Climate change and global warming are two serious problems currently happening on Earth. Places’ average temperatures are rising, icebergs and ice sheets are melting, sea levels are getting higher before your eyes, and natural disasters are becoming more frequent and intense.

Climate change is “a change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.” The definition of climate change itself sounds scary, but the real deal is even scarier. Climate change has mostly been caused by humans. Greenhouse gases (e.g. carbon dioxide) and pollution are large causes of climate change, which humans put into the air. Greenhouse gases pollute the air with harmful gases, and pollution or littering can do a lot to not just the atmosphere, but the land and bodies of water too.

According to https://climate.nasa.gov/, Earth’s average temperature has risen 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century. That may not sound like a lot, but in the future, it could make a huge impact. 2016 was confirmed the warmest year on record, with 8 of the 12 months being the warmest months on record for those respective months. Those months were January-September with the acception of June.

“I think that it’s obviously not good,” said Kenza Kharbouch, a 7th grade journalism student, about her opinion on climate change. “We completely disobey what other people say [about it],” I agree with this. People say that climate change is horrible for our world and we need to do something, but no one ever listens, and climate change and global warming keep getting worse. “I wish it wouldn’t be so warm,” said Adrianna Popovich, another 7th grade journalism student, on what she thinks about climate change. “I don’t like when it reaches one-hundred degrees in summer,” One-hundred degrees in the summer once or twice is fine, but when it happens way more often, especially in a place like New Jersey, it’s concerning.

7th grade Civics teacher Mr. Miller said “It’s bad. I don’t think enough countries are taking it serious enough, even the USA,” Climate change is getting worse by the day. People need to pay more attention to what’s going on.

Climate change and global warming have many causes, such as pollution and greenhouse gases. “I think it’s mainly people polluting and littering and not being good to the environment,” said Kharbouch on what she thinks causes climate change. A good way that we can help decrease the rate at which climate change is happening is by littering  a lot less, and throwing recyclables where the recyclables go. Doing that small act can really help our environment. “Pollution,” said Popovich, “[and] people who have the money to help but don’t,” People who have a lot of money and can donate to charities that help take action when it comes to climate change don’t do that. People should notice that the Earth is under critical condition and that we need all the donations we can get. 

There are many ways we can take action and help decrease the effects of climate change. We can donate to charities, participate in clean-ups, and throw out our trash in the right bins. 

Mr. Miller gave a unique idea and said we should reduce the amount of chemicals we use. He also said we should vote for leaders who want to make a change, and who want to notice what’s going on and do something about it.

Climate change is changing our planet so rapidly. Everywhere in the world is getting affected by this. What’s going to happen to where we live, the middle east? Around our area (south east, middle east, north east) climate change will cause heat waves which can affect health, energy, agriculture, and more, more heavy downpours and rapid sea level rise will cause problems for the ecosystem, and decreased water availability will have economic and environmental impacts.

“Why does this happen?” “What is it doing to the planet we call home?” These are questions many people have about climate change. The most important question we should be asking, though, is “What can we do to help?”

Source for Facts: https://climate.nasa.gov/