By Bryant Gomez
Climate change is something very serious and something huge that gets talked about a lot. It has affected a lot of people around the world such as California. California has experienced many disasters, they have recently experienced a flood due to heavy rain. The reason being is because of many people burning fossil fuels and heating the atmosphere, that causes the storms.
Climate scientist Daniel L. Swain said, “The dominant thing that’s happening is just that, in a warmer atmosphere, there’s exponentially more potential for it to hold water vapor. Long, concentrated regions in the atmosphere that transport moist air from the tropics to higher latitudes are called atmospheric rivers. It’s very dangerous because it creates high floods that sweep away cars and knock down trees.”
It has been reported that over fifteen people have died from the flooding. Others were forced to evacuate due to increasing water levels, even celebrities. Fame and fortune were not able to protect people front he climate and weather issues.
A lady named Maria Cucchiara was walking when a huge branch destroyed the roof of her small studio,“I have two kitties, and we could have been killed. It was over a ton,” she said. “So needless to say, it was very disturbing.”
Not only does climate change affect us humans but it also affects a lot of animals, a great example would be the polar bears. Polar bears have been experiencing challenges from climate change for a long time.The Arctic is warming about twice as fast as the global average, causing the ice that polar bears live on to melt away.They rely on the sea ice because it helps them hunt, travel and rest. With the decrease that is happening to the polar bears, their population is projected to decline by 30% in 2050.
One United States Geological Survey study from 1984-2004 showed that the number of polar bears in the West Hudson Bay stock, in Canada, decreased from 1,194 polar bears in 1987 to 935 in 2004. With the change for the polar bears, it reduced their weight and the survival rate of newborn cubs. They just cannot get enough to eat to sustain themselves.
There are many ways to prevent climate change from getting worse. One of the biggest is by saving energy at home. A lot of our energy and heat that we have at home is powered by coal, gas and oil. You can switch your incandescent light bulbs to LED light bulbs because they use substantially less energy. Another way to save energy is by hanging out laundry instead of using a drier.
Transportation is also something critical, because we all need to go somewhere, either to work or school. So many vehicles burn diesel or gasoline. So a perfect way to travel without having to burn much gasoline is to use public transportation. Riding a bike is also a great option since it does not need anything so it can run. Bike riding is great for your health as much as it is good for the environment.
Another way to prevent more climate change is by recycling. Recycling reduces the greenhouse emissions by lowering energy consumption. Also when you recycle, your trash can be used to make more products which would require less energy than using fresh materials. With the energy that is being produced, it releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses.Those greenhouse gasses release would trap the heat in our atmosphere which would cause global warming.
It is very important for all of us to work together to do these things, since the climate is getting worse. “For our economic and national security, and for the future of all life on earth, lawmakers must act without delay” says Natural Resources Defense Council President, Manish Bapna.
