Picture this, a day on the beach. Waves crashing along the sand, children laughing and screaming while running away from the water with friends or family. Parents enjoying their much needed time of relaxation in the sun and a man selling slushed lemonade from a cart. Maybe your perfect getaway is not envisioned at the beach? Maybe a national park? Birds chirping, squirrels running across fields and up trees, deer chewing on grass, and the different colors of leaves as the seasons are changing. Now, picture this-glass occasionally sticking up from the sand at the beach, water bottles without caps floating next to you in the water, and capturing hermit crabs whom cannot seem to find a way out. Instead of seeing leaves change colors, you are seeing trees being grinded up in wood chippers and deer running in front of peoples cars, lost and trying to find where there home went.
While many people in America and in the world in general do not “read the fine print” and acknowledge the realities of climate change, it is in fact a real thing. Many do not think of the consequences if they drop a simple straw on the ground, and big companies such as Amazon do not take into consideration where they build a new warehouse. Humans as a whole are slowly killing the environment they are in and are not taking into consideration the damage they are causing.
From personal experience, I have seen the way humans have contributed to climate change. I live in the small town of Florence, New Jersey. It always had some factories that produced metals to build bridges but eventually they went out of business and the town turned into more agriculture, on top of it becoming the “story book” town where everyone knows each other. Within the last three years the mayor approved Amazon to build a warehouse in town. It required having to cut down tons of trees, ruining habitats of animals and other environmental aspects. On top of wildlife being destroyed, it brought in thousands of jobs, but with jobs comes people, and with people comes cars and tractor trailers. Humans building just for the selfishness of themselves is causing fossil fuels to cause air pollution and trees being cut down is causing Carbon levels to increase, contributing to global warming.
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The ocean along with other bodies of water such as lakes and rivers, also play a big part of the way climate change has been an increasing problem. The ocean needs a type of stable temperature to keep the land on earth at a stable temperature as well. Not only is the temperature being affected in the oceans but so is the acidity of the water. “Excess carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning is also directly affecting ocean water chemistry” (Reusch 106). In the article it explains that the levels of water are tremendously increasing to be more acidic rather than at an even pH level. With this, many species in the sea and in rivers are being killed off and this may even lead to extinction of those species in not only a few areas, but as a whole.
With the temperatures being affected on the land from the ocean, there are also other problems being caused. As mentioned before, habitats and niches are being taken away from wildlife ranging anywhere from deer to insects. With these events taking place, “These contradictions indicate that species are failing to shift their niches sufficiently to tolerate these new conditions and that these populations are instead going extinct” (Wiens 2).
There are many ways that not only America, but the whole world can make a change in how they treat the environment. Just by using common knowledge and having simple responsibilities each individual could make an attempt to reverse the damage that has been done. It is known that using public transportation, recycling, not littering, and just reusing cups or plates that can be reused is a step forward. In America, most of us have been taught since elementary school the pros of recycling and taught to not litter. In a recent interview with Kim Johnston, instructor of biology, when asked what she did that could prevent climate change she happily responded, “I try to think about the environment daily. I recycle everything I possibly can, buy detergents that are environmentally friendly that do not give off phosphorus, and eat organic foods” (Personal Interview. November 7, 2018).
