Global Climate Change
Eleanor Ashten
Global Climate Change, It's really a big deal!
Sure, you hear a lot of stuff about the global warming at school and on the news. If you weren't aware, global warming is a real life issue facing the world. What is global climate change you ask? it's the effect of too much greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gasses are gasses that trap heat and help to warm the earth but too many of these greenhouse gasses can overheat the Earth. Global climate change is causing the seas to rise, icecaps to melt, the polar bear habitats to shrink and the warming and melting of the continent Antarctica. All of this is the human race's fault! It's all our fault because we are the ones who are pumping all those nasty chemicals out of factories and out of cars. I think that we as humans need an alternative to fossil fuels or else once all the ice melts and global warming wins, North America will look something like this.
Big Changes
As you can see, after all the ice melts, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and other southern states will underwater. Also, a lot of the coast of southern Mexico will be gone. If you look really closely in the picture above you will also notice that the whole entire Massachusetts "hook" will be undersea. That includes Cape Cod and Boston! Think about that! Consider again that Florida will be totally sunken. Florida is a popular vacation spot and a beloved state. Can you imagine not going to Cape Cod for the summer, or taking a trip down to Boston with your family for a Bruins game? For me it's kind of hard to imagine.
What YOU Can Do!
This may seem like a lot, but actually you, as a middle school-er can pitch in and help the cause! For reducing your carbon footprint, you can use the new "CFL" light bulbs. Those are the light bulbs that look more compact and curly. They are great because they use less electricity to give off the same amount of light as the regular ones. You could cut down on electronic usage in your home and turn off the lights when you aren't in a room or using it. Another really smart, fun and fit idea is to walk or bike to places (of course if they are in biking or walking distance) Doing this can reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. For each mile you drive in a car, one pound of CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere. Even though it's just a little, if a lot of other kids begin to pitch in with ways like this, we might be able to better the future!