Nicole Fernandez

Global Warming

We as a community have failed to take care of our environment. Our global average surface temperature has increased 2 degree fahrenheit since the 1800’s which can mean nothing to us, but it has a significant impact on global warming and the heat in our surface. But there are many ways in which we can help little by little to decrease our effect on global warming. Though before we can commence on personal changes to our lifestyle, we must first understand what is global warming, how we as humans have an affect on it, how does it affect our environment and ecosystems of the world, what our government is doing doing to lower our effects on climate change and what can we ourselves can do to ultimately one day lower our earth’s temperature to its original state.

Global warming is the increase of average world temperatures resulting in what is known as the greenhouse effect. Gasses in the Earth’s atmosphere produce the green house effect. They can either be natural or man made. The Industrial Revolution began in the late 1800’s in Great Britain, when manual labor began to be replaced by machines fueled by new sources of energy known as coal, oil, and natural gas. Now the world has rapidly and completely depended on the planet’s fossil fuels leading to build more industries. Burning these fossil fuels can release large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the air trapping heat in it causing global warming. According to statista.com, Fossil fuel energy consumption in the United States from 1985 to 2021, there has been an increase of 5.3% since the year 2020 (statista). Plants take up CO2 from the atmosphere and release oxygen (H2O) in the process of photosynthesis. In order to make more industries, we cut down various trees, which store carbon, and once cut down it is let out into the atmosphere which is an addition of global warming.

The effect global warming can have to our ecosystem can be drastic if we continue to increase the Earth’s temperature. High temperatures can have an increased risk of extinction within animal and plant species because they wouldn’t be able to adapt to dramatic temperature change. The surface warming up more can have a change in our seasonal process, such as earlier, later, or no growth in our farming and vegetation in which food cannot be produced to the same capacity needed to feed cities full of people, affect to the migration patterns in animals and, seasonal weather patterns (having a hotter winter or colder summer). Hotter temperatures can melt sea ice over time, and sunlight isn’t able to reflect back much into the surface resulting in a cycle of warming and melting. The ocean temperature starts to rise and it delays the ice growth in fall to winter and during spring to summer ice melts faster. Having warmer weather can lead to more diseases in animals. For instance, in the 1900’s the West Nile virus broke out in the U.S., the bite of a mosquito killing thousands of people.

The United States is said to be second around the world on taking control in global warming pollution. Back in early November 2020, Donald Trump was president. He believed global warming was a hoax which led to the United States being the first to formally withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, a commitment to reducing carbon emissions (CO2 that factories, cars or any man made machine produce that can be harmful to the environment). Now President Biden has pledged to help with global warming. U.S industries today are striving to find new ways Of adapting new clean energy technologies And increasing energy productivity in buildings. Making more electric cars. In 2020 renewable energy sources such as wind and solar provide more electricity than coal for the very first time in to U.S history Reducing energy and consumption lowering electric and heating bills for residents.

Knowing our situation now, there are many little things that can help keep our environment cleaner. We can start by powering your home with renewable energy by choosing to power your home with wind or solar energy, reducing water waste by taking shorter showers, it takes a lot of energy to pump and heat up your water, pulling plugs, everyone uses technology and we all keep it plugged in all day, try taking out most of the non important cable to save up energy, recycling should be a priority at home chores, and lastly most importantly is to speak up and spread awareness.
For example, In August 2018 Greta Thunberg began a global movement by skipping school, “she spent her days camped out in front of the Swedish Parliament, holding a sign painted in black letters on a white background that read Skolstrejk för klimatet: “School Strike for Climate.” In the 16 months since, she has addressed heads of state at the U.N, met with the Pope, sparred with the President of the United States and inspired 4 million people to join the global climate strike on September 20, 2019, in what was the largest climate demonstration in human history.” Greta is a prime example of what we as a whole should be doing. We should be able to speak up and take more action to what matters most.

We as a community should stand together in order to take care of our environment. Our global average surface temperature will continue to increase which has a significant impact on global warming and the heat in our surface. But there are many ways in which we can help to decrease our effect on global warming. Though before we can commence on personal changes to our lifestyle, we must first understand what is global warming, how we as humans have an affect on it, how does it affect our environment and ecosystems of the world, what our government is doing to lower our effects on climate change and what can we ourselves can do to ultimately one day lower our earth’s temperature to its original state.

Work Cited
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MacMillan, Amanda, and Jeff Turrentine. “Global Warming 101.” NRDC, 11 Mar. 2021, https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101#causes.

Nunez, Christina. “Global Warming Solutions.” Environment, National Geographic, 3 May 2021, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/global-warming-solutions#:~:text=For %20example%2C%20improvements%20to%20energy,trapping%20heat%20on%20the%20plane t.

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“Tropical Deforestation and Global Warming.” Union of Concerned Scientists, 27 July 2008, https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/tropical-deforestation-and-global-warming.