The New Threat To our planet Earth | Teen Ink

The New Threat To our planet Earth

January 8, 2014
By Listen BRONZE, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Listen BRONZE, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Climate change is starting to be a worldwide threat. As every hour, every minute, and every second passes, we humans are doing more factors to help the catastrophe that has already existed. Around the world, sea levels are rising everywhere and oceans are becoming warmer. More greenhouse gases are being produced.
And our new threat begins.
Our Earth is getting warmer as we know it. That might seem nothing, but it can be a huge trouble to our world.
Our planet warms when greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, trap heat in the atmosphere and regulate our climate. They block the heat radiating from Earth toward space.
These gases exist naturally, but humans add more carbon dioxide like by burning fossil fuels for energy (coal, oil, and natural gas) and by clearing forests.
Greenhouse gases act like a blanket. The thicker the blanket, the warmer our planet becomes. At the same time, the Earth’s oceans are also absorbing some of this extra carbon dioxide, making them more acidic and less hospitable for sea life.
As the planet warms, it will warm oceans and glaciers will melt, increasing the seal level. Coastlines flood. And if sea levels are going to continue to track temperature, it could rise up to three feet or more by 2100. Scientific research indicates sea levels worldwide have been rising at a rate of 0.14 inches (3.5 millimeters) per year since the early 1990s.
This puts most islands at risk of being claimed by the ocean.
Imagine you one day finding yourself standing in a mountain of water. And not just clean, pure water where you use to go swimming. And all around you, damaged houses and buildings. Trashes floating on top of the water. It is going to wipe away everything. And that is not a happy image.
But this this global warming affects a variety of living things, including animals.
Rising temperatures are changing weather and vegetation patterns across the globe, forcing animal species to migrate to new, cooler areas in order to survive. The rapid nature of climate change is likely to exceed the ability of many species to migrate or adjust. Not all the animals who migrated can survive.
Experts predict that one-fourth of Earth’s species will be headed for extinction by 2050 if the warming trend continues at its current rate. Many species are already feeling the heat:
In 1999, the death of the last Golden Toad in Central America marked the first documented species extinction driven by climate change.
Due to melting ice in the Arctic, polar bears may be gone from the planet in as little as 100 years.
In the tropics, increased sea temperatures are causing more coral reefs to “bleach,” as the heat kills colorful algae that are necessary to coral health and survival. Scientists predict that a 3.6 degree Fahrenheit increase in temperature would wipe out 97 percent of the world's coral reefs.
And several U.S. states may even lose their official birds as they head for cooler climates - including the Baltimore oriole of Maryland, black-capped chickadee of Massachusetts, and the American goldfinch of Iowa.
Meanwhile, scientists in the United States and other parts of the world have reached an overwhelming consensus that climate change is real and caused primarily by - Humans. And even 97% of climate scientists agree with this idea, as well.
Respected scientific organizations such as the National Academy of Science, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and World Meteorological Association (WMO) have all identified climate change as an urgent threat caused by humans that must be addressed.
We humans put our needs in front of other’s lives.

People clear forests everyday for their own use. To grow crops, to have a long land to build a house, to use the wood as a source of fire and the house to build, and many other cases.

But these activities cause danger to our nature. And unfortunately, forests are currently being destroyed or damaged at an alarming rate.
Forests help protect the planet by absorbing massive amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most abundant type of pollution that causes climate change.
Logging and clearing land for agriculture or livestock release huge amounts of carbon dioxide and other harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It also diminishes those regions’ ability to absorb carbon pollution.
Scientists estimate that up to 20% of global carbon emissions come from deforestation- greater than emissions from every car, truck and plane on the planet combined.
And another factor is burning fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and natural gas, to generate energy has the greatest impact on the atmosphere than any other single human activity.
Globally, power generation is responsible for about 23 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions per year – in excess of 700 tonnes every second. Coal is especially damaging to our atmosphere, releasing 70% more carbon dioxide than natural gas for every unit of energy produced.
These activities continue every day and it is becoming a threat and a danger.
If we, humans, are going to continue to do what we are doing and forget about global warming, the consequences will be harsh.
We need to advance policies to fight climate change.
We need to engage with businesses to reduce carbon emissions.
We need to help people and nature adapt to a changing climate.
We live in our planet together. We share our world with thousands of species. We are also affected with what climate change brings as much as the others.
So lets not ruin their lives as well as ours.
Lets change our behavior and take a step back from what we are doing. By taking action and donating whatever you have to any organism that works against climate change and works to help those affected by it, you can make a difference.
Because what we do today can change a whole world’s destination.



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