Violent ice storms rage across areas unprepared for it. Once-thriving and beloved coastal cities no longer exist, drowned out due to an increase in sea levels. Forest fires wreak havoc all around the world. Unfortunately, this seemingly dystopian scene is more realistic than we think – in fact, we can even see them in our world already. In early 2021, Central Texas was hit by a terrible ice storm that it was not equipped to handle. Louisiana’s coastline has consistently been receding. Forest fires in California and Australia have completely destroyed ecosystems and filled these areas with smoky, unbreathable air.
You have most likely heard the terms “climate change” and “global warming” with increasing frequency in the last couple of years. Due to increasing amounts of gasses like carbon dioxide and methane being pumped into our atmosphere due to the growth of different industries, our planet’s overall temperature has risen two degrees in the 20th century. This has led to problems like coral bleaching, increased intensity of tropical storms, and the extinction of species that are adapted to certain environments.
While two degrees may not seem like much, each degree that the planet’s overall temperature rises results in serious environmental impacts. To put things into perspective, at the end of the last ice age, when the Northeastern United States was covered in 3,000 feet of ice, earth’s overall temperature was only 5-9 degrees colder than it is now.
One cause for the worsening effects of CO2 in our atmosphere is that, in addition to increasing our carbon footprint, we are also chopping down our forests at an alarming rate. The organization Amazon Conservation reports that the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest has risen by 21 percent in 2020, which equates to a loss about the size of Israel. In addition, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States estimates that, since 1990, the world has lost 420 million hectares of forest. Trees naturally soak up CO2 on our planet, but the combination of getting rid of these trees and increasing our carbon output has led to drastic effects.
We can trace the causes of increasing global temperatures to the Greenhouse Effect. The Greenhouse Effect is when greenhouse gasses, such as Carbon Dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide absorb heat from the sun and radiate it back, warming the earth. Without the greenhouse effect, all of earth’s heat would no longer be trapped and our planet would freeze. However, we are currently seeing a rapid increase in just how much CO2 is being added to this layer, trapping the heat in excess and warming the planet. How does the breakdown of the amounts of these greenhouse gases look, you ask? In 2014, it was something like this:
This data may just seem like a jumble of numbers, but one effect that we can clearly see is what is happening in coral reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef. Here, we can see that the coral reef ecosystem, which survives in a very delicate temperature range, is being greatly impacted by the ocean’s rising temperatures. When the temperature of the ocean rises, the coral ejects the microorganisms that depend on it and give the reefs their color. Due to the fact that when this happens, the coral turns white, the effect is called “coral bleaching”.
So what can we do to help stop global warming and climate change? There are many ways that anyone can make a difference. One way is to work on conserving electricity and water in your own home, and switch to renewable energy sources. Another is to advocate for policy that helps preserve our forests. Another is to get involved in existing volunteering efforts and donate to organizations that are making a difference, such as the World Wildlife Fund, and Terracycle, a company that recycles hard-to-recycle materials with free recycling programs. No matter your age or location, there are so many options for how you can get involved in efforts to help the environment.
Climate change is a problem with devastating effects, with the only good news being that we can help stop this change that we have created. From small actions to big, there are many forms of volunteering, donating, and taking action that anyone can do. I am sure you have all heard the quotes from the Lorax, so I will share a different one here instead:
“It is our collective and individual responsibility… to preserve and tend to the world in which we all live”
– Dalai Lama
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