A huge problem that will slowly destroy the world if not tackled soon is climate change. Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have dramatically shrunken, plant and animal ranges have shifted habitats, species are going extinct, trees are flowering sooner, sea level rise is accelerating and there are longer, more intense heat waves.
Scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for decades to come, largely due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities. Today’s warming is primarily caused by humans putting too much carbon in the atmosphere, like when we choose to extract and burn coal, oil, and gas, or cut down and burn forests. Human-emitted greenhouse gases are responsible for more than half of Earth’s temperature increase since 1951.
While this is a very talked about and well known issue, there are still politicians who refuse to acknowledge the evidence and deny that climate change exists. This is a major setback in fixing the problem. Denying that it exists won’t make it go away, it’ll just make it harder to overcome.
If we don’t take action soon, there will be enormous negative results. It is estimated that by 2030, crop yields will drop in many places, including North America. By 2040, more species will face extinction, and both flooding and drought will increase. Most coral reefs will disappear. By 2060, more New Yorkers will be dying in extreme coastal storms. Invasive species will spread in Europe, while lack of snow starts to affect the Alps. Coastal communities in New Zealand and Australia will begin to flood from rising seas by the 2080s. By 2090, average temperatures in Africa could be as much as six degrees hotter. And 2100 will be when we’ll face mass extinctions, a dramatic increase in wildfires, dead fish, and limited fresh water to drink.
I could list ways to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle to help reduce climate change but the sad truth is that it won’t do much because so much of it is caused by mass companies. There are just 100 companies responsible for 71% of global emissions, so unless we take a stand against the companies, we are looking at a catastrophic next few decades.
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