Picture the world 100 years from now. The sky is grey from the pollution and most of the animals are now gone. Buildings and homes are damaged from extreme storms that have ravaged the Earth. Is this what people really want the world to become? The greenhouse gases in our atmosphere are causing problems. “Middle East carbon dioxide emissions from burning of fossil fuels increased 35%, Africa increased 12%, and East Europe increased rates by 75% from 1990-1995.” (Greenhouse Gases and Society). If we continue this trend of carbon dioxide emissions the changing climate will negatively impact the Earth and its inhabitants. It is causing droughts, melting ice in the Polar Regions, and it is causing more severe storms.
The changing climate is causing droughts around the world. Sources of water are drying up rapidly. Farmers can not get the water that they need to grow their crops. Eastern Africa has so much severe drought that they can’t get any water to drink, and animals are dying because there is no water for them to drink. There is also a big loss of fish because the lakes and rivers are drying up. “Over the past two months, more than 40 elephants have died in the country’s Laikipia, Isiolo and Samburu districts due to drought.” (Kenyan Elephants Starve in Worsening Drought). The cost for drought is an extreme amount per year. The “U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency has estimated that drought costs the U.S 6-8 billion per year, making it the costliest natural disaster” (How Droughts Affect Us). The prices for food and water go up because there is no water to grow food, crops start to cost more because there is no water to grow them either, and there is a loss of homes and animals due to the lack of water. The most economically damaging drought in the U.S, between 1980-2000, was the 1988 drought. The losses were estimated to cost 40 billion dollars.
The changing climate is melting ice in the Polar Regions and causing many troubles. It causes very bad conditions for animals in the Polar Regions. Polar bears, walrus, whales and seals have no place to live. Since these animals have no place to live they may soon become extinct. The rising sea levels are causing Ocean acidification. Ocean acidification is when CO2 dissolves in seawater. Then the pH of the water decreases, affecting the marine life. For example, it threatens the food web largely by affecting shelled animals’ ability to build their shells.
Climate change is also causing more intense storms. The increasing sea surface temperatures are causing hurricanes. The hurricane season gets really awful in the spring because there is so much rain. In 2005 there was a record of 27 named storms. Scientists predict that in the future hurricanes will become more intense and have larger peak winds and more precipitation. Sea levels have raised 1.25 inches. As a result of the oceans getting warmer and expanding, this creates more hurricanes. Global warming and the raising sea level alter the stresses and forces fighting for balance in the ground under out feet. This causes earthquakes. The severity of earthquakes has increased an immense amount over the past 30 years. The most severe earthquake was in 1811 to 1812 in New Madrid, Missouri. When the earthquake hit the elevation had dropped 20 feet. It shook more than two-thirds of the U.S. When there is an increase in the sea surface temperature there is also an increase in the atmospheric moisture content. This causes tornadoes. Tornadoes rip apart anything in their way and are said to be natures most violent storm. They develop so quickly that it is hard to get information out when they occur. The average for tornadoes per year is about 800. “Nationwide there are approximately 80 deaths and over 1500 injuries” (Tornadoes… Nature’s Most Violent Storms). The damage they cause can leave destructive paths that are up to one mile wide and 50 miles long.
The changing climate is slowly ruining the world and the quality of life for its population. The droughts, severe storms and the melting ice are destroying the Earth. Our world is valuable and needs to be taken care of. Humans don’t want to live in a dump where intense storms can take place everyday. Imagine the world coming to an end. If climate change worsens, the world will be here no more.