This is a Public Service Announcement about climate change. My position on climate change is as follows: we, as citizens of the United States and of this world, are doing very little to prevent climate change. Eventually, climate change will develop into a catastrophic danger to our ecosystems directly affecting humans, animals, plants, and other organisms. It will upset the balance in which we live, whether it happens now, in a decade, or in a century, it will still affect us heavily. For the sake of my family, your family, and all the other families in the world, we need to rise up and fix the problem we created.

First of all, what is climate change? Climate change is a global change in the Earth’s climate, mostly through an increase in carbon dioxide emissions. The global temperature has warmed to about 1 degrees celsius in the last 160 years. Although it does not seem like a lot, it has still caused an increase in sea levels, the loss of habitats, and the extinction of species. If it continues to rise above 1.5 degrees celsius, then homes and habitats are expected to be flooded by the end of the century, in turn causing lots of people to lose their homes and their livelihood.

What about those who don’t believe in climate change? There are so many controversies going around about climate change. Research has shown two main reasons why some people don’t think climate change is an issue. One of which is, since climate change likely won’t affect us in our lifetime, why should we worry about it? This reason baffles me, are these people not thinking about their children and their children’s children? Climate change is not as small of a problem as our bills. If we don’t do something about it, it will devastate our world and our family.

Another reason people don’t worry about climate change is our government. If people in our government don't worry about it, why should we? This also astounds me, as the government doesn’t always do what’s best for us as citizens of the United States, or any country for that matter. Our current president, Donald Trump, has repeatedly called climate change a hoax. Trump believes it to be made for the benefit of China. He sees this as a business and doesn’t put any money towards defending our Earth from climate change. Politicians such as Trump are often influencers in controversial topics like climate change.

Now, let’s talk about wildfires. In California alone, 14 of the most deadliest wildfires occurred there. An average of 72,000 wildfires have occurred every year since 2000 burning up to 7 million acres of land. It’s expected to get worse as climate change gets worse. With all of the trees getting burned down, more carbon dioxide is getting trapped in the atmosphere. In 2018 alone, 68 million tons of carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere from wildfires. With the climate getting warmer globally, wildfires are likely to be harsher and harder to control. Not to mention, how many homes have been and are going to be burnt down.

So how are we going to fix this? If we, the citizens, can band together and bring more awareness to climate change then I believe we can finally bring more change. At first, we may have to be small scale, but we can bring a change if we work at it. Start in your community, spread the news about climate change and ways to reduce it. Make sure you’re making a habit of saving energy and recycling resources in your own home as well! Remember, anyone can make a difference.

                                                So, what are you going to do?

Works Cited

Clinton, Hillary. “Did Trump Say Climate Change Was a Chinese Hoax?” @Politifact, 2 June 2016, www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/03/hillary-clinton/yes-donald-trump-did-call-climate-change-chinese-h/.

Hasemyer, David, et al. “Debunking Climate Change Myths: A Holiday Conversation Guide.” InsideClimate News, 15 Dec. 2018, insideclimatenews.org/news/22112017/thanksgiving-family-climate-denial-global-warming-science-answers.

Holsopple, Kara. “A 'Philosopher of Science' on Climate Change Deniers: 'People Can Actually Change Their Mind Based on Facts' | StateImpact Pennsylvania.” NPR, NPR, 19 Sept. 2019, stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2019/09/19/a-philosopher-of-science-on-climate-change-deniers-people-can-actually-change-their-mind-based-on-facts/.

Lerner, Adrienne, and Chiara Pierre. Climate Change. Greenhaven Press, 2009.

SA, NA. “Climate Change Evidence: How Do We Know?” NASA, NASA, 30 Sept. 2019, climate.nasa.gov/evidence/.

Thiessen, Mark. “California Fires Are Raging: Get the Facts on Wildfires.” National Geographic, 25 Oct. 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/wildfires/.

“What Is Climate Change?” BBC News, BBC, 3 Dec. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-24021772.