We Need to Change | Teen Ink

We Need to Change

October 24, 2010
By Anonymous

“Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts” (– Quote from Arnold Bennett) Earth is going through very significant changes, but global warming is one that we must prevent or at the least temporarily suppress. Global warming is a very serious issue that we humans today are now facing, the results of this inevitable disaster is devastating, directly affecting the generation now, and the next coming and so on. And to prevent this impending doom, all you have to do is a simple task as discarding an empty water bottle in a recycling bin. (The 3 R’s, reduce, reuse, and recycle!) The tiniest of effort to reduce, reuse, and recycle do help! Examples of reducing; turning off the T.V., conserving the water when brushing your teeth, and turn off the lights in a room you’re not in. Reusing; refilling your water bottles or using the other side of a half used paper. Recycling; when paper or water bottles are completely worn out, discard them in recycling bins.

The IPCC has predicted that the Arctic could be free of summer sea ice by 2070, and more current studies predict this could happen several decades sooner. Global warming is greatly changing our world, with each change comes numerous of consequences and chains scrambling “cycles” they participate in. The polar ice caps melting affect the creatures that live on them, polar bears and penguins, greatly influencing their survival as a species. Also because the ice caps melt, they would increase sea level. Another contributor to the increase of sea level is the increases warmth in water. When water is warmer, it expands causing an increase of water amount. With that happening it affects life in low coastal lands like Florida and Louisiana, which would force residents both human and animals living there, to move. The change of climate also affects migration; vectors of very infectious diseases can cause epidemics to towns that vectors stumble upon. See how one “thing” gets influenced by another and from that another “thing” gets influenced and so on. If we keep up with the direction we are headed, the life for the coming generations will be difficult. They’ll suffer the consequences we so lazy left alone. (I’ve always thought one of our many goals as humans was to preserve and better life for our future of our species.) The changes may be first seen as unimportant and non-life threatening, but it’s like taking a predator out of a life cycle. The imbalance of the cycle would cause the whole system to unravel.
“A study by the United States Geological Survey, 2/3rds of the world's polar bears, including the ones in Alaska, could be gone by 2050 from the nonstop loss of sea ice.” Not only will humans will be affected by global warming but others living on earth will be affected. Animals are nearly if not more vulnerable to the costly affects of global warming due to their difficulty in adaptation and lack of migration options. (Let’s be honest, polar bears can’t pack up their belongings in a suitcase and move to family on the other side of town.) I want the others in the next generation, and the one after that and so on, to have a chance to see the magnificent animals that have walked the earth. Not only as humans do we have to preserve human life, our own species, but as the supposed “superior or dominating” population of earth, isn’t it our responsibility to take care of the others residing on earth with us?
Now the argument that global warming is not something to worry about, our human adapting abilities will kick in and we will thrive. This statement/opinion to me (It’s an opinion, I’ll respect it and not “shun” it) is difficult to hear. In my opinion, it means you aren’t thinking about the other things in the world that’ll change the animals, the climates, the habitat changes, etc that would affect us. Do you remember what had occurred when we traveled to America? The Puritans came here and had to fight sickness and adaptation to the new environment, in which they greatly struggled but somehow got through it. The numerous consequences of global warming effect the environment we live today, hot days will get hotter, cold weather will be brutal, do you think we can adapt to the changes? Yes, even though global warming is progressing somewhat slowly and we could possibly adapt and survive it, do you still want to risk it? In the future regret not making a difference, looking back and say maybe we should’ve because we could’ve? Do you want to risk putting that many human lives at risk because you thought that this would occur? In my opinion and from past experiences, I think that it’s better safe than sorry. We should get stop being lazy and put some effort in trying, because every centimeter of try is worth it.
Global warming is inevitable and we as humans need to fight it. If we don’t do something we leave the responsibility to the next generation, extending the lazy cycle of passing “it” on to another. We need to break this pattern and do something now. (Because if we don’t stop it, we are only encouraging the ones we are passing it on to, to follow our example.) I am grateful and thing it’s quite a blessing for me to say I’ve seen a polar bear in real life, I’ve seen the beautiful beaches of San Diego, and I’ve seen. I want the next in line to see the magnificent things I’ve have seen and experience what I’ve done on this great rock we call earth. And this dream can be achieved by doing the task, reducing, reusing, recycling.







Works Cited
- "Global Warming." Compton's by Britannica, v 6.0. 27 Jan. 2009. eLibrary. Web. 19 Oct. 2010.
(2009). global warming. global warming. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com
- "Global Warming." Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia. 08 Sep. 2005. eLibrary. Web. 19 Oct. 2010. (2005). global warming. global warming. Helicon Publishing. Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com
- Jordan, Stuart. "THE GLOBAL WARMING CRISIS." Humanist. 01 Nov. 2005: 23. eLibrary. Web. 19 Oct. 2010. Jordan, Stuart (2005, November 01). THE GLOBAL WARMING CRISIS. Humanist, (6), 23, Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com
- "Greenhouse Effect." Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia. 08 Sep. 2005. eLibrary. Web. 19 Oct. 2010. (2005). greenhouse effect. greenhouse effect. Helicon Publishing. Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com

The author's comments:
Was a class assignment, and I chose an article that was something I thought as an very important issue, something "we", this generation, must do.

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