Environmental countdown

Most people think that global warming is a thing of the future, but they are totally wrong. We are
victims of its effects every day. Today, when you woke up and said it was incredibly warm to be
a winter morning, you were not thinking about what really causes the warm weather in the
coldest season of the year. The temperature of the earth’s atmosphere is increasing every day,
and we humans, are responsible for that. Our daily activities –such as burning fussil fuels (coal,
oil and natural gas), agriculture and land clearing- are increasing in large quantities the
concentrations of greenhouse gases, what leads to the enhanced greenhouse effect, which is
contributing to global warming. Something as common as buying a phone has a terrible effect in
our planet, everything that we use is involved in fossil fuel, with phones for example, the
machines that make them need fossil fuels, during the process, carbon dioxide is releasing in to
the atmosphere. We contaminate our planet every day without even noticing.

But how does exactly the greenhouse effect work? First, solar radiation reaches the Earth’s
atmosphere, some of this is reflected back to space, and the rest of the sun’s energy is absorbed
by the oceans and land, heating the Earth. Then, heat radiates from Earth towards space, some of
this heat is trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, keeping the Earth warm enough to
sustain life, but then, there we are with our human activities overloading the amount of
greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, which is trapping extra heat, and causing the
Earth’s temperature to rise.

We can already notice the effects of global warming; we have the polar ice caps melting; as the
temperature increase, the ice will melt. Melt ice means rise of sea levels. According to the
National Snow and Ice Data Center, if the ice melted today, the seas would rise about 230 feet.
This leads to the species loss of habitat. Species that live in the poles and the tropic will
eventually disappear if they don’t adapt quickly enough. According to a 2015 study, vertebrate
species are disappearing 114 times faster than they should, a phenomenon that has been linked to
a climate change, pollution and deforestation.

The health of human beings can also be severely affected by climate change; air pollution caused
by overabundance of carbon dioxide, vehicular emissions, and power plants, influences the
human respiratory system. As well as exposure to extreme heat can lead to heat stroke and
dehydration, as well as cardiovascular, respiratory and cerebrovascular disease. Certain people
are more vulnerable than other, for example: outdoor workers, athletes, and homeless people.
Additionally, young children, pregnant women, older adults and people with certain medical
conditions are less able to regulate their body temperature.

Can we stop global warming? The earth’s temperature will continue to rise as long as humans
keep producing greenhouse gases. We have warmed our planet little by little, it is impossible to
stop global warming one day to another. Although the government must commit to policies that
help climate change, so do us. We can help with little things, like recycle; we can save 2400
pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of our household waste. Drive less, use
bike, carpool o use public transportation more often, you will be saving one pound of carbon
dioxide for every mile you do not drive. Use less hot water, it takes a lot of energy to heat water,
take shorter and cooler showers and wash your clothes in cold or warm water, you will be saving
more than 500 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. Avoid products with a lot of packaging, plant
a tree, turn off electronic devices while not using them, and eat less meat!

By being just a little more mindful, we can all play our part in combating global warming.