In February, the U.S experienced a devastating amount of snow, even reaching Texas. The reason for this wild weather is due to the climate crisis. A polar vortex surrounded the Arctic, moving counterclockwise across the globe. This vortex keeps the frigid air in the Arctic. However, due to the rapidly increasing temperatures in the Arctic, the vortex traveled north and south, leading to snow in Texas (scied.ucar.edu).
With climate change, more damage is done to the Earth than just snow storms. The temperatures have risen ten degrees simply in the last century. This rise leads to higher sea levels as ice glaciers melt into the water. According to nasa, rise in sea levels will eventually take over coastal areas. Small islands are already being taken over by the ocean, specifically islands like Hawaii.
Climate change is greatly caused by humans. Greenhouse gases are gases in the Earth’s atmosphere that trap the suns heat. Carbon dioxide (Co2) is one of the most common of these gases. Sixty-four percent of the Co2 in the air is from us. Deforestation and the burning of coal, oil and gas are the major ways that we release Co2.
Methane is another greenhouse gas. Seventeen percent of methane gas is created by human activity. According to Europa.eu, farming and landfills are each reasons for rising Methane levels.
So what can we do to fix the climate crisis? A major contributor is the lack of renewable energy. An increase of renewable energy would greatly bring down the emissions of Co2 from the atmosphere. Examples of clean energy include solar, wind, water, geothermal and bio energy.
A lot of how much clean energy is available is determined by the government. Government officials also make sure that actions are being taken to help stop global warming. So a big thing we need to do is elect officials that believe in the climate crisis.
But as teenagers, most of us are not in charge of what energy our households use, but there are still ways that we can contribute, including increasing recycling and watching how much we throw away, making sure that we consume the food we buy and not throwing it out. These small steps lead to a chain reaction to bring down methane and Co2 levels.
An even easier contribution we can make is spreading awareness. The more that are aware of the issues, the more people that will try to switch over to renewable energy sources.
The Earth does its part to take care of us, so we need to do our part to take care of it. Pretty soon the damage that’s been done will be irreversible, so we need to do what we can now to fix the Earth before we reach that point.