage, and decrease in literacy. Corporations need to cut their emissions because in the long run, it is the small developing countries that are suffering the consequences.
There is a way to solve the issue of climate change. If we do everything step by step, slowly we will see the changes. Finding and using environmental friendly sources of energy, and cutting emissions in half would help. Poverty and illiteracy would be cut in half. We can wake up to a clear blue sky and experience normal weather patterns.
Above is a picture demonstrating the Greenhouse Effect.
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