One issue I feel strongly about is Global Warming. Some might say, Global warming is simple, just the world heating up, however, that is not true. Global warming is a chain of dominos falling on top of each other, and the cherry on top is the huge consequences that come along with it. Firstly, let us begin with how Global Warming started. 

There is a thin layer of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane in the atmosphere of Earth. These gases are known as greenhouse gases. Like their name, they serve as a greenhouse for Earth, keeping it warm by trapping heat-not letting heat escape from the atmosphere of Earth. However, too much of those gases can also bring harm. Global warming happens when the greenhouse effect is too strong. The Earth then starts to heat up. You might wonder, with only the greenhouse effect, how can the ice in the poles melt so quickly? That is due to the damage to the ozone layer, or lack thereof. The layer is damaged by chemicals named CFCs, which are carbon, fluorine, and chlorine atoms. They can be found in fridges, air conditioners, spray cans, etc. Those mess around with the ozone layer and cause it to wear it away over a span of time. But what is the ozone layer, and why does it matter that it is damaged? 

The ozone layer is a layer made up of O3 particles which protect the Earth from Ultraviolet-C (the most harmful UV radiation), Ultraviolet-B, and Ultraviolet-A rays. The ozone layer absorbs more than 99% of UV-C rays, 50% of UV-A rays, and 90% of UV-B rays. The 10% remaining from the UV-B rays are the root cause of sun burns and skin cancer. The most damaged part of the ozone layer is at Antarctica, which is estimated to fully recover by 2066. (41 years away!!!) The Arctic’s ozone layer is predicted to fully recover by 2045 (20 years away!!!), and around 20 years anywhere else. As the ozone layer is recovering, we must be careful not to release more carbon, fluorine, chlorine, etcetera, to avoid deepening the injury. 

Some might think Global Warming causes the whole Earth to heat up, but that is not the case. Global warming instead brings the Earth to extreme temperatures-some places bear summers with 50 degrees Celsius, while some bear summers of 20 degrees Celsius. This causes heat waves, forest fires, and droughts.  

As well as natural disasters, there is also massive damage to the routines and lives of animals and plants. Around half of the animal and plant species live in areas like the Amazon forest and Galapagos, which could face extinction within a century, due to climate change. Most birds alter their time of migration to synchronize with the warming climate. Some hibernating animals are ending their hibernation earlier every year, potentially due to the warmer spring. 

In addition, ice melting in the Arctic and the Antarctic brings huge impacts.  

Firstly, around 2.5% of the Earth’s water is freshwater, which we drink every day. Among that, 68.7% of the fresh water is frozen in glaciers and icebergs. If the ice melts, it would mix with sea water, turning fresh water into salt water. Once all the ice melts, we lose 68.7% of the fresh water that is around the world, which is an astonishing amount of fresh water.  

Secondly, if all the ice melts, the sea would rise 216 feet. The entire Atlantic seaboard would vanish, along with Florida and the Gulf Coast. San Francisco’s hills would become a chain of islands and the Central Valley a giant bay. The Gulf of California would stretch north past the latitude of San Diego— not that there would be a San Diego. The Amazon Basin in the north and the Paraguay River Basin in the south would become Atlantic inlets, wiping out Buenos Aires, coastal Uruguay, and most of Paraguay. Mountainous stretches would survive along the Caribbean coast and in Central America. In Egypt, Alexandria and Cairo will be swept underneath by the intruding Mediterranean. London? Only a memory. Venice? Reclaimed by the Adriatic Sea. In this scenario, the Netherlands will have long since surrendered to the sea, and a substantial proportion of Denmark will be gone too. Meanwhile, the Mediterranean’s expanding waters will also have swelled the Black and Caspian Seas. Land now inhabited by 600 million Chinese would flood, as would all of Bangladesh, population 160 million, and much of coastal India. Singapore? Already a lost country under the sea. 

This concludes my informative article on Global Warming. I hope you enjoyed it and realized the dangers and consequences to it. Thank you.