Accept the reality of climate change

  Climate change is a seemingly distant and foreign issue to students at Granite Bay High.

  Some people are disinterested in it because it is increasingly being seen as a political issue. However, climate change will affect everyone in Gen Z’s lives regardless of their politics or socioeconomic standing.

  NASA concluded its 2017 findings recently, confirming that the year followed a trend as the fourth straight hottest year in Earth’s history. This continuing trend has massive effects all across the globe on weather patterns and on health ecosystems.

  The extreme weather patterns that people keep labeling as “freak events” are rapidly becoming the new normal, ravaging cities and taking lives across the world.

 Out of 27 major weather events in 2017, three of them were so extreme that they could only have been caused by human influence. The rest of them had increased severity as well because of rising temperatures.

  As global temperatures rise, the Arctic warms at a faster rate than anywhere else, releasing millions of tons of cold water into the ocean, raising water levels and interrupting flow patterns that control how we experience weather. With this shift occurring, huge heat waves, droughts, hurricanes, flooding and blizzards are becoming omnipresent.

Climate Change Facts

• 17 of the 18 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001
• Carbon Dioxide levels are at their highest in 650,000 years
• Global Temperatures have risen 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880
• Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities
• Sea levels are predicted to rise 1-4 feet by 2100

  

   Humans constantly prove that we will put profits before future life conditions and even the health of our own progeny. Globally we continue to burn fossil fuels that emit huge amounts of carbon into our atmosphere, effectively wrecking global ecosystems.

  Putting the Trump administration into office is a disaster for climate change as America, rather than pushing to reduce global carbon emission, is increasing its emissions and pushing for the glorious rebirth of coal.

  The Republican mantra of “free-market capitalism” is clearly being broken by forcing the resurgence of coal, an industry that is naturally dying as cleaner and more efficient sources of energy push it out.

  On top of inaction to prevent the expansion of carbon emissions, the president actively worsened the  problem by pulling the United States out of the Paris Accords and naming  climate change denier Scott Pruitt as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

  Climate change shouldn’t be a political issue with one party denying its existence while another party agrees that it exists and esconses itself in lethargy.

  Climate change is the greatest issue of our generation – and to prevent it from hugely altering the world we know of, people on both sides of the aisle need to come together and work hard to fix it.

  As the first generation that will have our lives meaningfully affected by climate change, we need to take action.

  Volunteer. Switch your house to sustainable energy – like solar. Sign petitions. Call your representative.

  Most importantly, make your vote count in 2018 and 2020. Know the candidates and choose people who  will fight to make positive change to protect the planet and the climate.