Climate change is a very impactful topic, especially as the climate gets to be more unstable. Our planet and people are being put at risk. Climate change has been responsible for many natural disasters such as droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires. According to The National Interagency Fire Center, statistics show that as of Sept. 26, 2024, there have been over 38,000 wildfires this year that have burned more than 7.8 million acres in the United States alone. Climate change is primarily a human-driven process that is defined as the long-term shift in temperature and weather patterns. As climate change continues to worsen, activist groups such as the NRDC and the Natural Resources Defense Council strive to stop the rise of climate change. If nothing is done about the ongoing problem of climate change, the people in years to come will be condemned.
Over the last 200 years, humans have been responsible for almost all climate change. Climate change can be caused by many different things, such as burning fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions, and some very few natural processes. According to the Our World Data, in 2023, over 35 billion tons of carbon dioxide were released into the air. With carbon dioxide emissions skyrocketing over these last few decades, global temperatures simultaneously skyrocketed. As carbon dioxide is released into the air, the atmosphere induces a natural greenhouse effect and creates a buildup of CO2. As a result, Earth slowly starts to heat up to dangerous temperatures. This process of CO2 buildup followed by the rise of temperature is repetitive, and will continue melting the ice caps and starting wildfires. This drives the question, how does global warming affect our planet and us?
Climate change has had some very drastic effects on our environment, such as rising sea temperatures, extreme weather patterns, and wildfires. According to climate.gov, ice cap coverage has been decreasing since 2015, both in the Artic and Antartic regions. “Global sea ice coverage has continued its overall downward trend since the results described earlier through 2015. The global results combine (1) continued decreases in Arctic sea ice coverage and (2) new decreases in Antarctic sea ice coverage.” Global warming can also have a damaging effect on the health of humans. UnitedNation.com states that “Climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity. Climate impacts are already harming health, through air pollution, disease, extreme weather events, forced displacement, pressures on mental health, and increased hunger and poor nutrition in places where people cannot grow or find sufficient food.” This begs the question, how can we stop climate change?
As a result of all these carbon emissions and burning of fossil fuels, our planet will soon become uninhabitable, unless there is a change in human behavior. There are many ways that you can help stop the growth of climate change. For example, you can use solar panels on your house. This is because solar energy is a cleaner way to obtain energy — it doesn’t release carbon dioxide, it does need the burning of fossil fuels, and it doesn’t hurt the environment. Another way that you can reduce global warming at home is by using electric cars instead of cars that run on fossil fuels. Electric cars are very beneficial to the environment because they don’t release carbon into the atmosphere like cars that run on gasoline do, and electric cars are becoming more affordable to produce and purchase. With these steps, the planet will become a more ecologically friendly place.
To sum everything up, our planet is dying at the hands of humans. Carbon emissions and burning fossil fuels play a massive role in heating global temperatures. If humans continue to burn fossil fuels at this rate, our planet will soon become uninhabitable. However, this is reversible and humans can contribute to a cleaner Earth with simple lifestyle changes.
