Brutal weather conditions and polluted air are what Americans have to deal with every day.
Climate change is a change in regional or global climate patterns. Temperatures have been 0.4% warmer than the average in January globally since 1981. Extreme weather events like droughts and heat waves are occurring due to the warmer climate.
“The recent heat waves and droughts in Texas (2011) and the Midwest (2012) set records for highest monthly average temperatures. Analyses show that human-induced climate change has generally increased the probability of heat waves,” according to globalchange.com.
The real culprit of these harsh conditions is humans. Human activity over the past century has been changing the Earth’s natural greenhouse. Activities, such as burning fossil fuels like oil and coal, are making people pay closer attention to atmospheric carbon dioxide. Other human activities like destroying land for agriculture and manufacturing have increased greenhouse gasses. Greenhouse gasses trap gasses and energy in the atmosphere and make the Earth warm up.
“Yes, I do believe the weather is different from what it was like several years ago.
Credit: NASA
I believe this is happening because a lot of people don’t care about the environment and litter also don’t recycle this causes the air to be polluted and causes a change in the climate,” said senior Maryam Choudhary.
Science teacher, Ms. Lee believes that the cause is “Definitely pollution, air pollution is one; it is a major part of climate change.”
Industries are causing the air to be polluted. A study by the Environmental Protection Agency has found that industries are responsible for 50% of the United States’ pollution. Air pollution is also caused by smokers. Smoking causes the smoker and the people around them to develop many health issues. According to nejm.org, “Air pollution was positively associated with death from lung cancer and cardiopulmonary disease but not with death from other causes considered together. ”
Carbon dioxide staying in the atmosphere will cause the Earth to keep warming up if we don’t stop and make a change. You can help reduce greenhouse gasses by doing the following:
- Ride a bike to places instead of driving a car.
- Use less air conditioning and heat.
- Turn off the lights when you aren’t using them.
- Switch your light bulbs to ones that use less energy.
- Use less hot water when showering.
