Climate change has always been portrayed as a huge problem, if not the biggest for Earth, and it actually hits much closer to home than many people realize.
Increased temperatures have a larger impact than simply making it feel hotter. They affect rainfall, change weather patterns, and contribute to natural disasters that claim thousands of lives every year, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
Westfield NJ, our hometown, was in a drought last fall. During this time period of roughly 45 days it did not rain at all; this includes the entire month of October getting zero rainfall. This drought has been historic and others could keep coming if climate change does not stop increasing at the rate it has been, according to northjersey.com
Although we here in Westfield, NJ don’t get many hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires, they can now occur more frequently and severely due to the effects of global warming, according to USGS.gov.
With hurricane season almost over, global warming’s effect on natural disasters has been made crystal clear. Higher temperatures emulated the three hurricanes that hit Florida this year, devastating the state and surrounding areas.
Now that you all know about how catastrophic climate change is, let’s talk about the causes of it.
Scientists believe the direct cause is humans. Humans are causing and worsening climate change, and have been for decades. Human processes like generating power, deforestation, and manufacturing are the main contributors to rising temperatures, according to the European Union.
“The heat that human activities are adding to the atmosphere and oceans is like steroids for hurricanes,” reports CNN.
If these actions aren’t stopped, global temperatures will only continue to rise. That will lead to more droughts like the one in New Jersey and increasingly severe storms.
“Recently many people were considering adding a Cat 6 hurricane to be added to the Scale,” according to CBS News. The Cat scale is the way to categorize different hurricane wind speeds. Currently there are only 5 categories on the Cat scale, and adding another level would only suggest an even more severe storm.
Now for the question you’re probably asking yourself. What can we do to stop this? Unfortunately we can’t fully stop climate change, but we can stop it from getting worse.
According to NRDC.org, some ways that you can help this crisis include speaking up, powering your home with renewable energy, investing in energy efficient appliances, reducing water waste, buying better light bulbs, driving a fuel-efficient car and maintaining it, rethinking planes, trains, and automobiles, and reducing, reusing, and recycling.
A very easy way that students can help the climate crisis is simply walking, scootering, and biking more. Instead of driving to school or to your friends house, you can walk there instead.
In conclusion, climate change is a very big issue in our modern world and it is affecting us majorly. It is caused mainly by carbon emissions, deforestation, generating power, and more. The responsibility of stopping it lies in our hands.