The Alarming Threat of Global Warming: A Call to Action for a Future

The Global Warming Controversy

The issue of global warming has become a growing concern over the last few years. Although our president doesn’t seem to believe this is an issue, I believe it is a growing problem that will have a significant impact on the future and the Earth. Many people believe it is caused by the population of humans creating humanic gases polluting the earth’s environment. Some others, such as Donald Trump and even Global Scientists, do not believe in Global Warming. This has become a big debate worldwide, and global warming can be supported by many factors.

Evidences Supporting Global Warming

One reason I think Global Warming is real is because of all the fires occurring in places. Just a few months ago in California, there were wildfires happening all over the state, burning over 77,000 acres of forests and natural lands. In Australia, almost the whole continent has fires burning down just about everything that there is. There have been 28 deaths since the fires, and approximately 18 million acres of land that has just burned. All of Australia’s artifacts, landmarks, and nature have almost all been destroyed because of this. Another follow-up reason for my claim is that ice in Antarctica is melting, and polar bears are dying. This is causing the ocean levels to rise up. The average temperatures there should range around -10 degrees to -45 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now Antarctica has been getting low negatives, such as -6 degrees and even up to 15 degrees. It may seem really cold to humans, but there it is actually warmer than usual, causing big chunks of ice to fall off of cliffs or ice caps and fall into the ocean, making it rise. The ocean is now rising ⅛ of an inch per year, which actually is a lot. The icebergs in the water are also melting, making animals such as polar bears need to swim farther in the ocean trying to find one and end up drowning from exhaustion. Polar bears’ thick coats also are getting too hot for them, also making them die from the heat. Lastly, the coral reefs are dying. From 2016 to now, over half of the coral reefs have bleached to death. Because the waters have warmed up due to rising temperatures, the coral is dying.

Counterarguments to Global Warming

Other people do not think global warming is real for many factors. Some people believe that there isn’t just one answer to global warming. Some say that human gasses are doing it, while other scientists may say global warming is caused by just natural heat increase. A quote on climate.nasa.gov says, ‘Climate change is real. There will always be uncertainty in understanding a system as complex as the world’s climate. However, there is now strong evidence that significant global warming is occurring.” (2005, 11 international science academies). When the California Wildfires occurred, lots of people believed that global warming was the issue, for that isn’t the case.

According to https://www.npr.org, the wildfires were actually started by power lines falling down and leftover campfires in campsites and forests. Others could consider that if natural disasters are actually caused by accidents such as powerlines or lighting strikes that it wouldn’t be true that global warming exists. However, that isn’t the case for most worldwide situations. The coral reefs are dying, and it’s not mainly because of pollution left over by humans. It is actually because of warming waters caused by warmer temperatures than usual near Australia and the fires occurring everywhere there. The Australian fires were caused by various ways, such as lighting strikes but mostly because of human gases. The global warming caused by human gases causes temperatures to rise all over the planet.

Global Warming: Immediate Action Required

Many places all over Earth are in danger, and it’s best for everyone to pitch in. If this keeps happening, everything on planet Earth could be destroyed. It may not seem like the biggest concern as of now, only happening in some areas, but it could spread globally soon enough if we help by not causing pollution in the air, such as burning oil and having power plants in cities. We can use clean energy sources and improve our land usage. We can even do the smallest things, like cleaning up our trash and not littering on the streets or putting a bottle in a recycling bin will already improve the economy. The Earth is dying, and it needs our help. In my opinion, I think global warming is real, and we need to act fast and help our planet.

References:

1. Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. (n.d.). Retrieved from NASA: https://climate.nasa.gov/
2. DeCapua, J. (2020, February 17). Australia’s Wildfires Are Releasing Vast Amounts of Carbon. Retrieved from NPR: https://www.npr.org/2020/02/17/806981021/australias-wildfires-are-releasing-vast-amounts-of-carbon
3. Global Warming. (2021, August 6). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming
4. Global Warming: Causes, Effects, and Solutions. (n.d.). Retrieved from National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-overview/
5. Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser. (2020). “CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” Our World in Data. Retrieved from: https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions
6. NASA. (2005). Climate Change. Retrieved from: https://web.archive.org/web/20090225045242/http://nationalacademies.org/onpi/06072005.pdf
7. Pearson, H. (2019, January 22). Most Coral Reefs Are at Risk unless Climate Change is tackled, Report says. Retrieved from Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00186-7
8. State of the Climate: Global Analysis. (n.d.). Retrieved from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/202001
9. Ward, B. (2018, November 26). What Causes Wildfires and How Do Humans Contribute? Retrieved from National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/what-causes-wildfires