Saturday April 22nd was Earth day! A day when people across the globe hold events such as turning the lights off for a period of time to help the environment.
Have you ever noticed that the weather around the world is in unpredictable patterns that not even weather forecasters could predict? Places are getting warmer and warmer. Here in North America, the season Winter is not the same as it was 5 years back. The amount of snowfall has decreased significantly, and irregular seasons occurring. When it is Winter it feels like spring, when it’s summer it feels like we are near the equator.
Why?
Well the answer is simple, global warming plays a role in all this climate change.
Global warming happens when the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere increases and it is caused by mainly greenhouse gases and other pollutants. Most people do not even notice that they are contributing towards global warming as they use their cars, keep lights on constantly, waste paper, litter etc.
Climate change has been increasing gradually but in the past few years, it increased dramatically.
This graph by NASA shows the great increases in climate change:
There are major consequences that are attached to global warming such as:
Sea levels rising: The rise of sea levels are caused from ice sheets melting at a fast rate from the polar regions because of the high temperatures present. Some may think that rising sea levels are not a concern because it does not effect them but they are wrong. Rising sea levels are dangerous as they can create major floods that could cover a whole island!
Left Image: Rising sea levels show rapid increase over years
Animal extinction: Many animals are on the edge of extinction because of global warming. Their habitats are being destroyed for various reasons. For example the polar bears that live in the Arctic. Since ice mountains are melting quickly and the ice floe they stand on are breaking apart with early spring and late winters. Their food source has also diminished due to the lack of other animal preys near the area for example the Adelie Penguins.
Polluted air: Although global warming has shown significant signs of occurrence in the Arctic and places near the coast,
We are all victims to global warming too…
We are constantly being exposed to the polluted air around us that harms our bodies once inhaled. CO2 emitted from cars, factories etc make the air dirtier. Even though trees take in that CO2 and produce O2, deforestation occurs and less trees are around to produce the O2 we need.
So how can we help?
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Global warming can never be fully stopped because stopping the major cause; burning fossil fuels could not be stopped since it is the cheapest way to power our appliances such as cars.
However, there are ways to minimize it!
Use of public transportation — Taking public transportation instead of personal vehicles would make air pollution less as there would be less CO2 emitted in the air. Another method to reduce pollution with personal vehicles would be using electric cars or solar powered cars but they are on the expensive side.
Don’t waste paper — Reusing paper can help reduce the amount of trees being cut down. A tree can make around 8000 sheets of paper. Make sure you use both sides of the paper before tossing it. A simpler method is to make use of modern technology. Instead of using paper, people could perhaps use their technological devices whether it is to take notes, send messages etc.
Use renewal power and conserve power — Choosing to use renewal power is a great idea but again it can be costly. An alternate would be to conserve power by turning all applicants off while they are not in use, switch to eco friendly lights, and hanging clothes to dry instead of using a drying machines.
We should give more love to the planet we live in
Sources:
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/are-effects-global-warming-really-bad
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/top-10-ways-you-can-stop-climate-change/
Earth Space Science 
Our planet is dying and most of the world isn’t doing much about it. That’s terrifying. As you mentioned in your blog, a lot of the consequences of climate change are accelerating. Sea levels are rising, greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere are increasing, and the ice caps are melting. All rapidly.
I hope that the universal mentality changes soon. As someone part of the younger generation, I am fully aware climate change is very real and comes with very serious consequences. I’d like to believe that when our generation takes over, we’ll take the environment more seriously. We have to, or else there won’t be a generation of humans after us.
Even as students, there are a lot of things we are capable of doing to preserve our planet. Bottled water is unnecessary. Hand in 35+ page lab reports digitally instead of on paper (looking at you physics and biology). Use of goose paper for homework (if you do that). Eat at the plaxa instead of getting take out.
Also, busing is definitely a huge solution. But related to that, I think growing cities like Markham really need to invest in a good public transportation system to encourage public transport. I am very well aware a person can’t get anywhere in Markham without a car.
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I definitely agree that global warming becomes more and more serious these years and it’s mostly caused by human. Unlike other political issues, we can actually notice the changes by simply comparing the climate of this year to last year. Like you said, some place become much warmer during both summer and winter and winters might even disappear in some country. It is so sad that our beautiful planet provides such a perfect place for us to live and grow but we are destroying it bit by bit.
Other than global warming, human also did something that caused huge damage to the global environment, for instance, deforestation and overhunting for certain types of animals like killing shark for shark fins etc. These actions cause irreversible change to our environment and no one can reverse it back to orginal!
I definitely agree your possible solutions for saving our beautiful planet, like using less paper and public transport. These things are simple enough for us to do but can also save our beloved planet! We shouldn’t think that our effort is small and give up as small efforts gather to become big efforts!
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