Global Warming may be the most important problem facing the next generation¡ my generation. As many of you probably know, it has received wide media attention recently with the release of Al Gore¡¯s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. If unaddressed, the world could be facing drastic climate change with dire consequences¡ But what exactly is Global Warming?
Global Warming, to put it simply, is when the Earth¡¯s temperature increases, causing changes in climate and the environment. A warmer Earth may lead to changes in rainfall patterns, a rise in sea level, and a wide range of impacts on plants, wildlife, and humans. But what caused this increase of temperature and pending catastrophe?... The answer is simple¡ us.
Global warming is having more and more effects on our lives. Carbon Dioxide is being pumped into the air as we speak, fueling and speeding up this process. Scientists predicts over the next 50 years or so, tropical and warmer temperate places, such as Guangdong, will become deserts because of drastically increased temperatures...
But how does global warming occur, you may ask? When we do things like burn coal, operate factories, and drive our cars carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere. This helps trap the sun¡¯s heat by restricting the reflection of UV rays back into space, causing the planet to warm up.
What will global warming do to us? Much more than you may think. During the last Hurricane season in the Western Hemisphere, there were a record number of hurricanes and tropical storms. In fact, there were so many that they ran out of names to give the hurricanes and had to resort to the Greek alphabet, something that has never occurred before. Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, leaving as many as 1700 dead and one and a half million people homeless.. People just like you and me, with families, homes, and dreams. People who won¡¯t be able to fulfill those dreams because of the carbon dioxide that the factories, our factories, spew. And they aren¡¯t going to be the last people. Experts believe that in 25 years the death toll will rise to 300,000 annually. 300,000 people a year. One of them could be someone you know.
Chances are that you are now pretty worried. But the good news is that we can stop it. Possible ideas range from turning of the light when you leave the room to reducing pollution from vehicles and power plants. We will need a combination of everything we can think of to help solve this problem. We should put technologies for building cleaner and more modern electricity products into use. We should put our reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind, and sun, and we can manufacture more efficient appliances and conserve energy. We can defeat global warming.
You can help too. By doing things such as trying to walk as much as possible instead of riding cars you¡¯ll be helping to reduce your carbon footprint and save the Earth. Buy products that don¡¯t harm the environment. Try to recycle, this way you can stop more trash from burning up, and causing air pollution.
Planting trees is fun and a great way to reduce greenhouse gases. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the air. Through the combined effort of the entire human population, we can make the Earth a cleaner, safer, and altogether better place to live.
Lastly, ¡® We don¡¯t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow them from our children.¡¯
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