Global Warming — Глобальное потепление

Humans have ruled this Earth for thousands of years. Blood has been spilled upon the land where the sun once shined. Of course, the sun is still shining above us, but it has a dark aura about it. It is no longer just providing heat and warmth to our society but is also, now, slowly changing the landscape, rendering it almost useless, and we are the ones to blame. As the need for fossil fuels rise, the prices go up, and carbon dioxide emissions are higher than ever before and build up in the atmosphere as well. We are all no longer just facing some preposterous theory that some random scientist who happens to have a Ph.D. made up just for the attention. No. This battle is against our own society and the future. If we do nothing about global warming now, the future may have to pay the price with their lives.

Oh sure, the polar ice caps haven’t melted yet, the oceans haven’t dried up, nor have the weather patterns changed, but they are beginning to, and are taking their toll upon the land we have now. If all the ice in the world melted, sea levels would raise a minimum of 20 feet, if not anymore. We would lose more land than we can afford with our rising populations which, in recent years, have sky-rocketed off the charts. Don’t blame nature, nor the Earth, for it is not their burden to carry. New Orleans, just a few years ago, was hit by Hurricane Katrina and destroyed. Rivers of tears were shed, but we did nothing but tend to the fallen. Did nothing to find out why such a small storm suddenly exploded into a raging hurricane. I’ll tell you why: Everything we do, be it washing your bike or throwing away paper, is weighed the scale of the Earth. Right now the scale is tipping and soon it will plunge us all into darkness unless we do something about it.

Allow me to introduce you to another theory on global warming. Many scientists believe that the world is going through a cycle as it has been for many years. We, as humans, address them by name: Spring, summer, fall, and winter, in our region. Each year we go through the cycle of seasons and by doing so, scientists believe that global warming is just yet another cycle to live with. Please acknowledge Katrina, once again, in 2005, when it hit Florida. It was only a tropical storm but, a few miles into the Gulf Coast and New Orleans was devastated with a towering Category 5 hurricane. As the ocean warmed up in the hotter months, it kept the heat in because of the greenhouse effect. When the sun beamed down onto the ocean, it stayed there because the rays could not escape the atmosphere while carbon dioxide built up there and because of this Katrina grew into such a horror that many are forbidden to use its name.

I believe that global warming is as big of a problem as scientists say, is it? As each year passes the cycle that the Earth is in is more loosely followed and the simplest joys are slipping. We are getting less snowfall each year and the beaches that once were an escape to another land are now terrors to live next to, for they are being swept away into the open with nothing to hold them down. Although many agree with this statement, they choose to think nothing of it and that the scientists will fix everything. What we must know, is that scientists can do nothing more than we can. Even though it was them that did all the research, they can choose to shut themselves up inside an office 24 hours a day with all the paperwork right there with them, and do nothing. Before this decade even ends, we all may be facing a dramatic change in our lifestyle, one that may go, for the worse.

Global warming is already having a huge impact on our world. We can all just ignore it and pretend the ice caps aren’t melting or we can all know this as fact and do all we can to protect the Earth from changing as much as we can. It is a problem that will teach us all a valuable lesson in time when it is finally solved. As ordinary citizens, you may believe that we can do nothing to stop such a big thing, but we can. Almost all the products we use daily can be recycled and that’s what we should do to them regularly. I, myself, can help by riding my bike to school or take public transportation in order to reduce carbon dioxide in the air and so can you. Everyone in this world was put here for some reason and you can make that known by helping to make our lives better. In the future, hope for better things, hope for the land to be that the skies are a deep blue and the hue of the landscape is green, and it is possible because all it takes is the actions you do in your everyday life. Do it not so that you may be remembered when you pass to the next life, but so that many will hold you in their hearts for the life you lead.