Opinions Editor Ryan Obradovic explores the effects of climate change
By: RYAN OBRADOVIC
Opinions Editor
Climate change is real and although it does not seem like it is a big deal right now, it is. Temperatures are rising, causing multiple atrocities around the globe.
It may not seem as if climate change is prominent in our everyday life, but it is not something that is going to happen overnight. Since 1997 the world has had its hottest five years ever recorded. So, in the past 17 years, five of them have been the hottest out of every other year this planet has been a planet, according to native.org.
Emissions from cars, factories and pretty much everything that runs our industrial world are slowly killing us.
Emissions from cars and factories are getting trapped in the atmosphere which could raise the average temperature of the Earth three-to-ten degrees Fahrenheit, according to native.org.
This may not seem like a lot but that is just the average. Some places could be raised 12 degrees while other places will become colder, according to native.org.
In accordance with temperature rising, ocean temperatures are also on the rise. The rising of ocean temperatures will cause tropical storms to be more destructive and powerful, while also causing them to last longer because they feed off the warm oceanic water, according to native.org.
Glaciers are melting as well, which will cause the sea levels to rise and possibly flood a lot of the coastal cities.
Although flooding is bad, that is not the only problem with glacier melts.
The glaciers are made of fresh water, while the ocean is salt water. With as much water as the glaciers will move into the oceans, the currents will change, according to native.org.
Changing patterns in rain and snow force trees and plants to move to places more suitable, leaving the animals that live and survive there helpless.
Animals, such as polar bears, are very subject to climate change as well. The Tundra is becoming warmer and this is ruining the polar bears’ lives and killing them rapidly.
With the rate that temperatures are rising, polar bears and as many as a quarter of Earth’s species are subject to extinction by 2050 at the earliest, according to native.org
So, before driving two minutes to your friend’s house, consider walking or riding a bike.
That sounds cliché but with all the cars in the world, if everyone decided to do something active instead of killing every living thing with cars, then the world may have a chance.
If you do not do it for yourself or others, at least do it for the polar bears because they are awesome.
