Global warming is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed immediately. It’s important for everyone to take part in limiting pollution from individuals at home to big industries. It is not helpful when our current administration and 53 out of 100 Senators and 232 out of 435 Representatives do not believe that global warming is real or a big issue.
We all live on this earth; it’s important to take care of it for the future of humanity. The consequences for not acting are a decrease in crops, massive whether patterns such as increases in hurricanes, major problems with our ocean, and so much more with devastating outcomes. IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) has recently released a report that finds these climate patterns will just worsen if we do not keep the global temperature to 1.5C. The only possible way for this to happen is if carbon pollution is cut by 45 percent by 2030 and goes down to 0 percent by 2050. It would make a traumatic difference if the temperature went from 1.5c to 2c. The action taken to slow climate change is not only positive for our planet but for our economy. Solar energy has given twice the amount of jobs compared to the coal industries.
A survey conducted found that 58 percent of Americans believe in global warming and that humans are the main cause of it. It also showed that 75 percent agreed to restrict carbon emissions from coal power plants. Despite this, The United States has recently drawn away from the Paris Agreement of 2015, which brought many other countries in an agreement to keep rising global temperatures below 2c and the Clean Power Act that would have decreased greenhouse gas emissions effectively. Congress appears to be more interested in the goals of special interest groups than with what most Americans want.
I urge you to take actions into your own hands. Call or write your representative and let them know that you support reasonable measures to protect our natural environment. You can also visit the Conserve Energy Future website, https://www.conserve-energyfuture.com/stopglobalwarming.php to learn what you can do in your own daily life. Every little bit helps because our future depends on making a change.
Katelyn Leuck
Burke