5+Environmental+Issues+on+the+Rise

“The climate is changing. The earth is warming up, and there is now an overwhelming scientific consensus that it is happening, and human-induced” (Anup Shah). During the last five years, news about global warming, recycling, and other environmental issues has been prominent. We are in the midst of a “go green” revolution: everywhere you go, you have the option to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Schools and businesses are making an effort to become aware and in control of their waste production, leading others to do the same. Celebrities take it upon themselves to promote environmental awareness as well, which causes a large-scale social response within targeted age groups.

Al Gore, former Vice President and presidential candidate, made a renowned presentation on his opinion of global warming, utilizing shocking statistics about the rising temperature to prove America’s problem. Gore starts off, “A few days ago, scientists announced alarming new evidence of the rapid melting of the perennial ice of the north polar cap, continuing a trend of the past several years that now confronts us with the prospect that human activities, and if unchecked in the next decade, could destroy one of the earth's principle mechanisms for cooling itself” (Al Gore).

The earth’s temperature is rising year by year and there is no way to erase the damage society has created. There are ways to pause and prevent future damage from occurring, however. Seeing as America is the biggest contributor to this global epidemic, we have to biggest life-style change to make. “The serious debate over the climate crisis has now moved on to the question of how we can craft emergency solutions in order to avoid this catastrophic damage” (Al Gore). First, be more energy efficient: use less water, turn off lights, unplug electronics when you are finished using them, and so on. Second, carpool. The less time spent driving, the less carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere.

Not only are the summers getting hotter, but animals native to icy regions are well on their way to extinction. Most notable is the melting of the polar ice caps, leaving polar bears other arctic animals stranded and homeless. Furthermore, the climate change “and accelerating biodiversity loss risks human security (e.g. a major change in the food chain upon which we depend, water sources may change, recede or disappear, medicines and other resources we rely on may be harder to obtain as the plants and forna they are derived from may reduce or disappear)” (Anup Shah). If changes aren’t made, the earth in its entirety will suffer the consequences.