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Jessica Dudgeon

Ms. Steiner

English 10, Period 8

20 February 2019

12 Years Is All Humans Have

While children sleep soundly in their cozy beds, the adults are scrambling all night long

to save their offsprings’ forever home -- Mother Earth. Climate change is the shift in global and

regional weather phenomena usually associated with the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the

atmosphere. This thins the protective layer of the ozone and changes the globe’s weather

patterns. Climate change started to take form during the pre-industrial age. Humans are presently

suffering the consequences. However, many adults believe that climate change doesn’t exist at

all, and that it’s just a hoax spread by the government to scare country citizens. They also believe

that since they’ve had no experience of the changes themselves, climate change is not

believable. Although it can be argued that climate change doesn’t exist, however, climate change

is calamitous because it ruins the environment, it causes property damage with economic crises,

and is putting all of humanity’s lives at stake.

To start with, climate change annihilates different areas of land and creates a drastic hole

for natural resources and the missing habitat for ecosystems. When Earth’s crust is being

dismantled by severe natural causes, our natural resources like agriculture, wood, water, and ores

are taken away as well. The absence of these vital resources are detrimental to the production of

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new goods. Humans aren’t just affected; animals lose their food and habitat and are forced to

migrate to new territories, and invasive species entering another ecosystem can interrupt their

pattern of life. In The Climate Change Reality Project informational article “Wait, Why is

Climate Change a Bad Thing?’, it clearly states that with “rising temperatures, the water source

for humans, animals, and agriculture is slowly deteriorating. This is due to extreme droughts. For

instance, Lake Mead had less than half the amount of water in 2015 than 2000. When

temperatures, more evaporation is prevalent. Evaporation is the phase change of a liquid to a gas.

Water is vital for human health and the growth of food. Without water, humans cannot make

food which will lead to starvation of individuals and with other organisms as well will start to

die. In Climate Change Reality Project informational article “Wait, Why is Climate Change a

Bad Thing?” it clearly enunciates that “nutrients vital to crop growth are being flushed away by

floods and droughts for example, Mexico lost more than 2 million acres of crops back in 2011

due to its soil being less suitable for farming. When floods occur, the water rips away crops,

plants, and seeds from its roots. This completely disrupts the crops’ process to ripen and grow,

which further limits organisms’ food supply. Droughts also rob the farming areas of water and

water is vital to the growth of plants. Mexico losing more than 2 million acres of farm is the

equivalent of the entire state of Maryland being burned!

Another instance due to climate change is property damage or economic crises. When a

state building or government building, or even suburb houses are destroyed by natural causes and

other events, the people and government have to pay expenditures to rebuild dismantled

buildings. Paying these debts are already increasingly hard to pay off as the U.S. is already

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trillions of dollars in debt and most Americans can’t afford to pay off ruined property. CBS host

Bianna Golodryga informs viewers watching the news that “climate change, especially at the end

of the 21st century, could decrease the U.S. economy’s worth by hundreds of billions of dollars”

(Golodryga CBS). With climate change’s natural disasters becoming more violent and

destructive, the more damage that is dealt to man-made structures. Paying for destroyed property

is expensive enough, but when entire man-made buildings are destroyed, tremendous amounts

debts are needed to be paid off. These buildings can cost trillions of dollars, and having to build a

trillion-dollar worth building is a fee that most Americans will never be able to pay off.

However, when the government eventually pays this off, the U.S.’s economic worth lowers due

to its increasing debt and money the country needs to make back. CBS host Bianna Golodryga

once again informs CBS viewers that it’s predicted by “year 2090, workers that perform duties

outside could lose 160 billion wages due to the heat. There could be 18 billion worth of property

damage due to the constant rise of sea levels” (Golodryga CBS). As temperatures increase,

workers that work outside like construction workers or builders are exposed to the heat much

more often. And with the heat becoming more dangerous, these workers are retreating inside to

avoid the dangers of the heat. This however prevents the workers from doing their job and

getting paid because they’re missing so many hours due to rising temperatures. As sea levels

rise, the salt water enters buildings close to buildings and private land, rendering the buildings

being washed away or destroyed as a whole. The rising sea levels also swallow more and more

border-line land; swallowing buildings with it as well.

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 The last reason why climate change is destructive is because it is hurting human lives. In

The Climate Reality Project informational article “Wait, Why is Climate Change a Bad Thing?”

it is stated clearly that as “temperatures increase around the globe, humans will be seeing more

health problems like dehydration, heat stroke, and internal damage. Children and seniors are at

closer risk to being diagnosed with these disorders” (The Climate Change Reality Project). As

stated before, the heat will cause more evaporation and the disappearance of water. Which

ultimately leads to dehydration for human beings due to the lack of fresh water in their system.

Heat stroke can also occur, which is the body overheating, usually as a result of prolonged

exposure to or physical exertion in high temperatures (specifically temperatures higher than

104°F). When humans encounter heat that raises internal temperature, heart rate increases and

vessels expand to bring more blood to the outer layers of skin, where the heat is released.

However, when more blood goes toward your body surface for cooling, less is available to serve

your muscles, brain and other internal organs; which causes damage to inner organs and body

systems. In The Climate Change Reality Project informational article “What, Why is Climate

Change a Bad Thing?” it also clearly states that with “more types of extreme weather expected to

appear with climate change like hurricanes and floods, they are expected to bring water-borne

illnesses like sinus infections, dermatitis, conjunctivitis, and wound infections” (The Climate

Change Reality Project). Although natural storms may not exactly give an individual these

illnesses, they develop over time by a specific area in the world with its changing climate.

Storms can help the migration of foreign substances to other areas of the world where they’ve

never been before, and can cause specific individuals to have allergic flare ups. These may

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happen more often in people, so it can greatly contribute to the symptoms of sinus infections.

Fungi is also subject to being more prominent in certain areas that aren’t usually damp and

moist, so there are bound to be more cases linked to this base of disease-causing pathogen. Along

with the allergic flare ups, foreign substances can cause severe irritation in the thin clear tissue

that lies over the white part of the eye and lines the inside of the eyelid. This will ultimately lead

to conjunctivitis, or more commonly known as ‘pink eye.’ However, upcoming ailments in the

eyes can also lead to other ocular disorders.

Although some may argue that climate change cannot bring physical illness, climate

change also brings vector-borne diseases into regions of the world that were mostly cold

currently warming up. Vector borne diseases are diseases that originate in insects and spread

easily in the air, physical contact with others, and the spread of fluids. Vector-borne diseases are

usually located in warm, dark, and moist tropical climates i.e. rainforests and similar regions. For

example, Britain is expecting the migration of other worldly diseases. In the Daily Telegraph

Reporter’s “Climate Change Will Bring Deadliest Diseases to Britain” the country’s climate

change is expected to bring the “West Nile Virus, Dengue Fever, and Malaria to Britain due to

the country becoming a better suited environment for the insects. London would have to deal

with the Chikungunya virus monthly by 2041 based on present climate change models” (Daily

Telegraph Reporter 14). Insects that carry vector-borne diseases like mosquitoes are migrating to

new warmer climates and are bringing their luggage with them as well; deadly or not. However,

insect populations will begin to rise, therefore the chance of vector-borne diseases are more

probable to spreading from person to person, but also outbreaks will happen more often. And

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with these diseases becoming more prevalent in Britain, deaths will increase tremendously and

become unavoidable. There’s no way anyone will be able to permanently avoid getting sick by

staying in a building; humans will have to come out sooner or later.

Although it can be argued that climate change doesn’t exist, however, climate change is

calamitous because it ruins the environment, it causes property damage which leads to economic

crises, and it’s putting all of humanity’s lives at stake. Climate change tears apart Earth to make

some areas uninhabitable for both humans and vertebrates alike as well as rob the humans of

their natural resources. Climate change causes billions of dollars for reparations, and the weather

conditions literally end human lives. Some people may not care about climate change because

they claim they are always indoors or old and claim they will soon no longer be on Earth. Yet,

these individuals that their younger families are going through heart-wrenching tragedies due to

the harsh nature of their so called ‘forever home.’ If the human society decides not to help

control and prevent climate change, then the entire world will eventually be wiped out of

existence. Sam Scheffler, a professor of philosophy at New York University and author of Death

and the Afterlife, observes that “human life derives much of its meaning from being embedded

that ‘humanity itself as an ongoing project proves the implicit frame of reference for what most

of our judgements about what matters. Our connectedness to future generations ‘staves off

nihilism.’ We do not want the human project of which we are part to endure (Scheffler, 2013:

59-69)” (Solocow 26).

Works Cited

The Climate Reality Project. "Wait, Why Is Climate Change a Bad Thing?." Climate Reality, 13
Nov. 2017, https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/wait-why-climate-change-bad-thing.
 Accessed 26 Feb. 2019.

Daily Telegraph Reporter. "Climate change will bring deadliest diseases to Britain : Explora
Secondary Schools." Web.a.ebscohost.com, Newspaper Source Plus. 23, Mar. 2015.
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/src_ic/detail/detail?vid=12&sid=5e458307-8124-4c9f-90ed-
f7dbafb4b792%40sessionmgr4010&bdata=#AN=8Q297413319&db=n5h. Accessed 26 Feb.
2019.

Golodriya, Biana. Dokoupil, Tony. "New government report says man-made climate change is
already wreaking havo...: Explora Secondary Schools." Web.a.ebscohost.com, News
Broadcast. http://web.a.ebscohost.com/src_ic/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=5e458307-8124-4c9f-
90ed-f7dbafb4b792%40sessionmgr4010&bdata=#AN=32U3983977746CTM&db=n5h.
Accessed 26 Feb. 2019.

Le Page, Michael. "UNCERTAIN CERTAINTY: Explora Secondary Schools."

Web.a.ebscohost.com,
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/src_ic/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=5e458307-8124-4c9f-90ed-
f7dbafb4b792%40sessionmgr4010&bdata=#AN=133528787&db=mat. Accessed 26 Feb.
2019.

Reuss, Alejandro. “Climate Change: What Is It? What causes it? What can we do about it?.”
Web.a.ebscohost.com, Dollars & Sense. 1 Mar. 2015: 16-20.
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/src_ic/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=14&sid=5e458307-8124-4c9f-9
0ed-f7dbafb4b792%40sessionmgr4010. Accessed 26 Feb. 2019.

Sheffield, Thomas C. "Climate change brings environmental burden.: Explora Secondary

Schools." Web.a.ebscohost.com, Jackson Advocate. 27 Aug. 2015: 41-45
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/src_ic/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=10&sid=5e458307-8124-4c9f-
90ed-f7dbafb4b792%40sessionmgr4010. Accessed 26 Feb. 2019.

Solowcow, Robert. “Climate Change and Destiny Studies: Creating Our Near and Far Futures.”
Web.a.ebscohost.com,
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/src_ic/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=5e458307-8124-4c9f-
90ed-f7dbafb4b792%40sessionmgr4010. Accessed 26 Feb. 2019.