Madison Holmes

In today’s society, every person has experienced a relatively warm day in December. The question that is always asked is, how is it this warm when it is supposed to be snow falling? The answer is simple, climate change. Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define Earth’s local, regional, and global climates. These changes have a broad range of observed effects that are synonymous with the term, climate change.

Contrary to many beliefs by others thinking climate change isn’t real, it is. The biggest skeptic is our very own, President Donald Trump and most of the Republican party. The mixed signals he has shared via social media is concerning this serious matter. He claims it is a hoax, but says it is very important to him. Trump has relaxed on over 100 policies and regulations that involve the environment. 

“They can cut the funding, but climate change is real and we’re going to have to deal with it,” says Chris McEntee, director of the American Geophysical Union. “Slashing this kind of funding is not going to assist in building the resiliency to climate and the impacts of climate change that this country needs.”

Climate change has been researched for roughly the last two centuries, but it has been an issue since the Ice Age spanning back to about 11,700 years ago. The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century. Their ability to affect the transfer of infrared energy through the atmosphere is the scientific basis of many instruments flown by NASA. There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause Earth to warm in response. 

Source: NOAA

Due to human activity on Earth, it has become the main cause of climate change today. The industrialization of America during the revolution has taken a toll on our environment. By converting forests land to agricultural areas and burning fossil fuels have produced high amounts of greenhouse gasses. These gasses release carbon dioxide making the Earth and its surroundings warmer, heating the layers up in the Earth leading to the wrong temperatures at the wrong times.

Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers show that Earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels. Ancient evidence can also be found in tree rings, ocean sediments, coral reefs, and layers of sedimentary rocks. This ancient evidence reveals that current warming is occurring roughly ten times faster than the average rate of ice-age-recovery warming. Carbon dioxide from human activity is increasing more than 250 times faster than it did from natural sources after the last Ice Age.

It is very likely for climate change to affect agriculture and fisheries that supply the U.S. economy. Crops, livestock, and fisheries contribute more than $300 billion to the economy each year. The current amount of carbon dioxide that is released in the air may allow some plants to grow faster from the warm impact on the soil to make it rich. But this will cause severe warming floods and drought may occur which will destroy agricultural life. Not only will this affect America, but globally as we see a decline in imported goods that will add stress as the population inevitably grows.

Source: USGCRP (2009)

Overall, climate change is literally at the center of our world. If no one takes the effective changes to decrease the inflated rate our existence will soon come to an end. Our generation will be another statistic that raised the rate of steadily increasing climate change.