— WASTE MANAGEMENT —
By Daniela Echavarria-duran
Grade 10, St. Cloud High School
Many may wonder why it is starting to feel warmer than expected. Some might even take that curiosity and inquisitiveness to ask questions like “Why are the wetland conditions changing?” or “Why is there a deficiency of crops and herbs?” Well, the answer to those questions is simply climate change. Now you may be wondering what climate change is. Climate change is any momentous change in measures of climate over a period of time. This portends that climate change is one of the most damaging elements to our planet including our nature and mammals.
Climate change has had a major negative impact on our grounds like agriculture, production and sea levels. Extreme weather changes such as abnormal hot temperatures, wind patterns, precipitation or disastrous floods can induce the process of cultivating crops for obvious reasons. The news article titled “What Is Climate Change” revealed that “The rising temperatures have caused melting of polar ice caps resulting in rising sea levels by between 10-25 centimeters in a hundred years. They are projected to rise another 50 centimeters by 2100.” This comes to show that the impingement of rising water levels is going to span more than ever. Although the process does not seem to be moving as rapidly, changes must be made to protect polar areas, or any other areas involved with substantial amounts of water.
Also, from that article, “But it is said that in more than 200 years of industrialization and usage of fossil fuels in the western countries more carbon dioxide was produced than could be used up by natural processes such as forests or plants and too much of it has been deposited in the atmosphere resulting in rising temperatures and other extreme weather conditions that we are experiencing.”
The carbon dioxide that is emitted into the atmosphere by fossil fuels underground cannot be captured by the atmosphere.
We emit more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every time we remove fossil fuels from beneath Earth’s surface and burn them, compared to what can be taken up by the natural carbon cycle. In turn, this results in global warming of the planet. This makes it more difficult to grow crops and herbs. The above examples are only two of the many reasons why climate change is extremely harmful.
To continue, fish and humans have been negatively affected by climate change in many ways, as well as other animals and plants. In the inland areas of the globe, fish species that rely upon colder water for breeding and living are experiencing a significant impact due to climate change.
It is believed that many fish are being stressed by the heat of the water due to the drought caused by a combination of reduced precipitation and runoff from snowmelt, in combination with rising temperatures.
However, animals are not the only ones suffering from this horrible limitation, humans are being negatively affected economically. The essential overview titled “Climate Change: Health Impacts” states that, “There is a wide range of possible health consequences of climate change. These include direct effects from natural weatherrelated disasters, such as the destruction of homes and contamination of the water supply. There are also likely to be changes in the geographical range and transmission season of insects, which will increase cases of vector-borne disease, such as malaria.”
A broad range of social and environmental factors will be affected by climate change, including air quality, water supply, food supply, shelter and many other factors that influence human health. Health consequences are strikingly relevant because they reflect intensively on the public’s money and well-being. In conclusion, these are the reasons that are impacting our planet day by day as a result of climate change.
Although many of you may believe that you can’t do anything to change the climate, you’ll be surprised by how simple it really is because there are a substantial number of ways that you could cooperate. Inflation, for example, holds a big toll on making the suffering of climate change a lot worse. This is because of the Inflation Reduction Act which was “at fault for increasing taxes and failing to address “record-high input for [farming] costs,” among other reasons” as stated in the article titled “In Overheated Economy, Dems Forced to Cool Climate Messaging.” Some ways you could contribute to this cause is by preparing for when these natural disasters happen and preventing it from being a lot worse than it must. This means only shop for the amount of food and supplies needed and being considerate of others.
