Our planet, our home, our responsibility
There are more than 7 billion people on this planet. More than 7 billion humans driving, cooking, and smoking. Ever since the beginning of the industrial era, there has been a tremendous consumption in carbon dioxide. The majority of all modern applies such as our heaters and air conditioners to our transportation relies fossil fuels. For decades, we've been pumping toxic gas into our atmosphere thereby changing our planet. Many still deny this, but climate change is an important global issue. The methods we use to deal with it (or not deal with it) will create a ripple effect and change our future entirely.
In an article published by the New York Times, the issue of climate change’s impact on the economy was addressed. The author, Neil Irwin, wrote that: “… a warmer planet could mean a big hit to G.D.P. in the coming decades.” (Irwin, Neil). His examples were: “… that climate change could exact an economic cost: A once-fertile agricultural area experiences hotter weather and drought, causing its crop yields to decrease. A road destroyed by flooding because of rising seas and more frequent hurricanes must be rebuilt. An electrical utility spends hundreds of millions of dollars to build a more efficient power grid because the old one could not withstand extreme weather.” (Irwin, Neil). If climate change will hurt humanity, we mitigate its effects. It creates a toxic environment that impacts our health but also affects us economically. Lots of money will be spent on the scramble to rebuild what climate change has destroyed. There is one simple solution: a reduction in our carbon footprint. In Biology, we learned about how one molecule of glucose has six atoms of carbon; imagine the millions of carbon atoms inside a tree!
“… a warmer planet could mean a big hit to G.D.P. in the coming decades.”
By reducing our deforestation and also planting new trees, we will have huge carbon vats that not only store carbon but also release oxygen as a waste product of photosynthesis. That’s just a start to a safer, better Earth. Our carbon emissions are the most dominant cause of climate change. “… switching to a carbon-free energy system would still give us a lot of benefits immediately… Over 3 billion people worldwide breathe air that is so polluted that it doesn’t meet World Health Organization guidelines. Air pollution from fossil fuels or stoves is thought to cause more than 5 million deaths per year thanks to things like lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke.” (Mess, Hot, director). We should reduce carbon emissions because it will immediately benefit everyone. The bane of our existence is the source of our lifestyle; switching to clean energy immediately and banning fossil fuels gives us hope for any kind of future.