The Threat to Our Future | Teen Ink

The Threat to Our Future

May 13, 2016
By nonottelling GOLD, Cannon Falls, Minnesota
nonottelling GOLD, Cannon Falls, Minnesota
10 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Millions of people every day practice the same routine of driving their car to work, or driving anywhere really. But most people are unaware or unwilling to accept that those cars are slowly contributing to brand new theory of climate change. In fact cars are contributing to over twenty percent of carbon emissions and greenhouse gasses, according to the World Wildlife Foundation. Cars aren’t the only thing contributing to climate change, there are many factors that add on to this theory. Climate change is currently not counted as a huge factor even with all of the supporting evidence that is proving it. So I believe that the world should start addressing climate change and global warming more seriously.  By covering what climate change is, how it affects humans and animals, how it affects natural and man made infrastructure,  climate changes long term effects,and possible solutions for it, hopefully the threat of climate change can become more visible.

According to an article by National Public Radio on February 15 2014, climate change was first proposed by Joseph Fourier in the 1860s when he was conducting experiments with CO?, and found out it was able to get caught in an artificial atmosphere. Joseph suggested that with all of the use of coal, oil, and other natural resource it was acting the same way and getting stuck in the earth’s atmosphere. Jump forward over 140 years, scientists have been able to collect information with constantly upgrading technology. After collecting a fair amount of data scientists were able to piece together the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect states that carbon emissions and other gasses are creating a layer in the earth’s atmosphere that when radiation from the sun tries to leave the earth it gets trapped in that layer creating the earth to warm up and levels of radiation to get trapped in the earth’s atmosphere says the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. The greenhouse effect is the most accurate prediction that proves climate change, it is also a huge threat to the world. So now that the basic definition of climate change is explained the second step is how it will affect humans and wildlife.

The scariest effect of climate change is that it poses a health threat to humans and animals. The most likely way it will affect humans is by a number of lung and respiratory diseases and issues states the Centers for Disease Control. Diseases like asthma will be the most common, with the polluted air getting into people's lungs. Asthma is not the only disease though, another popular one will be cardiovascular disease which means blood clots and severe heart conditions. A huge threat to both animals and humans would be many insect carried diseases such as malaria, west nile virus and rift valley fever. These would be spread easier because swarms of bugs mostly mosquitoes would be able to populate and travel faster with warmer climates. Unsanitary water would be a possibility to because of bacteria being to reproduce and live longer in rivers and lakes, posing harm to mostly animals. Climate change’s effect to both humans and animals is worth paying attention to, because if we don't we are just hurting ourselves and our future. But it’s not just us and animals being harmed it is also nature and man made infrastructure.

Hopefully we want to save our cities, our land, and our nature but climate change is going to make that harder with its different impacts on different spots around the world. First in the united states according to NASA the east coast will see more severe weather supplied with powerful hurricanes and nor'easters, that can cause flooding and major damage to coastal cities such as Boston and New York. The midwest can also expect severe weather with flooding making it harder to grow crops and soil damage. The South West will have to prepare for major heat waves that could last weeks with few numbers of precipitation, the dry weather will make growing crops nearly impossible turning the south west into desert like climate. Climate change’s effect to the United states it fearful but it will be just as bad in the rest of the world. Europe can plan for colder than usual temperatures, and places like the UK will need to be ready for sea levels predicted to rise one to four feet. And finally the middle east and Asia will receive extreme heat with very dry air. So by changing our climates for the worse I don’t see why we wouldn’t focus on it more. But just because it has all of these down sides does not mean climate change is curable.


All of these possibilities seem hard to reform from but scientists are suggesting possible to reduce the threat of climate change. As stated by the New York Times by Justin Gillis on November 28 2015 the easiest way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is just doing simple tasks around your house like turning of light bulbs, use less energy, use heating and cooling smartly, be water efficient, and reduce reuse recycle. These are just a few household activities that can help save the world, states the United States Environmental Protection Agency. But just working around the house is not going to largely reduce climate change. Another idea would be to impose higher standards on high emission factories and other natural resource consumers because it would largely cut back on carbon use.

Stating what climate change is, its effect on humans and animals, its effect on manmade and natural structures and cities,and some possible ways to slow down climate change, hopefully the threat is more noticeable and action will be taken, because if the world just sets this to the side it will keep growing and growing to the point where we are hurting our world our people and animals. The world needs to come together address this problem, because if we don’t in the end we are only putting our future at risk. So let’s solve this problem one car at a time.



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