Essay Topic: Climate Change
As climate change is defined by Dictionary.com as “a long-term change in the earth’s climate... increase… in the average atmospheric pressure”; climate change incorporates many side effects and their causes; such as the global warming theory and the melting of the polar ice caps. According to Nasa’s website, climate change is part of a bigger issue that involves us all as the world’s environment is changing permanently. These changes can have catastrophic effects on human society as we know it today.
According to environmental records kept up to date from the late 1800s, the average temperature has increased over 1.4 degrees. This amount may seem trivial, but communities along coastlines around the world are already seeing the effects as the polar icecaps melt away causing the sea level to rise. Coastline communities are often forced to relocate to higher ground because of flooding. Human communities aren’t the only ones affected, as many non-aquatic animal species often drown.
Mosquitoes and other disease carrying bugs that are known to carry Malaria, Pogosta, and many other deadly diseases are able to travel faster, and live longer than they ever have.
Natural weathering effects such as erosion have started to increase in volume and at the rate at which they occur causing land once used for agricultural and economic purposes to become no longer usable. Tropical storms such as hurricanes and tsunamis are also on the rise, and have even become commonplace because of climate change.
Intense heatwaves cause droughts, causing brush, crops, trees, and plants to dry out and catch fire much easier. Because of this, forest fires have become widespread. Recent forest fires over the last 5 years such as the Fontenelle Wyoming fire have wiped out over 1000 square miles of land; leaving residential neighborhoods, and farm land in utter devastation. Many lives have been destroyed or even lost because of blazes such as these, that were often preventable.
Climate change affects us all and we can decrease our load on the environment by carpooling or riding your bike to work, these options are not only cheaper than using a gallon of gasoline on your way to work but solace can be taken in the fact that you are “taking one for the team” and assisting the environment, in such an impacting way. Another popular tactic to decrease our footprint, is to follow the three R’s; Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
Climate change affects us all, in one way or another. The global temperature is increasing, giving way to rising sea levels, the spread of disease is becoming faster and easier because their carriers can live longer, and animal species are being displaced because their habitats are being destroyed. These effects that climate change entails are irreversible and we must do our part to stop climate change before it is too late. For your children. For your children’s children.
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