Understanding Climate Change
By: Jazmine Martinez
What is truly going on?
There is an entire ecosystem that is taken into account when understanding climate change. Why is the Earth so hot? Why are Amazon fires dramatically spread all over the internet? Why is seventeen-year-old Greta Thunberg stressing the issue of the climate crisis? The son of Will Smith and founder of water brand “Just Water” Jaden Smith posted a clip on Instagram, creating an "Eco-Resolution" featuring many icons in the entertainment industry. Why does any of it matter?
On the opposing end, there is a rising skepticism on the whole idea of the climate crisis from President Donald Trump. He states in one tweet, “In the 1920's people were worried about global cooling--it never happened. Now it's global warming. Give me a break!”
Global warming is a difficult topic to debate after gathering factual situations happening world-wide. After hard research, hundreds of thousands of scientists hint at one idea - the world is warming up faster than ever before. The facts are there, however, now more than ever the public needs to understand the complexity of the issue in a simple and understandable way in order to lessen the controversy.
The Earth’s Temperature is Rising
According to NASA, “Scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for decades to come, largely due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities.”
Greenhouse gases allow sunlight to pass by the atmosphere; however, they also stop it from leaving. As people breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, there is a large amount of carbon dioxide that fails to leave the atmosphere. Along with other greenhouse gases, this becomes trapped in our atmosphere, heating up the environment. Now, scientists have growing concerns over the rapid increase of temperature.
Creating Warmer Oceans
New York Times Journalist Kendra Pierre Louis states, “the oceans are heating up 40 percent faster on average than a United Nations panel estimated five years ago”.
The article also mentions that one in every five coral reefs have died in the last three years.
Coral reefs hold more marine life per square inch than any other marine environment. Since the oceans are warming up, there are species of fish and coral that have troubles adapting to the temperature.
According to NOAA National Ocean Service Education, “Many drugs are now being developed from coral reef animals and plants as possible cures for cancer, arthritis, human bacterial infections, viruses, and other diseases.”
Without these reefs, there will be less of a possibility to discover these types of cures for drugs. Also, with less fish, it also means less food to eat within a growing population.
Water Scarcity
Every living organism needs fresh, clean drinking water. The planet holds a vast amount of water; however, only one percent of it is drinkable. All drinkable water comes from groundwater, rivers, and streams. But since temperatures are rising, evaporation plays its part. This creates droughts, which causes other countries to struggle for water.
As water is sucked out of the land and into the clouds, this creates devastating hurricanes, having too much water. This eventually leads to poor countries around the world suffering the most. Countries are having to take water from aquifers, which is water that has been saved up for around ten thousand years. This is a very expensive alternative that will raise the price of goods heavily. Hedge funds are also created for water due to the scarcity of it.
Less Farming, Less Crops
Since communities are draining groundwater more than ever due to the loss of rivers and streams, farmers suffer from the loss of water in their crops. With less crops becomes less food to eat in this growing population.
The Colorado river has enough water to provide for cities as far as Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, as well as six million acres of farmland. It has also gone as far as Mexico; however, recently when it reaches Mexicali, there is none left to provide for farmers or any others nearby. This is what many have relied on in terms of supporting their incomes and their overall well-being. Many have to go to their governments, who determines the winners and losers in the community.
Fires
It is hard to pass by the idea that summers have been getting hotter as one year passes the next. Due to the lack of water, forests and greenery become more dry. A numerous amount of countries are experiencing forest fires, and not the healthy ones. In 2019, Brazil and other portions of South America have seen brutal fires within their precious amazon forests. These types of tropical forests are responsible for 36% of photosynthesis on land.
Australia experienced brutal fires that lasted much longer, causing more damage. It stood to be 46% greater than the amazon fires in South America, burning 25.5 million acres, killing more than one billion animals, and approximately 2,000 households destroyed. According to Insider, “The total damage and economic losses will exceed $100 billion, according to Accuweather.”
Meat Industry
Something as simple as the digestion system of cattle has a large impact on the planet. With meat being such a growing business, there is a great amount of buffalo, cows, pigs, and chicken eating, pooping, and burping. Inside there droppings is a gas called methane. This is another greenhouse gas that heats up the Earth’s atmosphere, along with carbon dioxide. Although carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere ten times longer than methane, it remains to have a higher radiation level than carbon dioxide.
According to InsideClimate News, “Emissions from livestock account for about 14.5 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, globally, and roughly two thirds of those emissions come from cattle.”
There are subcategories that aline with these major issues, and it is easy for one to affect the other. Earth revolves around an entire ecosystem that needs one source for the next. As one factor is altered, another one is somewhere as well. This is why it is a largely spoken subject, shown with urgency from activists to entertainment influencers.