CLIMATE CHANGE: Climate change is drastically changing our environment for the worst.
By Gregory Mikol, Staff Writer
Climate change is a subject debated by scientists and politicians alike, and is a topic of discourse most people are familiar with now due to it’s seemingly controversial nature.
Regardless of contradicting opinions and obvious conjecture, there is one simple fact that cannot be denied: the environment, and climate, is changing.
Within the past two months, the Earth had not one, but four hurricanes, with hurricane Harvey devastating southern Texas and Irma hitting Florida and Puerto Rico. Climate change may be to blame for this abnormal strain of cyclone activity, according to NASA Earth Observatory “Global warming could affect storm formation by decreasing the temperature difference between the poles and the equator. That temperature difference fuels the mid-latitude storms affect the Earth’s most populated regions.” The idea of man-made climate change is not a new concept, and it affects the storm front.
What is man-made climate change? “Anthropogenic global warming is an excess amount of greenhouse gas being pulled out of the ground and put into the atmosphere,” Gregory Aniol, Poly Chemistry teacher with field experience said. Greenhouse gases are compounds that absorb radiation, like carbon dioxide. Large amounts of these compounds in the atmosphere create a “greenhouse effect” and warm the planet.
NASA agrees, stating: “The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century.2 Their ability to affect the transfer of infrared energy through the atmosphere is the scientific basis of many instruments flown by NASA. There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response.”
Heat is most certainly a factor of drought, and drought can lead to raging fires just like the 65 fires burning along the west coast as of September 6th, 2017. Climate change is an inevitable imperative that affects everyone. It’s time to address it. Not only in the lab, but for once, in the government. Man-made global warming is a product of the fossil fuel industry’s unregulated corporate interests. Their dangerous meddling with the planet since the mid 19th century has greatly accelerated the atmospheric temperature of the earth. Man-made climate change is something we simply cannot ignore any longer. The well-being of all humans and future generations depends on it.