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Emma Schwabe

Professor Skelly

English 1201

29 April 2021

How has climate change affected the animals, people, and success of our planet?

Imagine tons of elephants roaming through a large open field to a pond of water, or even

the ocean’s coral reefs bursting with color, and the seagrass moving elegantly through the crystal

blue water of the ocean. Even polar bears and penguins roaming freely through the ice caps in

which they call home. This is what most people imagine when talking about our earth. However,

it is rarely as beautiful as everyone may make it sound. The coral reefs are bleached, the ice caps

that the polar bears live on are melting fast and causing them to lose their homes and food. They

are quickly becoming emaciated. Even penguins are endangered due to the loss of food, and the

rising temperatures. These are the effects the Earth is facing, and its main cause is from us.

Climate change is undoubtedly the biggest challenge our animals, people, and planet have ever

faced, but no one realizes how bad the effects truly are. The rising sea levels, increase in

temperatures, and bad air quality is just some of the many effect’s climate change has caused and

as it gets worse it will ultimately cost the health and success of our planet.

My dad’s side of the family are huge environmentalists and spend a lot of their time

researching climate change. They take annual trips down to Florida, or other cool places, to go

scuba diving and explore. My family and I have never been big environmentalists, but we do our

part in trying to keep the Earth healthy. I have also never been one to talk about climate change, I

understood some of the effects it had and always thought that it wouldn’t be a problem until I

was way older. It wasn’t until I started spending more time with my aunt and uncle that made me
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realize how big of a problem it is and that it is something, we have to take care of now. A year or

two ago my aunt and uncle took my older sister with them on their annual scuba diving trip so

she could experience and see the beauty of our planet before we destroy it. As she shared her

experience with me it opened both of our eyes to see that we are destroying our planet and

cannot ignore climate change any longer. The environment and lovely planet we call home are

on a rapid downhill spiral if we continue to ignore this problem. Global Warming is a strong

issue that is now right in front of our eyes.

Global warming first arose in 1965 when scientists put out first the concerns about the

greenhouse effect. This was an increase in temperatures thought to be a result of carbon dioxide

buildup. As years went on more discoveries were made about climate change and the effects it is

bringing to us. Starting in the 2000s activists for climate change started to emerge and large-scale

demonstrations became regular. In 2014 activist groups alarmed others with the rising of sea

levels that people have ignored for over 20 years.

In the last century, temperatures started to rise which has led to the melting and

withdrawal of mountain glaciers, rivers, and ice caps. When people burn fossil fuels, they release

greenhouse gases which then leads to the increase in temperatures. These gases then trap heat in

the atmosphere like a bubble causing the Earth to heat up quickly. Water vapor, methane, carbon

dioxide, and dinitrogen-oxide are just some of the greenhouse gases that provide the most

consequential impacts the atmosphere faces. Additionally, solar energy which has been absorbed

is another contributor to the warming of the earth. The warming that is present now is quite

different from other experiences that have occurred in the past.

Humans left a crucial fingerprint on this issue. Over many years’ scientists have been

able to prove that humans are the number one cause of global warming. By the cutting down of
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forests and the burning of gas, oil, and coal too much carbon dioxide is put out. This is 100% on

the people. An article by Stephanie Pappas explains the science behind the warming and what is

causing it. Since our country turned industrial, the levels of CO2 we have experienced have

increased tremendously. “Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, humans have been

rapidly changing the balance of gases in the atmosphere...CO2's presence in the atmosphere

amounted to about 280 parts per million” (Pappas). Scientists have also proven where the CO2 in

the atmosphere is coming from. They have figured out that all the CO2 is either from natural

resources or combusted fossil fuels. She also writes that the rise in heat is from the greenhouse

gases that have been released into the air. This is all caused by humans specifically when we

burn fossil fuels. This helps us see the statement that humans are not the cause of this change in

the climate is in fact false. It is also very visible that the human-driven forces are more present

than the natural-driven forces. Even though humans are the main cause of the increase of heat,

we are still prone to its effects.

An article put out by NASA, explains that solar irradiance is also a contributor to climate

change. For many years the sun played the role of cooling and heating the earth. Nasa shows that

30% of the sunlight that is absorbed gets thrown back into space, while the majority of the

sunlight (70%) is put into our atmosphere. Over a couple of years, the total energy the sun has

produced has increased by very little or has had no increase at all. However, what we are

experiencing today is different and has not been prepped for. NASA explains, “If the warming

were caused by a more active Sun, then scientists would expect to see warmer temperatures in all

layers of the atmosphere. Instead, they have observed a cooling in the upper atmosphere, and a

warming at the surface and in the lower parts of the atmosphere” (NASA). It has been said this is
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due to greenhouse gases trapping in all the heat. This helps explain how people may not be the

only cause of climate change but is the biggest driving force.

Henry Fountain, a correspondent for The New York Times, writes about the urgency that

people need to have when talking about climate change. He states how the disasters that are

related to climate problems are accelerating, month after month. With the seas warming and

rising faster than ever, this brings panic to major cities that can be at risk for flooding. The arctic

is experiencing rapid ice melting that researchers did not expect to happen for decades. Some

researchers are even saying that with the ground warming up faster, and frost thawing the arctic

could see an ice-free summer by the year 2030 (Henry). But with the melting of all this ice

releases carbon that was once stored up, creating even water temperatures. At the World

Meteorological Organization, Senator Petteri Taalas issued a global climate report speculating

abnormal global heat just within 10 years. To get rid of climate change we must discard fossil

fuels.
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Fig. 1. This photo shows a polar bear in an emaciated state on melting ice in Svalbard

(Langenberger).

With all that being said, humans are basically on the road to killing the Earth along with

themselves. With humans being the base cause of climate change, we are also the most hurt by

all of it. Humans' health is at a huge risk due to the fact that the air, food, and water are being

affected. An article by the EPA inspects the numerous amounts of effects this is putting on all

humans. Although all people are experiencing effects, the people in developing countries are

seen to be more susceptible to these changes. Rising temperatures is one of the biggest issues

that is mentioned. All these hotter days may be great for going to the beach, but it is quite

serious. These warmer temperatures are causing many heat-related deaths, dehydration, and even

problems with the respiratory and cardiovascular system.

The EPA also includes that heatwaves are a big problem that leads to large amounts of air

pollution resulting in numerous health effects for those all around. This leads to another big

problem; the air quality becomes worse. This impacts the air, indoors and outdoors, that we take

in. Unpredictable weather patterns, wildfires, and more leads to even more airborne allergens.

This is all from the rising temperatures in the atmosphere. The EPA also identifies that there

have been improvements in the air quality from past years, still many counties do not meet the

necessary requirements. Climate change has also made it 10x harder for these counties to meet

the air quality standards. Many people with bad lungs or problems in their respiratory or

cardiovascular system will be the ones at high risk for feeling all these effects. That's not all that

is being affected, the safety of the food we consume can also be in danger. The high CO2 levels

in the air decrease the protein the crops provide. Not only will this make the food less nutritious

the EPA says that salmonella and other strong bacteria are growing rapidly as a result of these
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higher temperatures. With this comes a lot of negative consequences like gastrointestinal distress

and in the worst-case scenario death.

Global warming has not only impacted human life but sea life as well. Due to acidic

oceans, coral bleaching, and most important rising water temperatures, many of these animals are

having a hard time surviving. The Earth has faced many problems throughout the years, but the

rising sea levels will be the biggest. Willem Vervoot writes about the effect it has had on

Australia’s streamflow. “The effect of climate change on water resources has been an area of

continued research, especially in Australia. Previous studies have suggested significant trends in

rainfall, and these are amplified causing larger changes in streamflow” (Vervoot). This is a main

concern for marine life and homes. These animals affected by the rising streamflow and

temperatures are responding by moving deeper into the ocean in hopes to find colder water.

These animals cannot build a sustainable life in the hotter water. Marine life is facing very high

risks with these increases in temperature and streamflow. Sooner or later these homes for the sea

life will all be too hot for them to live comfortably in.

The CO2 levels in the atmosphere would be significantly higher than what they are now

without the oceans. When oxygen levels decrease, CO2 levels increase making oceans a bad

place for most animals to be in. The atmosphere around all these fish becomes dangerous and

makes it hard to breathe. The effects don’t just stop at the animals, corals are also greatly being

affected. Corals are not capable of withstanding hotter temperatures; they can barely survive

even the slightest increase of temperatures. So, when the temperature rises the coral bleach or

turns white. This happens when they release all the algae that were kept inside their tissue.

Lately, the death of the corals has been at the highest reaching almost 70%.
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Although ocean life is strongly affected, the animals in the arctic have it even worse. The

photo shown earlier on has been floating around the internet for a couple of years. This photo

captured an emaciated polar bear fighting for its life on its melting home. Polar bears are big

arctic mammals that depend on sea ice for everything. That is where they live, hunt, and breed,

without the ice the polar bears are left with nothing. Polar bears are starting to become

malnourished and emaciated due to the lack of ice for them to use to hunt. Unfortunately, climate

change is leading to that, within 10-20 years the ice could completely be melted. The World

Wildlife is an organization set out to help all these animals in danger. Their vice president is

Lou Leonard who has talked about climate change to many people all around the country. One of

the main points in Leonard’s article was about the polar bears and how they are doing. He states

the loss of ice caps is forcing them to spend a long time on land. With the polar bears having to

spend more time on land this causes more humans to go and disturb them. Leonard explains that

with the ice melting this creates almost a new ocean. However, with this new ocean coming out,

more industrial development at sea takes place. All these new oceans are producing a net

increase in oil spills. With these spills come even more consequences but not just for the polar

bears, almost the entire food chain can be affected.

The oceans and animals aren’t the only things being affected, things that would never

seem to cross your mind like the extinction of clouds are a result of this. Illissa Ocko, a climate

scientist for EDF (Environmental Defense Fund), writes how the hotter earth is pressing the

clouds poleward and mostly upward. “A warmer Earth elevates clouds because the troposphere,

the lowest layer of our atmosphere where weather occurs, can extend higher with a hotter

surface. Warming also moves clouds poleward because circulation patterns in the tropics are

expanding, pushing storms north and south” (Ocko). With this comes a bigger problem, this
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movement of clouds can cause a cycle of even warmer air to accumulate. This happens because

the clouds absorb the heat from the surface of the Earth and trap it inside. As the cloud moves

higher up it gets colder and then releases energy. This energy is then used to form a giant bubble

over the Earth locking in all the heat.

Not all companies understand the urgency of climate change and so groups have formed

to put goals into place to help motivate people to contribute. In an article by Jan-Erik Lane, it is

stated that United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is working to decrease the

extremely high quantity of carbon dioxide that the atmosphere has. However, there is still one

problem that gets in the way of all the effort being put forth to help climate change. That is of

course global warming becoming irreversible. This helps explain a theory from 1989 that the

earth would warm up around 5 degrees each year. Lane goes on to elaborate on some of the ways

we can hopefully prevent irreversibility and all the dangers it comes with. The COP21 has been

actively trying to reduce the burning of fossil fuels. If all people follow these guidelines set in

place until at least 2030 deforestation, droughts, and lack of fresh water won’t be big problems.

However, people would have to find a way to replace all the fossil fuels with renewable energy

sources.

Despite being presented with all these facts, many people refuse to acknowledge the

damage climate change has done and what it will continue to do. A psychologist from CBC says

that most people cannot tell the difference between the misinformation and the actual facts about

climate change. There is also a lack of motivation for wanting to fix climate change leading

people to just say that it is not real. “If you're a conservative politician, you just don't want to

believe [in climate change], because if there really is climate change caused by human activity,

then there has to be government actions to stop the disastrous results that are probably going to
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come down the line in 20 or 30 years” (Thagard). It is also believed that jobs that have

contributed to climate change refuse to believe in the facts because they fear they might lose

their jobs.

In his years in office, President Trump did not do good at addressing the issues arising in

the upcoming years for climate change. Instead, he had chosen to ignore the problems and pull

the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement. This is said to have slowed down the efforts of

trying to reduce emissions. It is said that the president continued to put economic matters above

all climate change issues since climate change was hurting the making of new jobs. Due to his

disregard for climate change, problem scientists say that the rates for global emission are at the

highest they have been in almost 30 years. This is a result of President Trump wasting a year to

not act on the climate change problems. This also causes bigger consequences than in past years

and presidencies. We have lost many years that were so important in slowing down the damage

from climate change that ignoring it now will speed up the consequences.

Climate change has grown into a major issue not only for the environment but for the

people and animals too. With all the looks of how it's going, it is not going to get any better soon.

The increases in the temperature may be a minor problem now but in the coming years will start

to worsen along with its very harmful effects on many ecosystems. The rising sea levels, increase

in temperatures, and bad air quality won’t just stop on their own. Many things can be done to

stop the effects of climate change. Humans should start to cut back on the burning of fossil fuels

since it produces greenhouse gases that create a lot of harm. Even with all this work being done

to slow the effects of climate change one of the biggest problems is not being able to fix what

has already happened. If climate change isn't stopped soon, not only all animals will go extinct

but humans can risk going extinct and ruining all the life on this planet. The success of the planet
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is in our hands and without coming to terms with the effect’s climate change has put forward, the

people will be destroying our once-called home.

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Works Cited

“Climate Change Causes: A Blanket around the Earth.” NASA, NASA, 5 Feb. 2019,

climate.nasa.gov/causes/. Accessed 24 March 2021.

“Climate Impacts on Human Health.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 13 Jan. 2017,

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/understanding-global-warming-potentials. Accessed

24 March 2021.

Fountain, Henry. “Climate Change Is Accelerating, Bringing World 'Dangerously Close' to

Irreversible Change.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Dec. 2019,

www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/climate/climate-change-acceleration.html.

Lane, Jan-Erik. “Global Warming: preventing irreversibility.” Ebscohost, Sept. 2018

https://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=ea8c311f-1727-4d87-81f4-eea2c

f816642%40sdc-vsessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=132932692

&db=fsr. Accessed on 24 March 2021.

Langenberger, K. (2015, August 20). Facebook. Retrieved March 30, 2021, from

https://www.facebook.com/kerstin.langenberger.photography/photos/a.46369703697557

5.115901.429056113773001/1045109095501030/?type=1&theater

Leonard, Lou. “Effects of Climate Change.” WWF, World Wildlife Fund, 2018,

www.worldwildlife.org/threats/effects-of-climate-change.
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Mortillaro, N. (2019, January 29). The psychology of climate change: Why people deny the

EVIDENCE | CBC News. Retrieved March 24, 2021, from

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/climate-change-psychology-1.4920872

Ocko, I. (2016, August 24). Climate change is messing with clouds – and it's a really big deal.

Retrieved March 24, 2021, from

https://www.edf.org/blog/2016/08/24/climate-change-messing-clouds-and-its-really-big-deal

Pappas, Stephanie. “What Is Global Warming?” LiveScience, Purch, 10 Aug. 2017,

www.livescience.com/37003-global-warming.html. Accessed 24 March 2021.

Vervoort, R.Willem. “Climate Change and Other Trends in Streamflow Observations in

Australian Forested Catchments since 1970.” Hydrological Processes, vol. 35, no. 1, Jan.

2021, pp. 1–18. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1002/hyp.13999. https://onlinelibrary-wiley-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/doi/full/10.1002/hyp.13999