The health of our planet is a hot topic, and the cause of climate change raises mixed feelings. Climate change, by definition, is the long-term shift in temperature and weather patterns. Whether or not you believe in this phenomenon, it is clear that the environment is undergoing some sort of transformation.
Climate data offers overwhelming evidence for global droughts, a key climate change indicator. Scientists report hazardous heat waves in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The lack of rain dries out already arid regions, exacerbating the high temperatures in the northern hemisphere. In Canada, wildfires jeopardized entire ecosystems and put lives in danger. The disaster destroyed 27 million acres of land and polluted half the country. Mr. Whitcomb, a government teacher at APK, views the destruction as “bad forest management.” However, Ms. Connor (a biology teacher at APK) perceives that the natural destructive phenomena “[are] increasing because of the rise in temperatures.”
The warming of ocean temperatures agitates the strength of tropical storms. Hurricane Ian, a category four hurricane caused devastating damage to the population of Northern Florida. According to the National Hurricane Center, Ian was responsible for “over 150 direct and indirect deaths and over $112 billion in damage.”
That type of weather isn’t as alarming since Florida has favorable weather conditions for a hurricane. The state of California, however, a state with cold sea surface temperatures, got a taste of Atlantic storms. When officials declared a state of emergency, Hurricane Hillary was a category two hurricane. By the time it was nearing the coast of Southern California, it had grown to a category four. Fortunately, Hillary calmed down to a tropical storm once it made landfall. Despite this, the storm caused catastrophic damage and flash flooding for Californian residents. Researchers suspect the formation of Hillary is due to warmer weather conditions in the Pacific Ocean.
Global sea levels have doubled each year since the end of the 20th century, concerning those who live at lower points in the United States. By the year 2100, the lower third of Florida expects to be completely submerged. Mr. Fairchild, a marine science and medical teacher at Apopka, mentions, “The people who live in the less habitable regions will need to move to the more habitable regions.” The rising sea levels have the potential to displace more than seven million people in the state of Florida alone.
The ozone is a fragile but vital layer in the atmosphere. To no surprise, human activities compromise the very fate of our protective coat. Chlorine and Bromine gases are released from man-made processes such as fossil fuels and biomass burning. These gases destroy the stratospheric ozone layer that protects human life from absorbing harmful radiation (UV rays) from the sun. Once holes form in the ozone, higher concentrations of UV rays can infiltrate the land. Gaps in the ozone can lead to more cases of skin cancer, compromised immune health, and cataracts.
Tropical forests may be getting “too hot” for photosynthetic machinery to do its job. After testing plant leaves, scientists documented that they were hotter than the current air temperature. In the Scientific American Newsletter, an American scientist claims that a tipping point will occur if temperatures increase by 4 degrees. However, the 4-degree rise, he says, “is what we can expect if global leaders take no measures to counter climate change.”
Humans would’ve never thought the Earth would one day be inhabitable, but that future may soon be upon us. Though we have worked to solve what we started, there is still a long way to go.
