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The Global warming Pandemic.

Gavin Ferrell

Michigan Center Highschool

English 12

Mrs. Jillian VanRiper

Feb. 28, 2021

The world as we know it is changing fast all around us, from technology to medicine! But

one thing we need to start focusing on is Global warming, everyone has heard of it but no one

really pays attention to how big of a problem it is and it’s going to be. Scientists believe that by

the year 2030, the damage done to the Earth will become irreversible. As a result of our

neglectful ways as the human race, around a million species are threatened by extinction from

destroyed ecosystems to polluted oceans. As a human race together, all of us, every country in

every state, we consume more fossil fuels than the Earth can make, and once that stuff is gone,

it’s gone forever, or at least we won’t have cars in our lifetime and for a while after we are gone.

Global warming is real, and it’s coming fast. We already see effects of it in Greenland and other

places that have large amounts of ice. They go down each year, and the oceans are rising

because of this melting. It is important to understand that Global warming is real and it is a real

threat, it’s time to do something about it before it’s too late.

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The Global warming Pandemic.

We need to do more to stop climate change, not just ourselves but the future generations that will

grow up on Earth, everyone needs to do their part. More so for these rich people that own three

or four houses and a whole fifteen car garage with a yacht. It’s crazy how these politicians and

famous people blame the middle class for the global warming pandemic, it’s hypocritical really.

The point is, we need to do something about global warming before it’s too late to stop it,

According to www.ipcc.ch, Urgent action needs to be taken before we start seeing the effects of

climate change on a permanent level. On top of that The most abundant GHG, accounting for

about two-thirds of GHGs, carbon dioxide (CO2), is largely the product of burning fossil fuels.

Which means if we just cut back on our fossil fuel consumption and emissions, then it would

help a lot in the long run. It would certainly be better than doing nothing like we are now

(Climate Crash Course Part 4: How do we stop fossil fuel emissions? (2020, April 20).

Many of these impacts are already felt at the current level of warming, which is about

1.1 °C (2.0 °F). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a series of

reports that project significant increases in these impacts as warming continues to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F)

and beyond. Now we already do have some alternatives for fossil fuels out there in the world, but

the sad truth is that they are just as bad, if not worse than fossil fuels. In order to store the energy

built up by a wind turbine or solar panel, you would need a battery. Batteries are made of a nasty

corrosive metal called lithium, and if you have never seen a lithium mine I encourage you to take

a moment to look one up right now. It takes 500,000 gallons of water for every one ton of lithium

mined, which causes droughts in areas next to the mine. And it’s even said that we might just run

out of lithium as soon as 2025! (Emma Foehringer Merchant. (2017, September 20).)
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Lithium also reacts violently with water but it’s so light that it floats in oil, making it very

difficult to store the raw metal. There is a whole root of problems with the way things are going

right now, even though we think it’s going the right way. These next few years are going to be

interesting to live through, humans might start to realize that we should've done more to protect

home, but all there is, is greed for more money.

All of those bad things that are going to happen in the near future are already showing up,

We are already seeing effects of climate change, Sea levels are rising and oceans are becoming

warmer. Longer, more intense droughts threaten crops, wildlife and freshwater supplies. From

polar bears in the Arctic to marine turtles off the coast of Africa, our planet’s diversity of life is

at risk from the changing climate (WWF. (2000). Effects of Climate Change). as well as the

temperature of the world itself. The ocean will take the biggest hit, the waters will get too warm

and whole reefs will die out because of this, causing an Earthquake in the food chain, ecosystems

destroyed, whole species extinct (Effects of climate change 2021 ). Humans will surely feel the

impact of that once there are hardly any fish left to eat.

The ocean has been warming up, 0.69 degrees since 1960! Now that doesn’t seem like a

lot but it really is when you think about how big the oceans are and how these underwater

ecosystems are in danger, we could very well be living in a future where fish is worth more than

gold. When we get to the global temperature it gets even worse, the Temp is up 2.1 Degrees F

since 1880, again that doesn’t seem like much difference but it’s the entire world warming up

here, from north to south. Glaciers are melting which is causing ocean levels to rise, Global

mean sea level has risen about 8–9 inches (21–24 centimeters) since 1880, with about a third of

that coming in just the last two and a half decades. The rising water level is mostly due to a

combination of meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets and thermal expansion of seawater as it
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warms (Holly Shaftel 2021). Now really there has only been examples of what will happen

because of global warming, not what causes it. Here are now some things that are causing our

world to warm.

Global warming occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) and other air pollutants and

greenhouse gases collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight and solar radiation that have

bounced off the earth’s surface. Normally, this radiation would escape into space—but these

pollutants, which can last for years to centuries in the atmosphere, trap the heat and cause the

planet to get hotter (March 11, Am, 2016, & MacMillan.). That's what's known as the greenhouse

effect and according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a scientific group tasked

with assessing the risk of anthropogenic or human-caused climate change, the concentration of

atmospheric carbon dioxide swelled from 280 parts per million (ppm) prior to industrialization to

379 ppm in 2005. Now we’re at 385 ppm, and we’ll reach 550 ppm by mid-century if current

trends continue. Leading scientists warn we must reduce the atmospheric carbon dioxide level to

below 350 ppm if we want to avoid runaway global warming with catastrophic impacts (IPCC.

(2019). The extreme use of fossil fuels has made the greenhouse gases in our atmosphere worse,

meaning that the more fossil fuels we use, the more greenhouse gases are in the atmosphere

destroying the Ozone layer which is supposed to protect us from the sun. Greenhouse gases

levels are higher now than at any time in the last 800,000 years (What Is Global Warming?

(2019, January 22). The concentration has been rising steadily, and mean global temperatures

along with it, since the time of the Industrial Revolution, when we started to use such fuels in

bulk (Katherine Hoff 2020)

As you can see from the facts I’ve gathered, Global warming is certainly real, and it’s

coming for the world as we know it, quickly. We have to do something about it now to protect
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the earth and the many ecosystems threatened by our own doing. We need to take action to make

sure there is still an Earth left for generations to come. Fix the mistakes of the past and make sure

there is a better tomorrow for the children of tomorrow. We have been too selfish and greedy

with the world and now we are starting to see the effects of what greed has caused. It doesn’t

matter if you believe in global warming or not, it is. There are cold hard facts out there, but

people don’t want to see it, they don’t want to believe it. Someday if it’s too late, they will see

that they were wrong. And that we should've done something sooner to save the only world we

have. Future generations will blame us for not stopping climate change before it was too late.

Do we want to be at fault for destroying the world as we know it?

References

References

Climate Crash Course Part 4: How do we stop fossil fuel emissions? (2020, April 20). New York

Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/19/climate/climate-crash-course-4.html

Emma Foehringer Merchant. (2017, September 20). Lithium-Ion Battery Production Is Surging,

but at What Cost? Greentechmedia.com; Greentech Media.

https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/lithium-ion-battery-production-is-surging-

but-at-what-cost
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Global Warming: What, How, Why? (2012). Biologicaldiversity.org.

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/global_warming_wh

at_how_why/index.html

IPCC. (2019). Global Warming of 1.5 oC. Ipcc.ch; Global Warming of 1.5 oC.

https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/

Lindsey, R. (2020, August 14). Climate Change: Global Sea Level | NOAA Climate.gov.

Www.climate.gov.

https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-sea

-level#:~:text=Global%20mean%20sea%20level%20has

March 11, Am, 2016, & MacMillan. (n.d.). Global Warming 101. NRDC.

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101#:~:text=Q%3A%20What%20causes%

20global%20warming

NASA. (2020). Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. Climate Change: Vital Signs of the

Planet; NASA. https://climate.nasa.gov/

Selin, H., & Mann, M. E. (2019). global warming | Definition, Causes, & Effects. In

Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/global-warming

United Nations. (2018, November 29). Climate Change. Un.org; United Nations.

https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/climate-change/

What Is Global Warming? (2019, January 22). Environment.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/global-warming-overview#:~:t

ext=Called%20greenhouse%20gases%2C%20their%20levels

WWF. (2000). Effects of Climate Change | Threats | WWF. World Wildlife Fund.

https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/effects-of-climate-change
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