Thin Ice | Teen Ink

Thin Ice

December 19, 2007
By Anonymous

You can die! Yes you can get a slow painful death. Imagine yourself roasting, running for cover, but you’re done for, no where to hide. Feeling like a chicken roasting in the oven. Everyone in the world having skin cancer, because they have not been protected from the sun’s rays. All kinds of skin diseases, and no cure.


This is what can happen in a not so distant future. What is happening right now that you can absolutely die of, are diseases like Malaria, a disease spread by mosquitoes. As the temperature increases, so do the mosquitoes. Another is Dengue Fever, which is similar to Yellow Fever, but there is no known cure. One more disease is Encephalitis which occurs when the temperature is hot. Another disease that can occur is cholera, which killed over 120,000 people in 1995. It especially targets kids. It can be caused by warm water, what causes these disasters, you might ask yourself. It’s not a bomb or a virus it’s global warming.


The effect of global warming doesn’t just target humans but it also affects the wild life, especially if the animals’ habitat is in cold places. Take the polar bears, for example. Their lives are at stake because the survival of a polar bear in the Arctic greatly depends on food or they will not survive the harsh winters. Right now their population is at around 20,000 to 25,000. The major cause of their deaths ate the scarcity of food. In order for polar bears to obtain food, they have to walk ten’s of miles. Since there isn’t enough food, they don’t get all the proteins that their bodies need. Most of the time what happens is that the ice is so thin it breaks and they fail to swim so many miles and they end up drowning. You might say that’s not my problem, but put yourself in their position, going out to feed your family, and ending up drowning, leaving you kids alone. Not much fun, is it?


Global warming has caused catastrophic floods, and a decrease in marine population. For example, penguins go into the Ocean in pursuit of food, and they have to swim outrageous lengths caused by the rise of sea level, when glaciers melt, the penguins fail to swim that distance, and go into their watery graves.


Global warming causes forest fires and droughts. Take California, for instance. Because of the droughts and because of the trees being cut down to make room for houses, the wild animals are going into the houses, and into the streets. Some of them get run over. It’s as sad as a baby being run over.


Global warming alters the climate. By changing the climate, we are causing horrifying natural cataclysms like Hurricane Katrina. This happened when a huge mass of hot and cold air collided together. Another example was the tsunami that was caused when the Ocean floor moved, causing a huge Ocean wave, and a tremendous amount of deaths.


Global warming has also changed the way the seasons come and go. In the northern hemisphere, the winter arrives a week later and spring comes a week earlier. This alters the migration pattern of birds.


Global warming is a climatologically change that we as humans cause, and like everything else we cause, we can change it. It’s not something that can be stopped over night. To stop the process of global warming, some of what we have to do are simple things, for example, we can use cars for more than one person, turn off the water while brushing your teeth, and close the refrigerator door. Use the three R’s: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Solar panels or other natural energy can reduce the amount of pollution that goes into the air.


Global warming is harmful for nature and for us. Don’t destroy our beautiful world, because it’s the only one we have. Millions of creatures will die, including us, if we don’t change. So take care of the world. We’re walking on thin ice. Let’s not drown.


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