Morgan Adams

My Opinion on Climate Change

I feel like the change in climate has been a bit of a sensitive topic in society
these days. What I mean by that is that when most people hear those words they
associate it with the end of the world, especially if the change is rapid or unusual in
the area its found. As we all know Earth constantly changing. But, when you
compare its climate now to millions of years ago, the changes are significant
especially when it comes to the reasons why.

Several times in its history our planet has been covered with ice but it has also
had its warmer periods of time (i.e., the mammoths and dinosaurs) even over the
last 650,000 years temps and carbon dioxide levels have fluctuated in a cyclical
pattern. Over the last century however, Earth has been experiencing global
warming. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Global Warming is defined
as the recent increase in the world's temperature that is believed to be caused by
the increase of certain gases (such as carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere. This
means the Earth is warming up and fast! The global temp has only been measured
since 1880 but over the last 100 years it has been recorded that the average
surface temperature of the Earth has increased by about 1.0 F. Also, in that time the
warmest years that have occurred have all been since 1980, with 1995 the warmest
to date.

The next question I asked was what does this mean? I have heard of global
warming several times in my life but never took the time to really research and
understand what exactly that means. What I didnt realize was that a warmer earth
affects the global water cycle by speeding up the process and this then causes the
exchange of water among the oceans, atmosphere, and land. Back on land, the
higher temps cause more evaporation, and because of that soils dry out faster. At
the beginning of the century, precipitation in the United States alone has increased
by about 6 percent, and the heavy precipitation has increased by 20 percent. As a
result of this, floods, soil erosion, and loss of life can occur. I immediately thought of
the recent winter storms we have gotten in back east have been really strange but I
am sure that has everything to do with the increase in the water cycle and the
warming of earth.

That fact brings me to the climate change of today. One of the reasons the
climate is different today compared to thousands and millions of years ago is the

fact that the natural causes are not responsible for it. The stupidity of humanity is
the main cause believe it or not. Why? Because we are constantly burning fossil
fuels like coal, oil and natural gas, and it ends up in the atmosphere with carbon
dioxide. This causes Greenhouse gases to be at record levels. For most of earths
time the concentration of carbon dioxide stayed between 200 and 300 parts per
million in the atmosphere. Today, it's up to nearly 400 parts per million, and the
amount is still rising. That is crazy to think about! All that extra carbon dioxide is
trapping heat and causing our climate to rapidly change.

I think there are many things we can do to maintain our climate and help to
prevent it from changing too much too quickly. We need to keep our earth clean and
take care of it. Many people forget about it but recycling is huge! Its amazing what
a difference it makes. Also, instead of driving everywhere all the time take
alternative forms of transportation. Doing this will decrease the levels of carbon
monoxide and nitrogen oxide in the air which contributes to the greenhouse effect.
Even though our climate is constantly changing and sometimes more intensely than
others, that doesnt not mean we need to freak out and assume the end of the
world is near. We just need to be more aware of what we are doing to this beautiful
world we live in. The more we do that the longer we will all be here!