Open Your Eyes | Teen Ink

Open Your Eyes

August 6, 2013
By Sahar BRONZE, Matawan, New Jersey
Sahar BRONZE, Matawan, New Jersey
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Today, we're living comfortably on Earth. We go about doing our daily activities, concerned about our own issues and only the immediate future. However, what we don't realize is how much our day to day activities are actually harming our earth. For instance, did you know that our climate is changing faster now than it ever did in the past 10,000 years due to human activities. Clearly if in the 21 century our climate is changing so rapidly, it shows that we are the ones to blame because we are encouraging global warming. Global warming occurs due to the burning of fossil fuels which releases enormous amounts of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. Global warming is like the Bubonic Plague of the 1300s, spreading like wildfire, but this time it's not only killing people, it's killing the earth as well.

The issue of our earth has been cast aside, for too long we have plagued it with pollution, for too long we have de-forested nations, and for too long we have released toxic chemicals into our atmosphere. The earth is our oasis and it is our humble abode. It has given all the essential and precious necessities of life such as water and oxygen. But we in return have put it in peril's way; we have left it on the brink of collapse by our own actions.

For example, the main fossil fuel the US burns is coal because it powers almost everything, cars, electronics, and homes. However, all this burning produces too much heat in the atmosphere which gets trapped. The heat then starts to be absorbed by the water, causing sea levels to rise 3.2 milliliters every year. At this rate, coastal states can be underwater in a few decades. That could be states such as California, New Jersey, or Delaware.. Would you want everything you ever knew in life, your home, family, and friends to be washed away by the water? But the repercussions of global warming don’t stop there. Rising temperatures is the US is attracting hundreds of venomous creatures, mosquitoes carrying malaria, whose infested bodies can soon penetrate into our skin.

Even though people know about these imminent disasters, such as rising sea levels and rampaging diseases, no one is worried about the issue of global warming, because it hasn't directly impacted us. But what about the future generations, our children and grandchildren? Would you really want to leave them a chaotic world, one that was once so full of hope, but left to despair? As humans we are naturally inclined to care for each other and our surroundings. But the second we stop caring, like right now by encouraging global warming, that's the second we lose our humanity.

However, it's not enough to just know the problem, we need to fix it. One person can't make a difference in the environment, but with strength in numbers the impact can be huge. It doesn't matter if you're young or old, rich or poor, everyone can do their part to help the environment. See the change when you get a recycling bin and start recycling, see the change when you unplug electronics when not in use, see the change when you open the blinds to light the room with natural light. The amount of energy we all can save in a year is tremendous


The author's comments:
I was inspired to write this article because of the growing lack of concern for the environment. It's time people open their eyes and see that global warming is a real problem with serious repercussions.

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