The Earth is on fire?! If you watch the news you’ve probably heard the words global warming or climate change. In fact when I started writing this article, Mrs.Ciminero told me when she was younger she looked forward to hearing the words “Global Warming” because she thought it meant warmer winters. No, Mrs. Ciminero, it has a much deeper meaning than that! Global warming is irreversible, and we can’t change anything that is happening with the icebergs melting in Antarctica. Climate change is a serious problem that most people don’t understand. According to NASA’s website, “Global warming is the long-term heating of Earth’s surface.” After reading their article titled, “What is Climate Change?”  I wondered what other people think climate change is?

I went and asked some of our teachers at NMS what they thought global warming was when they were in middle school. Mr. Guerra (6th grade math) said, “ In 1980 the idea of human-produced greenhouse gasses were not taught in class.” Actually Mr. Guerra you are correct, according to that same article in the 80’s, they had already announced global warming/climate change as an issue in the mid 1800’s or early 1900’s. Another teacher, Mrs. Clark said, “Honestly. I don’t remember them talking about global warming in middle school.” I also asked Mr. Havrilla who said,

We aren’t helping global warming with anything and most of us are being irresponsible. Those who are helping the situation aren’t getting enough credit.

Here are some ways we can help climate change

• Buy  an electric car. They’re affordable starting at  $27,000. According to fueleconomy.org five tons of carbon dioxide are being released into the atmosphere. And truck drivers alone can be releasing 1.5 billion tons of CO2  per year. By the time people start to care, there will be too much damage on the planet to fix.

• Use paper straws. According to the website Rubican.com. “ In the United States, it’s estimated that Americans dispose of 500 million straws each day. A recent study shows that 8.5 billion plastic straws are thrown away each year in the U.K. Most of these straws end up in the ocean – one 2017 study estimated that as many as 8.3 billion plastic straws are polluting the world’s beaches. 

• Recycling. According to Recycleacrossamerica.org., one person can be able to recycle up to 25,000 cans in a lifetimee

If there is one thing we can all contribute to is to cut down fossil fuels. It’s really damaging to the environment and if you work in a place that is burning emissions, it can damage your health too. Although all of this can help improve climate change, people seem to not care. You may have heard in the past about people having lung problems from smoking. You could have also heard about people having asthma attacks from some smells or smoke, but fossil fuels do the same thing or even worse. They can cause issues from early death, heart disease, stroke, and even absenteeism (constant absence for no reason). We can cut down on the single use plastics and that alone will help significantly.

Since damage to the climate  is irreversible, don’t you think we should be doing more to squelch the damage that’s already done. Mrs. DiMaiolo said, “We need to cut carbon emissions dramatically and immediately. We need to do that as a society and on a global level.” She is right! One person getting an electric car won’t help! It needs to be a team effort! Reducing the use of plastics because people don’t realize how much carbon is used to make plastic. All of these issues have some solution to better or to help save our Earth. We all need to get involved.

Global warming isn’t only hurting our environment, some animals are suffering as well. Some of these animals’ habitats are being completely destroyed because of global warming. From polar bears to arctic foxes, they all share the same involuntary destruction of their habitat. When you picture a polar bear, you see them as fluffy, white, happy, and snow covered. Now we are seeing the same species as  dirty white, thin, and depressed. Without their habitat, they can’t find some of their prey, and if they don’t have prey, the population decreases. Same goes for its prey like seals and caribou. If the top feeders don’t have any prey left, how do you think they’ll eat and survive?

As with all of those statistics, you can see that climate change is worsening, and our Earth is in trouble. People need to get involved. If everyone takes a role in trying to save this great planet of ours, we could possibly rebound! Be it changing weather or breathing in toxic fumes, we are all affected–every last one of us. Saying “I’ll help later” or “I’ll recycle” isn’t enough. We have all for millions of years enjoyed this beautiful great orb we live on. Let’s just hope it will be around for millions more! It’s so scary to actually think–it may not!