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Cesar Cordon

Carey Perkins

English 101

15 July 2022

Global Warming a Threat

We are living in a turning point where we must change our ways to protect our future.

Global warming is a problem that affects us all. If we don’t do anything to stop it we will see

many more natural disasters and rising temperatures. Although many believe global warming is

natural, there has been irrefutable proof that it is not natural and causes many problems for us.

Luckily, we can do some things to help reduce global warming; we can use alternative energy

instead of fossil fuels, use alternative transportation, and use reforestation practices.

The biggest problem we have today is the use of fossil fuels which releases dangerous

emissions into the air. The article Alternative Energy says, “Starting in the late 18th century,

with the Industrial Revolution, the global economy has increasingly relied on fossil fuels such

as coal, petroleum, and natural gas. At some point in the future, the global economy will run out

of these fuels” (Merrett). An alternative to fossil fuels are renewable energy sources. For

example, solar energy which absorbs energy from the sun via solar panels. Another energy

source is Hydroelectricity which harness the power of water either by a dam or tides in the

ocean. According to Merrett, “Many researchers tout hydrogen as the ultimate renewable energy

source, because it is the most common element in the universe. Hydrogen-based fuel cells

operate by reacting pure hydrogen with oxygen to generate electricity.” Though an expensive

and experimental process it is a better alternative to fossil fuels in terms of availability. As you
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can see there are many great alternative energy sources that are renewable and more convenient

than fossil fuels.

People prefer to use their own car than public transportation. In big cities temperatures

are more likely to rise. In the article Reducing Your Transportation Footprint it says, “Modern

transportation relies heavily on petroleum, and passenger cars and light-duty trucks (i.e. sport

vehicles, pickup trucks and minivans) contribute half of the carbon dioxide emissions from the

U.S. transportation sector. Burning one gallon of gasoline creates about 20 pounds of CO2—

which means the average vehicle creates roughly 6 to 9 tons of CO2 each year.” As you can see,

if everyone uses their own car it can be bad for the environment. An alternative that is available

and is growing popularity is the electric car which creates little to no CO2 emissions. If someone

is going somewhere close to where they live they could walk or use a bike instead of using their

car. According to the “Center for Climate and Energy Solutions”, Americans that live near a rail

line or bus station create the least amount of carbon emissions. These people drive 4,400 miles

less than people that don’t have access to public transportation (Reducing your Transportation

Footprint). In Japan, people have access to all types of public transportation. The most notable is

the Bullet Train which doesn’t use fossil fuels. Instead, it uses electricity and electromagnets to

reach its velocity. If we had these available everywhere people might use these methods of

transportation instead of always using their personal vehicles all the time.

Trees are a great help to our planet and yet we cut them without replanting them,

therefore we should implement reforestation practices. In the article Trees Help Fight Climate

Change they say, “As trees grow, they help stop climate change by removing carbon dioxide

from the air, storing carbon in the trees and soil, and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere”

(Arbor Day Foundation). Therefore, we need to take care of trees. We cut them down for their
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resources and many times we don’t replant them. This is why we need to implement reforestation

practices which allows us to cut trees down but replant more trees in their place. This allows us

to have trees to cut down and allow for the planted trees to grow before cutting them down and

repeating the process. Tropical rainforests are called The Lungs of The World because they create

massive amounts of oxygen for the planet while removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Plankton is

also a huge contributor to the removal of carbon emissions. They are found in both saltwater and

freshwater; this means they can be anywhere around the world and clean the air in that area. If

trees do so much to help us and can stop global warming don’t you think we should protect

them?

It has been argued that global warming is natural. However, it has been proven by

scientists that many mass extinctions have occurred by global warming, the most famous being

from the Permian period. It took place about 252 million years ago (Hickey). This should be a

wake-up call to us, if creatures from then died due to global warming we should be even more

worried since we create more and more emissions every day. Every person and animal create a

small number of emissions due to what we eat, but we use cars and burn fuel creating more fuels

than any amount of animal could create.

In conclusion, we should take more care of our planet by changing our way of life. Some

things we can do to help stop global warming is to use renewable sources of energy, use

alternative transportation that create less CO2 emissions or none, and protect the trees and plant

life that help clean our air. The sooner we all do this the more time we will have to protect the

Earth and ensure we have a bright future for us.

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Work Sited

Arbor Day Foundation. “Trees Help Fight Climate Change.” Climate Change at Arborday.org,

https://www.arborday.org/trees/climatechange/#:~:text=As%20trees%20grow%2C

%20they%20help,benefits%20to%20us%2C%20every%20day.

Hickey, Hannah. “Biggest Extinction in Earth's History Caused by Global Warming Leaving

Ocean Animals Gasping for Breath.” UW News, 2018,

https://www.washington.edu/news/2018/12/06/biggest-extinction-in-earths-history-

caused-by-global-warming-leaving-ocean-animals-gasping-for-breath/.

Merrett, Christopher D. "Alternative Energy, Overview." Encyclopedia of Global Warming &

Climate Change, edited by S. George Philander, 2nd ed., vol. 1, SAGE Reference, 2012,

pp. 38-43. Gale eBooks, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX4195600029/GVRL?

u=mcc_glendale&sid=bookmark-GVRL&xid=25afcb36. Accessed 15 July 2022.

Reducing Your Transportation Footprint. Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, 27 Oct.

2017, https://www.c2es.org/content/reducing-your-transportation-footprint/.