Overview of The Effects of Global Warming

A huge issue the world faces is global warming. Many people do not believe in global warming, even when facts and evidence are all around us. Global warming is defined as ¨the unusually rapid increase in Earth’s average surface temperature over the past century primarily due to the greenhouse gases released by people burning fossil fuels,¨ according to NASA. Now, this is not to say that global warming has eradicated winter. Global warming has impacted the world in a multitude of ways, such as the obvious ¨temperature increase, water shortages, increased fire threats, drought, weed, and pest invasions, intense storm damage, and salt invasion, just to name a few,¨ according to a WWF article, but there are plenty of other effects as well.

Animal species, not just humans, are in danger from global warming. According to WWF, ¨One in six species is at risk of extinction because of climate change,¨ which is an alarming amount of animal species since there are 8.6 million in the world. WWF goes on to explain, ¨To survive, plants, animals, and birds confronted with climate change have two options: move or adapt. With the speed of climate change, we are experiencing already, it’s often not possible for a species to adapt quickly enough to keep up with its changing environment. And with the amount of habitat destruction, moving is becoming increasingly difficult.¨ Humans have not only doomed themselves but other species as well. If animals have no place to go, they will die. Missing just one species has devastating effects on whole food webs. For example, if a predator goes extinct, a lion, then all the prey, zebras, and other species the lion species would eat, would become overpopulated. If or when that happens, the producers, plants such as grass, will die out due to the increased amount of animals eating them, zebras and other species would follow after, dying of starvation.

High temperatures can cause death. According to the WWF, ¨Increasingly severe and frequent heat waves may lead to death and illness, especially among the elderly,¨ but the elderly are not the only ones susceptible to death by heat, we all are to an extent. The average maximum temperature humans can withstand is 108.14-degree Fahrenheit or 42.3-degree Celsius. A higher temperature may cause irreparable damage to the brain if said human survives. WWF also says,¨Higher temperatures and humidity could also produce more mosquito-borne disease,¨ which is another cause of death, especially when normally ¨nearly 700 million people contract mosquito-borne illnesses each year, causing more than one million deaths.¨ according to the World Mosquito Program. Birth rates are also dwindling, so a spike in deaths as well will be fatal to our species if we do not figure things out.

All living things need to eat, if we have no food available to us, we will die. Live Science says ¨Agricultural systems will likely be dealt a crippling blow. Though growing seasons in some areas will expand, the combined impacts of drought, severe weather, lack of accumulated snowmelt, greater number and diversity of pests, lower groundwater tables, and a loss of arable land could cause severe crop failures and livestock shortages worldwide,¨ this means a food shortage or depletion. Global warming affects all creatures on Earth, if humans don't do something to fix it, we, and this planet, will die.

Why have we not helped Earth? Well, NRDC has this to say, ¨Under the administration of President Donald Trump (a man who falsely referred to global warming as a “hoax”), the United States withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, rolled back or eliminated dozens of clean-air protections, and opened up federally managed lands, including culturally sacred national monuments, to fossil fuel development. Although President Biden has pledged to get the country back on track, years of inaction during and before the Trump administration—and our increased understanding of global warming’s serious impacts—mean we must accelerate our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,¨ in other words, the United States had tried to help a little, but since President Trump withdrew from ways to help not only the United States, but the world, if President Biden does try to get back into those ways of helping Earth, it will not be nearly enough of an effort. Even if President Trump continued with those actions, it still would not have been enough to do anything major.

Residents and businesses during that time tried to do their best at helping Mother Earth.

According to NRDC, ¨industry and business leaders have been working with the public sector, creating and adopting new clean-energy technologies and increasing energy efficiency in buildings, appliances, and industrial processes.¨ which is a great way for these places and leaders to start. NRDC continues, ¨Today the American automotive industry is finding new ways to produce cars and trucks that are more fuel-efficient and is committing itself to put more and more zero-emission electric vehicles on the road. Developers, cities, and community advocates are coming together to make sure that new affordable housing is built with efficiency in mind, reducing energy consumption and lowering electric and heating bills for residents.¨ All of these changes are huge considering automobiles and industries are huge factors in pollution, and reducing energy consumption is a great way to ensure resources will not deplete quickly. Other ways you can help are by taking public transportation or carpooling when possible. When you buy a car, look for one with the highest gas mileage and lowest emissions to reserve resources and keep emissions, and pollution, low. You can also hold government and industry leaders to account, and make other changes in your daily habits. To truly change the direction of the world, we all need to make changes and help our planet to heal before it is way